Paramedic seeking insight...

[minneapolis24]

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So, a brief bit about me: I'm 25 years old, and I've been working in EMS since I was 19. I was an EMT for three years before becoming a paramedic. I've now worked as a medic in a busy metro system (greater than 50,000 calls per year) for a little less than three years. I graduated from a liberal arts university (which is when I was also working as an EMT) with a B.A. in Biology, and a GPA of 2.8. I started out as a pre-med student and took the EMT class on a whim (and because someone I had a crush on was taking it as well...), and not with the intention of being THAT pre-med student who takes it as a resume booster. Around the time I started working as an EMT I really began to have doubts about going to medical school: I enjoyed my work immensely, and I was a terrible student, lacking motivation and focus, preferring to party and take as much call time at the ambulance service as possible. Since I had wanted to go to medical school for so long, it took me a good nine months or so to come to terms with the idea of not going, and instead I decided to finish my bachelors and then become a paramedic.

I should preface the rest by saying that I love my job, indescribably, but here's my dilemma: I still find myself thinking about going to medical school. If I make a strong effort to put it out of my mind and focus on other things, the desire goes away for a short time, but sure enough it comes back to me (in fact, usually all it takes is talking to one of the emergency medicine residents while I'm filling out paperwork). Other than medical school, I know I have plenty of options as far as "furthering" my career (if you'll forgive the cliche). If I stay in EMS I'll likely work on getting my critical care/flight medic certification. I've considered doing a paramedic to RN bridge course offered nearby, and I've also thought about PA school. But I still also feel like I'm screwing myself out of a dream by not at least making a really solid effort to try to get into medical school. Being out of college for at least a little bit now has given me some perspective. I know that I am more than willing to do what I need to get into medical school... but I honestly don't know what I should do as far as re-taking classes, or getting a graduate degree etc.

My GPA from my B.A. is only 2.8. My GPA from my paramedic associates degree is a 3.9 (not that an associates degree means that much in the grand scheme of things). I've been a CPR/First Aid/BLS instructor for five years, a DOT instructor for three years. Most all of my volunteer experience comes from EMS related things (helping out at volunteer services, teaching first responder and EMT classes for volunteer services etc.) I'm just curious to see what people think are my best options for making me at least a mildly competitive candidate for medical school.

 

[alpinism]

I started out as a pre-med student and took the EMT class on a whim (and because someone I had a crush on was taking it as well...), and not with the intention of being THAT pre-med student who takes it as a resume booster.

lol I've taken a few classes that way.

I'm also 25, ex- FF/EMT and CC flight medic.

First and foremost, add up all the college courses you've ever taken (incl. BA biology and AS Paramedic) and calculate your overall GPA and science GPA (BCPM= Bio, Chem, Physics, and Math). The AS paramedic courses will not count for science unfortunately. Let us know where you stand.

I'm guessing you should have between a 3.0-3.25 overall GPA after incl. the 3.9 AS

In your case, depending on how u did in med school pre-reqs and science courses, your best course of action would prob be to do a post-bacc and take undergrad upper-division sci courses part-time (night classes etc...) in order to raise your sci GPA to above 3.0 at least. Most schools will not consider an application unless your undergrad GPA (both overall and sci) is above 3.0. Some schools even screen out apps below a 3.2. Med schools also place more weight on undergrad grades than grad grades and many schools don't even consider grad grades at all unless its a SMP (special masters program).

Many non-traditional students end up going the DO route b/c they are more friendly to career-changers and value life-experience (past clinical experience/community service) over just pure stats (GPA/MCAT). They also let you re-take classes you did poorly in and replace the previous grade with a new higher one. (example: If you got a C in chem, you can retake it and if you get an A, the new grade completely replaces the old grade) This is not the case for MD, where both grades will be included in your GPA. Because of this, it's much easier and faster to raise your GPA to a competitive level for DO.

For DO, you'll want to have at least a 3.2+ overall and 3.0+ sci to have a decent shot. A 3.4/3.2 would be even better and would give u a good shot w/ your background.

For MD, you'll need an even higher GPA.

In addition, you'll need to get a competitive MCAT as well (24+ DO/ 28+ MD - the higher the better).

Look into the DO route and see if its something you might be interested in.

Good Luck!