A new beginning... advice

[MIT2MD]

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Hi Everyone,

(Story)
I was wondering if I could get a little insight to my dilemma. HERE IS THE SHORT VERSION (email me if you want the long version) All my life I wanted to be in the medical profession. I started with working at a PT office and I loved the feeling of helping people and rehabilitating them back to their ?normal? state of physical activity. Being 19 at that time, I had all the doors open to me with career. I veered off to working in computers (my hobby) and graduated 2002 with a BA in Environmental studies (GPA 2.5)  Gosh what the heck was I thinking? I had no clue where my career/life was heading. With these grades I felt I was too stupid to be a doctor. So I just kept working with computers. Then when I got the new job again in computers thinking the money would be good; the money is ok but still not making me happy. Unfortunately, during this time, my girlfriend died from an illness (I rather not go into details) and she has always encouraged me to continue on with what ever that made me happy and taking care of her did. For the past three years now, since I graduated college, I wanted to make more of myself. I needed to raise that GPA and start taking hold of life. I ended up obtaining my Masters of Information Technology and graduated with a 3.75 GPA. I also recertified with my CPR+AED training and volunteered with the Red Cross ? that I loved. In the end, I just felt that money is not everything for me but helping people get better does make me happy (that I could make a difference) ~ what a clich?!
(Problem)
Now I am 25 and I want to apply to different schools to complete my pre-req?s; which by the way I practically don?t have any of my sciences done. Well I take that back. I have taken bio 1&2, general physics, and Calc 1&2. (Respectively speaking Bio B+ & CR, Physics B-, and Calc A & A-) But this was over 3 years ago. I would still need O Chem and I am sure that I would like to take Bio over again. A part of me feels that I may have waited too long. Provided that I have to keep my full-time job to pay off some bills, I don?t know if I should apply to a post-bacc school (NYU or Columbia) or just go to a CC (community college).
My dilemma is AM I TOO LATE?
Am I better off sticking with my job and forgetting this whole career change?
Has anyone been in my position before (or something close to it)?
(Opportunity)
There is this course that I could take from Keiser College (online) where I would receive an A.S. in Medical Assistant and I would take BIO, Anatomy & Phys, micro Bio, Radiology, Ultrasound, and 4 clinical rotations at a hospital. Good experience but does it weigh out?
Or I could just take classes & labs at a CC?
Or I could go for a post-bacc P/T ????
Decisions, decisions??HELP!!!!!!!


I appreciate anyone who could just spend a moment of their time to share their opinion.
Thanks

 

[samenewme]

Wow, you have a lot of decisions to make here! Advice on random bits of it from me:

If you want to take your pre-med prereqs, do so at a 4-year university if at all possible, or a CC as your second choice. Most med schools won't accept online courses for your prereqs.

Do the Medical Assisting course only if you want to work as a medical assistant while getting ready for med school. The coursework is not rigorous enough to give you the grounding in the sciences you need to rock the MCAT and meet the prerequisite requirements for med schools.

There are lots of career-changers who decide to become physicians; you can look at oldpremeds.org, which is full of nontraditional students, including some with old, bad grades to overcome. Finally, you would be wise to volunteer in health care settings where you'll have more contact with patients and physicians, in a hospital or free clinic. This can give you a peek at various health professions and decide which one is right for you.

I don't believe in settling for a career when your heart calls you to another one. But you do have to get more exposure to the health profession so you can hear clearly what you want to be.

 

[MIT2MD]

Thanks for the advice. I very hesitant about the online classes and I do want to go through a rigirous science course to so that I could rock the MCATs. I will look for classes at my local CC or even a University. Money is just a little tight (as I know many people would find it the same way) and I sometimes fear that the CC classes may not weigh as much as those in a 4-year University.

As for the Mecidal Assistant program, I don't want to be one although I thought the classes would have gave a leverage (I guessed wrong). =(
So would you say to get through my core classses and let med school lead me the rest of the way?

Thanks for the info.

 

[medanthgirl]

Hi there,

Only you are going to know if your decision is right, mixture of logic, heart, and gut instinct. I can say that I just turned 26 this weekend, have an undergrad, master's, and a decent research job in breast ca research, but I have never wanted to be a doctor more in my life. I had the same exact feelings you did...I started out pre-med, but after a 3.1 GPA, 2.7 sci GPA, I thought....oh well, so much for that career choice. I've tried other things that I've liked since then...international health, medical anthropology, cancer research, but all they've done is still remind me how much I still want to be a doctor, and have the background that I do possess to influence my practice with patients. It's a long road for me, I'll retake physics and biochem this year, then apply to a post-bacc program, then apply to med school. And I'm married...so of course family/kids are something that's in the forefront of my mind, given my age. I don't think we can tell you what you should do, but we can tell you there are people out there like you doing the same thing.

