From the Director

Welcome!

Bryn Mawr’s postbac program is widely recognized as one of the most selective and well respected in the nation. Since 1972, we have prepared students for success in medical school and as future physicians in an intellectually challenging and rewarding environment. As the program’s director, I consider it a privilege to work closely with such intelligent, dedicated, and accomplished women and men who are fulfilling their dreams of a career in medicine.  They are wonderful students to advise, and I love watching them go on to become successful medical students and compassionate physicians—many as leaders in their chosen field.

Our graduates’ history of success in gaining admission to medical school is remarkable: our medical school acceptance rate consistently exceeds 98 percent. We are very proud of how impressed medical school admissions committees across the country have been with our postbac students’ medical school applications through the years.

Bryn Mawr has early acceptance arrangements with more medical schools than any other postbac program, and we have the longest-standing relationships with many of these consortial/linkage schools.

Most important, however, is what our postbac alumni tell us. We regularly hear that the Bryn Mawr experience thoroughly and effectively prepared our alumni for the study of medicine, and that their time on our campus was one of the richest, most exciting years of their lives. This indicates not only the exceptional quality of our academic program and faculty but also the uniquely supportive, collegial environment we create for our students.

All of us at the postbac program are committed to helping our students succeed. We are here to assist in making the transition to an intensive course of study in the sciences, in working together in a tightly-knit community of diverse individuals with a shared goal, in learning from stimulating volunteer positions in the medical community, in taking advantage of strong advising and other supportive resources to prepare for all aspects of the medical school application process, and, ultimately, in realizing their true calling as physicians.

I invite you to discover all that Bryn Mawr has to offer by exploring our website. I am excited to share my enthusiasm with you and look forward to answering any questions you may have about our program.

Sincerely,

Glenn Cummings
Associate Dean and Director, Health Professions Advising and Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program

Glenn’s guiding interest is in providing individualized support and advice to the postbac student population, having spent the bulk of his career advising students entering the health professions. After finishing his doctorate in American Literature at the University of Virginia, Glenn shifted his professional focus to academic advising, and later became UVA’s Director of Pre-professional Advising. In 2004 he moved to Princeton University, where for the next eight years he advised scores of students through their pre-medical education, chaired the Committee on the Health Professions, and expanded the pre-health advising program significantly. He then returned to his small liberal arts college roots—having attended Colby College himself—and accepted a position at Franklin & Marshall College as the new Director of Health Professions Advising, with the task of rebuilding a robust advising program at a school with a rich history of graduates entering medicine. He arrived at Bryn Mawr in August 2014.

Glenn is an active member of both the Northeast Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NEAAHP) and the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NAAHP), serving on the NAAHP’s Postbac Committee. With a particular interest in writing, he has also chaired the NAAHP’s Letters of Evaluation Task Force, served as Assistant Director on the Communications Committee, contributed to the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Letters of Evaluation Advisory Group, and received the NAAHP Award for Outstanding Service.