New here and looking for advice!

[FireMedic4]

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I'd like to first say that this forum is simply amazing; I have learned more about pre-medicine and what not from all of your previous experiences then I could've from speaking with any advisor; hats off to you all!

So like others in this specific sub-forum, I am a bit of a 'non-trad' looking to begin career in medicine; a decision which I made VERY recently (~1 month ago!)

A little history about myself: I did my UG @ Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute earning a bachelor's in Biomedical Engineering and Cognitive Psychology. Sadly, I was not very interested in school at the time and consequently had a very poor 2.54 gpa.

Through my time in school and till today, I have been working in the emergency medical services, as an EMT for 4 years and as a paramedic for 2 now. My experience in EMS and the contacts I made in school led me to create a project for myself in my junior year of college. That project became a startup company after college. 3 years, 3 patents and lots of development work later and I am now in a position to sell my stake of my company to my partners and move on to what I've determined I am actually interested in; medicine!

I can say that my experience as a paramedic has really tuned me into furthering myself in medicine, both because I find it incredibly interesting and I actually find that I'm pretty good with establishing rapport with patients, forming differentials, concise logic-based treatment etc. Trust me though, I am not naive to believe that this experience will in any way translate to success as a physician; I know EMS and medicine are two VERY different careers.

In school, I made a name for myself as a student leader (led the Interfraternity Council for 2 years, had many ups and downs associated with that) and started a chapter of the American Cancer Society on our campus. I believe that experience has also channeled my recent decision to consider medicine as well, namely because it has given me the confidence to be able to speak in front of others, express my views succinctly, and generally be more 'people-friendly'.

Based on my talks with the physicians I work with and my own interests, I would like to pursue a career in emergency medicine. I have also decided that osteopathic medicine is the proper route for me as the view of OM seem to be in line with my notions on how patients shouldbe treated (not focusing on treatment of symptoms but determining underlying causes, out-of-box approach, patient follow-up etc). Obviously DO's are geared towards being GP's, but at least in my experience in medicine, EM docs are becoming the new the GP's, especially for a certain niche of patients who constantly flood ERs multiple times monthly for similar reasons.

So I guess my real question is, what's next?! I am slated to take the MCATs in May. Surprisingly, I didn't get many of the pre-reqs required to apply to schools during my UG years. I will be applying to local post-bacc programs to both get through UG pre-reqs out of the way, and make up for what I lacked in my UG years.

Any thoughts? Words of advice? Thanks in advance 🙂

 

[punkiedad]

Glad to hear you have made the decision to devote yourself to medicine.....I would love to help answer your question, and am sure there are many specific answers already. Make sure to look at the MCAT form as well.

In any event, a couple things come to mind. Specifically, is your cumulative GPA still a 2.5 or did you take some post bac courses to finish up your pre reqs?? Again you mention you did not get all the required pre reqs in undergrad but are taking the MCAT in May. So I guess my question would be did you get all the pre reqs done? If not, tread carefully. It is possible to take the MCAT without all pre reqs, but being out of school for a little while and then not having all the pre reqs would mean some pretty intensive prep work....but it is possible. I would recommend Examkrackers complete set and Examkrackers Audio Osmosis to help.

So, some guidance on the pre reqs and the GPA would help to better understand your specific situation. As far as the D.O. being geared toward GP, that has changed. I think it is more regional. If you live near an osteopathic med school, you will notice the line between MD and DO kinda goes away. You see DOs doing surgery and even subspecialties such as orthopedics, breast oncology, etc.... So, don't feel like you are settling, there are a lot of EM docs that are DOs. As far as from what I have seen though, EM is a competitive residency, but maybe osme of the current students or even MSIII, or MSIV could advise better.

Either way, best of luck to you and do not keep digging to find your answer and the path. This forum has been incredibly helpful to me as well as so many others in helping clarify their path to their dream.

Best of luck.

 

[graduate2be]

Congrats on your decision to pursue your dream. The best advice that I would give you is to study and work very hard. Your undergrad GPA isn't the largest hurdle that you have to jump and by doing well in post-bac and doing well on your MCAT, I believe that some schools out there will give you a shot. The only thing that I might suggest is that if you haven't taken all of your o-chem and physics, you may want to think about postponing the MCAT until after you have taken those courses or at least the 1st half of those courses. You'll need that knowledge from those classes to do well on the MCAT. You might also want to think about doing an SMP after post bac if you still have concerns about the way that an adcom would view your academic credentials. There are some great threads on SDN pertaining to SMP's.

 

[2muchcoffeegirl]

I would recommend Examkrackers complete set and Examkrackers Audio Osmosis to help.

Errr...hope I got this quote thing right. Anyway, I would like to to say I agree with the recommendation of Examkrackers. I don't want to sound like a spokesperson for the company, but I used them and they served me really well.
Secondly, four months doesn't seem like a lot of time to study for the MCAT if you don't have all the pre-reqs. I don't know how important it is to you to take it so soon, but if it were me I'd wait - ideally until most or all of those classes are done. I think that a good MCAT score, along with solid post-bac work, will go a very long way in offsetting a poor undergrad GPA. Even with such great experience in the medical field, a good academic impression makes such a difference that I think it is worth cultivating that as much as possible, perhaps even at the cost of waiting to apply.
Whatever you decide, I wish you the best.

