Non-trad school... advice?

[SPG2bMD]

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Hello all,

I am 31 years old and work as a contract pilot. Single with no kids and work internationally (generally living in a hotel room). I enjoy what I do and in many respects have made it to the top of my profession. Unfortunately, I have always been followed around by this nagging desire to become a doctor. Like so many of you, I have made the decision to abandon my career and pursue an education and career in medicine. I cant quite just up and quit my job at the moment if I want to have some monetary "padding" while in medical school but I am prepping for the moment when I can return to school to finish my mandatory pre-reqs (I have none yet)

Here is my question:

Will I be able to get into a US school?


Here is my situation:

Since I have not completed a four year degree (65 out of 120 credits towards BS in Aviation Technology) I am planning on attending Thomas Jefferson State College's online school to finish up. Then I am planning to, either concurrently or after BS, attend college (perhaps CC) for 2 years of pre-req work. I have 3.7 as of now with previous undergrad coursework, although half of that is CLEP and P/F aviation examination credit. I am somewhat intelligent, generally able to pick up a CLEP test or other piece of information and pass after 5-6 hours of intense study. However, I dont know what the heck med school boards will think of a former jet Capt with an online degree and pre-req work from a CC.

Thank you in advance for all of your replies.

-Sean

 

[WaterPog]

The only significant thing I would change is doing your pre-reqs at a university instead of a CC, it will be a bit more expense but will avoid the CC bias and show the adcoms that you are both serious and capable. As for the added expense, in the grand scheme of medical school a few thousand more for the university vs CC is relatively insignificant.

$0.02

 

[SPG2bMD]

The only significant thing I would change is doing your pre-reqs at a university instead of a CC, it will be a bit more expense but will avoid the CC bias and show the adcoms that you are both serious and capable. As for the added expense, in the grand scheme of medical school a few thousand more for the university vs CC is relatively insignificant.

$0.02

Thanks for the reply. I will certainly do that if I can. Really wondering if the online stuff from Thomas Edison will factor into that much. I am still CLEPing all of the classes I can. My thought is that as CLEP courses are not given a grade, the only real downside is that I will have to make SURE that I get A's in the other, graded, classes.

-Sean

 

[LoLCareerGoals]

Hello all,

I am 31 years old and work as a contract pilot. Single with no kids and work internationally (generally living in a hotel room). I enjoy what I do and in many respects have made it to the top of my profession. Unfortunately, I have always been followed around by this nagging desire to become a doctor. Like so many of you, I have made the decision to abandon my career and pursue an education and career in medicine. I cant quite just up and quit my job at the moment if I want to have some monetary "padding" while in medical school but I am prepping for the moment when I can return to school to finish my mandatory pre-reqs (I have none yet)

Here is my question:

Will I be able to get into a US school?


Here is my situation:

Since I have not completed a four year degree (65 out of 120 credits towards BS in Aviation Technology) I am planning on attending Thomas Jefferson State College's online school to finish up. Then I am planning to, either concurrently or after BS, attend college (perhaps CC) for 2 years of pre-req work. I have 3.7 as of now with previous undergrad coursework, although half of that is CLEP and P/F aviation examination credit. I am somewhat intelligent, generally able to pick up a CLEP test or other piece of information and pass after 5-6 hours of intense study. However, I dont know what the heck med school boards will think of a former jet Capt with an online degree and pre-req work from a CC.

Thank you in advance for all of your replies.

-Sean

If the only reason you are finishing your degree is so you can go to a medical school, why not get the prereqs done first at a real college, then take MCAT. If the #s look good, proceed to complete the BS degree. If they don't, abort the plan and save $$$. I don't understand the point of wasting $$$ on a Devry-esque lolcollege, does it help your backup plans somehow?

