nontraditional student

Hello, I am a nontraditional student (graduated 2020, BA in Philosophy from a CSU with 3.74 GPA, strong upward trend; returned to school 2021 with a DIY postbacc completing prerequisites and major "recommended" courses at local community colleges, 4.0 GPA; 3.83 cGPA between both transcripts)...

I have been to multiple colleges throughout my life. I am a nontraditional student (almost 30 years old) and am married, and have a little boy. My husband is very encouraging and supportive. I’m just not sure that I will ever be accepted into medical school. This past January I decided to take a...

Hi! I'm a non-trad who'd really appreciate SDNers' feedback on what schools I have a chance at/where to improve. Thank you! cGPA/sGPA: 3.5/3.5 MCAT: 502 (488 -> 497 -> 502) State of residence: OH Ethnicity: Asian Undergrad/Graduate: State University Gap years: Taking a few years off to work...

My main question is as the title suggests. This has been asked countless times before, but none of the threads really apply to my situation. I graduated from a T10 university last year with a non-science bachelor’s (social science). When I entered undergrad I didn’t have a clear idea of which...

Hello everyone! This is my first time asking a question on this forum. A little about myself, I'm currently in my first semester of DIY post-bacc and luckily enough, I've managed to cram all my classes (12 credits) on MWF, and I'm doing really well. Next semester I will not be as lucky as I've...

Greetings All, Thanks for taking the time to read this. I am a 27-year-old RN with 9 years of overall nursing experience (4yrs as an LPN, 5years as an RN). I've worked from Long-term care to CVICU. Through all of this, I knew I wanted to become a physician but was too afraid of failing pre-med...

I'll be 30 when I matriculate and haven't lived with my parents for quite a while. I need to include them in my FAFSA for need-based aid from my institution. If I include them there are certain boxes that get greyed out and auto-filled, meaning I can't adjust them. Is one of those boxes. It's...

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Hi, I’m a non-traditional Black student. I went to community college first and completed a good chunk of pre-med courses and later I transferred to a university. During my time in CC, I took on 12-19 credit hour course loads (with the permission of my institution), while also taking care of my...

Welcome and thank you for your service! On November 2018, the Veterans' Benefits Forum was created by the suggestion of many of our veteran non-traditional students. The purpose of this forum is to educate our student veterans of their "benefits" (housing, educational, VA updates) not offered...

Hi all, I need some input to make sure I'm making the right decision. Currently, I have run into the joy of having some medical bills and would like to pay them off before they go into collections. I am trying to focus on being a pre-med (volunteer and study MCAT) but worrying about bills and...

First of all, this post is kinda long, but please bear with me because I really need advice at the moment. I do know I have messed up a lot throughout school so please refrain from negative comments if you are not going to give me real advice. I have thought about going down this path many times...

My life dilemma with career choices is that I am not sure which one would be the best choice for my current life situation(Med School, PT School, or PA School). A little background about myself is that I was a Corpsman for about 8 years(Mostly spent with the Infantry and finished off my contract...

Hello, I am a nontraditional student looking to apply to medical school in the coming years. I was originally undecided after highschool and decided to attend a local state university part time while I explored my options. After three semesters I withdrew. I completed 32 credits with an...

Hello all, I have a question on the path I am having to take to get to medical school. I am an adult student and had to start college at 24 instead of 18 years old. I started my collegiate career at a community college in my home state. I received mostly A’s and B’s but I did not finish...

I would like some real life advice on how the hell I make up for my C in intro to Chemistry. I got a 78.7% in a course with no curve, no extra credit, no dropped tests. The instructor was new to the school, and was often befuddled by our book, and admitted openly that he didn’t teach the...

Hello SDN community, Could anyone shed some light on how admissions will likely look at my stats? I received my bachelors in science degree in 2009, and joined the Army shortly after. After 9 years of service, I am ready to pursue my long time interest in dentistry. The glaring issue for me...

Hello :) I graduated UG in 2017 and recently finished my first year in a 2 year graduate program in religious studies. I unfortunately found myself in a financial bind this past spring and had to start working fulltime somewhere that pays well in order to start earning money to pursue my...

Long time contributor but now I come for assistance: I have been told that by the end of the week an initiation for a medical discharge will take place after putting in a few years of active duty service as a pharmacy tech. This has come to a shock for myself but given the new guidelines for...

Hello, this is my first post so hopefully it's in the right place. I'm a bit of an older student (not ancient but at least 10 years older than my classmates) that went back to school this past spring. I've been a pastry chef since 2011, which has taken me all over the country. Now that I'm...

