Any NC Non-Trads?

[misconstrue]

Hello all,

Are there any non-trads here in NC? How were you able to balance full-time work and complete pre-med requirements?
I work as a clinical research coordinator by day (can be anywhere between 7am-5pm M-F). I only have time to take courses in the evening, but that seems almost impossible in the triangle. How were you able to balance school and work?
I'm considering quitting my job, but I'm torn because I am getting valuable experience in clinical research (which will be great for applications) and money to pay my bills, but I still haven't even completed all requirements to apply for med school. Currently 23 and not getting any younger... I need some advice please!

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[DocJanItor]

If your grades are good, I'd advise you to look into community college and/or online courses from local universities. For example, I took several courses online that had the same course number and description as the in person class and no one knew the difference. Supposedly there are some schools that actually report online vs in person based on the course ID, but I would think those would be rare.

And 23 is young! When I was your age I wasn't even done with my first degree yet!

 

[misconstrue]

If your grades are good, I'd advise you to look into community college and/or online courses from local universities. For example, I took several courses online that had the same course number and description as the in person class and no one knew the difference. Supposedly there are some schools that actually report online vs in person based on the course ID, but I would think those would be rare.

And 23 is young! When I was your age I wasn't even done with my first degree yet!

Thank you for your reply! I didn’t do well during undergrad... Barely got out with a 3.0 overall. How did you manage labs? Were you sent lab kits for your online courses?

 

[DocJanItor]

Thank you for your reply! I didn’t do well during undergrad... Barely got out with a 3.0 overall. How did you manage labs? Were you sent lab kits for your online courses?

Well you did better than I did in undergrad, so you have that going for you. The issue with CC courses is that they can sometimes be seen as "easier" than the courses from a 4 year college (regardless of how true that is) and used to pad your grades. I had a few schools tell me that they wanted to see recent coursework at the 400/500 level to show evidence of my new academic rigor. Since I still had a sub-3.0 GPA and very little shot of ever being accepted otherwise, I decided to do an SMP program.

As for labs, I only did a few of my classes online (Bio I/II, Physics). The labs for those were pretty simple and we had a good lab book. Grow a plant, document its growth, extract banana DNA, etc. Nothing ground breaking. You couldn't do that for Chem or OChem where you have to be there in person and use a lot of safety equipment.

The clinical research you're involved with is certainly valuable to your application, but it will only serve to enhance your application once the fundamentals are there. Although I had the means and wanted to quit my job in the first place, I don't think I could have done as well in my pre-reqs or the MCAT if I had to work at the same time. Plus it just takes so much longer. On the flipside, everyone needs money to live.

 

[misconstrue]

Well you did better than I did in undergrad, so you have that going for you. The issue with CC courses is that they can sometimes be seen as "easier" than the courses from a 4 year college (regardless of how true that is) and used to pad your grades. I had a few schools tell me that they wanted to see recent coursework at the 400/500 level to show evidence of my new academic rigor. Since I still had a sub-3.0 GPA and very little shot of ever being accepted otherwise, I decided to do an SMP program.

As for labs, I only did a few of my classes online (Bio I/II, Physics). The labs for those were pretty simple and we had a good lab book. Grow a plant, document its growth, extract banana DNA, etc. Nothing ground breaking. You couldn't do that for Chem or OChem where you have to be there in person and use a lot of safety equipment.

The clinical research you're involved with is certainly valuable to your application, but it will only serve to enhance your application once the fundamentals are there. Although I had the means and wanted to quit my job in the first place, I don't think I could have done as well in my pre-reqs or the MCAT if I had to work at the same time. Plus it just takes so much longer. On the flipside, everyone needs money to live.

Ah, okay. I’m trying to come to terms with the fact that I’ll have to quit my job and likely pursue a little bit more of a formal postbacc instead of trying to piecemeal things together on my own... How was your SMP? Was it a 1 year program? Sorry for all of the questions...

 

[DocJanItor]

No need to apologize. I wouldn't be on this site and replying to you if I didn't want to answer questions.

I did my SMP after my CC DIY post-bacc. I didn't really have a choice because my GPA was sub-3.0 and getting accepted to any institution was going to be exceedingly difficult. It was one year and it was pretty stressful but very worth it. For one, it gave me a taste of the pace of med school. If I had gone from CC straight to med school, I would've failed so hard or had a heart attack (or both!) It also gave me great prep since half of the courses were med school courses. And since I attend the same institution for med school, I was exempted from those classes (and a partial tuition waiver!)

But while you're in the SMP, it's pretty intense. You're studying everyday, it's somewhat competitive because you're graded against the med students, and you're stressed about getting into med school. Other than one exceptionally hard block of med school, SMP was more stressful for me.

The thing about SMPs is that if you do well, your chances of acceptance go way up. If you do poorly, your chances are pretty much shot forever.