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Hi all, I'm a prospective non-trad student exploring the possibility of a career change into medicine. I graduated in 2014 with a degree in Civil Engineering (cGPA: 3.85 ; sGPA: 3.86), and I have been working as a engineer in the oil and gas world for the past 6 years. However, my current career is just not doing it for me. The idea of med school has been in the back of my mind for a few years now, but until a few months ago, I had not given it serious consideration. Well that's been rapidly changing. After lurking these forums for several months and attempting to formulate a plan of attack, I decided to create an account in hopes of getting some advice. So here goes:
With my CVEN undergrad, I have about 25 hours of pre-reqs I still need (Chem II, Orgo I and II, Bio I and II, and BioChem). Through my engineering degree, I have completed Physics I and II, several calculus courses, Chem I, and Statistics. However, I should note that my Physics I credit is from the AP exam in 2010 and my Physics II credit was completed at a community college in summer school in 2011.
My hopeful path is as follows: Enroll in summer courses at my local community college this summer in order to complete Bio I and II, along with Chem II (completion of these courses at community college actually came as the recommendation of my local university's advising department). Night school is not an option for these courses at my local CC, so this will require me to quit my full time job. My summer would be spent taking those 12 hours along with adding non-clinical volunteering as much as possible (I figure any meaningful clinical experiences will not be available to me for several months given COVID-19). I would then enroll at my local university in the Fall as a non-degree seeking student in order to complete Orgo I and Biochem. Enrollment in the local university would also give me access to their pre-health advising, although it's unclear if I'd be eligible for their committee letters. In the fall, I'd be continuing to add non-clinical volunteering hours with the hope of beginning my clinical volunteering and shadowing by then (my clinical volunteering orientation at the local hospital was already delayed from early March to early June, and I expect this will only get pushed back further). The Spring 2021 semester would then be spent in Orgo II (possibly some humanities-type courses to round out my pre-reqs) and preparing for the MCAT. My target MCAT date would be April 2021. Right now, my main focus is on ensuring I'd be prepared to take the MCAT next Spring, so that I could participate in the 2021-2022 application cycle with a focus in-state at TX schools (preferably Houston-area).
So....my questions:
1.) With my DIY-post bacc approach, would I be better served completing all remaining pre-reqs at a university as opposed to splitting them between community college and university? The university summer course schedule would not allow me to complete all 12 hours there, so I'm leaning toward the community college (also helps that it would be substantially cheaper). However, should I be worried that 12 hours of my science pre-reqs would be coming from CC when my Physics pre-reqs are already coming from AP/CC credit? I would think my track record in Engineering at a 4-year university would help to prove my science competencies, but I want to double-check.
2.) Is the path I have laid out too aggressive in terms of timeline? I am fortunate enough to be able to finance these next two years of schooling/cost-of-living expenses through my savings from the last six years. However, stretching the post-bacc program out another year would put a strain on that.
3.) If the university I attend offers a committee letter, but I am not eligible for it because I did not complete enough credit hours at the university, would that be held against me come application time?
I apologize for the wall of text, but I have been slowly collecting information over the past several weeks, and I figured now was as good a time as any to throw all my questions out there. This forum has been a huge help already for me, so I'm looking forward to getting involved!!
With my CVEN undergrad, I have about 25 hours of pre-reqs I still need (Chem II, Orgo I and II, Bio I and II, and BioChem). Through my engineering degree, I have completed Physics I and II, several calculus courses, Chem I, and Statistics. However, I should note that my Physics I credit is from the AP exam in 2010 and my Physics II credit was completed at a community college in summer school in 2011.
My hopeful path is as follows: Enroll in summer courses at my local community college this summer in order to complete Bio I and II, along with Chem II (completion of these courses at community college actually came as the recommendation of my local university's advising department). Night school is not an option for these courses at my local CC, so this will require me to quit my full time job. My summer would be spent taking those 12 hours along with adding non-clinical volunteering as much as possible (I figure any meaningful clinical experiences will not be available to me for several months given COVID-19). I would then enroll at my local university in the Fall as a non-degree seeking student in order to complete Orgo I and Biochem. Enrollment in the local university would also give me access to their pre-health advising, although it's unclear if I'd be eligible for their committee letters. In the fall, I'd be continuing to add non-clinical volunteering hours with the hope of beginning my clinical volunteering and shadowing by then (my clinical volunteering orientation at the local hospital was already delayed from early March to early June, and I expect this will only get pushed back further). The Spring 2021 semester would then be spent in Orgo II (possibly some humanities-type courses to round out my pre-reqs) and preparing for the MCAT. My target MCAT date would be April 2021. Right now, my main focus is on ensuring I'd be prepared to take the MCAT next Spring, so that I could participate in the 2021-2022 application cycle with a focus in-state at TX schools (preferably Houston-area).
So....my questions:
1.) With my DIY-post bacc approach, would I be better served completing all remaining pre-reqs at a university as opposed to splitting them between community college and university? The university summer course schedule would not allow me to complete all 12 hours there, so I'm leaning toward the community college (also helps that it would be substantially cheaper). However, should I be worried that 12 hours of my science pre-reqs would be coming from CC when my Physics pre-reqs are already coming from AP/CC credit? I would think my track record in Engineering at a 4-year university would help to prove my science competencies, but I want to double-check.
2.) Is the path I have laid out too aggressive in terms of timeline? I am fortunate enough to be able to finance these next two years of schooling/cost-of-living expenses through my savings from the last six years. However, stretching the post-bacc program out another year would put a strain on that.
3.) If the university I attend offers a committee letter, but I am not eligible for it because I did not complete enough credit hours at the university, would that be held against me come application time?
I apologize for the wall of text, but I have been slowly collecting information over the past several weeks, and I figured now was as good a time as any to throw all my questions out there. This forum has been a huge help already for me, so I'm looking forward to getting involved!!
