Post-bacc programs are one- and two-year certification programs (you don’t earn a degree, but rather a certificate) and are ideal for folks who are making a career change or need to enhance their academic record.
If you have not satisfied the course requirements for medical school, you must earn a post-bacc. (Or at least do a self-styled post-bacc experience, in which you take the courses missing from your undergrad transcript.) Career changers typically lack multiple med school course requirements; the clients who we’ve worked with who have attended post-bacc programs were all career changers. Post-bacc programs are also an option for those who tanked some classes early on in their college career or re-applicants who have some room for academic improvement. A post-bacc counts towards your undergraduate GPA like a fifth year of college. Some post-bacc programs offer MCAT prep too.
There are post-bacc programs that are full-time or part-time and/or offer night classes, making it easy to continue to gain clinical experiences between now and when you matriculate to med school (a must no matter what else you do).
You can get briefed on the details of many-a-post-bacc-program by using the AAMC's Postbaccalaureate Premedical Programs database. Some post-bacc programs (and Special Master’s Programs) offer linkage programs—we’ll explain that further in a bit—and this database will tell you what schools those programs are affiliated with, if any. Princeton University offers a shorter list of strong post-bacc and master’s programs that is tremendously helpful.
Related:
Earning Another Degree or Certification Before Med School: An Overview
Earning Another Degree or Certification Before Med School: Master’s Programs
Earning Another Degree or Certification Before Med School: Special Master’s Programs
Earning Another Degree or Certification Before Med School: Linkage Programs