An older non-trad with questions on possible majors.

[modegirl12]

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Hey everyone,

I have been lurking on this forum for awhile and I was wondering if I can get some feedback or suggestions. I'm considering on going the path of pre-med, but I'm unsure of what to major in. I'm 37 years old(married with no children) and currently enrolled at a community college. I don't have all of my AA requirements done yet, but I was getting ready to apply for my CC's AS nursing program to transfer to a RN-BSN program at a local university. The reason why I was going to get a BS in Nursing and not something science-related like Biomedical Sciences or Chemistry is because of my age. I'm worried about the time frame of when I graduate with a BS in a science field. I should be done with my BS at the end of 2018. I will be 41 almost 42 at that time. Is that too late to apply towards medical school? I was considering a BSN as a back-up plan in case I can't get into a medical school. I could use the BSN and health care experience for a PA school as another option or maybe consider NP also. I want to be in the healthcare field, but I want to be realistic about where I am age-wise and school-wise. My cGPA is average, but I don't have a lot of credits so this can be raised. I'm just starting some pre-req sciences. I was good in science so I'm confident on getting good grades with no issues.
So I would love some advice or possible suggestions on possible plans. Is the BSN a waste? Should I risk getting a science degree at my age? A friend of mine who is a retired physician told me you are never to old to go back and do something else in life. I feel like this is crazy! 🙄

I really appreciate any comments! Thanks for reading!

 

[Goro]

Majors or minors don't matter to us Adcoms, only your doing well in them.

I'm considering on going the path of pre-med, but I'm unsure of what to major in.


Some of my all-time best students have been in their 30s and 40s. I graduated one last year at 50. it's always good to have a Plan B.

I will be 41 almost 42 at that time. Is that too late to apply towards medical school? I was considering a BSN as a back-up plan in case I can't get into a medical school. Is the BSN a waste?

I agree with your friend. What does your heart tell you??
Should I risk getting a science degree at my age? A friend of mine who is a retired physician told me you are never to old to go back and do something else in life.

 

[nontradjd]

The reason why I was going to get a BS in Nursing and not something science-related like Biomedical Sciences or Chemistry is because of my age. I'm worried about the time frame of when I graduate with a BS in a science field. I should be done with my BS at the end of 2018. I will be 41 almost 42 at that time.

Don't pick a major based on age. Pick a major based on what you want to do. Assume you will not get into med school. What would you like to do? It sounds like you want to stay in healthcare regardless of med school, so BSN may be a good choice. But, if you'd rather become a researcher or scientist, then get a science degree. Or get something unrelated to healthcare and science altogether. My BA is in Pastoral Studies (Ministry/Theology) and I have a law degree. Why? Because I enjoy theology and helping people and, professionally, I thought law would be best for me. Now that I'm practicing, I'm realizing medicine may be a better fit (they should really encourage pre-laws to shadow and gain experience like they do pre-meds).

Is that too late to apply towards medical school?

It's never to late to apply to school, be it medical or otherwise. There are very few professions that have age restrictions.

Is the BSN a waste? Should I risk getting a science degree at my age?

The BSN is not a waste if you are willing and desire to work as a nurse should you not get into med school. I would only recommend a science degree if you have an alternative that you like that involves the science degree.

 

[deleted480308]

whatever bachelors you can get As in if you KNOW you are going to med school....if you think you might change your mind, pick something more useful. my bachelors is u-s-e-l-e-s-s

 

[Ad2b]

Get A's in whatever it is including your pre-reqs. You could major in philosophy if that floated your boat, take the bio/chem/orgo/bioc/physics get A's and be accepted.

Follow your heart and do well. Life's cards will fold the way they were supposed to (and no, you are not too old; I am older but had a BA to start with)

 

[modegirl12]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! This gives me a lot to think about. I just assumed that a science degree was the main way to go and what MD and DO schools wanted. I like science, but not enough to be a chemist, scientist, etc...
Okay, so bottom line get great grades and major in something I that I like.
You guys are really helpful! Thanks again!

 

[Ad2b]

In something you like AND the sciences courses (you have to prove you can handle the gen chem, orgo, biochem, physics, biology, psych and soc)...

Good luck!!

