Hi everyone. So a bit of a story. I’m 30 years old and after overcoming some health problems (both physical and mental) in the last few years, I’m strongly considering attempting to become a physician. Here’s my problem: I don’t have a science background. My college degree is in business; however I still have some benefits left on my GI Bill. My question is: how can I use this for pre med courses? I figure the best way to determine if this is for me is to start taking some medical school prerequisites, especially since I can take at least some of them for free.
Pre Med GI Bill
- Thread starter Ugafan43
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True. Issue is I’m tight on finances at the moment. Plus I only have like 6 months of benefits left.
I believe you can use it for a post bacc, as long as you're a degree-seeking student. Also, I've heard that if you run out of months halfway through the semester they'll continue paying you BAH. I'm not 100% sure on that though, I would check with the VA rep at the school.
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Yep, you need a postbacc! This would be taking the premed courses at an accredited school. Some schools have official postbacc programs, others you just take the classes. If you're running out of time, get started right away on general chemistry!
Ok so what if I don’t have a postbacc near me? The local Community college has the pre requisite courses I need; problem for me is getting them all inside my degree plan. Best I can get is Associate of Science problem is they aren’t all required so the VA won’t pay.
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From my understanding, if you need to be a degree-seeking student for financial purposes, you can declare yourself a bio major and just "not finish" once you have all the prerequisites you need for med school.
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You can “pretend” that you’re getting the AS or whatever, take the premed prereqs and then not finish the AS. Declare yourself as a bio or chem major, whichever one includes most/all of the prereqs.
I was a polisci guy in undergrad the first time around (2005-2009) and started in January 2018 on my premed courses. I put my nose down, took the MCAT in June, finished my premed courses December 2018, and got accepted to my state medical school in Nov 2018. It can be done. Let me know if you still have questions.
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Do them at a University, not a Community college.
