FAQs

Our program is very flexible and can accommodate many career goals. Typically, students plan a clinical health career when they enroll in our program, but we have had a small number of students over the years who have changed direction once enrolled or come with the intention of pursuing public health or another field.

However, it's important to keep in mind our eight-course minimum requirement when making your decision. You may not actually need a formal post-bacc program to achieve your goals. If you simply need to take a few individual courses required to meet specific graduate program requirements, you can take individual classes here at Tufts through Tufts University College.

The "glide year" is the time between beginning the application process to medical school and actually enrolling. Unless a school has a Linkage Program and the medical school is willing to bypass its year of decision-making (which is rarely done), the glide year is inevitable. Our Post-bacc Premed Program has Linkage Programs with Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, and UMass Chan Medical School. Students may apply for one Linkage Program and must be accepted for the program to eliminate the glide year.

To ensure access to the health professions advisor and support network, Tufts tries to limit the program to between 20 and 30 students per year.

Students with no previous science course work can usually complete the program within 18-24 months. Our Program of Study Common Timelines may be helpful to map this out for your personal goals. Please note that these timelines assume that students take two courses during the summer between first and second-year.

We advise that students take no more than two lab science courses per semester. Two courses allow for a full but manageable lecture, lab, and recitation schedule, with time to pursue a health-related internship and/or part-time job.

Learn more about courses of study and common timelines.

The prerequisite science classes (biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics) are held during the day. Lectures are usually held in the morning (three 50-minute sessions per week), but labs and recitations (small group discussions) are scheduled throughout the day and evening. Tufts does not convene separate classes for its Post-bacc students –they take the same classes (at the same time and in the same sections) as Tufts undergraduates. You can review class schedules on Tufts Student Information System (SIS).

The program tuition covers ten courses, including the standard 8 required pre-health lab sciences. Students who matriculate into the program needing fewer than these 8 (because they completed one or two earlier, or because their professional route does not require 8 courses) may choose to take other courses. Students whose goals require a different set of courses (e.g., anatomy and physiology rather than organic chemistry) may take those courses instead. All undergraduate courses, and some graduate ones, are available to Tufts Post-bacc students in consultation with students’ advisors. Students may opt to take additional courses, beyond the covered ten courses, but will have to pay additional tuition for each of those courses.

The Director and Assistant Director of Health Professions Advising work closely with Tufts post-bacc students to plan their academic program. These advisors help students choose the proper courses, make decisions about supplemental courses, prepare for testing, and balance academics with other activities. 

Post-bacc students have access to all the support services that our full-time undergraduates receive including free tutoring from the Student Accessibility and Academic Resources (StAAR) Center, review sessions, study skills and time management counseling, disability counseling, access to old exams for use as study tools, and more. Test prep materials are covered as a part of their program fee.