 

[GenusTide]

As others have said, major in what interest you but also keep in mind as a non-trad you may want to streamline your studies and not waste time. It is never too late if this is really what you want. I started med school at 31 and thought I was going to be the oldest one there but come to find out there were several others that decided to change professions as well later in life. In my opinion, if medicine is what you want, go straight for it and don't be wishy-washy about it. It was incredibly tough for me to go back to school after I had already started a family and had to constantly turn down social gatherings due to undergrad/medschool but I feel very accomplished and it feels totally worth it now even though I questioned my decision on more than a couple of occasions. The point is, pick a direction and don't look back because it gets much harder than you can imagine at this point and can cause you to loose focus on your goals.
I cringe a little on the advice to pick "any major" though. What I didn't know back in undergrad is how important some of the prereq classes are to helping you doing well in med school. For example, My major had the option between medical botany and genetics. I chose Botany because it was more interesting. I then subsequently struggled with genetics in medicine because I had no knowledge beforehand. So keep that in mind with your major choice and classes you pick within that major. Look up med schools prereqs and make sure they are incorporated into your choice.
Best of luck to you and what ever you decide.

 

[mavric1298]

I can't remember where I saw it, but as far as applicant to matriculant ratio by major, you have a better chance as a non-science major and completing all your pre-reqs pretty much outside your degree. If I remember correctly, lit had the highest ratio of all. Diversity is a good thing, especially since almost everyone is a bio major. I picked molecular/cellular bio because I love biology and think it's fascinating, and classes I'm interested in I do better in.

And I second Gonnif's comment; be very careful about this - I finished a series of gen chem only to learn my CC advisor had been wrong and that it didn't count (chem for healthcare or something like that) - it only applied to nursing school. That was an extra 2 classes basically wasted.

 

[ChE04]

Majors or minors don't matter to us Adcoms, only your doing well in them.

Sorry, a little off topic, but I'm curious why this is the case. Surely it is more difficult to do well in, for example, engineering vs the humanities? I've never understood why this was not accounted for.

 

[Goro]

An A is an A, no matter what the subject. And if you think Fine Arts is easier, you try writing an essay every two weeks on, say, "Influences of the Hudson River School on today's modernists" or "Critique of Mark Rothko" or "Discussion of the Homer Winslow exhibition at the Met".

BTW, our students who have been engineering majors have trouble with our curriculum. I had one in my office (when struggling with my course0 constantly saying "when I was in Engineering school, I was trained to think this way..."

He finally stopped when my Pathologist colleague pointed out "your days as an engineer ended when you put on that white coat."

Also, there's growing evidence that non-science majors make better students and/or doctors.

Sorry, a little off topic, but I'm curious why this is the case. Surely it is more difficult to do well in, for example, engineering vs the humanities? I've never understood why this was not accounted for.

 

[ChE04]

An A is an A, no matter what the subject. And if you think Fine Arts is easier, you try writing an essay every two weeks on, say, "Influences of the Hudson River School on today's modernists" or "Critique of Mark Rothko" or "Discussion of the Homer Winslow exhibition at the Met".

BTW, our students who have been engineering majors have trouble with our curriculum. I had one in my office (when struggling with my course0 constantly saying "when I was in Engineering school, I was trained to think this way..."

He finally stopped when my Pathologist colleague pointed out "your days as an engineer ended when you put on that white coat."

Also, there's growing evidence that non-science majors make better students and/or doctors.

I see. I think I now understand why.

 

[wholeheartedly]

I feel like this is crazy! 🙄

It is.

But you're in good company 😉


Seriously though, welcome. I agree with the above. Pick a major that allows you to do three things:

1.) get As
2.) enjoy and therefore excel
3.) obtain gainful employment if things don't go as planned

Agree with gonnif to watch the difficulty level nursing classes if you go that you. Also, nursing might be good, but keep in mind there are other options in healthcare as well. I had the opportunity to shadow a bunch of different healthcare folks at my local hospital awhile back and highly recommend it if possible. I met histotechnologists, clinical lab scientists (my current field), radiology techs, dosimetrists, nurses in a variety of settings, docs, cardiac perfusionists, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, etc in addition to different types of doctors.

 

[modegirl12]

I appreciate all the suggestions and feedback everyone, but please humor me. If I decide to major in say English, do I just take the science prerequisites as my electives? I'm unfamiliar with how majors work. If I'm majoring in Finance, Engineering, or something that is non-science related, how do I fit in the sciences classes? My local university has minors in Physics and Chemistry, but those minors don't have all the required pre-med courses. Do I just take the sciences at the same time as my non-science courses and graduate with the extra courses? I know these might be a dumb questions, but the college gives their preselected schedule. Are you suppose to follow those pre-planned semesters? Thanks again everyone!

