Chances for Non-Trad JD With Good UPGA in humanities

[Vince411]

Hello all, I am an attorney working on post-bac classes hoping to pursue a degree in medicine. My original undergrad was in early 00's with a B.A. in humanities with a 3.7 cumulative UGPA from a middling state school, which included for some reason 2 A&P courses---at a 3.3 gpa. I went on to law school at another middling western state law school and did very well (top 7% of class). I'm wondering, if I get all As on the post-bac work, including retaking those A/P and I do the work at a community college, depending on the MCAT, am I a competitive candidate for either an MD or DO program? (Also figure in the volunteering etc).

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[chiberian husky]

Well, it doesn't look like you have to clean up any big mistakes, so I'd venture to say you could end up as a competitive candidate. Bit early and a bit too hypothetical to say anything for certain.

 

[Law2Doc]

Is there a non community college option?

Also health related ECs are an unwritten requirement for med school so you need to work in some health related shadowing and volunteering, or it's a nonstarter. As a career changer places prefer you look before you leap, so do some ECs at the earliest opportunity, if you aren't already, preferably before you get much deeper into your postbox studies.

And as a career changer, your "why medicine?" and "why now?" story is going to need to be compelling. You can't be seen as running from the law -- something specific needs to be drawing you to a career in medicine (beyond the "helping people" BS they let the 20 year olds get away with in their essays). Often the ECs give experiences that help with this so yet another reason to start with those soon.

 

[Law2Doc]

for someone who has a good background (ie good original UG ) and no/few "old science" to overcome, community college isnt as negative as other students. While 4 year would be better, it isnt so bad in this case for what the OP has told us.

Not really. For someone coming from a humanities background it's still not ideal. The issue is always going to be did the OP do well in his prereqs or was the competition subpar. That's going to be an issue whether you have old science courses to compare to or not. Good grades in the humanities don't give the med schools enough insight on whether the OP would have done well in the sciences in a University setting. If there are other options for the prereqs that would be preferable. If there aren't other options, you do what you have to.

 

[Vince411]

Is there a non community college option?

Also health related ECs are an unwritten requirement for med school so you need to work in some health related shadowing and volunteering, or it's a nonstarter. As a career changer places prefer you look before you leap, so do some ECs at the earliest opportunity, if you aren't already, preferably before you get much deeper into your postbox studies.

And as a career changer, your "why medicine?" and "why now?" story is going to need to be compelling. You can't be seen as running from the law -- something specific needs to be drawing you to a career in medicine (beyond the "helping people" BS they let the 20 year olds get away with in their essays). Often the ECs give experiences that help with this so yet another reason to start with those soon.

I think that for the upper Org Chem/Bio Chem classes I will take them at my original 4-year university, however, as of now for all the basic science classes, the community college option best fits my night schedule; also it is tremendously less expensive----I am able to take any 4 credits per semester for free at the CC as I teach writing as an adjunct there whereas the university is around 480 per credit hour.

 

[Goro]

Definite yes!

I'm wondering, if I get all As on the post-bac work, including retaking those A/P and I do the work at a community college, depending on the MCAT, am I a competitive candidate for either an MD or DO program? (Also figure in the volunteering etc)