- Joined
- Jun 18, 2007
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Basically, I'm an EMT in medic school and I have a feeling that I will probably not be satisfied staying a paramedic for my entire life. Plus I don't think my body would be able to handle that. Anyway, I'm probably going to apply to med school several years after I graduate from Davis since me and my gf will be in the unique situation to save up the majority of the cost of my medical education (obviously she's behind me 100% so no issues there). Now don't get me wrong, I love EMS, I just understand it has limitations and for all I know, I'll be in a position to help change that once I'm on the other side of the fence. I would love the opportunity to do that.
I'm wondering what you guys think as far as how reasonably my chances at getting accepted are. I really don't want to post this in the "What are my chances" subforum under the pre-allo forum because there's so many idiots who lurk there. I'd rather have intelligent replies as well as receive them from people with the same background in EMS. As far as grades go, I would think I'm ok since my science GPA is around a 3.8 and overall GPA the same. I haven't taken the MCAT yet so obviously I can't tell you what that will be. I'm an extremely good test taker so hopefully the first try will be sufficient.
My achilles heel would probably be the part of my app that doesn't involve numbers. Clinical experience is certainly not an issue but ECs and shadowing may be lacking in quantity. I actually have never in my life been able to find a doctor willing to let me shadow due to HIPAA; California is too sue happy. I only have one EC I really enjoy, scuba diving, and I just honestly love it too much to try out anything else right now. I will in the future, I'd like to get into sky diving, but I don't have the money for that. The caveat to the aforementioned is that I'll be spending some money, not saving all of it, so I can enjoy being free from school for a few years so I'll probably get my parachutist cert. Volunteering I'm not sure...did 7 months at a hospital, thought it was the most boring thing in the world and I currently volunteer as a Divemaster for a scuba instructor I know as much as possible with my schedule. I'll have to work on LORs since I can get one from my scuba instructor but so far that's about it. I don't know how that'd look but he's known me for over a year and would be able to speak much more accurately than a professor. Lastly, the pre-med reqs I will complete at UCD since I'm going there at the same time as P-school, but physics is not required for my major and UCD is expensive so I plan to do physics after I graduate Davis at a CC. I know this is looked down on by med schools, but quite frankly, I think the education I received at CC was superior to UCD and I'd rather not waste a lot more money for a lot crappier education.
Anyhow, I don't want this to be too long-winded. I welcome any advice, suggestions, etc. on my situation. Since I know it'll be mentioned too, I can't quite P-school since I'm too far into it nor would I want to since I want to be a medic for at least a year or two if not longer. I had no intention of becoming a medic just to "look good" to adcoms and I could give a damn what they think about that, either good or bad.
I'm wondering what you guys think as far as how reasonably my chances at getting accepted are. I really don't want to post this in the "What are my chances" subforum under the pre-allo forum because there's so many idiots who lurk there. I'd rather have intelligent replies as well as receive them from people with the same background in EMS. As far as grades go, I would think I'm ok since my science GPA is around a 3.8 and overall GPA the same. I haven't taken the MCAT yet so obviously I can't tell you what that will be. I'm an extremely good test taker so hopefully the first try will be sufficient.
My achilles heel would probably be the part of my app that doesn't involve numbers. Clinical experience is certainly not an issue but ECs and shadowing may be lacking in quantity. I actually have never in my life been able to find a doctor willing to let me shadow due to HIPAA; California is too sue happy. I only have one EC I really enjoy, scuba diving, and I just honestly love it too much to try out anything else right now. I will in the future, I'd like to get into sky diving, but I don't have the money for that. The caveat to the aforementioned is that I'll be spending some money, not saving all of it, so I can enjoy being free from school for a few years so I'll probably get my parachutist cert. Volunteering I'm not sure...did 7 months at a hospital, thought it was the most boring thing in the world and I currently volunteer as a Divemaster for a scuba instructor I know as much as possible with my schedule. I'll have to work on LORs since I can get one from my scuba instructor but so far that's about it. I don't know how that'd look but he's known me for over a year and would be able to speak much more accurately than a professor. Lastly, the pre-med reqs I will complete at UCD since I'm going there at the same time as P-school, but physics is not required for my major and UCD is expensive so I plan to do physics after I graduate Davis at a CC. I know this is looked down on by med schools, but quite frankly, I think the education I received at CC was superior to UCD and I'd rather not waste a lot more money for a lot crappier education.
Anyhow, I don't want this to be too long-winded. I welcome any advice, suggestions, etc. on my situation. Since I know it'll be mentioned too, I can't quite P-school since I'm too far into it nor would I want to since I want to be a medic for at least a year or two if not longer. I had no intention of becoming a medic just to "look good" to adcoms and I could give a damn what they think about that, either good or bad.