Another what/how to get started thread

[st-engineer]

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Hi all.

I have been reading posts over the past few days and realize there is a wealth of information on this site. However I still feel my situation is unique as I'm sure we all do, so I have some additional questions.

A little about me: I am a licensed civil/structural engineer who has been in the field for 9 years now. I have designed everything from custom homes to office buildings to nuclear power plants and nuclear fuel. I just started my own firm this year as what I felt was a last ditch effort to try and enjoy the field. It's not working.

I have off/on considered the medical field since 08 when I was last laid off. Along the way my interest has been peaked at various times. A few years ago my neighbor across the street was an orthopedic surgeon whose BS undergrad degree was in civil engineering.

Most recently my wife is pregnant with our 2nd and 3rd children. Yup -twins. At first we were told they were fraternal mono dichorionic. Because of that statement my wife was not labeled as high risk and very little was done to monitor her. As I am sure most of you know, mono di twins can only be identical. Also we learned about TTTS since our babies were diagnosed with it at 19 weeks. We then went to CHOP in Philadelphia to have laser ablation surgery performed. My wife is now 31 weeks and doing well. Again the surgery and talking with the doctors has peaked my interest.

I am not really sure why I went into engineering. My father is an architect and I knew I didn't want to do that but I never really gave much consideration to "what I wanted to do with my life"

All that being said, a little about my situation.

I have a BSCE and MSCE (bachelors/masters of science civil engineering) with structural engineering focus.

My GPAs as calculated by my school : 2.732 undergrad and 3.5 grad.

As you can see my undergrad gpa is really low. This was due in part to classes I took 13 years ago. I have a ton of C's in my early science classes (Physics 1&2, inorganic chem 1) I did get an A in calc 1 but C's in calc 2, 3 and differential equations.

I have come a long long way from those early college days. When I got to school I had no idea how to study-never had to before. I remember going over chem notes in another class right before the exam thinking "I never study and here I actually am-Ill ace this thing" Nope. Haha.

I look back on my Physics 1 tests where I got a 50 or so on and the material is stuff I do in my sleep now.

I did have to retake 1 or 2 classes to get into grad school and I turned 1 D into an A, 2 others B's. But again this was a long time ago circa 2006.

OK so where to start. I know I need additional science classes. I have read to check each school you are interested in. That makes sense. But how do I take these? can you just take single classes without going the community college route?

I live in Durham NC. Duke country haha. So I have Duke and UNC Chapel Hill close by. Any shot of me getting into these programs? I realize all that hinges on my MCAT score when I take it but need to focus on the gpa aspect first.

Thanks for any advice/help you can provide. I'll continue reading other posts on here as well.

 

[desdes]

I am pretty sure you can take single classes

 

[HinduHammer]

My suggestions - go to the cheapest/best school you can afford. You can certainly take non-degree seeking classes. It will take you two years to do everything right. As in, 1 year take Bio and Chem, the next year take Physics and Ochem. Take one high-level bio course per semester if you can - and obviously ace everything. In your free time, volunteer with causes you believe in and get exposure to the medical field. You can do this by volunteering in hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, clinics, doctor's offices. You can also work as a scribe or get EMT or CNA certification fairly quickly. If you have to work in another field in order to pay for stuff as you may be the head of household, it will take longer. If that is the case, take only 1 or max 2 classes at a time and start volunteer/clinical exposure NOW. Do not wait until you have finished your pre-reqs to start getting exposure because that will look like box-checking. In my view, due to my own experiences and research, this is the "quickest" way to do everything right.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

Hi all.

I have been reading posts over the past few days and realize there is a wealth of information on this site. However I still feel my situation is unique as I'm sure we all do, so I have some additional questions.

A little about me: I am a licensed civil/structural engineer who has been in the field for 9 years now. I have designed everything from custom homes to office buildings to nuclear power plants and nuclear fuel. I just started my own firm this year as what I felt was a last ditch effort to try and enjoy the field. It's not working.

I have off/on considered the medical field since 08 when I was last laid off. Along the way my interest has been peaked at various times. A few years ago my neighbor across the street was an orthopedic surgeon whose BS undergrad degree was in civil engineering.

Most recently my wife is pregnant with our 2nd and 3rd children. Yup -twins. At first we were told they were fraternal mono dichorionic. Because of that statement my wife was not labeled as high risk and very little was done to monitor her. As I am sure most of you know, mono di twins can only be identical. Also we learned about TTTS since our babies were diagnosed with it at 19 weeks. We then went to CHOP in Philadelphia to have laser ablation surgery performed. My wife is now 31 weeks and doing well. Again the surgery and talking with the doctors has peaked my interest.

I am not really sure why I went into engineering. My father is an architect and I knew I didn't want to do that but I never really gave much consideration to "what I wanted to do with my life"

All that being said, a little about my situation.

I have a BSCE and MSCE (bachelors/masters of science civil engineering) with structural engineering focus.

My GPAs as calculated by my school : 2.732 undergrad and 3.5 grad.