 

[medanthgirl]

Also, if you can, do the courses at a university, not a community college...those topics are going to be a lot of work either way, and it would be rough to go through all that and then have someone not rank the difficulty of your program/school as high as even a local university

Having taught at a community college (don't get me wrong - I think they're great!! and very affordable)...they tend to be more for students trying to get into a university for undergrad degrees and a few grad degrees...like teaching, nursing, and social work. Maybe it's possible, but i would be cautious.

 

[samenewme]

So would you say to get through my core classses and let med school lead me the rest of the way?

Thanks for the info.

I would say get through your core courses, see how your grades are (make 'em great!) and start talking to pre-med advisors, admissions staffs at med schools, etc., to get an idea of what you need to do on top of that to be a competitive applicant. You do have a low GPA to overcome, and it may be that a special master's program, or taking a few advanced sciences after the pre-reqs, or something else, may be what you need to show you can cut the mustard. Get a few credits under your belt to show you're serious, and then keep getting feedback as you go along.

And definitely start volunteering in a clinical setting. It helps you get into med school, and it also helps you solidify in your mind why you want to go--very important at 11:00 at night when you're still not ready for tomorrow's organic chemistry exam.

 

[daisygirl]

You are not too old! Also, don't worry about the fact that you didn't take the 'straight and narrow path' that many premeds take on their way to med school.

I had a friend who was literally all over the place with career aspirations (phd in excercise physiology, computer stuff, physical therapy, etc... and he was matriculated in programs for all of them at one point or another). My friend wound up going to a CUNY (Lehman) in order to fufill his premed requirements, and he studied hard for the MCAT. In the end, his hard work paid off, and he is now in med school (4th year) at Miami. By the way, if I am remember correctly, he was 37 when he got into med school.

You've already received good advice from other posters, so I'll just chime in- take the premed requirements that you still need and study hard for the mcat when the times comes. One thing I would say though is that you DO NOT need to worry about volunteering. I honestly believe that med school adcoms want to see volunteering for two reasons- (1) young students should be exposed to the healthcare field to make sure that being a physician is really a right choice for them, and (2) adcoms need a way to differentiate TYPICAL premeds since typical premeds often devote their college years to only college (i.e. they don't work, so they can spend oodles of time on their studies). Just concentrate on getting your prereqs done and working towards the MCAT. ONLY volunteer if you find that such an activity will help you grow as a person- SO DON'T volunteer if you'd only be doing it to make yourself competitive in the eyes of adcom members.

Good luck, and don't fret. Becoming a physician is a long road for anyone who decides to pursue such a path.

 

[daisygirl]

One more thing. Don't look into doing a postbac program just yet. I would enroll in your local college. Your location says Kew Gardens, so I assume you are from Queens. Look into CUNY Queens College, I've heard that they have a pretty good pre-med department there (I went to Lehman). See how your first semester goes while taking the premed classes you still need. If you find that you are having difficulty for some reason, look into decreasing your load (only until your acclimated with regards to being back at school).

You really should only do a postbac if you are looking to increase your gpa (particulary science).

 

[MIT2MD]

Only you are going to know if your decision is right, mixture of logic, heart, and gut instinct. ..... I don't think we can tell you what you should do, but we can tell you there are people out there like you doing the same thing.

You are absolutely right. I know the decision is up to me and I have a strong intension to succeed in the medical field. I am not afraid of the work or the studying, it is getting in that I feel is the hardest. Once I get in it will be a whole new ball game.
Thx
Oh and happy belated birthday.

 

[Jeff3614]

The first and foremost thing to point out here is that you are most definitely not too old. If anything, you're probably more prepared than most people coming directly out of college. To come out of school and hold down a good job and support yourself, while probably making a decent salary - take heart, you've experienced life outside of the comfy confines of the ivory tower, and that counts for a lot. I believe it takes alot of conviction to walk away from an up and coming career to pursure something like medicine; and that's not taking into consideration those people who have kids, a wife, a mortgage, etc. Especially when you consider the risks involved. All too often people 'fall' into a job that sorta interests them, and well, the rest is history. I'm sure I'll reap a little criticism here by saying this, but in my experience, a great majority of people don't truely know what they want out of life until they are well into thier mid to late twenties. Even by that point it's still up in the air for some.

Take it slow and do as much research as you can on the professions you're interested in. It sounds like you've done this already, which means you're pretty serious. If you're still with me, here's my take on your situation.

