Post-Bacc or Undergraduate Pre-Med?

[Michael150]

Hello Everyone,

I have been debating posting on this forum for a while with the hope that I figure things out on my own but I’ve gotten to the point where I need some extrinsic influence and I would appreciate the help of all you fine medical students and physicians.

Some background information on me... I’m 24 and moved to Omaha, NE in 2016 from Las Vegas. I have around 2 years left on my undergraduate degree because I focused on wanting to be a firefighter for the last 3 years and prior to that, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. Well, I went to paramedic school and worked in a trauma ER for a year and a half and now I’m a medic. YAY. Well, I figured out that I wanted to be a physician while working in the ED and that I didn’t care about the actual firefighting aspects of being a firefighter, I just really love EMS.

So, now the question. I’m working approximately 60 hours a week between two jobs. Cutting back on working is not an option because I need to pay bills and as much as EMS is great...the pay is awful on a private service. I am starting school again in a couple of weeks and my official major is Emergency Management with concentrations in public admin and public health. All of my “electives” were going to be medical school pre-reqs but I am starting to wonder if I can keep up school and working that much. I’m scared that my grades will start to suffer, especially in the upper level courses. So, as an alternative I’ve started to look at the post-baccs designed for career changers. I figure that I can pay my way through my undergrad, maybe even get a master’s, and then go to a post-bacc program. Thoughts on this? Should I take all the med school requisites during undergrad even if it means I don’t do as well as I know I can?

I know this was lengthy and I do apologize, at this point I really just need someone to help me that has no bias.

Thanks all in advance!

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[Goro]

Do the post-bacc; you are indeed a career changer.

 

[Forever Geebs]

What’s your plan if you went post-bacc route? I only ask because it seems you’re strapped financially and can’t take the prerequisites in undergrad because you have to work 60 hours/week. Is that going to somehow change once you graduate, or are you planning on taking out loans? If the latter, what’s to stop you from doing that now so you can work less and focus on studies?


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[Michael150]

I am indeed strapped financially. When I graduate, I hope to have a lot of my loans paid off as unfortunately, I took a loan to live off for paramedic school. I would just rather not take out loans live off of for undergrad. When it comes to a post-bacc, I would be more lenient to take out loans because it would be just for a year and not for the next 2-3 years to finish up my bachelor's and pre-medical courses. The other problem that I run in to is that there is no post-bacc program in Nebraska so I would have to travel out of state to do it. This kind of defeats my hopes of getting into school at UNMC where I worked as a tech and I know the attendings in the ED.

There are just so many ifs and buts when it comes to applications and I guess that I am just nervous about the whole process. I can see that being a typical thing for hopeful medical students but at the same time, I was never the one in high school that was good at math and science courses. This whole process is terrifying and looking to the future and figuring out what I want to do is a long journey.
Furthermore, I feel like I am so far behind the ball in school. If I were to do the pre-medical courses while working as much as I do and I was to fail or to get a C, I can already see myself thinking that I am not good enough for medical school and finding a different route OR defaulting to firefighting (as I already have my paramedic).

Thanks, everyone for the help and for the advice.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Life is full of choices. It looks like you are giving thoughtful consideration to the matter. It will boil down to how bad do you want to do this. One of my students was in the trades, with a young family and he did it. As with most problems, the solution you synthesize will be the best. If you really want this, throw you heart and soul into it. Post Bac would be my choice. Then you know if you really are meant to do this
Best wishes and good luck!