SDN can you give me guidance?

[Slimpikinz23]

Ok, so here's my situation. Military spouse, 25, went to a CC years ago for a semester to major in Psychology, but knew it wasn't right for me. I escaped with around a 2.75 gpa and instead did a cert for a phlebotomy technician. I worked for 2 years in a hospital doing that while my husband was deployed. We moved and I then worked for the American Red Cross in biomedical services for about 9 months but I always knew I wanted something more. I wanted to go back to school.

I started back thinking I would get my masters in Occupational therapy, I would only be second in my family to even complete college. I have always had that voice of wanting to be a Dr in the back of my head. In my family, it just wasn't done. We are URM, becoming Dr's was not something that was attainable to us. My mom is the only person in our family to get a degree in nursing and when I told her and my wonderful husband what I wanted to do and my doubts they said why not?

So sdn, I need help, I am doing my undergrad now and we are moving to our next duty station really soon so I don't have a concrete major but I am taking classes at my CC here. 2 semesters of 18 credits at a 3.4 and ~3.7. What should my time line be? I don't know of any people in real life to talk to. Thanks.

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[jamcat]

You've come to the right place! SDN is very helpful, although it would also be to your advantage to talk to your academic advisor at your college. Their advice isn't always the best, but it sounds like you need somebody to walk you through how this works, and that's something any advisor can do.

Your time line will be very much dependent on how many courses you take at a time, what courses you take, and if you transfer directly to a university to finish your degree. There isn't one timeline that fits everyone! Particularly in this non-trad forum, many of us have skipped around and been quite...non-traditional about things!

In a nutshell, the components that you'll need are:
1. The med school pre-requisites
2. The MCAT
3. A bachelor's degree
4. Completing the application process (Note that you can begin the application process before you have a degree; the application process takes a year so the most direct students often apply the summer before their final year of undergrad, although plenty of us apply later too!)

What you want to focus on right now is taking your pre-requisites, and doing very well in them. GPA is king when it comes to medical school admissions, so make sure you keep your GPA up. After you've taken the pre-requisites, you'll think about the MCAT. The MCAT is a pretty big exam that requires several months of study. At that point, you'll be nearing the end of your bachelor's degree and you'll have an idea of how competitive you are for med school (what your GPA and MCAT scores are) and can start to think about what schools you'd like to apply to. Also note that you'll need to volunteer and shadow doctors and get involved in other ways in order to be a successful applicant.

That's as much of a summary as I can come up with right now. Let me know what's unclear! Also, if you do a google search you'll be able to find the pre-med advising websites from many colleges throughout the country that will lay things out for you as well.

 

[Slimpikinz23]

Thanks, I mean, I know all the steps I need to take, I just need to know in which sequence to take them. I've been reading a lot of the older threads and seeing what's happening, it's just as you said, nontrad are all over the place. Do I take the MCAT about junior year and then complete the application process very soon afterwards? Should I be shadowing and volunteering even now? Will my employment history count as anything?

I will be transferring to a 4 year university as soon as we get to our next duty station and another plus is my husband signed over his GI bill to me which I will be saving for med school, so I have everything on my side right now.

Also, my advisors are terrible here. Actually my A&P teacher was an M2 before she dropped out due to family issues and when I asked for advice she was not very welcoming at all!

Anyway, I appreciate this community so much. Thank you so much!

 

[jamcat]

Honestly, sequence varies for everyone, particularly for us non-trads. Everyone's situation is unique, so everyone does things slightly differently.

As for your questions:
1. Take the MCAT whenever you have finished the pre-requisite classes and have had time to prepare for it. It could be after your sophomore or junior year; it could be later. If you're working while you're going to school, you're likely not going to have enough time to also study for the MCAT. To give you an idea of the time it takes, some people take two or three months and do nothing but MCAT preparation. For others of us, that's not really practical as we have to work, which means MCAT preparation will take a longer time.

2. Complete the application process whenever you're ready! Whenever you've taken all of your pre-reqs, taken the MCAT, and have put together a competitive application. Again, this could be the spring of your junior year; it could be several years later.

3. Yes! Shadow and volunteer now. Shadow so you know what you're getting into--it would kind of stink to go through all of this and realize that you actually don't want to be a doctor after all!--and volunteer just to give back to the community. Yes, med schools want to see volunteering on your application, but ideally you're not volunteering *just* to put it on an application; hopefully you actually want to help make your community a better place

4. Yes, your employment history will count. Some jobs will be "worth" more than others, obviously. Working as a cashier in a grocery store pays the bills, but being, say, a clinical research coordinator or another non-medical job that really requires leadership will contribute more to your application.

Hope this helps! Let us know if you have more questions.

 

[Slimpikinz23]

Thank you so much for taking the time to be so thorough and kind! Your answers were extremely helpful. I think I'm just nervous and excited and just need reassurance that I'm on the right path.