Need Advice!

[glideslp]

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Hi all,

I'm currently 27 years old and I'm an F-16 pilot for the US Air Force. I have 6 more years left in the Air Force before I can get out, but when I do I would like to go to medical school (I guess that makes me non-traditional).

Thank goodness I found this board because I have a lot of questions and appreciate your help in advance.

I went to the Air Force Academy, majored in Aeronautical Engineering and graduated in 2001 w/ a 2.8 GPA. I took all the pre-reqs except organic chem. During the next 6 years until I get out, I will definitely have time to pursue more courses in an online setting to boost my (slim) chances.

I'm looking into DO schools as well (PCOM to be specific) and have no reservations about attending one.

Any advice on: 1) How to boost my GPA in the most beneficial manner (online masters, post bacc, etc) 2) Do I stand a chance of ever overcoming that 2.8 GPA undergrad?

Thanks and good luck to all...

 

[Quix]

Yes, you can overcome a 2.8. I'd recommend looking into post-bacc programs, since if you take anything at the graduate level, it is counted as a separate QPA. Obviously you will need O.Chem (with labs), and you probably should look at the specific requirements for the schools in which you are interested (some, for instance, may require more than just Calc 1). Useful classes for the MCAT (and hopefully your QPA) include Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, and Genetics. The MCAT doesn't really test any physics beyond Physics 2, so I'm not sure higher level physics courses would be beneficial (unless you are confident enough in your abilities that you can get at least a B+ or better). Chemistry is similar - P. Chem, Analytical, etc., really aren't tested or particularly germane. Bottom line - if you have Bio I and II (with labs) already taken, go for advanced biology courses, maybe some neuroscience courses, etc.

Clearly upping the science QPA is requisite; if you are concerned with upping your *overall* QPA, you may find the humanities or social sciences to be useful. I've come across people who don't do well in them, however, precisely because they are not as concrete as the sciences (there are no philosophical variables or equations, for instance).

 

[njbmd]

Hi all,

I'm currently 27 years old and I'm an F-16 pilot for the US Air Force. I have 6 more years left in the Air Force before I can get out, but when I do I would like to go to medical school (I guess that makes me non-traditional).

Thank goodness I found this board because I have a lot of questions and appreciate your help in advance.

I went to the Air Force Academy, majored in Aeronautical Engineering and graduated in 2001 w/ a 2.8 GPA. I took all the pre-reqs except organic chem. During the next 6 years until I get out, I will definitely have time to pursue more courses in an online setting to boost my (slim) chances.

I'm looking into DO schools as well (PCOM to be specific) and have no reservations about attending one.

Any advice on: 1) How to boost my GPA in the most beneficial manner (online masters, post bacc, etc) 2) Do I stand a chance of ever overcoming that 2.8 GPA undergrad?

Thanks and good luck to all...

You have two issues here: First, I would strongly advise against taking pre-med preregs online. If you don't have any other option and since you have already taken the labs for everything except organic, your retakes could be done online with minimal penalty as you are essentially "updating" your knowledge base. If you on-line the rest, be sure that your organic is not taken online.

Second, an on-line masters is not going to boost your undergraduate GPA (which you need most). Graduate GPA is calculated and weighted separately from undergraduate GPA so you won't get a boost there.

You would likely be a great candidate for a Special Masters (like Georgetown) once you have fulfilled your service obligations. It would take you one year and if you did well, your 2.8 GPA would be a moot point because you would likely be admitted to Georgetown. You would need to get organic taken before you went into the Georgetown program (or a SMP like Georgetown's). There are others out there so look into them.

A post bacc (formal or informal) would also help you so look into those too. Again, you would likely have to wait until you are done with your service obligations. There are plenty of good ones out there like Hopkins and UVa. Do a Google search and see what you can find.

Bottom line:

To boost GPA and knowledge: post bacc work (formal or informal)

To boost knowledge: graduate degree or program. Good luck!

 

[mitawa]

Ditto to everything that everyone stated above, especially about avoiding taking courses online. And don't forget to squeeze in some clinical related experience somewhere in between boosting your GPA. Good Luck!

 

[glideslp]

Thanks to all. I will definitely look into the above.

If I WERE to get an online masters degree during the intervening years, any suggestions? The Air Force will pay for one so I want to take advantage of it. Sounds like it will be a totally separate issue now, though. I looked into online masters in BIO and found only 1 worth future thought: Illinois Institute of Technology. Anybody heard anything about them or their program?

Thanks!