The undergrad GPA is not competitive at all, however, you've already completed a masters degree with a 3.75 GPA, which proves you're capable of doing regular class work while getting good grades. You have good enough grades in the science related classes you did take and they are still new enough that retaking them would look bad, so I'd avoid a post-bac program. (This is my own opinion, but it's best to write to the medical schools you wish to attend and see how they would view a retake of the science classes, given the elapsed time)

I'd find the most competitive university possible, avoid community college, and become a student-at-large - preferably a university with a pre-med program. This will allow you to take any classes you want without officially seeking a degree. The most important thing here is to talk to a pre-med advisor and inform him/her about you're goals, this will grease the wheels for LORs, which you will need.

From what you stated above: you'll need to take physics II, one more chemistry class (Probably analytical chem), two organic chemistry classes, and I'd recommend biochem and another bio class like cell biology. This would give you six classes to boost your BCMP GPA to a competitve level and it will prepare you for the MCAT. If you do well in these classes it could bring your cumulative GPA up to a 3.2 - 3.4 and give you a BCMP in the 3.6 - 3.7 range depending on the amount of credits, which isn't as horrible as some on this forum would have you believe. During this time you'll need to rack up some volenteer time at a hospital and probably some face time with your professors so they can write you a good LOR.

The best advice you can get, even though I wrote this long post, is to email the medical schools with questions or find a pre-med advisor to guide you through this process, because chances are they'll be able to have everything in front of them and layout a more comprehensive plan for you.

Hope this helps.

-J

 

[robo77]

as so many people already wrote...you are not too old at all. going straight to business and a source of your dilemma...your undegrad GPA is not the greatest, but is still easy enough to fix, provided that you do well in retaking/taking some of the classes at a decent 4 year college. i would strongly advocate for you to stay away from CC, not because they are bad or something, but if you do set yourself on the path to the medical school, do not shoot yourself in the foot by making a bad decision from the start. take classes at a good 4 year college somewhere close to home and see what comes out of it. as far as volunteering, only do it if you have the time, I have seen plenty of people put their best into volunteering and research while grades went to ****, do not make the same mistake. number one priority is to do well in your science classes and prepare well for the mcat, everything else you can do during thr glide year or thereafter if you have the time. try to have a balanced life while you take the science classes, meaning work hard and play hard as well to get the steam out. stay away from 18 year old pre-meds at your newly chosen school, they will only make you more paranoid for no reason, their failures or insecurities should not spill over to you, they know very little about anything, the wisest of them still need about 7 years to know as much about life as you do presently. if you do have some free time while taking science classes, visit local bars before visiting local hospitals for volunteering, and the gym...yes that is probably the best way to spend your free time...4 year colleges probably have better gyms than CC, something to consider.

 

[medanthgirl]

Hee thanks MIT2MED! It was a good birthday...one of my gifts from my husband was the Examcrackers books for MCAT...the scary part was it was my favorite gift!! 🙂

 

[mshheaddoc]

Same boat as you ... 25 ... switched majors. GPA SUCKS. Life long persuit is medicine. I am actually finishing up my MBA this year, then next year looking for a post-bacc/pre-req program to get my sciences in and then from there I will see if I get in anywhere, if not then I'm going to do a post-bacc program to strengthen grades (hopefully I can rock the MCAT!).

As others suggested, do your credits at a 4-year university if possible. That is my problem as I work full time and can only take classes at night. I'm lucky enough that there is a post-bacc evening program for me to enter but it will be a commute 🙁 Still working out the details myself, but there is a thread around here ...
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=121922

For us old premeds ... and as stated below above http://www.oldpremeds.org is a great place of support!

Its seems there is a growing trend of "older" doctors entering medicine ... even if I was warned by current doctors that if they had the choice, they wouldn't have gone into medicine!

 

[jules0328]