How would you prepare for medical school?

Hi everyone, I'm looking to start the process for applications. Here's a bit about my history, I'll give the basic rundown. About myself: Hispanic, adopted into a mixed family, step father was military, first generation to graduate college, from a small town, no one in my family knew a thing...

Hello to anyone kind enough to read this, I'm new and this is my first post here (although I've read several posts by many of you). I graduated with a BS in Biology. I finished with a horrendous GPA of 2.4 and 134 credit hours. (I'd failed and retook a few classes, but was mostly a C student)...

Background: Hi all, I'm going to be starting a new job (turning 30 this year) in a clinic-setting and I anticipate making at least a 2 year commitment. For now, I want this to be the last GAP YEAR JOB before I apply since all previous jobs either were only contract positions (leaving me to...

Hello everyone, I recently got accepted into medical school and its in the middle of nowhere. I am honored to finally be a med student and excited to start my career in healthcare, but the only school I got accepted into is in a rural location. I would like some opinions from those who were/or...

Thanks for Reading! A little bit of Background: I'm an EMT, and I want to eventually be an ER Physician. In December 2018 I'll have a BS in Behavioral Health Psychology, and in December 2020 I'll have a BS in Nursing. The way my BSN is structured, I have a significant amount of space left over...

Hi everyone! I go to a small private school in Pittsburgh and unfortunately they only offer Biochem 1 in the Fall and Biochem 2 in the Spring. Since I have very little background in Biochem I would like to take a Biochem class before taking the MCAT. Do you guys think this is a good idea, or...

I apologize for the lengthy entry so here it goes. Since high school I have been at crossroads as to whether to pursue engineering or medicine. Considering that my father was an engineer and that there was a field that combined both subjects (biomedical engineering), I decided to go to the...

I am a 25 year old senior in college graduating with a BA in liberal arts from a reputable state school. I struggled finding a career path to dedicate myself to but decided now that I want to be in health care. But I'm going to need a job with a living wage and benefits and I really don't have...

Okay so I'm currently in community college because I dropped out of high school and got my GED. I have 12 credits completed so far since this next semester begins my 2nd year. I'm hoping to transfer after this next year and go to either a 4-year college or University for Pre-Vet because I want...

What are some great post bacc programs in NYC for DIY? I need mainly need to retake some upper level bio courses. Thanks.

Hello all, I've searched SDN and the internet over trying to find guidance on my current and somewhat unique situation. I have been working on General Education courses at an online institution (University of Maryland College University) and would like to transfer to Kaplan's online "Health...

I'm a nontraditional student about to start medical school this year. Sometimes I get down because I didn't start medical school right away; other times, I'm content because I think I've matured over the years. I worked at a hospital for over three years in clinical research, and I got...

I am currently thinking about what to write for my personal statement. I am a practicing family law attorney and wanted to write about the "comorbidity" of legal issues and medical problems that my clients face. I represent a large number of indigent clients in a rural part of NC. My clients...

Ok, so I may be one of the the most unlikely candidates to try to get into medical school. I am a 26 y/o man who is married, has one child and a steady government job. I am 1 year away from graduating with a bachelors in Business Administration from a prestigious business school, a degree I...

So I'm on the old side of nontraditional (39), but my general stats are okay: 3.9gpa, LOR from the dean, assistant dean, and head of regional drug development center, plenty of "life experiences" and volunteering and 140 hrs shadowing in my favor, but the problem is that I've been thinking about...

I would love to hear about the experience of some older students in medical school, particularly if there are not many other older students at your school. I'll be applying this spring and should I get accepted anywhere, I'll be 31 when I start. The info I have about the schools I'm applying...

Hi, I'm 27 and currently working in ophthalmic oncology as a technician. Recently I have been pondering the idea of going back to school and pursuing optometry. I'm not interested in performing surgeries but am interested in helping people manage their vision. Ideally, I would like to help...

Hi everyone, I have completed a double major degree in Psychology and History in 2015, Bogazici University, Turkey. Because of the curriculum of my degrees I was not able to complete any chemistry, organic chem, physics of biology classes (so no pre-med preparation). I am willing to apply to...

Hello friends! I'm new here, and I've never been the type of person to post on forums, but I genuinely feel very lost right now and would appreciate any input from folks who are pre-med / have gone through the med school application process. My story in short: I'm Canadian and I went to an Ivy...