No Idea Where To Begin

[cwjnavy]

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Hi Everyone!

I'm currently in the US Navy and will be getting out in 18 months. I've been back and forth on the decision to stay in or to get out and pursue a different career. Right now I'm a CTM (Cryptologic Technician Maintenance), which basically means that I perform maintenance on equipment that is used for intelligence in the US Navy. So yes, I have the acclaimed Top Secret Clearance and the options for me when I get out are all over the place. Although recently I've made up my mind to go to college and pursue a biology degree and hopefully get into med school afterwards. I'm not very old, right now I'm 23 but when I get out I will be a month away from my 25th birthday. I have acquired credits for college from my service in the military (schools, training, etc.) that are not on the same page as the degree I want to pursue. I'm about to start studying for the SAT's (although not required by the school I wish to go for, but they revert back to high school grades, and, well we're not going to start with that *smile*) so that I can take them when I get off of my current deployment. If all goes well and I get accepted to the college I want to go to then that's great! But I have a few questions.

'Am I considered a "Nontraditional Student" even though I came directly into the military after high school without going to college?'

I understand that the general rule is 'For students that have entered the health professions from a different path, either as a career change, AFTER MILITARY SERVICE, or just later than the average pre-health student.', I just wasn't sure if that meant if you had a break between college and applications for med school.

'When it comes to the MCAT, when is the best time to take it?'

I've heard that you should take it the year before you are applying, is that far off? Because when I do finally get started on college, I'm going to be trying to complete it in 3 years. So I'm going to be overloading all of my courses trying to fit them into the 3 years, so does that mean I should take it during my second year?

'Is there any specific biology degree that would help MOST when attending medical school?'

I've always been a huge fan of science related education of any kind, I'm just not sure which would help me the most once I'm actually IN medical school. If there is any one specific course that would be held as the "MUST take course", I would want to make sure that I take it.

I've been looking through the boards on the Nontraditional Students forum and I've been extremely happy with all of the posts on here, although of course every person's situation is different. I'm just coming out of the military without the slightest idea where to start on working to get to medical school. If there are any suggestions that could make my life easier, I'm all ears. Thank you again for all of your help and hopefully I can someday be an MD!

--Cwjnavy

 

[njbmd]

First of all, congratulations on your successful Navy career and thank you for the service. (I am engaged to a former "nuke puke" who is rocking his university studies). Second, stop worrying about whether or not you are a non-traditional student. Being non-traditional and $3.25 might get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks otherwise, you are a sharp individual with some excellent skills who will be entering university to study Biology(or any major for that matter) with the study of medicine as your goal.

Get into the best university that you can get into. This will be one that has solid coursework and a comfortable atmosphere that you can thrive in. Once there, get yourself a good faculty mentor who can help you navigate your coursework and keep you on a strong path of excellence (though I doubt you will need much guidance with your military background). The best thing that good mentors do for their students is help them stay on track and get the most from their coursework.

While you are at university, take advantage of any experiences that will enrich your studies such as volunteering and research. Again, a good mentor in the sciences/pre-med can make sure that you get some research experience (if you are interested in research) that is of interest to you. With the background that you already have, there are many things that you would be able to do as you move through undergraduate. In short, the academic world is your "oyster" and you will have the opportunity to go in any direction that you wish.

Last, you high school grades happened while you were young. At this point, you have acquired some maturity and you seem to have an idea of what you want. Keep you eyes on your goal and do what you have to do to achieve it. You are still quite young and you know that you have the brainpower to do anything that you wish so go for what you want. Good luck!

 

[cwjnavy]

First of all, congratulations on your successful Navy career and thank you for the service. (I am engaged to a former "nuke puke" who is rocking his university studies). Second, stop worrying about whether or not you are a non-traditional student. Being non-traditional and $3.25 might get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks otherwise, you are a sharp individual with some excellent skills who will be entering university to study Biology(or any major for that matter) with the study of medicine as your goal.

Get into the best university that you can get into. This will be one that has solid coursework and a comfortable atmosphere that you can thrive in. Once there, get yourself a good faculty mentor who can help you navigate your coursework and keep you on a strong path of excellence (though I doubt you will need much guidance with your military background). The best thing that good mentors do for their students is help them stay on track and get the most from their coursework.

While you are at university, take advantage of any experiences that will enrich your studies such as volunteering and research. Again, a good mentor in the sciences/pre-med can make sure that you get some research experience (if you are interested in research) that is of interest to you. With the background that you already have, there are many things that you would be able to do as you move through undergraduate. In short, the academic world is your "oyster" and you will have the opportunity to go in any direction that you wish.

Last, you high school grades happened while you were young. At this point, you have acquired some maturity and you seem to have an idea of what you want. Keep you eyes on your goal and do what you have to do to achieve it. You are still quite young and you know that you have the brainpower to do anything that you wish so go for what you want. Good luck!

