“When I was looking at postbac programs, I had one question in mind for each: Can you adequately prepare me for (and help me achieve acceptance into) medical school? Upon visiting Bennington, and being in the program however, preparation for medical school seems more of a natural consequence or perhaps a byproduct (one need only to look at medical admissions rates of Bennington postbacs to be convinced of this). What is paramount at Bennington is science for science’s sake. After all, science pre-reqs are ideally not to be treated merely as stepping-stones for a future career—or ‘paying one’s dues’ so to speak—and they are not treated that way here.

“At Bennington you fall in love with science. The program is small and focused on you and your burning questions. Our teachers for example, whom we are all on a first name basis with, will not let a moment go by without challenging your own questions with, ‘How do you know that?,’ ‘How can you test that?,’ ‘There is the lab—why don’t you explore that?’ Science in fact is a conversation among peers, not a lecture hall packed with 100+ students. At Bennington we all work together, students and professors alike, looking at the physical world from the same perspective of fascination and inquisitiveness.

“In short, the Bennington Postbac Program isn’t shaping students to merely get into medical school or to even just succeed in medical school, but specifically, to bring out the scientific wonderment and inquiry in all of us and give the best framework with which to investigate our own questions begotten from that same wonderment, laying the groundwork for future exploration and problem-solving as practicing physicians.

“So yeah, at Bennington will you be prepared for the MCAT? Yes. Will you achieve your goals in moving on to medical school? Sure. But don’t be surprised if Bennington brings out a scientific passion in you that can’t be shaken. It just might serve you for life.”