First gen minority student, I've no one to go to for advice. Please help.

[amd123]

I did poorly in high school 130/420 rank, 88 GPA 1860 SATs (640M/600CR/620 W). I got into Pitt Main with 20K in financial aid but still couldn't afford going. Now I go to a Community College.

I've just completed my first semester and earned a 3.21 GPA
I'm working hard to improve it. At first I thought college would be high school + a bit more note taking and then LIFE happened. I also walked into CC thinking it was gonna be a cakewalk (cc's have a negative stereotype).

I want to transfer out but all I can afford is a lower tier state school (Pennsylvania Schools such as Bloomsburg/West Chester/East Stroudsburg). I want to transfer during the Fall 2011 term because I'm really not sure WHAT I WANT TO STUDY and I feel at a larger university I have more options and can take more varied courses besides the basic gen eds at my community college. Also, I have parents who are not very supportive of me and I really want to move away from home for a while.

I've been doing research on the medicine career path and ugh I think it's too much for me. I've not done any volunteering (every time I call the hospital, they say the only accept high school students during the summer ). How can I determine if medicine is right for me? I like science, it's the subject I've done best in high school. I'm not very strong in math and law is out of the question given the current situation with school rankings and actual stats on how many students are unemployed.

I'm only in my second semester of my freshman year and so far I've taken these:
Engl 101/Pre Calc/Bio 102/Speech

I'm taking these:
Engl 102/Calc 1/Art Gen Ed course/Chem 100

How am I doing?
Should I transfer out ASAP?
How can I determine if medicine is the right field for me? ALSO, one thing I wanna say is that I have 5 other siblings younger than me who will also be going to college, I don't want to burden my parents anymore with loans but it seems they won't have to help me take those out right? Personally, I feel the wisest thing would be a 4 year degree that would lead to a job ASAP. Any recommendations?

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[BigEast55]

1) You are doing okay. A 3.21 isn't the best GPA but its your first semester, you have time to improve. Really you should be aiming for probably around a 3.6, mostly As and A-s with maybe a few B+s.

2) You will need to transfer to a four year college, some medical schools do not accept pre-reqs that are taken at community college. I would probably suggest transferring out as soon as possible. You can get into medical school from any undergrad so even if you just go to Bloomsburg you will be fine. I have done well from a small SUNY school so I am sure you can do it from a Penn State satellite campus.

3) Loans, you can get them out in your own name, if you want to be a doctor the loans you accumulate at state school will be nothing compared to what 4 years of medical school will cost

4) You can find hospitals that will let you volunteer, maybe during the school year, potentially shadow physicians. If you are in a city with an academic hospital just e-mail a bunch of people.

5) I would say that a 4-year degree in anything beside engineering doesn't really guarantee you a job straight out of undergrad, but you can apply to medical school straight out of undergrad if that suits you.

Good luck!

 

[Neuronix]

BigEast is right on. I am not a minority, but I am a first generation college student from a poor and ****ed up family, so I'm happy to help.

I talk frequently about this, but go to any 4-year college you can afford and as quickly as possible. It doesn't matter where you attend. I honestly think West Chester U is a solid place. The problem with students from poor families is they are debt phobic and don't understand the resources available to them. This is preyed upon by the military and others and helps to reinforce the status quo (rich go to college, poor don't).

Your plan for success if you want to go to med school:
Bring up your GPA. Take an easy major and a light load to do it if necessary (just remain full time)
Take your pre-med requirements at the 4 year college (calc is iffy...)
Take out loans.
Worry about volunteering/shadowing once your GPA is better and you feel comfortable where you are. You really only need about a summer's worth. GPA and MCAT are the most important aspects for your application.

What major are you thinking where you'd get a job right out of college? The job market sucks. That being said, you can start med school right out of college if you do well. How do you know if med school is right for you? IMO, you can't possibly know till you're there, so read up, do some volunteering. and if it sounds good do it.

 

[Local]

There are quite a few degrees that could lead to a job right out of college. You can go to your state's .gov site and go to job listing to see. I know in my state anyone with a Finance or computer science degree can easily get a job. Your gpa is fine, especially considering that you want a job straight out of college. Just over a 3.0 is good for most careers that don't involve graduate school.

I think transferring to a 4 year institution is probably a good idea, they usually have better resources than a cc.

Goodluck

 

[swaffles]

I've been doing research on the medicine career path and ugh I think it's too much for me. I've not done any volunteering (every time I call the hospital, they say the only accept high school students during the summer ). How can I determine if medicine is right for me? I like science, it's the subject I've done best in high school. I'm not very strong in math and law is out of the question given the current situation with school rankings and actual stats on how many students are unemployed.

Have you considered vocational schools? Maybe being a physician's assistant? There are a lot of two-year or less degrees that are aimed at getting students jobs after they graduate. Yes, you love science, but loving science does not translate to loving medicine.

You might end up loving medicine after you get a taste of it, which is what a bunch of two year degrees and nursing can show you. Also, a lot of these degrees cost less and give you a decent income. You can then save that for a few years and enroll into medical school afterwards, which you can better afford after working.

 

[kcin]

Congrats on being a minority.

 

[Neuronix]

Have you considered vocational schools? Maybe being a physician's assistant? There are a lot of two-year or less degrees that are aimed at getting students jobs after they graduate.

Maybe I was a little harsh on the finding a job after undergrad bit.

But I am not a fan of this idea. I have heard numerous people come up with that plan of "I will do nursing/PA and decide later if I like medicine". The reality is, the training becomes super long because you go to school twice, you go into debt to go to those schools, and the competition is not as hard to get into nursing/PA school. These students often don't get the GPA (which will still be heavily scrutinized later) and then are too far from their undergrad studies to do well on the MCAT if they do decide later to apply to med school.

What I'm saying here is, shoot for the moon (medicine) if that's really what you want. If you can't make it, then think about backups.

 

[swaffles]

Maybe I was a little harsh on the finding a job after undergrad bit.

But I am not a fan of this idea. I have heard numerous people come up with that plan of "I will do nursing/PA and decide later if I like medicine". The reality is, the training becomes super long because you go to school twice, you go into debt to go to those schools, and the competition is not as hard to get into nursing/PA school. These students often don't get the GPA (which will still be heavily scrutinized later) and then are too far from their undergrad studies to do well on the MCAT if they do decide later to apply to med school.

What I'm saying here is, shoot for the moon (medicine) if that's really what you want. If you can't make it, then think about backups.

I agree, degrees in PA not usually followed by training in medicine but I was just hoping that the OP knew that there were other choices out there, outside of becoming a doctor, that can be rewarding as well. A lot of people don't realize that an MD is not the only path towards a health profession.