Need a little advice...

[dukboki]

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Folks,

I am a paratrooper who has been in the Army for over six years now. I am reaching my job dissatisfaction point - the second choice career isn't what I thought it would be. Now that I'm older and can see past my undergraduate rationalization that "hey, the Army is always there" I'm looking to get back to my original goals of practicing medicine.

However, I am in a tough spot. I am deployed so I can't take classes at a local college. I would like to take distance courses with NC State to satisfy some of the pre-reqs that I didn't get when I was an undergrad but am not sure how the schools will look at that (NCSU requires the labs and exams to be on campus).

My GPA was horrible as an undergrad - 2.5 to be exact. Science was 2.3. I have two masters now and those have a GPA of 3.5 and 3.8 so I'm hoping that will count for something. I am also preparing to shadow a surgeon here to observe some battlefield medicine and get some pointers as time goes on.

I know it's going to be a LONG road, but I'm willing to take that path. I can retire in my 40s from the Army as either a LTC line officer or LTC MD/DO. Can anyone help me out?

 

[island doc]

Folks,

I am a paratrooper who has been in the Army for over six years now. I am reaching my job dissatisfaction point - the second choice career isn't what I thought it would be. Now that I'm older and can see past my undergraduate rationalization that "hey, the Army is always there" I'm looking to get back to my original goals of practicing medicine.

However, I am in a tough spot. I am deployed so I can't take classes at a local college. I would like to take distance courses with NC State to satisfy some of the pre-reqs that I didn't get when I was an undergrad but am not sure how the schools will look at that (NCSU requires the labs and exams to be on campus).

My GPA was horrible as an undergrad - 2.5 to be exact. Science was 2.3. I have two masters now and those have a GPA of 3.5 and 3.8 so I'm hoping that will count for something. I am also preparing to shadow a surgeon here to observe some battlefield medicine and get some pointers as time goes on.

I know it's going to be a LONG road, but I'm willing to take that path. I can retire in my 40s from the Army as either a LTC line officer or LTC MD/DO. Can anyone help me out?

Medical school pre-requisite courses need to be taken in residence at a college or university (not a junior college), and one needs to do well in order to be competitive, by well, I mean 3.5-4.0 GPA in those courses. A post-bacc program might be something to consider to help you meet this requirement. Excellent MCAT scores could help pull up your GPA. Your undergraduate GPA does work against you despite your graduate GPA, because the undergraduate GPA is factored in, therefore a post-bacc program with much better performance might just be the ticket. Of course, going to a post-bacc program would require you to separate from the military, which may not be an option.

If medicine is your dream, go for it. Do what you have to do.

"Never, never, never, never, give up." - Winston Churchill