 

[SPG2bMD]

If the only reason you are finishing your degree is so you can go to a medical school, why not get the prereqs done first at a real college, then take MCAT. If the #s look good, proceed to complete the BS degree. If they don't, abort the plan and save $$$. I don't understand the point of wasting $$$ on a Devry-esque lolcollege, does it help your backup plans somehow?

I see where you are coming from and think I understand what you are saying. To answer your question, I am doing this online degree in aviation because I am overseas for the next few months and feel that I can use my free time to take as many classes as possible/ test out of as many courses as possible. Perhaps I really dont need to make it a whole degree, but I am already quite far into the program and have at least 36 aviation credits that wont transfer elsewhere. If I forego taking advantage of these I will lose 1 year or so of college which would cost me more money in the long run I would think for undergrad.

That being said, perhaps I may be better off just testing out of everything reasonable until I get home and then doing just what you suggested, attending a regular school for pre-reqs. The only variable then would be the transfer "boondoggle" that would invariably end in me losing credits anyhow. This pretty much sums up the dilemma I have been considering for the last few months, lol.

 

[MagnoliaFan]

Hello all,

I am 31 years old and work as a contract pilot. Single with no kids and work internationally (generally living in a hotel room). I enjoy what I do and in many respects have made it to the top of my profession. Unfortunately, I have always been followed around by this nagging desire to become a doctor. Like so many of you, I have made the decision to abandon my career and pursue an education and career in medicine. I cant quite just up and quit my job at the moment if I want to have some monetary "padding" while in medical school but I am prepping for the moment when I can return to school to finish my mandatory pre-reqs (I have none yet)

Here is my question:

Will I be able to get into a US school?


Here is my situation:

Since I have not completed a four year degree (65 out of 120 credits towards BS in Aviation Technology) I am planning on attending Thomas Jefferson State College's online school to finish up. Then I am planning to, either concurrently or after BS, attend college (perhaps CC) for 2 years of pre-req work. I have 3.7 as of now with previous undergrad coursework, although half of that is CLEP and P/F aviation examination credit. I am somewhat intelligent, generally able to pick up a CLEP test or other piece of information and pass after 5-6 hours of intense study. However, I dont know what the heck med school boards will think of a former jet Capt with an online degree and pre-req work from a CC.

Thank you in advance for all of your replies.

-Sean

I am 31 and applying to med school this summer. If I were you I would take first year chem and biology and see how you do. A good community college seems like it would be OK to me. The key will be to score well on the MCAT, if you do that, who cares where you did your pre-reqs. If you can pull a 3.8 - 4.0 at a community college, do well on the MCAT and throw some volunteering and shadowing in you should get in somewhere. I would hope so at least.

 

[Deekle]

You teach me fly, I teach you doctor. Deal?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile app. Blame Siri if the spelling or grammar are bad.

 

[SPG2bMD]

you teach me fly, i teach you doctor. Deal?


Sent from my iphone using sdn mobile app. Blame siri if the spelling or grammar are bad.

done.

 

[Funke]

I am 31 and applying to med school this summer. If I were you I would take first year chem and biology and see how you do. A good community college seems like it would be OK to me. The key will be to score well on the MCAT, if you do that, who cares where you did your pre-reqs. If you can pull a 3.8 - 4.0 at a community college, do well on the MCAT and throw some volunteering and shadowing in you should get in somewhere. I would hope so at least.

👍

The med schools I've talked to said that CCs were okay and accepted, but universities are better. So take that for what it's worth. If you have to go CC because of the time slots or some other reason, they will be fine if the rest of your app is strong, especially the MCAT. A good MCAT score will trump CC credits because it showed you either got a good education or studied your butt off, or both. But remember, given the choice, science pre-reqs at a university will look better on your application, and I know for me I want everything to look as good as possible.

 

[gyngyn]

Online courses are not accepted at most medical schools.

 

[SPG2bMD]

Online courses are not accepted at most medical schools.

Not taking online pre-reqs for med. Only doing coursework with state school in new jersey that happens to be online. They do take that, dont they?