Thank you for your reply! Obviously with me being out to sea our bandwith is very bad. And I've been anxiously clicking the refresh button waiting for someone to reply while I am perusing the other threads.

I am planning on going to Indiana University for biology when I get out. Being an Indiana resident makes it a very wise choice for myself, not to mention that have a very good Medical School that likes Indiana Residents. I've already talked to both schools via e-mail and they seem very helpful. There's just some questions you can't ask them. IUSM surprised me when I was talking to them, it turns out nearly 50% of the qualified Indiana resident applicants get accepted (Of course this may just be them manipulating me, but who knows, could be true).

I don't see myself getting deterred from my goal of wanting to become a doctor, I've done way too much research into it and with everything I read, the more it appeals to me. Of course once I get out I'm going to start volunteering, trying to get some sort of a job with a hospital for income. Obviously the new GI Bill is going to be a huge benefit for me, so I'm looking forward to the BAH that it gives per month now along with FULL tuition. So that's always nice. It's times like these when it pays to be a veteran 😀.

If there are any suggestions from anyone else I would love to hear them! Thank you all for reading!

--Cwjnavy

 

[QofQuimica]

'Am I considered a "Nontraditional Student" even though I came directly into the military after high school without going to college?'

Different schools have different rules. In any case, the designation means nothing. There are not quotas for nontrads. It might make your financial aid a little easier since some schools don't require you to disclose parental info if you are over age 30.

'When it comes to the MCAT, when is the best time to take it?'

When you're ready. It's fine to take it the year before you apply. That's what I did, actually (took it in 2004, applied in 2005 for entering c/o 2006). Just don't take the MCAT before taking all four of the pre-reqs (year each of bio, chem, organic, physics); there's a good reason why these classes are called pre-reqs and not co-reqs.

'Is there any specific biology degree that would help MOST when attending medical school?'

No. Major in whatever the heck you want, as long as you complete the pre-reqs. I was a liberal arts major. None of your college classes will be very much help in med school after about the first three weeks. Just make sure you take all of the pre-reqs. Note that requirements vary by school. Get an MSAR and look at what the requirements are for the schools you might want to choose. All schools require the four courses I mentioned plus a year of lab for each. Some schools have additional requirements such as biochem, English, math, etc. You will want to make sure you take whatever the schools you plan to apply to require.

Also, check out the sticky at the top of this forum and the stickies in the pre-allo forum if you haven't already. There is tons of good info for you to peruse. Best of luck to you. 🙂

 

[dragonfly99]

First of all, thank you for your service.
It doesn't matter whether you call yourself a nontrad or not...it basically doesn't mean anything - it's just a label somebody made up. I would say you are b/c you started college @ a nontraditional age, but at a big university like IU there are likely to be lots of folks like you.

Don't worry about the MCAT now...I'd give it a good 2-3 years in college before you take a stab at it...well 2 or 2.5 if you are planning to finish in 3. Finishing in 3 is ambitious but if you do summer school or overload your courses, or have some transfer credits I'm sure it's doable. However, DON'T take too many credits your first semester and screw up your GPA. That would be BAD. You've never been a full time college student before, so I'd just take a normal load the first semester...you need time to get used to things.

Q is right about not taking the MCAT before you've finished all the required courses. There's no reason to and it would diminish your chances of getting the score you need.

The 50% acceptance rate for qualified in state students could be correct for IU...they have a fairly large sized medical school and there aren't the number of people/applicants that some other states like New York and California have. However, keep in mind they said "qualified applicants" - they are probably talking about people who met whatever cutoffs they set for the MCAT score, GPA and maybe hospital volunteer hours, etc. So it might be 50% or more of the people who actually make it to the interview get in, if they are offering interviews to all the "qualified" folks. Your plan so far sounds solid, though...wouldn't worry about "getting" in for another year or two...just concentrate on getting A/A- grades, nothing lower than a B in anything for sure, and then go from there.

I was a biology major in undergrad and I do feel that it helped me a little in med school...but I majored in it because I liked biology, even picked the major before I knew I wanted to go to med school. The exact major doesn't matter...pick something you like and are likely to do well in. Don't forget to talk to the premed advisor at IU as well...would talk with him/her early in the first semester, if not before you enroll. Or you could phone/email them.

And thank you for your service...I sometimes work @ the VA hospital and I really appreciate all the folks who have served.

 

[gman33]

A lot of good advice above.

Let me add something about your choice of college and major. As said, your degree won't matter much. I'd pick something I was interested in and which offers good career options in it's own right. Many people start out thinking they are going to pursue medicine and don't for a variety of reasons. It would be nice to have a degree which provides appealing options if you decide on a different path. Bio can provide these options, but make sure they are of interest to you. Don't think you need to be a bio major just because you want to go to med school.

