Post-bacc pre-med?

[crazycooljoel]

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I posted this in the pre-med forum and didn't realize this forum was available, so here it goes.

I am less than a year from completing my BA in Health Care Studies at Ashford University, a distance learning program. Note that I have taken several classes not through distance learning. I have completed an academic year of English, however, I still need the rest of my med prereqs. Here is the issue and I would like to hear some opinions. Serious replies only please.

To start off, I am active duty Air Force and cannot take classes during the day. I spoke with all the schools in my local area and none have those classes in the evening. Being active duty and working full time (often 10+ hrs/day), I cannot take these science classes during lunch, especially with the labs added to the mix.

I know about web based science classes with online labs, but am very skeptical and would rather not do it.

It seems that once my BA is complete, I will be stuck. I am looking for any alternatives; so far it looks as if my only alternative would be to leave active duty when my term is up (Jan 12), and apply for a post-bacc pre-health certification program, in which I should be able to use the GI Bill. I would have to relocate to do this and cannot rely on family for help.

I would like to hear any realistic thoughts and/or advice about any other alternatives one may know of. With 10 years of active duty service, it is a very big decision to make. Once I leave active duty I cannot rejoin and will have to find some other job unless I get accepted to the HPSP or USUHS medical school program, which is my objective. I have a sense of security with my job and have good benefits, I fear loosing it for good. I do have a wife to support, no kids yet.

 

[SFGuy2011]

I left Active Duty because I knew I wouldn't be able to knock out the prerequisites if I had stayed in. We just deployed too often, and when we were home we were doing training most of the time and training at odd hours so there wasn't any time for scheduled classes.

Why do you say you wouldn't be able to come back to Active Duty? If you go into the reserves for a couple of years while you knock out the prerequisites you could always go back to Active Duty and do HPSP once you're in medical school, or you could do USUHS.

There are a lot of options between Reserve, Guard, and Active Duty, but you still have a family to consider. It was an easier decision for me to leave, because I was single at the time, so I can see where you're coming from.

 

[crazycooljoel]

I left Active Duty because I knew I wouldn't be able to knock out the prerequisites if I had stayed in. We just deployed too often, and when we were home we were doing training most of the time and training at odd hours so there wasn't any time for scheduled classes.

Why do you say you wouldn't be able to come back to Active Duty? If you go into the reserves for a couple of years while you knock out the prerequisites you could always go back to Active Duty and do HPSP once you're in medical school, or you could do USUHS.

There are a lot of options between Reserve, Guard, and Active Duty, but you still have a family to consider. It was an easier decision for me to leave, because I was single at the time, so I can see where you're coming from.

If I go Guard I wouldn't be able to go back to active duty, I mean that as in if I didn't make it all the way to med school I wouldn't be able to. I never looked into the Reserve, is it easy to go back to active duty from the reserves? The Guard recruiters said it would be roughly a 2% chance. I can go active duty after HPSP or USUHS. What branch are you?

 

[SFGuy2011]

If I go Guard I wouldn't be able to go back to active duty, I mean that as in if I didn't make it all the way to med school I wouldn't be able to. I never looked into the Reserve, is it easy to go back to active duty from the reserves? The Guard recruiters said it would be roughly a 2% chance. I can go active duty after HPSP or USUHS. What branch are you?

I'm Army National Guard now, and I was Active Duty Army prior to this. I would strongly recommend that you talk to some other recruiters. Personally, I've never liked recruiters, and I trust them about as far as I can throw them. Also, I know plenty of guys that have done the Guard and gone to Active Duty. I don't know anything about the Reserves, so I won't begin to speculate on that.

Is it risky? Of course it is, but the thing about getting into medical school is, you have to give it your best shot. You have to believe you'll make it all the way, or you really might want to think about doing something else. Only you know what you're willing to give up, and only you know how supportive your wife would be of what you're considering doing, so I can't really say what you should do. You're the same age I was when I left active duty to do my post-bacc, so it's not a question of age.