 

[MSmentor018]

As far as from what I have seen though, EM is a competitive residency, but maybe osme of the current students or even MSIII, or MSIV could advise better.

yep, it's competitive (I think 1st aid said top 5?) regardless of DO/MD. having the dream of being a physician is the first step so congrats! it's a long road, a marathon, so pace yourself. don't worry about your gpa. your overall gpa will show up when you apply, but your pre reqs, esp science, is what will carry you in. and of course the mcat! don't worry about post-bacc "programs". just take the pre reqs and do the best you can. take a prac test and see how you do on the mcat b/c all tests scores will show up but remember you only have 3 yrs to use that score so if it takes you longer to finish your pre reqs.....you might want to wait. having EMS exp is great and give you a connection for LOR's. good luck!

 

[FireMedic4]

Thanks to you all for the advice! First off, my UG cum was a 2.54, not including any courses from my paramedic program (40 some odd credits all above an A) and not including any of the pre-req/post bacc courses I have yet to take. From my understanding, AACOMAS will accept the higher of two grades received into your GPA average, so hopefully that will improve my science overall, though I understand that retaking courses is generally looked down upon. As for the early MCAT...it was more or less a personal decision in that I have time right now to really study my butt off. I feel that with my current motivation (which has ALWAYS been a driving factor for me), I can assimilate enough relevant information and practice enough beforehand. Generally speaking, I am actually a good test-taker when I care enough to focus, so I feel confident so far.

As far as what I'm actually missing from pre-reqs...Ochem 1 and 2, Chemistry 2, English 1 and 2 and Bio 1 and 2. I found it very funny that going to an engineering school, completing a biomedical engineering program, I never had to actually take a bio course!

In either case, once again, thank you for the advice thus far!

 

[NTF]

Good luck on your journey. Here's my quickie advice:

1)Take your time. I know you want to be in med school as quickly as possible, but nothing will stall you worse than taking on too much and not excelling (absolutely A's in everything) from this point forward. Remember this is a marathon not a sprint. You're committing to a 20+ year rigorous career. Getting into medical school is just the beginning.
2)GPA Repair:kudos to choosing the DO route. It's definitely a wise and wonderful choice. It will also make the GPA repair process much easier. In addition to your prereqs, try to take as many upper level science classes as you can to get your GPA>3.0.
3)MCAT: Because of your low ugrad GPA I'd shoot for a 30+, preferably a 33+.
4)Volunteering: Pick one or two meaningful gigs to do from now until you apply. Tutoring and hospital gigs are good.
5)Research: It may be hard to score, but biomedical or clinical research always enhances an application. Don't listen to those who tell you that research will turn DO schools off. Any school worth its salt will value research credentials.
6)See if you can transition your EMT/paramedic job into a job at a university hospital on an inpatient unit. It'll add nice balance to your patient contact resume and most universities offer tuition benefits for their employees.
7)Shadowing: Try here first. http://www.osteopathic.org/YOM/Mentor_exchange.htm
8)Start thinking about your LORs now. Actively cultivate relationships that will give you great letters. Think of each professor you have a class with as a potential reference. This means showing up at office hours.

I'll be rooting for you!

 

[CultureDoc]

1)Take your time. I know you want to be in med school as quickly as possible, but nothing will stall you worse than taking on too much and not excelling (absolutely A's in everything) from this point forward. Remember this is a marathon not a sprint. You're committing to a 20+ year rigorous career. Getting into medical school is just the beginning.

Holy moly, I couldn't agree more!! Take it from this non-trad's example of "what not to do" and don't rush your pre-reqs or the MCAT! I felt so "behind" when I started out, and I tried to rush through things to get in as quickly as possible. Well, that was a big mistake, as I got some less-than-stellar grades along the way and have hence given admissions committees a reason to think long and hard about me (or, rather, to not need to think and just throw my app in the trash!).

I can't imagine taking the MCAT without having had most of the pre-reqs. I had always been a fantabulous test-taker (REALLY good SAT, ACT and GRE, back in the day), but the MCAT is not your typical standardized test. It requires you to not only know the scence material very well, but then to be able to apply it. 4 months is about the right amount of study time (IMHO 🙂) IF you've had the pre-reqs. I had 'em; I studied my butt off; I didn't crack 30 (and I only made it to 30 in one of my three official attempts, all of which the admissions committees can see when they review my app). I was devastated by this test that I thought would be a strength for me.

Maybe this won't be your experience at all, but my jaw literally dropped when I read that you were thinking of taking the MCAT so soon and w/o a lot of the pre-reqs. Even if you do have tons of time to study now, I would VERY seriously consider postponing the test (it's usually one of the last things most people do in this whole process). You'll be studying very hard for your pre-req classes, and studying for the MCAT can fit in very well with your other studies (plus, you'll be in the class-taking/studying groove by then). Also, the "expiration" of MCAT scores is a very good point. I noticed in applying this year (2008) that there were some schools that wouldn't take scores from 2005 . . . if it takes you three years to do your pre-reqs and take some upper division science classes (not uncommon - particularly if you're going to be working at all while taking classes), OR if you have to reapply (happens to the best of us 😳), you could end up having to take the test again. 😱 That would be a horrible, horrible thing.

k, I'm getting off of my soapbox now! In any case, I wish you the best of luck in this process! Just getting to the application stage is quite the ride - ENJOY IT! You'll be there and beyond before you know it! 😀

 

[FireMedic4]

Excellent points from everyone, thank you again.

I have decided to take Ochem 1 and 2 and Bio 1 and 2 over this coming summer and postpone my MCATs till August, based on everyone's advice! I feel comfortable with Physics, Chemistry and the Writing sections.

On a side note, I recently (finally!) got the grades from my Paramedic program which all count as other science for the most part in the AACOMAS, and frolm 56 extra credits my overall GPA increased to 3.46 and my science gpa is up to 2.94. I think with the remain pre-req courses I need plus one or two retakes I should easily be over the 3.0 threshold. What are you thoughts?