officer transition - any tips?

[yardsale]

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Hello all,

I am an active duty Army officer and have decided to leave the Army behind in favor of pursuing a career in medicine. I received my undergrad degree in languages from a good school, but screwed up my last year and only received a 2.85. I am seriously considering going back for a second degree in biology to improve my chances of acceptance. Am not interested in going to med school and having the Army pay for it.

I think I have a game plan I'd like to pursue that I would appreciate your input on:

1. Upon ETS from the Army take pre-req courses and take the MCAT. ~year and a half to 2 years. Apply to med school.

2. If I am not accepted to med school then pursue second degree in as little time as possible. I anticipate that I can complete 120 credit hours of work in just under 3 years time if I also take summer courses and spend the rest of my time in the Army taking courses. Reapply to med school.

3. If still not accepted, take masters course/GPA boosting pre-med course. Reapply to med school.

4. Evaluate other life options. Hopefully I should make it after at least getting a second degree.

Is this plan sound? What am I lacking/not considering? Would any of my undergraduate courses from my first degree transfer over to a second degree? Are there scholarships available for veterans pursuing this type of thing? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[njbmd]

Hello all,

I am an active duty Army officer and have decided to leave the Army behind in favor of pursuing a career in medicine. I received my undergrad degree in languages from a good school, but screwed up my last year and only received a 2.85. I am seriously considering going back for a second degree in biology to improve my chances of acceptance. Am not interested in going to med school and having the Army pay for it.

I think I have a game plan I'd like to pursue that I would appreciate your input on:

1. Upon ETS from the Army take pre-req courses and take the MCAT. ~year and a half to 2 years. Apply to med school.

2. If I am not accepted to med school then pursue second degree in as little time as possible. I anticipate that I can complete 120 credit hours of work in just under 3 years time if I also take summer courses and spend the rest of my time in the Army taking courses. Reapply to med school.

3. If still not accepted, take masters course/GPA boosting pre-med course. Reapply to med school.

4. Evaluate other life options. Hopefully I should make it after at least getting a second degree.

Is this plan sound? What am I lacking/not considering? Would any of my undergraduate courses from my first degree transfer over to a second degree? Are there scholarships available for veterans pursuing this type of thing? Any advice would be appreciated.

You don't need a degree in biology to get into medical school. You do need some post bacc work to get your uGPA into the competitive range. My guess is that the pre-med courses won't be enough but a second degree is likely too much as you are not quite that far from 3.00.

Do a Google search and get a spreadsheet that will allow you to calculate your uGPA as you take your pre-med coursework. Needless to say, you need to achieve "A"s in your coursework. If the pre-med coursework is not enough, look into Special Masters Programs (SMP) for credential enhancement rather than trying to get another undergraduate degree especially in biology.

If you can break that 3.00 mark, have excellent grades in your pre-med work, you will likely get yourself competitive for an SMP. Any other masters degree isn't going to help you very much in terms of getting you more competitive for medical school.

Also be aware that you have to perform very well in those SMP-type programs or you can tank your chances of getting into medical school entirely. Be prepare to work hard for that year or so and work at a high level. Your military combined with a strong performance in an SMP (or enough post bacc work to get you competitive) should get you in somewhere.

 

[yardsale]

Thank you for your reply. I had thought that schools only considered your undergraduate GPA and not the courses one might take after graduation. Am I wrong there?

 

[sramati]

Sir,

Thank you for your reply. I had thought that schools only considered your undergraduate GPA and not the courses one might take after graduation. Am I wrong there?

Undergraduate classes that you take after graduation count towards your undergraduate gpa. When njbmd says "post bacc", they refer to undergraduate classes taken after graduation, either in a formal program or informally. SMP gpas are taken into consideration because they are designed for the purpose of showing medical schools that you can handle rigorous coursework (from my understanding; someone with more knowledge on SMPs correct me if I'm wrong).


And even though you haven't asked, I've also read that several doing informal post bacc declare a major for early registration for major classes (biology, chemistry) and to be eligible for financial aid, but don't finish it upon acceptance.

 

[yardsale]

This is excellent news. I'm assuming that some of these programs are "more equal than others" though? I guess I'll need to look into that. Thanks for the advice.