As you can see my undergrad gpa is really low. This was due in part to classes I took 13 years ago. I have a ton of C's in my early science classes (Physics 1&2, inorganic chem 1) I did get an A in calc 1 but C's in calc 2, 3 and differential equations.

I have come a long long way from those early college days. When I got to school I had no idea how to study-never had to before. I remember going over chem notes in another class right before the exam thinking "I never study and here I actually am-Ill ace this thing" Nope. Haha.

I look back on my Physics 1 tests where I got a 50 or so on and the material is stuff I do in my sleep now.

I did have to retake 1 or 2 classes to get into grad school and I turned 1 D into an A, 2 others B's. But again this was a long time ago circa 2006.

OK so where to start. I know I need additional science classes. I have read to check each school you are interested in. That makes sense. But how do I take these? can you just take single classes without going the community college route?

I live in Durham NC. Duke country haha. So I have Duke and UNC Chapel Hill close by. Any shot of me getting into these programs? I realize all that hinges on my MCAT score when I take it but need to focus on the gpa aspect first.

Thanks for any advice/help you can provide. I'll continue reading other posts on here as well.

I would go talk to the Dean/Chair whoever at UNC and Duke about your situation and see what they say. One of my state medical schools turned out to have a particularly gracious unofficial program in place for non-trads, I was in a similar place that you were in. Average engineering student to highly motivated post-bacc student.

 

[st-engineer]

I would go talk to the Dean/Chair whoever at UNC and Duke about your situation and see what they say. One of my state medical schools turned out to have a particularly gracious unofficial program in place for non-trads, I was in a similar place that you were in. Average engineering student to highly motivated post-bacc student.

Thanks-this is really helpful. Are you referring to the medical school deans or just regular university deans? I am considering also contacting the orthpaedic surgery chair at Duke for information as well since this area is an interest of mine.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

Thanks-this is really helpful. Are you referring to the medical school deans or just regular university deans? I am considering also contacting the orthpaedic surgery chair at Duke for information as well since this area is an interest of mine.

Sorry I should have been more specific. My med school does "pre med counseling interviews" during the summer. I'd call the admissions office and ask if you can get one of these with whoever does them at those med schools. At mine it's the chair of admissions who also sits on the admissions committee. That way you get it straight from the horses mouth what you can do to be a competitive applicant at their school, or if it would be a royal waste of time even trying. Plus you get on their radar early so by the time you apply someone there has a name to go with the face.

Personally I'd avoid the specialty type conversations at this point, they are unlikely to take your aspirations this early in the process very seriously. That's not a dig at you, it's just the nature of the process. It's very rare for someone to not change their interest somewhere along the way to MS4.

 

[Zelda840]

A 2.73 ungergrad GPA is going to be nearly impossible to raise enough for consideration at MD programs. Even if you did a full second bachelors degree at 4.00, you would average out at 3.37. I would go for DO school and take advantage of grade replacement.

 

[edgerock24]

A 2.73 ungergrad GPA is going to be nearly impossible to raise enough for consideration at MD programs. Even if you did a full second bachelors degree at 4.00, you would average out at 3.37. I would go for DO school and take advantage of grade replacement.

I agree. This is the quickest and most efficient route. Get your GPA's to 3.0+ (preferably 3.2+), including grade replacement, score 27+ on the MCAT, and you'll be golden for DO.

If you are dead-set on MD, then several years of grade repair would be necessary, as well as an SMP most likely. Even then, nothing would be guaranteed.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

A 2.73 ungergrad GPA is going to be nearly impossible to raise enough for consideration at MD programs. Even if you did a full second bachelors degree at 4.00, you would average out at 3.37. I would go for DO school and take advantage of grade replacement.

Some schools have certain programs/policies in place that replace or at least heavily weight post-bacc performance over Ugpa. What you're saying is generally true, but there are several exceptions and the OP needs to find those exceptions.

 

[mavric1298]

3.37 for MD wouldn't be in bad of shape if the trending is right. I think a lot of people misjudge the importance of trending. I have spoken to a lot of adcoms, and at most school the thing I hear over and over again is how they look at your trending. Ending up with a 3.37 and having a close to 4.0 years after your original undergrad GPA for a good portion of time shows that you have grown as a person and are ready for medical school. I've posted the UW acceptance matrix a bunch of times, but I really think it's a great visualization; there are people with seriously low GPA's and sub 30 MCAT's accepted at UW, but you can guarantee every one of those had to have a positive trend (including sub 3.0's). You'll hear over and over again the importance of the most recent 90 credits, and no more so is this true then for true non-trads. During a info session they even flat out said they would take a low GPA with a strong trend over a high GPA that starts to falter.

As long as you can get past the initial screening, every place i've talked to said they look at every application, and take the time to judge them not just based on an AMCAS GPA. As long as you make yourself much more then just one calculated number, you'll be fine going for MD if you want. That's one of the big things non-trads having going for them, you become so much more then just AMCAS gpa's and MCAT scores.