Prepping Post-Bac Pre-Meds
USC College program hosts a diverse group of medical school-bound students
By Kaitlin Solimine
An ex-social worker, ex-architect and ex-professional football player
sit around a table discussing the chemical properties of a carbon atom.
While an unlikely sight for most, the group is actually an accurate
representation of participants in USC College’s Postbaccalaureate
Premedical Program.
The program, which enables post-baccalaureate students to complete the
science and mathematics core requirements for medical school admission,
is directed towards students who have graduated with an undergraduate
degree in a non-science or non-medical field and now want to pursue
medicine.
In its sixth year, the USC program is one of only a few
post-baccalaureate pre-medical programs on the West Coast. The students
enrolled are not only from USC. In fact, the program prides itself on
accepting students from schools all over the country—nearly two-thirds
of all students are from East Coast institutions.
What draws these students to USC is the sense of community and support
the College’s program provides, says Larry Singer, professor of
chemistry in the College and director of the program. “We try to
nurture a feeling of belonging to a group with a common goal,” says
Singer.
Indeed, many participants laud the program’s collaborative learning
style as well as the very personalized advising and guidance offered
throughout the medical school application process.
“I had never really considered studying for a science class a
collaborative process until I started the USC program,” says Sacha Kuo,
a program participant who received her undergraduate degree in
architecture from UC Berkeley. “This approach also helped in the med
school application process—I don’t know what I would have done if I
didn’t have so many diverse perspectives to bounce my ideas off of.”
John Michels, a program participant and ex-professional football player
who majored in religion while an undergraduate at USC College, has
similar praise. “Larry Singer takes a vested interest in each of the
program’s students,” he says. “He insures that each is connected with
fellow post-bacs, thus creating a support network that inspires
students to achieve success.”
Though bearing a heavy course load and the stresses of medical school
application requirements, nary a student regrets their enrollment in
the program. Indeed, many feel that their previous career experiences
simply augment their now growing interest in and love for medicine.
“I was extremely passionate about the game of football,” says Michels.
“But it is possible that I have found a career that I can be more
passionate about than football, something that only a few short years
ago I did not think was possible.”
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