Questions about Post Baccs

[structuralBio]

So in light of not getting in anywhere for biophysics, I need to fill the coming year with relevant experience when reapplying. I was thinking about a post-bacc but I have a few questions

 

1) Is a post-bacc basically like a year-long post graduate equivalent of an REU? or is it sort of a prep school focused on getting you lab experience while getting you up to speed in coursework? or is it basically just a 1 year temporary entry level lab tech position?

 

2) Is it too late to apply? I know from applying for REU's it would be much too late by now but what about post-baccs? specifically, NIH's post-bacc wants you to apply 6-8 months in advance and commit for at least 12 months, even though they say they consider applications year round, does that mean that if i started in say October of this year and wanted to go to graduate school next year that I couldn't because i was locked into a 12 month commitment and couldn't start in mid august? 

 

3) other than NIH, do you know of any that are related to biophysics (ideally) or biochem that are still taking applications?

 

4) would getting a normal job part time and doing volunteer lab work, or getting a lab tech job in a field that is not as closely related look like I "wasted an opportunity" to departments when I'm reapplying compared to a post-bacc?

 

 

[persimmony]

It depends on why you didn't get into any programs this year. Was your GPA insufficient? Or just not enough experience? I would recommend getting some valuable feedback from your schools and figure out what aspect of your application you need to work on. Of course, getting more research experience will help when you re-apply next year. I never did a post-bacc and am not sure what it entails, but I worked in a lab full-time for 1.5years before applying and gained some valuable experience that grad schools liked. I would not recommend option #4 if by a "normal job" you mean a job outside of science.

[teletubbie]

there's a program at columbia called bridge to phd and their deadline is may 1st. there are also the PREP programs. look at nih website for participating institutions