Paramedic to MD hopefulls

[Jbrown1109]

Hey guys,

I'm sort of early in the my career but I am looking for advice on the matter. Currently I am an EMT Basic, in a couple of months I will be able to test for my paramedic. I have most of my college basics behind me. I also currently work on an ambulance as a basic and have nearly a year experience now.

I would really love to pursue the medical school route but don't know if it would even be possible.

Also I would need to keep my job at least through undergraduate school, online classes would make this much easier.

If anyone has any advice on if med school is an option and anything regarding the online school it would be much appreciated.

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[Eccesignum]

Fellow emergency services worker here. As for your basic question, "Is it an option": More than likely.

Long answer: How long the road is depends on a lot of things. Do you have a bachelor's degree? Any of the pre-requisite courses for medical school yet? What's your cumulative GPA? What's your science GPA? How's your volunteer experience, both clinical and non-clinical? There are a lot of factors that go into an application, without which we can't get a full picture of you yet.

As for online classes, in general taking your pre-requisite science classes online is not a great idea. There are a handful of schools that will accept them but you'd be locking yourself out of quite a lot. Non-science prereqs potentially have a little more wiggle room. Head onto the AAMC's website and get yourself a copy of the MSAR. For (almost) every MD school in there there's a little chart that'll tell you whether or not that school accepts both community college and/or online credit for X class. For DO schools you'll just have to check websites unfortunately, as there's no centralized database like that that I know of for them.

Personally, I had to drop to down to per diem at two jobs so that I could control my work schedule. It's been a little hair-raising balancing schedules but worth it. I don't know if your agency allows that but it might be worth looking into.

 

[Jbrown1109]

As for college I only have first year basics ENGL 1301 HIST1301, and the other general college prerequisites. Philosophy drug my GPA down a bit but I believe it is a 3.17 as of now. A little on the lower side but time to recover.

 

[CajunMedic]

Definitely an option. Right now, my DO class has 4 paramedics, 2 basics, an RN, an X-ray tech, and a few scribes and pharmacy techs. I did the entirety of my undergrad while working full time. By the end, I was stringing 3 part-time jobs together around my School and MCAT prep schedule. I'd shy away from the online courses. Be careful when planning things out, I overloaded myself and both my GPA and MCAT score suffered.

@Eccesignum's advice is spot on.