Military lifestyle meant online undergrad degree…is this a show-stopper?

[Krebby Patty]

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Good afternoon,

I just recently got finished with 10 years in the Army. During my time the unit I was assigned to was very busy with either deployments, training, or military schooling that took me out of a traditional classroom setting for my undergrad. Does this matter to adcoms for med school? Feeling a little bit of imposter syndrome even though my cGPA and sGPA are good (3.92, 3.8ish). Any insight is greatly appreciated!

 

[Dral]

Likely shouldn't matter. It was out of your control.

 

[Krebby Patty]

Dral, thank you for the reassurance.

I know this is not a WAMC post, but for any other experts out there can you help rate the order of precedence military service has for application purposes? I assume GPA/MCAT are what passes the eye test for adcoms, but due to my previous service and academic background I severely lack in the research dept. I do have shadowing hours and other ECs but not to the level I see some individuals on SDN talk about.

 

[Goro]

First off, many thanks for your service to our country. Hooooahhh!

Adcoms love veterans.

You don't need research.

Get in 50 hrs of shadowing and 150ish hrs of clinical exposure. Your military service counts as nonclinical service to others in my book.

 

[Krebby Patty]

@Goro thank you! I’m not planning to do anything until 2025 admissions cycle so I have plenty of time to boost those hours.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You shouldn't have issues. Talk to admissions professionals about your concerns.

 

[Krebby Patty]

Thank you @Mr.Smile12 will do!

 

[MusicDOc124]

Shouldn't be an issue. While my degree wasn't online, I think I had between 6-8 classes online from when I was in. Never came up, and I know another vet heading to PA school who's degree is online (more recent) and had no issue. School online these days (notably when associated with a brick and mortar school) is different that it was a decade+ ago with "online" schools. I would be surprised if it causes an issue.

The one exception is the pre-reqs. Some medical schools may have a requirement that the pre-reqs (or at least a certain proportion) are in-person, or have an in-person lab.

Take a look a a number of schools in which you're interested, and see if they specify anything in that regard.

Edited to add: two of the online courses I took were pre-reqs including labs through an institution other than where I received my degree, but did have an associated brick and mortar university (i.e. not one of the online-only schools).