Hello everyone, I am new to the forum and I have a somewhat unique situation that I feel I could use a lot of unbiased, outside advice on. I am not sure exactly where I should post this so I plan on posting it within a few areas.
I am currently 29 and have only taken a few college courses, but I am now considering going into Pre-Med...
In order to keep this short and to the point, I will just state the facts about me in a list format and I will answer any additional questions.
Background:
Average high school student, joined Army National Guard at 17 for a program called "high school to flight school" and was selected as a candidate after going through selection process. When I was sent for the flight physical I failed the color vision test, now unqualified for pilot slot.
Stayed in Army National Guard as enlisted person within the aviation branch, spent most of my time on active duty guard.
Spent one year in Iraq, the year we returned home was the year that my enlistment ended.
Went into private aviation industry, despite not having a degree I was able to work my way to the top of the company and made a good income, company was recently acquired by a larger corporate company. (Was good money, but I HATED my job!)
Earlier this year (2016) I almost passed away 6 times due to going into septic shock a couple times among other complications from 2 major emergency surgeries. I spend essentially from February until June in the hospital, turns out all of this was caused by previously misdiagnosed (consequently, untreated) Crohn's disease, now 3 surgeries later I am mostly recovered.
So that is a very short version of my background. Here are the reasons I am considering this new path.
1. I have always been completely fascinated by the human body and its biological processes, specifically as it relates to the human mind and brain. I have spent a lot of money purchasing graduate level textbooks on these subjects and reading them and studying them for fun, I am a nerd with this.
2. The fact that I could develop the professional knowledge and become an expert in these subjects in such a way as to use them in a directly applicable manner in order to help someone recover from disease and illness (helping to heal) is absolutely stimulating to me.
3. I absolutely LOVE solving complex problems, being responsible for the success or failure of my proposed solution, and seeing the results. Specifically, I believe that if I could use this within an applied area of science, the reward would be that much better.
4. I enjoy being a leader and pride myself on always maintaining a very good reputation through strong work ethic, absolute integrity, and relentless determination towards my goal or objective. I believe these character traits would be priceless when it comes to the treatment of any patient. (sounds like a resume, but it is very true of my character!)
5. (More of an inspiration)-During the events of this year my surgeon was one of the most incredible people I had ever met. During his off days he would still come to visit me in my hospital room, when I returned home he personally called my cell phone just to see how I was doing a month later, among several other incredible portraits of his true and amazing character. To be a physician like this guy was would be my absolute aspiration, probably not within the surgical field but in character.
Those are the top five reasons I am looking into this. I know this is a very long road, and I know that you guys don't know me, but I am just trying to see if I am stepping up too late in the game. I know there are other areas within science, but specifically I am more interested in the medical field of science. When I was younger I was slightly interested but two things kept me from REALLY looking into this; my dad was a pilot so that was the path I was going to follow and I was told there was no way to afford medical school.
I do have some self-doubt over all of this, but I have seen where there are people who don't get started until their 40's etc... Again, I know about the long road, I know I need to volunteer to see if this is really for me, etc. Given this information, if you were given a second chance and could start from scratch, how would you proceed?
Thank you guys so much for any advice.
I am currently 29 and have only taken a few college courses, but I am now considering going into Pre-Med...
In order to keep this short and to the point, I will just state the facts about me in a list format and I will answer any additional questions.
Background:
Average high school student, joined Army National Guard at 17 for a program called "high school to flight school" and was selected as a candidate after going through selection process. When I was sent for the flight physical I failed the color vision test, now unqualified for pilot slot.
Stayed in Army National Guard as enlisted person within the aviation branch, spent most of my time on active duty guard.
Spent one year in Iraq, the year we returned home was the year that my enlistment ended.
Went into private aviation industry, despite not having a degree I was able to work my way to the top of the company and made a good income, company was recently acquired by a larger corporate company. (Was good money, but I HATED my job!)
Earlier this year (2016) I almost passed away 6 times due to going into septic shock a couple times among other complications from 2 major emergency surgeries. I spend essentially from February until June in the hospital, turns out all of this was caused by previously misdiagnosed (consequently, untreated) Crohn's disease, now 3 surgeries later I am mostly recovered.
So that is a very short version of my background. Here are the reasons I am considering this new path.
1. I have always been completely fascinated by the human body and its biological processes, specifically as it relates to the human mind and brain. I have spent a lot of money purchasing graduate level textbooks on these subjects and reading them and studying them for fun, I am a nerd with this.
2. The fact that I could develop the professional knowledge and become an expert in these subjects in such a way as to use them in a directly applicable manner in order to help someone recover from disease and illness (helping to heal) is absolutely stimulating to me.
3. I absolutely LOVE solving complex problems, being responsible for the success or failure of my proposed solution, and seeing the results. Specifically, I believe that if I could use this within an applied area of science, the reward would be that much better.
4. I enjoy being a leader and pride myself on always maintaining a very good reputation through strong work ethic, absolute integrity, and relentless determination towards my goal or objective. I believe these character traits would be priceless when it comes to the treatment of any patient. (sounds like a resume, but it is very true of my character!)
5. (More of an inspiration)-During the events of this year my surgeon was one of the most incredible people I had ever met. During his off days he would still come to visit me in my hospital room, when I returned home he personally called my cell phone just to see how I was doing a month later, among several other incredible portraits of his true and amazing character. To be a physician like this guy was would be my absolute aspiration, probably not within the surgical field but in character.
Those are the top five reasons I am looking into this. I know this is a very long road, and I know that you guys don't know me, but I am just trying to see if I am stepping up too late in the game. I know there are other areas within science, but specifically I am more interested in the medical field of science. When I was younger I was slightly interested but two things kept me from REALLY looking into this; my dad was a pilot so that was the path I was going to follow and I was told there was no way to afford medical school.
I do have some self-doubt over all of this, but I have seen where there are people who don't get started until their 40's etc... Again, I know about the long road, I know I need to volunteer to see if this is really for me, etc. Given this information, if you were given a second chance and could start from scratch, how would you proceed?
Thank you guys so much for any advice.
