Going back to school but I have a few questions.

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dhig55

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Let me start off by telling you a little bit about myself. I am 22 years old, I dropped out of high school a year early to receive my GED once I heard my girlfriend at the time was pregnant. I know I was a foolish teenager but I don't regret my son at all, he was the best thing to ever happen to me and is making me a better man day by day. I am also at a point in my life where I know I want to pursue my dream career of going into the medical field, more specifically Neurology. It has always fascinated me and it's what I want to do with my life.

In the past I went to community college on and off but in the spring of 2014 I decided it would be best to commit to work full time and help out with my son a little more. Now as if Spring 2016, my personal life has changed and I feel I can juggle life, work, and school. The only thing that is leaving me in a confused state is where do I start? I haven't been in school full-time since 2012 while in high school. The last time I took the placement tests I scored low due to not having been in school for a while prior to taking the tests. Also, when I was in school I had to drop a good portion of my classes due to personal issues. I don't know how that would affect me when I want to transfer out to a university from community college.

I will be going back to college in the fall of 2016.

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Hi dhig55, and welcome to the board!

The road to medical school is long and difficult, but certainly not impossible in your shoes. I have several classmates who enrolled from a non-traditional track and they're doing great.

There are somethings that you need to accomplish if you want to go to medical school.
1.) Transferring to a university is basically a must. I have not heard of anyone entering an american allopathic (MD) medical school straight from community college. It might be possible, but unless you are extraordinary on paper, it will be extremely difficult. Remember, there are very few spots with lots and lots of great university students pursuing them. Applicants with community college degrees are, unfortunately, an afterthought med schools have no real reason to take them.

2.) Maintain a high GPA (>3.5). Most students I know who were accepted had a college GPA of ~3.7. It becomes very difficult once you dip below 3.5.
And YES, your community college GPA is included into your university GPA, so make sure you succeed now. ALL college courses from PAST/PRESENT/AND FUTURE are included into your application GPA and must be reported or face violations. I took a summer course at a local college during my freshman year of high school, I had to report that as well.

3.) There are required college prerequisites that you have to take: full year of Biology, full year of General Chemistry, full year of Organic Chemistry plus one semester of Organic Chemistry Lab, one semester of Biochemistry, full year of Physics, some variant of math requirements (calculus/statistics), some variant of humanities and social/behavioral sciences. Some schools may be different, but this is what nearly every medical student takes.

4.) Do well on the MCAT (>30). Most students I know who were accepted had an MCAT of >31-33.

5.) Have 3-4 Letters of Recommendation from professors/doctors/researchers that you have worked with (basically really should be medical/science/academic doctorate professionals).

6.) Have medical experience of some sort. Most people have some volunteering/shadowing type of experience. Good rule of thumb is >150 hours of hospital/clinical volunteering and >50 hours of shadowing a doctor.

7.) Show other extracurriculars. Community service, have prominent hobbies (music/sports/theater/etc), something to show that you have other prominent interests. Maybe even a mission trip or a prior career.

8.) Write a good application, with a good personal statement (surprisingly, this alone could take a month or two of tinkering).

9.) It never hurts to have research experience. Most medical students had some sort of research experience (work study or, like myself, took time off to work research full time). If you get a publication, that would be a definite cherry on top, but most students don't.

I would say that most students who are admitted to medical school hit every note on this list.


After you're in medical school, you can pick the specialty of your choice. Whether neurology or surgery, it all branches out from there.
 
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Just a word of encouragement to those with low current GPAs: medical schools take grade trends into account. A student with low grades can go a few years with higher grades, even if their final GPA is on the lower side, to demonstrate that they have improved. This doesn't exonerate anyone from a lower GPA, but it can help. This was my story, as I finished my sophomore year in college with a GPA of around 3.0; I worked very hard my next two years and two summers taking the most difficult courses (400 level biology, p-chem, biochem, etc) and earned a GPA of 3.98 to push my cGPA past 3.5.

This is one of the biggest impediments to some who are trying to get into medical school, as there really is no "fresh start." Every college course ever taken from every institution has to be reported.
 
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Reactions: 1 user
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Hi dhig55, and welcome to the board!

The road to medical school is long and difficult, but certainly not impossible in your shoes. I have several classmates who enrolled from a non-traditional track and they're doing great.

There are somethings that you need to accomplish if you want to go to medical school.
1.) Transferring to a university is basically a must. I have not heard of anyone entering an american allopathic (MD) medical school straight from community college. It might be possible, but unless you are extraordinary on paper, it will be extremely difficult. Remember, there are very few spots with lots and lots of great university students pursuing them. Applicants with community college degrees are, unfortunately, an afterthought med schools have no real reason to take them.

2.) Maintain a high GPA (>3.5). Most students I know who were accepted had a college GPA of ~3.7. It becomes very difficult once you dip below 3.5.
And YES, your community college GPA is included into your university GPA, so make sure you succeed now. ALL college courses from PAST/PRESENT/AND FUTURE are included into your application GPA and must be reported or face violations. I took a summer course at a local college during my freshman year of high school, I had to report that as well.

3.) There are required college prerequisites that you have to take: full year of Biology, full year of General Chemistry, full year of Organic Chemistry plus one semester of Organic Chemistry Lab, one semester of Biochemistry, full year of Physics, some variant of math requirements (calculus/statistics), some variant of humanities and social/behavioral sciences. Some schools may be different, but this is what nearly every medical student takes.

4.) Do well on the MCAT (>30). Most students I know who were accepted had an MCAT of >31-33.

5.) Have 3-4 Letters of Recommendation from professors/doctors/researchers that you have worked with (basically really should be medical/science/academic doctorate professionals).

6.) Have medical experience of some sort. Most people have some volunteering/shadowing type of experience. Good rule of thumb is >150 hours of hospital/clinical volunteering and >50 hours of shadowing a doctor.

7.) Show other extracurriculars. Community service, have prominent hobbies (music/sports/theater/etc), something to show that you have other prominent interests. Maybe even a mission trip or a prior career.

8.) Write a good application, with a good personal statement (surprisingly, this alone could take a month or two of tinkering).

9.) It never hurts to have research experience. Most medical students had some sort of research experience (work study or, like myself, took time off to work research full time). If you get a publication, that would be a definite cherry on top, but most students don't.

I would say that most students who are admitted to medical school hit every note on this list.


After you're in medical school, you can pick the specialty of your choice. Whether neurology or surgery, it all branches out from there.

Hi, thank you so much for your reply. I apologize I haven't responded to you as you. You gave me so much information that has helped me out so much. Another question I must as you is that I am thinking off attending a Medical Assistant or Medical Billing class at my local community college. Would this help me out in the future as I apply to medical school? Also, the reason I am thinking of doing one of these classes is to earn some money while attending college. It is only an 8 month class and I was thinking of working part-time while going to college next fall '17.
 
Just a word of encouragement to those with low current GPAs: medical schools take grade trends into account. A student with low grades can go a few years with higher grades, even if their final GPA is on the lower side, to demonstrate that they have improved. This doesn't exonerate anyone from a lower GPA, but it can help. This was my story, as I finished my sophomore year in college with a GPA of around 3.0; I worked very hard my next two years and two summers taking the most difficult courses (400 level biology, p-chem, biochem, etc) and earned a GPA of 3.98 to push my cGPA past 3.5.

This is one of the biggest impediments to some who are trying to get into medical school, as there really is no "fresh start." Every college course ever taken from every institution has to be reported.

Thank you, sorry it took me a while to respond. When I attend college I'm going to go in with a different mind set as I did before and I am going to push harder than before.
 
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