Nontraditional Student needing advice

[bajsw6974]

If it matters, I am 45. I started at the university when I was 37 and degree is a BAAS (Applied Arts and Sciences) with a Social Work concentration. I am finding it hard to get entry level jobs but do have previous experience in child welfare and community mental health case management. I have always wanted to be in medicine but I am not smart enough or rich enough for med school. I would be very interested in going for PA , I have also noticed that the age of the pre requisites aren't capped at 5 years as I see DO or med schools are. Here are my stats :

GPA : 2.71 (No science courses but do have Psych, Prob and Statistics,etc)

No problem shadowing a PA or working / finding work in HC setting , I also have medical assisting experience years ago

I have applied to 2 universities one being where I obtained my bachelor's degree and applied for the Interdisciplinary Studies prgm with Educational Psych and Rehab Studies but considering switching it to healthcare courses that the program "suggests" such as med terminology, medical ethics, even a few Biochem courses with no pre-requisites required.

2nd option / choice : I applied to a university that has a graduate certificate prgm in Cognitive Sciences that would show I can do graduate level work and perhaps take the science and chemistry classes at a local CC ? Or should I just go for a second bachelor's degree ?

Another downfall I have utilized all of my pell grant and other loans, grants for undergrad but not for graduate school . I would solely rely on financial aid and could afford classes at a JC out of pocket if need-be . I have always wanted to work in the field of medicine, prove to myself and have some sense of accomplishment. I have been homeless before, raised in foster care and have overcome so many obstacles . I apologize for the long thread and would like some type of guidance or if this was even possible to accomplish because of my low GPA. Thanks in advance

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[MusicDOc124]

If it matters, I am 45. I started at the university when I was 37 and degree is a BAAS (Applied Arts and Sciences) with a Social Work concentration. I am finding it hard to get entry level jobs but do have previous experience in child welfare and community mental health case management. I have always wanted to be in medicine but I am not smart enough or rich enough for med school. I would be very interested in going for PA , I have also noticed that the age of the pre requisites aren't capped at 5 years as I see DO or med schools are. Here are my stats :

GPA : 2.71 (No science courses but do have Psych, Prob and Statistics,etc)

No problem shadowing a PA or working / finding work in HC setting , I also have medical assisting experience years ago

I have applied to 2 universities one being where I obtained my bachelor's degree and applied for the Interdisciplinary Studies prgm with Educational Psych and Rehab Studies but considering switching it to healthcare courses that the program "suggests" such as med terminology, medical ethics, even a few Biochem courses with no pre-requisites required.

2nd option / choice : I applied to a university that has a graduate certificate prgm in Cognitive Sciences that would show I can do graduate level work and perhaps take the science and chemistry classes at a local CC ? Or should I just go for a second bachelor's degree ?

Another downfall I have utilized all of my pell grant and other loans, grants for undergrad but not for graduate school . I would solely rely on financial aid and could afford classes at a JC out of pocket if need-be . I have always wanted to work in the field of medicine, prove to myself and have some sense of accomplishment. I have been homeless before, raised in foster care and have overcome so many obstacles . I apologize for the long thread and would like some type of guidance or if this was even possible to accomplish because of my low GPA. Thanks in advance

A few things of note to not be confused - DO school is med school just as MD school is med school. You also don't need to be rich by any means to attend. And regarding being "smart" or not - both fields require you to be smart.

As for timing of pre-reqs... you mention a 5 year cap for med school. I've seen a few med schools that have a cap of either 4, 5, or 10 years for pre-reqs, but PA schools also have them. My alma mater's PA school has a 10 year limit for pre-reqs while my medical school does not have a time limit for when pre-reqs were taken.

Students' science GPAs are generally the same or lower than their cumulative GPAs. You mention that you have no sciences, and that your cumulative GPA is a 2.71. The 2.71 itself is too low for either PA school or med school, and being that the sciences are generally tougher, you'd have to really hunker down and study hard, and not be afraid to ask for help/tutoring if needed. You need to be taking sciences and ACING them - not only to get your cumulative GPA up, but to also have a high science GPA.

Option 1 should be a no-go as it doesnt have the pre-reqs for either med school or PA school.

Option 2 should be a no-go as you don't need to be demonstrating handling grad school course work - you need to ACE the pre-reqs and demonstrate that you can handle science classes, which you don't even know right now because you said you havent take any yet. Not to mention "cognitive sciences" sounds more like psych in a way than it does the basic sciences/pre-reqs.

You should not be going for a 2nd bachelors... you should be doing a post-bacc program. Taking the pre-reqs at your local CC is also okay.

Your GPA is not so low that it cannot be overcome, but you need to be looking in a different direction if you plan on either med school or PA school. I'd be looking at post-bacc's if I were you. You need to be getting straight As to get the GPAs up. It's certainly possible if you do it the correct way, but it will be a process.

Good luck!

 

[bajsw6974]

Thank you for your response. I will look into a CC for the science courses. I just wasn't sure if it would be looked down upon if I did that being I went from a bachelor's degree to a CC. The Cognitive Sciences was something I wanted to do on my own or even a Master's in Interdisciplinary , I know it isn't necessary but it would allow me to take the "preferred" courses such as Virology, Medical Ethics, and even a few Bio courses at the graduate level.