Soon to be Veteren seeking advice

[KellyP]

Hello Everyone,
If you're reading this let me thank you in advance for your time and possibly advice.

I am currently an active duty member in the Air Force who has discovered in his short 5 years that he has a real drive and passion for education and learning. A long 5 years have led me to have a passion to work in an ER either as a Doctor or PA. I have shadowing opportunities lined up before I decide to make that decision but I have a few problems I could use answers for.

My first problem is the lacking in my High School GPA;
I didn't have a passion for learning when I was in High School, though I felt I was always able to learn quickly, procrastinating homework caught up with me and I graduated with a sad 2.75GPA. That's a factor I can't change, but luckily that won't hurt my eventual application for medical school.

Due to my low high school GPA, I figured that my best option would be to attend one year of community college and then transfer into a 4-year school under a Biology degree. (I've always loved Science/Math and have had a knack for it.) I was hoping that I would be able to transfer into a good school after a stellar performance in one year of community college. Is this my best option? will this effect my eventual application to a Medical/PA school?

My ACT score sadly just expired, so knowing if this is key is important. I will have to retake my ACT to apply to a 4-year school, which I'm fine with and I've been studying so I can hopefully score 32+ as I did the first time around.

Also all of next year I could attend a small local college to get a few credits under my belt. I am just worried that these credits might not transfer? Would it be worth it to lessen my course load for when I get out of the military?

I'm 23 and I'll be 24 by the time I start attending college, I want to get my ducks in a row and be ready to take on the educational world. Any input or advice anyone could provide would be awesome.

PS. If anyone knows of any Community Colleges with good transfer programs with schools who have good pre-med support feel free to drop some names! Luckily I have the GI-Bill paying for my undergrad and I'm a very diverse individual who has lived just about everywhere.

Thank you for reading, I look forward to your responses.

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[ZX10R]

I did 1 year at CC then transferred to a private university. As long as you have the right number of credits and GPA transferring should be easy. I never took the ACT/SAT and still got into a very good private university. Med schools don't care about High school, and the school you transfer to wont either since they will look at your CC GPA. As long as you get good stats and ECs you will get into medical school. I had a good GPA and MCAT, thus got multiple MD acceptances. I also had >150 hours of under-served clinical volunteering, Lots of schadowing (60+ Derm, 40 ER, 100s ENT), and 600 hours of research.

 

[KellyP]

I did 1 year at CC then transferred to a private university. As long as you have the right number of credits and GPA transferring should be easy. I never took the ACT/SAT and still got into a very good private university. Med schools don't care about High school, and the school you transfer to wont either since they will look at your CC GPA. As long as you get good stats and ECs you will get into medical school. I had a good GPA and MCAT, thus got multiple MD acceptances. I also had >150 hours of under-served clinical volunteering, Lots of schadowing (60+ Derm, 40 ER, 100s ENT), and 600 hours of research.

ZX10R, First let me say that as a ZX6R rider I salute you.

Secondly, Thank you for the response and information. It's definitely good to see that I am not the only one who is/was in this situation or something similar.

 

[alpinism]

Where are you planning on going to school?

I'm assuming you've finished your 5 levels?

If thats the case you could just finish your CCAF before you get out (night classes/CLEP exams). Afterwards you could then transfer to a 4 year university. Depends on the school, but some will accept as much as 1 year of credits. In any event, don't forget to transfer the credits you've already completed. Otherwise you could also take classes at your local CC.

Either way, I'd check with the specific universities you're interested in to find out which ones accept the most credits for transfer.

 

[KellyP]

Where are you planning on going to school?

I'm assuming you've finished your 5 levels?

If thats the case you could just finish your CCAF before you get out (night classes/CLEP exams). Afterwards you could then transfer to a 4 year university. Depends on the school, but some will accept as much as 1 year of credits. In any event, don't forget to transfer the credits you've already completed. Otherwise you could also take classes at your local CC.

Either way, I'd check with the specific universities you're interested in to find out which ones accept the most credits for transfer.

I finished my 5-levels awhile back. I'm a 6-year. I'm also pretty close to finishing my CCAF, which could easily be done in the next few months. How does GPA transfer from a CCAF degree to a college that will reflect my Cumulative GPA in the long run? I did well in tech school so I'm not really sweating it, but as far as the CLEPs that I took go.

Thank you in advance.

 

[alpinism]

It doesn't (at least that was the case for my degree). All my AF classes were recorded as P/F so I didn't have a GPA for those classes.

If they accept CLEPs, the grade you received should transfer over as far as I know.

I'd have to go back and look at my transcripts to be sure, its been a long time.