Firefighter to MD

[Firetomed]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello everyone, In the last year, I have truly fallen in love with medicine. I've been a firefighter/EMT for 5 years on a busy ambulance and recently finished my paramedic. I thought about doing the RN Bridge, but I wanted something more. I'm starting from scratch; I don't have any prerequisites because none of my schools requested them. My schedule is not normal, so I work 24 hours on, and I'm off for 48 hours. So taking classes online may be my only option. Is this going to crush my opportunity to get into medical school? The route I want to take is to get into the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences medical school and serve in the army as an ER physician. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. I'm 23 years old, so I feel like now is the time to make a move before it's too late.

 

[ClashRoyaleKing]

I know schools prefer in-person prerequisites. Would it be possible to reduce your hours for when you go back to school to complete pre-requisites? You would also need to reduce your hours to take the MCAT, which is a full-time job in itself.

 

[RangerBob]

It might be worthwhile to cut back to part-time (weekend shifts only) so you can attend a formal post-bac program to complete all your pre-reqs

The better quality course you take and the better quality studying you do for that course, the better you will do on the MCAT.

Online science courses may be difficult to actually learn the material well. Also, many schools require you to do the associated labs, which I don't think you can do online.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Also, be aware that HPSP is an option if you wind up going to any other medical school, including your close in-state options (if they exist). Most schools should like first responders and military applicants, though it never guarantees anything more.

Firefighter Applies Experience to Becoming Emergency Medicine Physician | UToledo News

Quinci Copeland graduates with a doctor of medicine degree from the UToledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences at the May 21 ceremony and will stay local to complete her emergency medicine residency.

news.utoledo.edu

Surgeon by day, firefighter by night: A surgeon's journey back to the fire service

Dr. James Betts had been working 80-hour work weeks at the hospital; 10 years ago, he committed to getting back to his fire service roots

www.firerescue1.com

Former Firefighter Turned Medical Student Keeps Focus on Family, Career - News Archive - Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science

The term 'fourth-year medical student' feels like a misnomer for Nicolas Rubel, who finished his final year at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in Florida. The former firefighter and paramedic has two other roles that he says are even more important than medicine. He is a husband and father...

college.mayo.edu

Getting Out of His "Comfort Zone" — Daryl Fields' Path

Learn more about Daryl F.'s application journey.

students-residents.aamc.org

Marine, firefighter, doctor: W&M grad follows unconventional path

It’s OK to find your way as you go, and most importantly to decide what’s right for you in your own time, according to Evan Kikla ’21.

www.wm.edu

 

[DMC1796]

I was going to go the online route, but then found out a way to balance life out to allow in person classes. If you cant drop down to part time, consider banking all of your PTO now and use one day per week or every other week when you start classes. For me (an ICU nurse who works 12s), I accrue 8 hours biweekly, and will be using 12hrs PTO biweekly in the Fall when I start orgo chem 2 (resulting in a net loss of 4hrs PTO biweekly). Not sure how flexible fire is, but it works for nursing.

 

[Entadus]

don't feel you need to rush. take your time to do this properly and ensure you are on the right track.

you could start by shadowing some doctors in different settings

take a general chemistry class first, are you a nerd who can get an 'A' ?

 

[ShamelessPapist]

Hello everyone, In the last year, I have truly fallen in love with medicine. I've been a firefighter/EMT for 5 years on a busy ambulance and recently finished my paramedic. I thought about doing the RN Bridge, but I wanted something more. I'm starting from scratch; I don't have any prerequisites because none of my schools requested them. My schedule is not normal, so I work 24 hours on, and I'm off for 48 hours. So taking classes online may be my only option. Is this going to crush my opportunity to get into medical school? The route I want to take is to get into the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences medical school and serve in the army as an ER physician. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. I'm 23 years old, so I feel like now is the time to make a move before it's too late.

Hey there! I work in EMS as well. I have two PT EMS jobs, and that gets me 48hrs/wk. I know people who have more. It offers a lot of flexibility! You just don't get benefits, but you can get health insurance through your school, most of the time. A lot more things come up than you realize (scheduling wise), so the flexibility is really helpful. It's not just classes you have to work around, its volunteer hours, shadowing, tests that are on different days than class (for some reason), and projects related to class.

If you can get a job in a rural service (one of mine is VERY rural), you will be able to study A LOT on the clock. I have one for the experience and one for the down time. It's great.

I don't recommend taking online lab courses. Med schools dislike them for good reason.

Good luck! We need more people with people skills and real world experience before med school.