Deciding on my path, please help.

[Mcraw71]

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Ok so a little about myself, I'm a Firefighter/EMT-Intermediate with 10 years experience and another 4 working as a EMT-Basic before the FD. I love my job but I've always had a fascination of the medical side and "fixing people". I'm kind of at a crossroads, I'm 32yrs old and don't plan on having children or marriage anytime soon or at all really. I just feel like my destiny is bigger and wanna reach for something greater! I have some concerns and questions tho:

1. I've invested 10 yrs into a pension, I still have 10 more years to go to be vested. I work 24 hrs on and 48 off and every 7th 24 hour shift I have off giving me 5 days in a row off. With Vacation, a flexible schedule, having others work for me, and studying when I have downtime at work can I pull med school off? I'd really like to be able to keep my pension, if not I'd be leaving the department with enough to float on a few years or possible pay for med school without a pension.

2. I'm just a EMT-intermediate(or EMT-Advanced) basically you are able to intubate, IV's, and basic cardiac drugs. Would it benefit me more to get my paramedic first? Will the courses cover some of my pre-med courses? Or do I just need to focus on prerequisites?

3. I'm 32, been out of HS for quite some time. Do I have to take the SAT again? Will I be able to jump right back into some of this stuff like math and chemistry?

4. I've looked into PA/NP/CRNA, would this be a better fit for me? Would I be happy with deciding for a lesser degree?

I'd appreciate any advice, thank you all!

 

[aldol16]

1. I've invested 10 yrs into a pension, I still have 10 more years to go to be vested. I work 24 hrs on and 48 off and every 7th 24 hour shift I have off giving me 5 days in a row off. With Vacation, a flexible schedule, having others work for me, and studying when I have downtime at work can I pull med school off? I'd really like to be able to keep my pension, if not I'd be leaving the department with enough to float on a few years or possible pay for med school without a pension.

I think this would be really difficult. I don't know anybody who works full-time while also being in med school since the med school curriculum is so demanding on your time commitment.

2. I'm just a EMT-intermediate(or EMT-Advanced) basically you are able to intubate, IV's, and basic cardiac drugs. Would it benefit me more to get my paramedic first? Will the courses cover some of my pre-med courses? Or do I just need to focus on prerequisites?

You need to do your pre-reqs first. You won't be able to matriculate without completing your pre-reqs and achieving the minimum grade the med school wants in them. I am not familiar with paramedic courses but I do not believe there's overlap between those courses and your standard pre-med requirements (e.g. chemistry, physics, etc.).

 

[candbgirl]

Do you have a bachelors degree or are starting as a freshman?


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[Mcraw71]

I think this would be really difficult. I don't know anybody who works full-time while also being in med school since the med school curriculum is so demanding on your time commitment.



You need to do your pre-reqs first. You won't be able to matriculate without completing your pre-reqs and achieving the minimum grade the med school wants in them. I am not familiar with paramedic courses but I do not believe there's overlap between those courses and your standard pre-med requirements (e.g. chemistry, physics, etc.).

As long as I'm in medical school I'm ok with resigning the FD and using the money to help me to the finish line. If for some reason I don't make it through med school I suppose I always have the bachelors degree and can have other options right?

Also do you think my experience as a firefighter might help on being accepted to med school with decent grades?

 

[Mcraw71]

Do you have a bachelors degree or are starting as a freshman?


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Yes unfortunately I'd be starting from the starting line. I do have a flexible schedule and a lot of down time at work to knock out the degree tho!

 

[Donald Juan]

1) No, you will not be able to work that schedule in med school. You could possibly in college.
2) If you're going to plan on going to med school, there's no point in getting the paramedic. It's not going to help or benefit you much at all.
3) When I went back to college I had to take an exam that determined if I needed to take remedial math and english (i.e., classes that don't offer credit toward your degree, they just prep you up for the actual required classes). Different schools will have different standards for what they accept from non-traditional students.
4) I can't really answer that question for you. MD path is much longer and more grueling. At the end you have more knowledge and more pay. Doesn't mean you have more happiness.

 

[Donald Juan]

As long as I'm in medical school I'm ok with resigning the FD and using the money to help me to the finish line. If for some reason I don't make it through med school I suppose I always have the bachelors degree and can have other options right?

Also do you think my experience as a firefighter might help on being accepted to med school with decent grades?

Almost any non-traditional experience like yours is looked at as a plus. It will not make up for poor grades or mcat score. You still need to be on par with those things.

 

[Mcraw71]

1) No, you will not be able to work that schedule in med school. You could possibly in college.
2) If you're going to plan on going to med school, there's no point in getting the paramedic. It's not going to help or benefit you much at all.
3) When I went back to college I had to take an exam that determined if I needed to take remedial math and english (i.e., classes that don't offer credit toward your degree, they just prep you up for the actual required classes). Different schools will have different standards for what they accept from non-traditional students.
4) I can't really answer that question for you. MD path is much longer and more grueling. At the end you have more knowledge and more pay. Doesn't mean you have more happiness.

Thank you so much for your time taken on responding to me sir. I do ultimately want to be happier in the long run. I'm excited for a challenge and feel willing to put in the work. I'm actually kind of glad I'm starting this a little later in life, my younger self probably would have been too immature and cocky to finish something so complex. If I have to resign and leave my firefighter career behind tho you better believe I'll be fighting for my life to get through with med school because I can't fail when I have nothing to go back to at that point. Sorry there's so many "what ifs" to consider, I like to consider everything but can't plan on failure.

 

[candbgirl]

Yes unfortunately I'd be starting from the starting line. I do have a flexible schedule and a lot of down time at work to knock out the degree tho!

