am i on the wrong track?

[Cooperemtb]

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Hi there, I'm sure similar situations and questions have been brought to y'all before, but I'm just seeking direct answers so i can grasp a better idea of what I'm dealing with. This will probably end up being a long post filled with a few questions so I apologize and thank you in advance.

I'm an 18 year old high school drop out. I assure that my reasons for dropping out were reasonable and respectable. I've had problems at home which had proven an obstacle that I couldn't dodge or avoid. Though I dropped out a year and a half before what might of been my graduation date, I have put this year and the end of the previous one to good use. Without any studying, I received a 3190 on my GED, which earned me a high scorer award, I completed a fast track semester of community college with a 4.0 GPA and am about to complete my EMT-B course which has been going on since July.

I Love to exceed beyond everyone's expectations and prove them wrong.
However, more than anything I Love to help people and it gives me fulfillment. I want so badly to excel, however I will have to do so with limited help like I have done up until now. Since I don't know what the future holds... I had planned to go on from here to receive a 2 yr RN. After that I want to transfer for my 4 yr RN, and over the next couple years accumulate cash and prerequisites for med school. While this may seem unrealistic I like to set the bar high and eventually support a family and give my children a good life. I guess I'm just kinda thinking of a step program so whether I make it to my goal of becoming a an MD (thinking radiology) or DC or not I will at least be in a situation where I can make money and feel accomplished.

I apologize for the lengthy over share....

From this I would like to know:

1.) will having a GED effect med school acceptance?

2.) I calculated about 6 years of undergrad work, 4 years of med school, and a residency... am i correct on this?

3.)Can anyone think of any better ways to do this?, given my circumstances.

If you want more information to get more of an idea of what i could do, you can pm. Thanks in advance and I really appreciate your time and knowledge.

-cooper

 

[njbmd]

Hi there, I'm sure similar situations and questions have been brought to y'all before, but I'm just seeking direct answers so i can grasp a better idea of what I'm dealing with. This will probably end up being a long post filled with a few questions so I apologize and thank you in advance.

I'm an 18 year old high school drop out. I assure that my reasons for dropping out were reasonable and respectable. I've had problems at home which had proven an obstacle that I couldn't dodge or avoid. Though I dropped out a year and a half before what might of been my graduation date, I have put this year and the end of the previous one to good use. Without any studying, I received a 3190 on my GED, which earned me a high scorer award, I completed a fast track semester of community college with a 4.0 GPA and am about to complete my EMT-B course which has been going on since July.

I Love to exceed beyond everyone's expectations and prove them wrong.
However, more than anything I Love to help people and it gives me fulfillment. I want so badly to excel, however I will have to do so with limited help like I have done up until now. Since I don't know what the future holds... I had planned to go on from here to receive a 2 yr RN. After that I want to transfer for my 4 yr RN, and over the next couple years accumulate cash and prerequisites for med school. While this may seem unrealistic I like to set the bar high and eventually support a family and give my children a good life. I guess I'm just kinda thinking of a step program so whether I make it to my goal of becoming a an MD (thinking radiology) or DC or not I will at least be in a situation where I can make money and feel accomplished.

I apologize for the lengthy over share....

From this I would like to know:

1.) will having a GED effect med school acceptance?

2.) I calculated about 6 years of undergrad work, 4 years of med school, and a residency... am i correct on this?

3.)Can anyone think of any better ways to do this?, given my circumstances.

If you want more information to get more of an idea of what i could do, you can pm. Thanks in advance and I really appreciate your time and knowledge.

-cooper

It looks like you have outlined a strategy for entering healthcare that is workable. In terms of eventually getting into medical school with a GED, the GED will not post problems as long as you have successfully completed the prerequisite courses for medical school with high grades, have a solid undergraduate GPA (average for matriculants is now 3.6 and increasing every year), have a very strong score on the Medical College Admissions Test with no more than one retake (current average for matriculants is 30 with increases yearly).

One thing that you may want to do is be sure that you fully and thoroughly investigate the variety of possibilities in terms of career in healthcare. Nursing and medicine are not the only well-paying careers out there and you may find one such as perfusion technology or physician assistant that takes less time and offers great job satisfaction since you NEED to support your family currently.

Wanting to become a radiologist is a great goal but take many years. If you end up with a bachelors degree in nursing, you still need minimum of 2 years of pre-medical prerequisite coursework in order to do well on the Medical College Admissions Test. In addition, radiology is a very competitive specialty for medical students so that in addition to gaining acceptance into a medical school and completing four years, you need to do very well in medical school. Following medical school you need to be accepted into a 4-year residency. If you desire to perform interventional procedures you need a 1-2 year fellowship beyond residency.

Is becoming a radiologist with a GED doable? Yes but you will be committing yourself to years of study and again, just want to you take the time (since you have it) to do a thorough investigation of all of your possible career options. Good luck and congratulations on getting your life back on track. It was no easy task but then again, getting yourself to this point is why you will likely be successful in getting yourself into medical school if you work strongly and consistently toward your goals.

 

[thoffen]

1.) will having a GED effect med school acceptance?

2.) I calculated about 6 years of undergrad work, 4 years of med school, and a residency... am i correct on this?

