Any Thoughts

[uva]

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Looking for peoples thoughts:

Currently I am considering doing what needs to get done to go to med school.

I have a BA from Umass-Amherst, (3.75 overall). I only took bio 1&2 and I believe that I got b+'s in each. I would most likely want to repeat for MCAT sake.

I also have a JD from Univ. of Virginia (GPA was around 3.6 = top 20%) and currently practice as a corporate atty. focusing on health law primarily for integrated delivery systems.

So at my age of 30 is there still hope? It is clear that I will need to get all of my sciences done and I am thinking of a few options.

1) Do a post-bac program that focuses only on the courses I need to get in to med. school.

2) Get a Bio degree (or other science) as this would allow me to sit for the IP bar exam and practice IP law. I would only take this route if there is a serious risk of not getting into a med school program due to my age.


So I guess the big question is....am I getting to old? I am not as concerned about getting the grades I need in my sciences, as I am about the med school application process. If it is difficult to get in at >30 then perhaps having the science degree and ability to sit for the patent bar will at least allow me to feel like it was worth it (IP get compensated at a higher level). But on the other hand, it would take more time to get a science BS, and time may not be on my hands.

Any thoughts?

 

[DrMom]

You're not too old. Also, I wouldn't bother getting another degree...just take the pre-reqs you need either in a post-bac or independently.

 

[Tigger27]

Definitely not too old! I'm 28, and will be starting med school in July. I graduated w/ a degree in psych (only science experience was astronomy and the neuro aspects of psych). I worked in social work for several years before deciding on med school. Did a post bac program that allowed me to do all prereqs in one year and took the MCAT the April I was finishing the program. Score was avg, but not as good as I wanted, so I repeated in August and went up several points. I had several interviews and have had multiple acceptances. I will probably end up at Emory, but I'm not 100% sure. There were others in my post-bac program older than me, and at my interviews I wasn't the oldest either. Everyone takes their own unique path. I found being a non-traditional student was definitely to my advantage. It gives conversational topics, insight, experience and wisdom that's hard to get otherwise. I overheard some younger applicants complaining about "hard" interview questions that asked "totally hypothetical situations" (their words) such as talking about making difficult ethical decisions - I found myself thinking, "that's not hypothetical, I've had to do that a million times!" It sounds like you have some great experiences that will ONLY be to your advantage. I'm excited for you. Knowing what you are after and being able to readily tap into the passion that is driving this career switch for you will be the most important resource you'll have...I know it sounds hokey, but it will help you enjoy the journey you are on and not merely the end result. Good luck

 

[calbear15]

definitely DO NOT get another BS. That's crazy. (Unless you really want to have the "college experience" again...ahh...college coeds....yum...)

You can either take science classes on your own, in a state school or something, or enroll in a formal post-bacc program. Don't worry about your age. Your maturity should actually be an advantage because you're probably more focused on your objective than other students. If you need structure, I'd recommend that you enroll in a post-bacc program. You can find lots of information on this forum about post-bacc programs and I suggest that you find one that's suitable for you.

If don't need structure, then maybe you can just take science classes on your own time; perhaps you can even keep your day job.

After the classes you'd have to take care of a little thing called the MCAT. BUt we can worry about that later.

good luck

 

[Law2Doc]

definitely DO NOT get another BS. That's crazy... If don't need structure, then maybe you can just take science classes on your own time; perhaps you can even keep your day job.

Not sure if I agree with the above poster in terms of advice to a practicing lawyer. 🙄 Getting a BS is not necessarilly "crazy" given the second career option (IP) you noted -- if you were going to try and get into Patent, your life would be much easier if you had a hard science BS (as opposed to a BA and taking numerous science courses a la carte, which I believe is also possible). Also, if your law job was anything like mine, you will not be able to take science courses and continue working at law full time -- it tends to be a very time consuming profession without fixed hours (so you need to be prepared not to "keep your day job"). And at 30, I wouldn't encourage the taking one course at a time over many years route even if your schedule was relatively fixed.
However if medicine is your primary goal (and IP is the back-up), your best bet will be to enroll in a formal, full-time postbac program. If you don't excell and get into med school (which I suspect you will, given your credentials to date), presumably you could use the science courses you took there as credit toward a future BS or perhaps use the science courses toward the total number you need to sit for the patent bar. At any rate, you are not too old to get in at 30 -- lots of people a lot older than you get in. Good luck.

 

[calbear15]

Not sure if I agree with the above poster in terms of advice to a practicing lawyer. 🙄 Getting a BS is not necessarilly "crazy" given the second career option (IP) you noted -- if you were going to try and get into Patent, your life would be much easier if you had a hard science BS (as opposed to a BA and taking numerous science courses a la carte, which I believe is also possible). Also, if your law job was anything like mine, you will not be able to take science courses and continue working at law full time -- it tends to be a very time consuming profession without fixed hours (so you need to be prepared not to "keep your day job"). And at 30, I wouldn't encourage the taking one course at a time over many years route even if your schedule was relatively fixed.
However if medicine is your primary goal (and IP is the back-up), your best bet will be to enroll in a formal, full-time postbac program. If you don't excell and get into med school (which I suspect you will, given your credentials to date), presumably you could use the science courses you took there as credit toward a future BS or perhaps use the science courses toward the total number you need to sit for the patent bar. At any rate, you are not too old to get in at 30 -- lots of people a lot older than you get in. Good luck.

He's right. (though I still disagree about the 2nd BS...How long is that gonna take and how much is that gonna cost?) I've been reading more on the forum and I think it's possible to finish your post-bacc within a year. Oh and also, I don't think you should repeat both Bio 1 and Bio 2. Obviously every school differs but most of the time, only one of the Bio semesters deals with molecular biology and that's really the one you need for the MCAT. The other semester of bio usually deals with plants, extinct species and stuff.

 

[Law2Doc]

He's right. (though I still disagree about the 2nd BS...How long is that gonna take and how much is that gonna cost?) I've been reading more on the forum and I think it's possible to finish your post-bacc within a year. Oh and also, I don't think you should repeat both Bio 1 and Bio 2. Obviously every school differs but most of the time, only one of the Bio semesters deals with molecular biology and that's really the one you need for the MCAT. The other semester of bio usually deals with plants, extinct species and stuff.

I agree, the postbac makes more sense if you are definitely going the medicine route. If you go full time, I suppose you could do it in a year with a heavy courseload (especially if you don't take all the bio again) and if you make use of a summer and take an August MCAT, but most of the formal postbacs will suggest/make you spread it out over more time than that. Spreading it out a bit might also make sense since you weren't a science major (as I wasn't).
You would only do the BS if you wanted to have IP/Patent as a fallback, because the number of science courses required to sit for the patent bar is such that you would be not all that far off from that required by a science major. (Just to nitpic, it wouldn't actually be a 2nd BS as the OP has a BA 🙂 ) It also is very hard to get jobs in patent unless you have a science degree, so the BS might be somewhat important for this avenue. But rather than jump right into a BS curriculum, I think you could use a postbac as the initial step in this direction and see how that worked out for you before locking up a fallback route. When I took bio, the first semester was molecular/cellular and the second was organismal. The latter (especially in terms of population genetics, and internal organs -- respiration, kidneys) appeared much much more on my MCAT, but I'm not sure if that is normal, or how most schools break up bio. However, I don't think I'd retake if I got B plusses and it was within, say, 5 years ago (just study hard on that section in an MCAT review course), but if it's older than that, definitely consider taking it again.