Seeking advice about when to apply for medical school among other things.

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kwicdrawmcgraw

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I've relatively recently decided that I would like to enter the medical field and go Active Duty military (I'm currently Guard). I'm trying to decide between going to medical school or becoming a CRNA. I currently have almost none of the prerequisites for medical school besides English and Math from a prior degree. I have a few big decisions to make and I've been going over them over and over (and over and over and over) in my head and I just need some advice.

I'm currently thinking about going to nursing school and getting my ADN Fall 2016-Spring 2018 and getting medical experience while getting paid. I'd finish my prerequisites and probably not be done until Dec. 2018. Or, I could start working on my prerequisites this semester (Fall 2015) at my local community college and probably finish December 2016. The upside to going to Nursing school is I get valuable medical experience while getting paid. Also, another upside is if for some reason the Medical school doesn't work out then at least if I finished prerequisites I'd have more than enough for CRNA school.

I think my BIGGEST problem is that I don't completely understand how the medical school application process goes. If I started my prerequisites this semester (Fall 2015) and finished by December 2016 and took the MCAT before May 2017 would I be applying for the 2018 school year? If so, is there a way I could apply to medical school before I was finished with my prerequisites (say June 2016) and take the MCAT in Spring 2017 and try to get in for Fall 2017 instead of waiting for 2018? It seems like by the time I get an interview I'd be working on my last prerequisite anyway and preparing for my MCAT.

Just a little background, I'm an African American 28 year old male currently in law enforcement with military experience. I graduated the University of Al with a 3.63 (screwed around my freshman year). I really want to go Active to serve my country full time. I know some of you are curious to why a cop wants to get into the medical field. The truth is that I'm just tired of putting my life on the line and hearing of a cop dying weekly on the news and no one caring,but goings nuts when a cop kills a criminal in self-defense. Anyway, I'm hoping that I can get some helpful responses.

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You'd want to have at least MCAT-related prerequisites (Bio, Chem, Organic, Physics, Biochem, Psychology, Sociology) done before taking the exam. You don't HAVE to but I wouldn't recommend taking the exam without them. Keep that in mind.

School-specific pre-requisites generally just have to be finished before matriculation. If you took the MCAT and submitted your application in spring/summer of 2017 then you'd be applying for matriculation in 2018. If you applied in 2016 and didn't take the MCAT until spring of 2017 you'd be wrecked; schools do not consider your application without an MCAT score and by spring of the year interview season is over.

Basically the schedule looks like this:

Fall of pre-app year to Spring of app year: Take MCAT and make school list.
Summer of app year: Submit primary application. Wait several weeks while secondaries come out. Fill out secondaries and return them.
Fall of app year to spring of matriculation year: Interview season. Acceptances can start as early as October 15th. Finish up any dangling pre-reqs.
April 30th of matriculation year: If holding multiple acceptances, must drop all but one.
Post-april 30th: If still on waitlists at this point, you might see movement all the way through the summer. Or you might not.

I have an ADN and currently work in an ED. I personally wouldn't suggest going through an ADN if you already know your point is medical school. Nursing school is intensely time-consuming and not easy, and has wrecked many a GPA. The job market can also be very tough for ADNs depending where you are (don't believe the hype that nurses can just waltz into anywhere and get a job on the spot, it's highly region-dependent). If you're in a saturated area you'll be competing with BSN-prepared nurses in an atmosphere where more and more hospitals and organizations want their newbie nurses to be BSN-prepared. Not to say you won't find a job, but it's getting tougher.

If you want to go to medical school, put your time into getting into medical school. If you have GPA repair to do, put your energy into that.
If you want to be a CRNA, go to nursing school (and get a BSN, you'll need it anyway).

(Disclaimer: Point of view of one RN. Others may differ.)
 
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