I wish you the best, and try looking at the threads under Military Medicine. There's a lot of good information there as well.

 

[crazycooljoel]

I'm Army National Guard now, and I was Active Duty Army prior to this. I would strongly recommend that you talk to some other recruiters. Personally, I've never liked recruiters, and I trust them about as far as I can throw them. Also, I know plenty of guys that have done the Guard and gone to Active Duty. I don't know anything about the Reserves, so I won't begin to speculate on that.

Is it risky? Of course it is, but the thing about getting into medical school is, you have to give it your best shot. You have to believe you'll make it all the way, or you really might want to think about doing something else. Only you know what you're willing to give up, and only you know how supportive your wife would be of what you're considering doing, so I can't really say what you should do. You're the same age I was when I left active duty to do my post-bacc, so it's not a question of age.

I wish you the best, and try looking at the threads under Military Medicine. There's a lot of good information there as well.

I don't know if there is a big difference between the Army and Air Force in that regard. The Air Force is down sizing both enlisted and officers, medical are the only ones not being effected by the down sizing. I'm assuming it's easier to go back to active duty in the Army because they're not down sizing.

I get what your saying, it's all about what I am willing to risk. The hard part is making the decision to accept the risk or not. Did you have to work full time when you went Guard to pay for cost of living or did you use the post 9/11 GI Bill? Thats mainly what I am worried about at this point, how I will be able to pay for a place to live, food, gas, and all the rest of the essentials after I get out to start a post-bacc premed certification.

 

[SFGuy2011]

I get what your saying, it's all about what I am willing to risk. The hard part is making the decision to accept the risk or not. Did you have to work full time when you went Guard to pay for cost of living or did you use the post 9/11 GI Bill? Thats mainly what I am worried about at this point, how I will be able to pay for a place to live, food, gas, and all the rest of the essentials after I get out to start a post-bacc premed certification.

I got a job working about 30 hours a week as an Emergency Department Clinical Tech. That, and I started out using the Reserve GI-Bill, which wasn't much - along with Federal Tuition Assistance. Because I'd used Loan Repayment for my enlistment for Active Duty, I was ineligible for the Active Duty GI Bill at that time. When the Post-9/11 GI Bill came out I started using that, and it's pretty great. I still have 18 months of the new GI Bill to use for medical school.

For the rest of the living expenses I took out loans. A lot of people cringe at the thought of taking out loans, but for the low interest rate you can't beat educational student loans - especially if you're just using what you need to get by. I know it becomes much more complicated when you have to provide for a family, so I feel for you there.

 

[crazycooljoel]

I got a job working about 30 hours a week as an Emergency Department Clinical Tech. That, and I started out using the Reserve GI-Bill, which wasn't much - along with Federal Tuition Assistance. Because I'd used Loan Repayment for my enlistment for Active Duty, I was ineligible for the Active Duty GI Bill at that time. When the Post-9/11 GI Bill came out I started using that, and it's pretty great. I still have 18 months of the new GI Bill to use for medical school.

For the rest of the living expenses I took out loans. A lot of people cringe at the thought of taking out loans, but for the low interest rate you can't beat educational student loans - especially if you're just using what you need to get by. I know it becomes much more complicated when you have to provide for a family, so I feel for you there.

Thank you, you were very helpful.

I still wonder though, as far as alternatives go, if I can attend as a graduate student on a ROTC scholarship for either a premed certification or MS degree, then apply for USUHS or HPSP. hmmmmm.... questions questions alternatives alternatives, I wish it were easy! lol. Anyway, take care and good luck.

 

[SFGuy2011]

Thank you, you were very helpful.

I still wonder though, as far as alternatives go, if I can attend as a graduate student on a ROTC scholarship for either a premed certification or MS degree, then apply for USUHS or HPSP. hmmmmm.... questions questions alternatives alternatives, I wish it were easy! lol. Anyway, take care and good luck.

I hear you. If it were easy everyone would do it. If you need anything or have any questions feel free to PM me.