Hi Everyone,

(Story)
I was wondering if I could get a little insight to my dilemma. HERE IS THE SHORT VERSION (email me if you want the long version) All my life I wanted to be in the medical profession. I started with working at a PT office and I loved the feeling of helping people and rehabilitating them back to their ?normal? state of physical activity. Being 19 at that time, I had all the doors open to me with career. I veered off to working in computers (my hobby) and graduated 2002 with a BA in Environmental studies (GPA 2.5)  Gosh what the heck was I thinking? I had no clue where my career/life was heading. With these grades I felt I was too stupid to be a doctor. So I just kept working with computers. Then when I got the new job again in computers thinking the money would be good; the money is ok but still not making me happy. Unfortunately, during this time, my girlfriend died from an illness (I rather not go into details) and she has always encouraged me to continue on with what ever that made me happy and taking care of her did. For the past three years now, since I graduated college, I wanted to make more of myself. I needed to raise that GPA and start taking hold of life. I ended up obtaining my Masters of Information Technology and graduated with a 3.75 GPA. I also recertified with my CPR+AED training and volunteered with the Red Cross ? that I loved. In the end, I just felt that money is not everything for me but helping people get better does make me happy (that I could make a difference) ~ what a clich?!
(Problem)
Now I am 25 and I want to apply to different schools to complete my pre-req?s; which by the way I practically don?t have any of my sciences done. Well I take that back. I have taken bio 1&2, general physics, and Calc 1&2. (Respectively speaking Bio B+ & CR, Physics B-, and Calc A & A-) But this was over 3 years ago. I would still need O Chem and I am sure that I would like to take Bio over again. A part of me feels that I may have waited too long. Provided that I have to keep my full-time job to pay off some bills, I don?t know if I should apply to a post-bacc school (NYU or Columbia) or just go to a CC (community college).
My dilemma is AM I TOO LATE?
Am I better off sticking with my job and forgetting this whole career change?
Has anyone been in my position before (or something close to it)?
(Opportunity)
There is this course that I could take from Keiser College (online) where I would receive an A.S. in Medical Assistant and I would take BIO, Anatomy & Phys, micro Bio, Radiology, Ultrasound, and 4 clinical rotations at a hospital. Good experience but does it weigh out?
Or I could just take classes & labs at a CC?
Or I could go for a post-bacc P/T ????
Decisions, decisions??HELP!!!!!!!


I appreciate anyone who could just spend a moment of their time to share their opinion.
Thanks

You are most certainly not old. I am 26, with a BA in pre-law and an MA in Exercise Physiology. Been working as a Clinical EP now for 2 years and love what I do but want to do a lot more with myself. I love patient care and found myself asking questions and almost pretending I was a doctor at some points (in my head, of course)! Not to re-post what other people have suggested, but I do think that you need to follow your dreams. I know too many people who didnt follow their dreams and only went into careers due to the $ or whatever else, and they are miserable.

Do take pre-reqs or at least finish them up at a 4 year university, try for a post bacc. If you live in Queens, Hunter has a good program. I would suggest Columbia, but its very expensive and I hear Hunter has better professors. I have taken Bio I, CHem I, and Physics I at a community college and plan on going to Hofstra for a post bacc. If you are interested, Hofstra has a Post Bacc, its relatively a new program, and its expensive. But, I hear that the class sizes are small compared with say, Stonybrook. However, Stony has large lectures.

Unlike some other posters, I think work experience counts for a lot and I would volunteer or try to find a job in the healthcare industry. Maybe as a tech or a research assistant. Good luck! Dont give up on your dream, you will regret it.

 

[911Med]

No matter how old you are.
No matter how bad your GPA was.

If you feel that this is your "life calling" - you will get it done.

The MCAT is fresh/soph science classes and the amount of hours that
you put in is directly related to how you will score.

junebuguf has MANY inspirational stories for you.

Keep ya head up and go for it.

 

[ussdfiant]

25 years old? You're just a pup!

 

[MIT2MD]

This site is great and I ever so much appreciate the encouragment. I may not have a wife, children, or a house of my own (yet), but I do feel that time will come. Before I settle though I feel that my career has to come first.

I am pretty sure that classes in CC (even though there are some good schools here in NY) may not be as well looked at as a 4-year university. I will certainly look into schools that will accomidate the pre-reqs while maintaining my full time job (unfortunately the money situation is a necessity while living on my own).

Can anyone mention to me how you handled your time management?
Is there a systematic way to take my pre-reqs to be prepared for the MCATs?

just some thought that came to mind...

 

[daisygirl]

I am pretty sure that classes in CC (even though there are some good schools here in NY) may not be as well looked at as a 4-year university. I will certainly look into schools that will accomidate the pre-reqs while maintaining my full time job (unfortunately the money situation is a necessity while living on my own).

I know I'm off on a tanget but here goes anyway...
It really sucks that schools look down at a person getting their prereqs at a community college. Often times, when a person has to work and GO TO school, they'll find that core classes are not offered during the day. Of course this is often due to most traditional students not having to work to support themselves, thus there is often no demand for schools to offer core classes at night. I found myself in this very predicament when I was in undergrad. I had to take a quantitative analysis chem course, and Lehman College didn't offer it during weeknights or weekends. Low and behold, Bronx Community College did offer the very class that I needed on the weekends. So, I wound up auditing the class and completing it at BCC. Also, I found something quite surprising when I did do this- I found that the labs at BCC were so much nicer, newer, and better stocked than the labs at Lehman college. I understand that Lehman is not Columbia, but it is still a four year university and it has way more chem majors than BCC does.

Anyhow, I'll still reiterate that it really sucks that adcoms are so elitist when it comes to undergrad institutions. It is ashame. I honestly believe that you will shine if you've got the determination and the intelligence- and this can be illustrated clearly by your gpa (yes, a bit subjective) and your MCAT score (much less subjective). Life isn't fair sometimes.... 🙄