Plan A is a no-go need some advice

[MarshMedic]

Hi all,

I am a senior at UMBC in the B.S. of Emergency Health Services program. Me and a friend, in the same program, recently discovered that medical school is where we want to go.

I have a decent GPA 3.48. For ECs we have thousands of emergency calls responded to as EMTs via our volunteer fire companies in addition to ~600 hrs of hands on clinicals (field and hospital) for my paramedic program and will be testing for national registry and state licensure in 3 months. The only science prereqs we have are our biologies.

Mid Fall semester my friend advised me about post-bacs at Goucher and Hopkins. I did some research, but failed to grasp just how competitive these programs are. I have recently recieved a rejection from Goucher and still awaiting an interview invite/rejection from Hopkins. My friend has just been rejected from both.

This late in the Spring semester what are some alternative options for next year? We both want to go the formal postbac route. If need be/rejected from all postbacs we apply to we are ready to DIY. I would like to stay local to MD but that appears to be out of the question pending rejection from Hopkins. I would be open to move anywhere to do a postbac. If I had to DIY I would most likely complete pre reqs at UMBC or possibly Towson U.

We are here to stay the course and are looking for some advice as to how to get into medical school as fast and efficiently as possible. Thanks in advance for any replies!

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[brettevan]

Check out the stickies. Members of this board put hours and hours of work into them so people like you can have them readily available.

 

[MarshMedic]

Thanks for the reply, and I have checked them out already.

 

[DrMidlife]

The brand name formal postbacs usually won't take you if you already did some of the science prereqs. 3.48 is low for these programs - it's below average for med school admissions. So that's probably what hurt you with Goucher.

If JHU doesn't come through, consider adding time to your current undergrad program, by adding a minor such as bio, chem or biochem. You may find that it's hard to get funding and registration priority for med school prereqs otherwise.

Best of luck to you.

 

[SPionic]

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[MarshMedic]

The application deadline for UMD's Science in the Evening program is June 1st. You should look it up. The format only allows taking two courses at once during the evening, but I guess it would make sense for you to take Chem 1/2 over the summer (a lot of places have open registration for summer term, to make them extra $$ and fill up classes), and then to take Organic Chemistry and Physics over the school year through the program. You would then have a total of 16 credits through UMCP, and would be eligible for their pre-health people to support your application, for what that is worth.

I hope that helps some.

It very much does, thank you.

The both of us are also looking at an M.S. in epidemiology through our current department or an M.P.H. as a foot in the door as we complete pre-reqs.