 

[DrMidlife]

Yeah, I'm hating the online masters. I see that as an extracurricular, not academic prep. As others have mentioned, grad GPA points don't fix your 2.8; only undergrad points do. If you have time to kill, and there's a subject about which you're passionate like comparative African religious dance, and there's a good online masters for it, fabulous, that will look interesting on a med school app. Otherwise, it's just a thing you don't need, for which the AF will pay.

My breakdown for your medschool prep work falls into 2 buckets: before discharge, and after discharge.

After discharge: do at least 2 semesters of campus-based, heavy full time, high level science, and kill it. Show that 4.0 capability, finish your o-chem with labs, and show that you can support a heavy load of hard science. This gets you into a vibrant young civilian community in which you can readjust to normal life where there's no commissary and you have to actually think about how you're paying for rent and health insurance. Also, this gets you set up for faculty recommendations. I think this is also going to be the only time you can do volunteering and other hands-on extracurriculars. It would be good to figure out how many units of >3.5 coursework you need to raise your GPA to, say, 3.25.

And then apply in June, after these 2 semesters are complete and you have all your ducks in a row. You get to figure out what to do with the glide year: a June 2012 application is for school starting fall 2013.

Before discharge: do MCAT prep online through Kaplan. You might be able to achieve o-chem testability without having taken o-chem yet. Not recommended, but possible. So for example spend 6 months learning o-chem on your own (Audio osmosis, o-chem as a second language series, etc.) and then take the MCAT online course, and then you're ready to rock. (And ready to ace o-chem post-discharge.) The MCAT is now offered ~20 times a year, and this would be one big fat scheduling requirement where you have to know where you'll be and be registered for the test. If for some reason you score under 30 (which isn't bad, but you need better than this to offset your GPA), be ready to take it again halfway through your post-discharge coursework. Or, you know, if there's a gap between discharge and classes starting, take it then.

Also before discharge, get creative. Can you participate in biophysics studies on G-forces in that F-16? Can you help run the studies? Can you get certified as a medic? Can you find ad-hoc opportunities to volunteer with kids, old folks, disabled veterans? Can you get really good at a particular sport, something sexy such as triathlon or kayaking, and win something? (Shows focus, although so do F-16s.) Can you learn, and become fluent, in a language corresponding to a large immigrant group in the US? (Spanish, Somali, Hmong, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Urdu, etc.) Any experience you can have which will solidify (or just as importantly, negate) your interest in medicine will be invaluable.

Six years is a long time, but it'll go by awfully quickly. Best of luck to you.

 

[Nasrudin]

There's a one year program at EVMS that would be great for you. It's in Norfolk and I believe there's alot of service men and women in the area so your experience might find a very receptive audience, although who wouldn't be impressed with somebody who flies F-16's for a living. Anyway its a really good one year masters program (smp) where you take classes with med students to prove yourself academically. Alot of their successful candidates get into their medical school. If you like me and you just want to be a doctor and don't care where you get in this might be a good option. They have a strict bottom gpa requirement but I think your's might qualitfy as is. Good luck!

 

[ShyRem]

You can absolutely overcome a 2.8. Post-bacc would count towards that -- do well and your numbers will rise. It will also prepare you well for the MCAT. Take an MCAT prep course, or get some prep books (I liked the EK series, hated Princeton Review, hated Barron's, hated Kaplan - they were way too dry. It was like watching paint dry. Good for curing insomnia, tho) and study.

Good luck. It's definitely doable. 🙂

 

[glideslp]

Thanks again, everbody.

My wife, a pediatrician, was shocked about this board and surprised about all the good information on it. You guys rock.

I'll continue to check out post bacc work to boost the undergrad GPA. I'm still on the fence about whether to take all the science classes (which would mean repeating all but one), a few, or just the one I need (org chem).

 

[efex101]

If you do not have good grades (A/B) in the pre-reqs you already have I would highly suggest repeating those. This does two things at the same time, it will be great review for MCAT, and it will prove to adcoms that you can still "hack" it in the uber competitive world of pre-med classes. These should NOT be taken online and this may imply that you will have to wait until you are discharged from the AF to take them. It looks much better to take live classes than online classes. Remember that you are trying to prove academic prowess in lieu of your soso GPA so to prove this you need to compete in a competitive environment. Medical schools *know* that taking classes with a bunch of pre-meds in a 4yr granting college is difficult and hence those grades carry more weight than online or CC courses. You have a huge thing working for you and that is your prior military career with some schools giving some preferance to vets. Good luck.