 

[Law2Doc]

... Surely it is more difficult to do well in, for example, engineering vs the humanities? I've never understood why this was not accounted for.

You've obviously not read too many term papers written by Engineers/science majors. To some, like me, humanities were much much easier. To most of my science oriented med school classmates, the idea of having to base their grade on a lengthy thesis paper or essay tests would have had them running for the hills. In truth I think it's actually much "easier" to teach a humanities person to be comfortable with science style tests than to get a science person comfortable with essays/papers. Although the first two years of med school are science classes, and all the tests you will take on this path are science oriented, I'd say the larger aspect of being a doctor is more an art than a Science. Your knowledge of the Krebs cycle or gene splicing is going to help you out far less than your ability to write a readable paper where you explain complicated concepts to a layman. In this job, your ability to help a patient by sitting down and talking to them at the bedside is far greater than whatever you might know how to do in the lab. The profession has realized this and since the 80s has become very open to nonscience majors, and feels they provide a much needed diversity to the field. As a result it's become common for schools to have very non science related majors in for interviews. All you need is the prereqs. And while there isn't per se a big statistical advantage by setting yourself apart from the 60%-70% of cookie cutter bio/biochem majors, who do you think will be more memorable in the interview? The music or dance major who did well in the prereqs, or the yet another bio major with a 3.6/36 and the usual shadowing and volunteering and benchwork research? Med school admission is about people not check-the-box. Pick what you enjoy and figure out how to not be another face in the crowd.

 

[GenusTide]

I appreciate all the suggestions and feedback everyone, but please humor me. If I decide to major in say English, do I just take the science prerequisites as my electives? I'm unfamiliar with how majors work. If I'm majoring in Finance, Engineering, or something that is non-science related, how do I fit in the sciences classes? My local university has minors in Physics and Chemistry, but those minors don't have all the required pre-med courses. Do I just take the sciences at the same time as my non-science courses and graduate with the extra courses? I know these might be a dumb questions, but the college gives their preselected schedule. Are you suppose to follow those pre-planned semesters? Thanks again everyone!

If your major doesn't allow for all the electives you need for the prereq's for med school, then check to see if a counselor knows of a minor that would allow you to fulfill these requirements. If not, you would be required to do these as a "non-degree seeking" status and will likely double your tuition per credit hour rate. Matter of fact, my in institution started charging any student that exceeded the 120cr/hr limit (normal credit's to obtain BA,BS, etc..), with this increased rate per credit.

 

[Ad2b]

If not, you would be required to do these as a "non-degree seeking" status and will likely double your tuition per credit hour rate.

Eh, I would disagree on the "likely double" part as well as any indirect reference to increase in tuition due to non-degree seeking status.

I've gone to 4 different, land granting institutions in different states in different geographical regions and NONE of them charged me more for being non-degree seeking during my pre-reqs.

The only disadvantage I have by being non-degree seeking is that I register after everyone else.

 

[Law2Doc]

Eh, I would disagree on the "likely double" part as well as any indirect reference to increase in tuition due to non-degree seeking status.

I've gone to 4 different, land granting institutions in different states in different geographical regions and NONE of them charged me more for being non-degree seeking during my pre-reqs.

The only disadvantage I have by being non-degree seeking is that I register after everyone else.

Yeah, I have never heard of a non-science major unable to do the prereqs. I think this is a dubious concern. Most places even allow minors without any bump in tuition, which would generally be MORE credits than taking just the prereqs.

 

[GenusTide]

Eh, I would disagree on the "likely double" part as well as any indirect reference to increase in tuition due to non-degree seeking status.

I've gone to 4 different, land granting institutions in different states in different geographical regions and NONE of them charged me more for being non-degree seeking during my pre-reqs.

While you certainly have the right to disagree, it is quite relevant. Here was my institutions policy:
http://www.usf.edu/registrar/resources/echs-info.aspx

Back to the OP's question, just do your research and know what you are looking at. As the previous poster stated, it appears to be different depending on the institution.

 

[nontradjd]

Eh, I would disagree on the "likely double" part as well as any indirect reference to increase in tuition due to non-degree seeking status.

I've gone to 4 different, land granting institutions in different states in different geographical regions and NONE of them charged me more for being non-degree seeking during my pre-reqs.

The only disadvantage I have by being non-degree seeking is that I register after everyone else.

