Post-bacc questions--nontraditional student

[Deanwvu]

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(I previously posted this same message in the above forum "Non-traditional students"--it may be more appropriate here. My apologies to those that see them both!)
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Hello all,

I am a future non-traditional med school applicant. I have a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University (graduated May 2000). I have since spent almost 9 years now in active duty army service. That makes me 31 right now, soon to be 32.

My intent is to maintain my status in the Army as much as possible while attaining my medical degree. That means either USUHS or MPSP. Each of those programs require a few pre-requisites that I did not complete in undergrad (as my undergrad degree did not require them, and, at the time, I had no idea I'd aspire to be a doctor one day).

For example, the requirements at USUHS state:

1 year general chem (including lab)
1 year organic chem (including lab)
1 semester of calc
1 year of physics
1 year of bio (including lab)
1 year of English

Now, here's the thing--some of my undergrad credits will count. If I remember correctly, I should have completed (i just ordered a transcript to be sure, as I can't find the one I thought I had...) :

1 year general chem
1 sem calc
1 semester bio
1 year English

That would mean I would have left to take:

1 year organic chem
1 year physics
1 semester bio

(by the way, the following is the primary question I want answered):

Is it really that simple? Those 20 or so credits and I am eligible? I will be very rusty as a student (haven't taken a class since grad school in 2001), so should I retake some of the above classes? (I was thinking to retake everything but English and perhaps Calc)

Ideally, I would complete these courses while staying in the Army. The other option is to separate from the Army and finish those classes full-time, then apply to med school and HPSP or USUSH.

My current job with the Army actually has quite a bit of free time, but even so, completing the listed classes will be difficult while maintaining active duty service.

I live in the Washington, DC area, so if anyone has an idea of a good school to take the above classes, please let me know! I am within good driving distance to George Mason Univ, and reasonable driving distance to Univ of Maryland.

Access to evening classes (or late afternoon) would be preferred, but not necessarily required. There are ways to adjust my schedule if necessary.

Thanks all, for your time and advice! This is both scary and exciting.

Dean

 

[jslo85]

(I previously posted this same message in the above forum "Non-traditional students"--it may be more appropriate here. My apologies to those that see them both!)
---------------------------------------------------------

Hello all,

I am a future non-traditional med school applicant. I have a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University (graduated May 2000). I have since spent almost 9 years now in active duty army service. That makes me 31 right now, soon to be 32.

My intent is to maintain my status in the Army as much as possible while attaining my medical degree. That means either USUHS or MPSP. Each of those programs require a few pre-requisites that I did not complete in undergrad (as my undergrad degree did not require them, and, at the time, I had no idea I'd aspire to be a doctor one day).

For example, the requirements at USUHS state:

1 year general chem (including lab)
1 year organic chem (including lab)
1 semester of calc
1 year of physics
1 year of bio (including lab)
1 year of English

Now, here's the thing--some of my undergrad credits will count. If I remember correctly, I should have completed (i just ordered a transcript to be sure, as I can't find the one I thought I had...) :

1 year general chem
1 sem calc
1 semester bio
1 year English

That would mean I would have left to take:

1 year organic chem
1 year physics
1 semester bio

(by the way, the following is the primary question I want answered):

Is it really that simple? Those 20 or so credits and I am eligible? I will be very rusty as a student (haven't taken a class since grad school in 2001), so should I retake some of the above classes? (I was thinking to retake everything but English and perhaps Calc)

Ideally, I would complete these courses while staying in the Army. The other option is to separate from the Army and finish those classes full-time, then apply to med school and HPSP or USUSH.

My current job with the Army actually has quite a bit of free time, but even so, completing the listed classes will be difficult while maintaining active duty service.

I live in the Washington, DC area, so if anyone has an idea of a good school to take the above classes, please let me know! I am within good driving distance to George Mason Univ, and reasonable driving distance to Univ of Maryland.

Access to evening classes (or late afternoon) would be preferred, but not necessarily required. There are ways to adjust my schedule if necessary.

Thanks all, for your time and advice! This is both scary and exciting.

Dean

Hi,

So that's a good move on your part to order an unofficial transcript to be sent to yourself to make sure what classes you do have and which classes you still need.

Your choices in completing the pre-requisites remaining would be either as an "informal post-bac student' which would entail enrolling at any four year university and taking the classes there or a formal program that would cater to students like you would have taken a few of the pre-requisites and require the rest.

As for the answer to your question, technically yes for general coursework requirement. You still need your MCAT score which will cover Biology, Gen Chem, OChem, and Physics as well as verbal and a writing sample. Specific schools may also have additional coursework requirements in addition to the general ones that you outlined above such as Biochemistry or Microbiology or Anatomy etc. I would do my research on which schools you're aiming to apply to to ensure you have all your bases covered. You will also need extensive clinical activities including but not limited to shadowing, volunteering, EMT certification, physicians office work, etc. You will also need at the very least 1 letter from a science faculty, 1 from a physician and 1 from your employer with most schools probably requiring more academic letters than what I just wrote.

From what you say, it sounds like you want to stay in the Army as much as possible so I would probably do an informal post-bacc and find classes that fit your schedule around the area to make both ends work out. But in case you were considering a formal program, UT Dallas/UVA/WashU/SFSU are all options that are receptive to students in your current pre-req coursework situation.

I believe you do not need to retake any of those classes but that when you finish the remaining pre-requisites, you go on to take a few of the upper division courses as well such as Microbiology, Biochemistry, Anatomy, Physiology, Immmunology etc.

I wouldn't limit yourself to just two schools (UHS and MPSP) but would apply broadly and consider HPSP as a route that you can take to stay affiliated to the military while attending other medical schools instead. I'm not terribly familiar with the allopathic schools but there are quite a few osteopathic schools whose students go on to pursue military medicine. LECOM is one of the DO schools that are quite HPSP heavy.

Anyway good luck.

 

[EJS1979]

Hi DeanWVU --

I'm happy to see that you want to maintain your military status. I'm applying for Army HPSP (going to University of Maryland) and have browsed the military boardsl; there are a lot of nay-sayers, so I'm glad that there's something that keeps you in.

I don't have much to add to what Jslo said, but I did want to suggest trying to shadow physicians at Walter Reed / Navy Medical Center (not sure when the big move happens). I spent quite a bit of time with some Walter Reed pediatricians and loved it. I imagine it would be even easier for a current military person to shadow than it was for me as a civilian.

Good luck!

 

[Deanwvu]

EJS,

My experience as a patient at Walter Reed was the final catalyst for me to make this decision to go to med school.

I had eye surgery this past February. I was so impressed with every aspect of that experience. It was a long one. Plenty of tests at Ft. Myer, Walter Reed, and the surgery itself was at Ft. Meade. I've had many post-ops since, one was a semi-emergency visit on a Saturday--even that was pleasant. Everyone involved the entire way up from secretaries to techs, to the surgeon himself were great.

It was very contrary to the scary stories I've read here on the military medicine board. Granted, every story will be different, but I see that at least some military medicine can be great! And hey, if I hate it--there's nothing wrong with doing my minimum payback and getting the heck out!