3.)Can anyone think of any better ways to do this?, given my circumstances.

If you want more information to get more of an idea of what i could do, you can pm. Thanks in advance and I really appreciate your time and knowledge.

-cooper

1) It should not.
2) The only thing certain is that med school is 4 years 🙂 The rest depends on your individual choices
3) I don't see why you cannot do the "traditional" route -- transferring to a 4-year university, getting good grades, taking your pre-reqs, continually volunteering, and then applying to medical school. Why do you feel you should pursue RN licensure? Nursing is great, but it is a totally different and complementary profession to medicine. It is not a stepping stone to becoming a physician.

You should also keep your mind open about specialty. It's not a fault to think you want one specialty and to do research and shadow doctors/volunteer in that specialty. But, it is silly to ignore the rest of medicine. In medical school, you will do rotations in EVERY specialty, and you don't match for residency until the end.

 

[Cooperemtb]

1) It should not.
2) The only thing certain is that med school is 4 years 🙂 The rest depends on your individual choices
3) I don't see why you cannot do the "traditional" route -- transferring to a 4-year university, getting good grades, taking your pre-reqs, continually volunteering, and then applying to medical school. Why do you feel you should pursue RN licensure? Nursing is great, but it is a totally different and complementary profession to medicine. It is not a stepping stone to becoming a physician.

You should also keep your mind open about specialty. It's not a fault to think you want one specialty and to do research and shadow doctors/volunteer in that specialty. But, it is silly to ignore the rest of medicine. In medical school, you will do rotations in EVERY specialty, and you don't match for residency until the end.

LOL u raise good points... and i appreciate it. After thinking it through almost all night I pretty much decided just to do whatever it takes to become an md. I'm sure eventually I can get some help from a county or something in order to pay for school. I'm getting way ahead of myself too, Medicine does hav e a wide variety of fields and i have years to decide. I just gotta live in the moment 😛 thanks

 

[Law2Doc]

1)
2) The only thing certain is that med school is 4 years 🙂 The rest depends on your individual choices

Well, there are certainly people having to repeat courses or years in med school so nothing is certain, timewise. A 90+% of US allo med school matriculants will become doctors, but not always in 4 years.

 

[Vihsadas]

If your only purpose by going to nursing school is to become a doctor, admissions committees will seriously question your motives. I think that people believe that adcoms like to see the switch from nursing to MD, but from what I've heard and seen this does not seem to be the case.

Your drive seems genuine, and I have no doubt that if you work your ass off, and are willing to do whatever it takes you'll reach your goal. I don't think, however, that getting an RN is the way to become a doctor. Take your medical prerequisite courses, get a bachelor's degree, and then apply.

Good luck!

 

[rgarrig]

Hi there, I'm sure similar situations and questions have been brought to y'all before, but I'm just seeking direct answers so i can grasp a better idea of what I'm dealing with. This will probably end up being a long post filled with a few questions so I apologize and thank you in advance.

I'm an 18 year old high school drop out. I assure that my reasons for dropping out were reasonable and respectable. I've had problems at home which had proven an obstacle that I couldn't dodge or avoid. Though I dropped out a year and a half before what might of been my graduation date, I have put this year and the end of the previous one to good use. Without any studying, I received a 3190 on my GED, which earned me a high scorer award, I completed a fast track semester of community college with a 4.0 GPA and am about to complete my EMT-B course which has been going on since July.

I Love to exceed beyond everyone's expectations and prove them wrong.
However, more than anything I Love to help people and it gives me fulfillment. I want so badly to excel, however I will have to do so with limited help like I have done up until now. Since I don't know what the future holds... I had planned to go on from here to receive a 2 yr RN. After that I want to transfer for my 4 yr RN, and over the next couple years accumulate cash and prerequisites for med school. While this may seem unrealistic I like to set the bar high and eventually support a family and give my children a good life. I guess I'm just kinda thinking of a step program so whether I make it to my goal of becoming a an MD (thinking radiology) or DC or not I will at least be in a situation where I can make money and feel accomplished.

I apologize for the lengthy over share....

From this I would like to know:

1.) will having a GED effect med school acceptance?

2.) I calculated about 6 years of undergrad work, 4 years of med school, and a residency... am i correct on this?

3.)Can anyone think of any better ways to do this?, given my circumstances.

If you want more information to get more of an idea of what i could do, you can pm. Thanks in advance and I really appreciate your time and knowledge.

-cooper

My 2-cents:

1. Work part (or full) time to support yourself, and take a standard 2 year course load over two or three years (including summer school) at your community college.

2. Transfer to a public 4-year university, knowing that you only need to complete 2 additional years (your credits should transfer). How to pay for this? Easy; financial aid. Scholarships, loans, whatever - if you get accepted to a university, you can almost always arrange payment even if you have little or no money on your own.

You want to go to medical school? Don't waste your time being a nurse. There is no reason why you can't complete the first two years at community college while working, then use loans and scholarships to put you through the last two years of full-time schooling at a university.

Also, having a GED won't hurt you.

Please don't sell yourself short by delaying your plans; if you really want to be an MD, take the shortest route. Otherwise, there is a real good chance Life will side-line you before you get there.

Good luck, and PM me if you have any questions.

 

[rgarrig]

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