Also, be careful about trying to take too many courses at once. The easiest way to mess up your med school chances is to have a horrible semester or two. The basic prereqs are very time consuming and are a challenge to many. I'd recommend taking a lighter course load to start and only adding more classes after you have proven to yourself that you can excel.

Good luck on your journey.

 

[dazed1980]

A lot of good advice above.

Let me add something about your choice of college and major. As said, your degree won't matter much. I'd pick something I was interested in and which offers good career options in it's own right. Many people start out thinking they are going to pursue medicine and don't for a variety of reasons. It would be nice to have a degree which provides appealing options if you decide on a different path. Bio can provide these options, but make sure they are of interest to you. Don't think you need to be a bio major just because you want to go to med school.

Also, be careful about trying to take too many courses at once. The easiest way to mess up your med school chances is to have a horrible semester or two. The basic prereqs are very time consuming and are a challenge to many. I'd recommend taking a lighter course load to start and only adding more classes after you have proven to yourself that you can excel.

Good luck on your journey.

I can't add to anything already posted. I just want to say i agree with all the advice and Goodluck to the OP.

 

[error404]

I've always been a huge fan of science related education of any kind, I'm just not sure which would help me the most once I'm actually IN medical school. If there is any one specific course that would be held as the "MUST take course", I would want to make sure that I take it.

Just wanted to add on to what others have already said-- what you major in won't matter at all. It's important to do well in your premed classes, and to be able to think scientifically. Other than that, study what you find the most interesting, so that you're motivated to get the good grades and don't burn out.


~error404, ms4

 

[LaTortuga]

Hello!

I just wanted to start by saying thank you for your service. Being married to a service member myself has really shown me how much you guys sacrifice for us; for all of your hard work and dedication, I am very grateful. 😀

Quick question, you mentioned trying to squeeze everything into 3 years ... why the rush? Overloading, like other people have mentioned, could be a recipe for disaster. It only takes one bad semester to tank your GPA, so my suggestion would be to enjoy the undergrad journey and give yourself some breathing room course wise. Taking four (or even five years like I did) years or more to finish the undergrad degree could be great for you. It'll give you time to take a nice breadth of courses and fit in things that could be really helpful come interview time like bioethics classes.

Regarding majors, it really doesn't matter. The most important thing is to ace your pre-req courses and if you can fit them in, consider taking biochemistry and immunology. I know a guy at work who just got into NYU and is interviewing at an ivy school this weekend ... he majored in art history, but just made sure to take the pre-med pre-reqs. If there's another major that looks interesting, by all means check it out. I couldn't give up my love of philosophy, so I just ended up doing a BA (philo) and BS (cell bio). Sometimes even picking a non-biology major can be a conversation starter during your interviews. 😳

One final tidbit regarding your post, like the others suggested, wait until you have finished your pre-reqs ... but don't make the mistake that I did and wait too long to take the MCAT. I waited until a year after I graduated to take the MCAT, then retook it again 2 years later. (Was taking time off to explore full time research before applying to med school) All I can say about that experience is ouch. Physics and o-chem are hard enough the first time, but why, oh why, would you wanna have to learn it all over again?!

Good luck! 😎

 

[Indymom]

I am from Indiana too (hence my username) and I am going to IUSM next year. I don't know if it is a 50% acceptance rate, but I will tell you that if you work hard and get pretty good grades and a decent MCAT score, you will be accepted. I am not talking about 3.9 GPA and 35. I have friends who were accepted to IUSM with MCAT of 28 or 29 and GPA of 3.5. If you plan on staying in Indiana to practice, they want you. They are very impressed with medical volunteer work, physician shadowing, and leadership. They do not care about undergraduate research. I have seen Robert Stump speak a number of times on my campus and these last two sentences are from him. Also, during my interview they cared more about my clinical experiences than my research experience.

Not to say that "everyone" gets in. I was surprised when they rejected one of the guys I went to school with, he had very good grades and MCAT score. He seems like a nice guy, so I don't think he would have rubbed them the wrong way at the interview. Another guy I know got a high (36) MCAT score but his GPA was just barely a 3.2 (maybe a 3.18) and he got rejected pre-interview. Not to deter you, but I don't want you to think its a shew in (shoe in?) since overconfidence can lead to detrimental results.

Which campus are you thinking of for undergrad? Bloomington? You can PM me if you want more information on IUSM or the IU system.

 

[Indymom]

About the MCAT - like everyone here is saying - take them as soon as you can. Don't wait long after physics and O-chem. The MCATS are usually good for 3 years so by the time you finish your basic sciences, you can take them and then finish your last year or two and apply.