Well you have to be realistic here. It will take you several years to earn your degree. I understand wanting to map out your plans and get to work on those plans. From what you have shared it seems you haven't been in school for a number of years. We have no idea how you will do with course work so you are going to have to decide if you are willing to go full in on your plans. You might want to consider starting at a CC and doing Gen Ed courses and maybe BIO 1 and 2 etc and see how that goes. It's important you take a full load(12+ hours) each semester. After a couple of years you can consider transferring to a 4 year university to complete your degree. You won't be ready to apply to Med school for quite a few years and things change every year. Spend some time reading the WAMC threads and see what people are doing (or have done) to get ready for applying. That way you can do the ECs and research(if you are interested) and be ready with the best possible application possible when the time comes. Remember that you need to work very hard and get good grades right from the start. I THINK currently the average GPA for accepted students is around 3.7. So you have your work cut out for you. Good luck and keep us posted as you progress along this path.


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[Blanky]

I was in the same position and quit after 7 years in Fire/EMS and started working in the ER . If you need to show up to a lecture/lab Monday and Tuesday you will not be able to make it as your schedule rotates each week like mine did. If you have access to multiple shift swaps and can get to class at least 2 but most likely 3 days per week reliably then you can make it work up until acceptance to medical school. In my instance I took a large pay cut but the ER does allow me to choose my schedule with freedom and I' in my last year of my bachelors program. You need to decide how much you are willing to give up to make it work.

 

[oopsaloo]

Check out the SDN nontrad forum for tons of good advice, motivation and support. As other posters have said, this will be a long journery.

4. I've looked into PA/NP/CRNA, would this be a better fit for me? Would I be happy with deciding for a lesser degree?

Only you can decide if you would be happy with a "lesser" degree. At this point, if you went full-time, a Bachelor's degree will take at least 4 years. You might need to take the SAT or ACT again for college admissions, or you can go the route @candbgirl suggested with CC and transferring to a 4-year.

If you apply to med school straight out of undergrad, then med school will take ~4 years. Residency will be at least 3 years (or longer, depending on what specialty you pick). So it will be at least 11 years before you become an attending physician.

You may be at least 36-38 by the time you're ready to apply to med school. In addition to completing (and excelling in) coursework for your degree, you'll need to have the med school prerequisite courses, a decent score on the MCAT exam, and several extracurriculars (shadowing, volunteering, research). It's not too late at your age, and has been done before (again, the nontrad forum is really useful since it is filled with people who are year(s) out of college). It all depends on how dedicated you are to this path. Your background sounds interesting, and I'm sure your years of experience will add a unique positive element to your application.

Since the journey is long, it may be worth first shadowing physicians and the other healthcare jobs you mentioned to get a sense of whether you would be happy as a PA/NP/CRNA/etc. If so, you could shave off many years.

 

[Mcraw71]

I'd like to put another 20 years into something and retire. I've been doing alot of reading all shift, I think CRNA is the biggest bang for my $ and invested time this late in the game. I guess I need to find the fastest way of getting there without my gpa suffering. You guys have been a HUGE help and I really appreciate all the time and effort you put into helping others find there way. Hopefully some of my FD time will count torwards my critical care experience.

 

[Mcraw71]

I was also thinking if my GPA is good enough after 4 years I could always apply for med school if I change my mind right?

 

[cactusman]

I was also thinking if my GPA is good enough after 4 years I could always apply for med school if I change my mind right?

Definitely. Keep in mind that if you get a nursing degree to become a CRNA or NP, you will probably have to take a lot of pre-reqs that are not required for the nursing major because there is actually not much overlap.

 

[raiderette]

Anesthesia Assistant is an even shorter path than CRNA. Same money as CRNA without the nursing program requirements.

 

[bbbcccppp]

As long as I'm in medical school I'm ok with resigning the FD and using the money to help me to the finish line. If for some reason I don't make it through med school I suppose I always have the bachelors degree and can have other options right?

Also do you think my experience as a firefighter might help on being accepted to med school with decent grades?

Long tough road If you did get in to medical school it is unlikely that you would wash out. Most people ‍ graduate once started. You could jump in and take 1 or 2 cc classes now to see how it feels Basically aiming at 4 a s for each b or 3.8 as a very rough guide


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[Blanky]

If you only want to input 20 years you should reconsider medicine. You are looking at min 11 years (4 undergrad 4 medical 3-4+ residency) just in training and you hope to work 8-9 or less years with incurred debt and retire?

 

[Mcraw71]

If you only want to input 20 years you should reconsider medicine. You are looking at min 11 years (4 undergrad 4 medical 3-4+ residency) just in training and you hope to work 8-9 or less years with incurred debt and retire?

I meant after obtaining the schooling. Firefighting is a hard job later in life, if I'm doing medical procedures I'm sure I could last a lot longer then being out in the heat with all that gear on lol.

 

[Mcraw71]

Anesthesia Assistant is an even shorter path than CRNA. Same money as CRNA without the nursing program requirements.

This sounds great! I'll definitely have to look into this. So I can go straight through to this or is there need for critical care experience and acceptance Into a school? This is pre med courses then? So if I have a great GPA I can decide med school or assistant torwards the end huh? Sounds like I have more options doing this route.

 

[Gilakend]

I think an option is you could start with RN, then go from there. You can get RN in like 2 years and I think it would be much easier to go through school working as an RN than a firefighter. I'm not sure how it works, but I think it's a associates degree you could build off of after that. I think normal college classes (they have a lot of hybrid RN programs) + your current schedule could be hard. Plus say you decide you really don't want to invest all that time and money RN is still a great job with lots of variety of fields you could go into.

 

[y123]

Financially speaking, it is the best if you get to keep your pension. The MD route may not be financially worth it for you financially.
It is really doable to get a nursing degree while working FT. You can always go for NP after you retire with your pension.