I would say my biggest concern with non-degree classes is that they can affect federal aid. Technically, to receive fed aid you're supposed to be degree-seeking and taking courses toward the degree. Most institutions, though, fail to distinguish, so you can usually just get the aid.

Of course, I don't qualify for federal aid at all anymore so its all out of pocket for me. Woohoo!

 

[Ad2b]

While you certainly have the right to disagree, it is quite relevant. Here was my institutions policy:
http://www.usf.edu/registrar/resources/echs-info.aspx

I attend USF, am non-trad and do not pay an increased tuition. The only difference is non-resident v resident. I am also an FL resident.

 

[wholeheartedly]

At the three different institutions I've attended you could take classes beyond beyond your major either as extra classes or part of the elective requirements. None of those three required extra tuition. You could do this before graduation with your degree.

If you choose to take extra classes after you've graduated with your degree, then you'll likely be a non-degree seeking student. The biggest disadvantage there is that degree seeking students get priority in registering for classes so you might not be able to get into classes that you'd need when you'd like to take them.

For that reason, if you can take the pre reqs while working on your degree, I think that tends to work better.

When I went back to get another bachelor's degree, I did get notice that I'd exceeded something like 125% of the credits required for a bachelor's degree and had to submit an explanation in order to continue to get federal financial aid. I stated that I had gone back to school and was working on another bachelor's degree that would allow for gainful employment, had x credits left, and they approved it.

 

[modegirl12]

Thanks for all of the replys. It's good to know about the possibility of extra tuition costs and financial aid issues that might come up.
My local institution finally got back to me on the prerequisite question I had. They actually have a biology post baccalaureate program. I can do up to 30 additional credit hours for the medical school prerequisites. So this works out much better for me. I'll also see if they will let me take extra courses/electives before I finish my degree.
Thanks again everyone for your help!

 

[ChE04]

You've obviously not read too many term papers written by Engineers/science majors. To some, like me, humanities were much much easier. To most of my science oriented med school classmates, the idea of having to base their grade on a lengthy thesis paper or essay tests would have had them running for the hills. In truth I think it's actually much "easier" to teach a humanities person to be comfortable with science style tests than to get a science person comfortable with essays/papers. Although the first two years of med school are science classes, and all the tests you will take on this path are science oriented, I'd say the larger aspect of being a doctor is more an art than a Science. Your knowledge of the Krebs cycle or gene splicing is going to help you out far less than your ability to write a readable paper where you explain complicated concepts to a layman. In this job, your ability to help a patient by sitting down and talking to them at the bedside is far greater than whatever you might know how to do in the lab. The profession has realized this and since the 80s has become very open to nonscience majors, and feels they provide a much needed diversity to the field. As a result it's become common for schools to have very non science related majors in for interviews. All you need is the prereqs. And while there isn't per se a big statistical advantage by setting yourself apart from the 60%-70% of cookie cutter bio/biochem majors, who do you think will be more memorable in the interview? The music or dance major who did well in the prereqs, or the yet another bio major with a 3.6/36 and the usual shadowing and volunteering and benchwork research? Med school admission is about people not check-the-box. Pick what you enjoy and figure out how to not be another face in the crowd.

I'm not talking about what makes a good doctor, I could care less what major anyone picks. But to compare an A is an A across the board does a disservice to applicants taking classes that require significantly more nose-to-the-grindstone study time outside of class. Everything is not equal, and while I'm sure writing an essay every 2 weeks for a semester is challenging (for the record I would hate it), you are going to have a hard time selling me on the idea that it's on the same level as designing a desalinization plant from the ground up. I'm not looking down on anyone, I'm not saying humanities classes are all easy, and I'm certainly not saying that science majors are smarter. I just think that there is a little bit more to someone's GPA than tallying up the number of A's and B's.

 

[Law2Doc]

I'm not talking about what makes a good doctor, I could care less what major anyone picks. But to compare an A is an A across the board does a disservice to applicants taking classes that require significantly more nose-to-the-grindstone study time outside of class. Everything is not equal, and while I'm sure writing an essay every 2 weeks for a semester is challenging (for the record I would hate it), you are going to have a hard time selling me on the idea that it's on the same level as designing a desalinization plant from the ground up. I'm not looking down on anyone, I'm not saying humanities classes are all easy, and I'm certainly not saying that science majors are smarter. I just think that there is a little bit more to someone's GPA than tallying up the number of A's and B's.

You are entitled to your opinion but I've met tons of science majors who ran from paper and essay heavy coursework like the plague.