Preparation for the Future

[fiber4breakfast]

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Greetings,

I am currently an active service member of the U.S. Air force. Just recently my interests began to spike--primarily in the medical field. I'm not that old and I still have most of my future laid out in front of me (given an aneurysm don't come-a knocking soon).

While serving active duty for the past 3 1/2 years, I've managed to nearly complete my associates degree. One English Composition class is all I require to close the lid; prior to this I had no college experience or exposure.

Unlike most people I am acquainted with, I have a solid grasp on what I want to do when I get out in 2 1/2 years: finish my undergrad degree and continue on to either medical school, podiatry school, or physical therapy school. And so, after browsing this forum for a couple days, looking at websites, comparing school admission criteria, and levying the requirements needed, I have a general question that may have been asked before, so I apologize in advance for the superfluity: basically, what is an effective way to prepare for something as rigorous as pod school, even though I'm still far away from submitting an application to an undergrad university?

I have a nimiety of resources pertaining to the biological field, but I want to know if there is any universal material I should begin to familiarize myself with. Although the question is a very broad, feedback of any magnitude will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for your time!

 

[allenmarchallo]

Greetings,

I am currently an active service member of the U.S. Air force. Just recently my interests began to spike--primarily in the medical field. I'm not that old and I still have most of my future laid out in front of me (given an aneurysm don't come-a knocking soon).

While serving active duty for the past 3 1/2 years, I've managed to nearly complete my associates degree. One English Composition class is all I require to close the lid; prior to this I had no college experience or exposure.

Unlike most people I am acquainted with, I have a solid grasp on what I want to do when I get out in 2 1/2 years: finish my undergrad degree and continue on to either medical school, podiatry school, or physical therapy school. And so, after browsing this forum for a couple days, looking at websites, comparing school admission criteria, and levying the requirements needed, I have a general question that may have been asked before, so I apologize in advance for the superfluity: basically, what is an effective way to prepare for something as rigorous as pod school, even though I'm still far away from submitting an application to an undergrad university?

I have a nimiety of resources pertaining to the biological field, but I want to know if there is any universal material I should begin to familiarize myself with. Although the question is a very broad, feedback of any magnitude will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for your time!

As a fellow service member (HM2/Navy), I definitely know what you are going through...
However, I've been in school for (2) years and starting my senior year this fall..I believe the best way to prepare for any professional school is to make sure you grasp the concepts of bio, chem, ochem, etc....When you get to upper-division classes such as Biochem, micro, vertebrate bio, cell bio, etc, you'll learn that they all build on each other.......The better prepared you are academically (understanding) the easier it should be for you in ANY 1st & 2nd year professional school..

I'm a pre-dent, but I've recently been taking a LOT of interest in podiatry...Have you shadowed any?? What do you do for "community involvement?"---These are all things I'm sure pod schools take into consideration..(as like dental, med school, etc)...Get a head start on the competition..

Second.....If you have 2.5 years left, it would be very helpful to go ahead and start grabbing some used MCAT books...If you study about 10-20 mins a day for 2.5 years you will KILL the MCAT....(It will also help prepare you for upcoming classes like OCHEM!!) It's always good to be ahead of the classmates...

My DAT books helped me learn OCHEM, so by the time I got there, I already knew what was going on...My professor thought I was just naturally gifted, lol, so he DIDN'T hesitate when it came to LOR's 😉

Hope this helps...

-HM2

 

[NAVYLABTECH08]

You sound like me about 2 yrs ago. Congrats on the associates degree. I know many service folks w/o Assocaits degrees and they have >10yrs in. First off, nice 3 choices. MD/Do, podiatry, and physical therapy all have the same prerequisites. The only difference is the MCAT vs the GRE. DO/MD says yes to MCAT, PT likes GRE. In my honest opinion, unless you love PT, i would not go there. The quiality of life is less hectic compared to the other choices, but it is a lower paid field. Also, the ceiling is low in PT which means not a lot of pay increases. Look at the the job description and pay for a PT vs a PT assistant. Yes there is a 20K pay difference, but one is a competitive adn harder grad degree and the other is an associate degree. Also, you get more hands on as a PT assistant. Now, podiatry vs DO/MD. Each has good and bad points. This choice falls directly on you and how competitive you think you are. The training for is just as long if not longer than some MD specialities. Some PODs make more cash than MD specialities. Simply, you can't look and the education time and payoff as motives to decide. One huge "negative" for podiatry is you are very specialized. AS a md/do, you can branch off into gas, psych, onco, or various surgical fields. As a POD, you are a doctor or the lower leg and feet only. No gas, no onco, no family practice, no ER. A huge positive for POD is that the application process is not as demanding as md/do yet. Now is the time to get into POD school. Five yrs from now, the POD school minimums will be something like 3.0-3.3, 25O or something. Many people waste time and money reapplying to MD schools. if all you want to be is an md, i guess its worth it. However, podiatry looks really great to me if my only other option was to work at MCdonald's another yr and hope the magic AMCAS fairies make my application more competitive the next yr. If you can't get into md school and podiatry is a cool to you, apply to POD schools too. You still get to help people in the world of medicine and I don't think you are going to be worried about paying your light bill in the future. Good luck!

 

[NAVYLABTECH08]

As a fellow service member (HM2/Navy), I definitely know what you are going through...
However, I've been in school for (2) years and starting my senior year this fall..I believe the best way to prepare for any professional school is to make sure you grasp the concepts of bio, chem, ochem, etc....When you get to upper-division classes such as Biochem, micro, vertebrate bio, cell bio, etc, you'll learn that they all build on each other.......The better prepared you are academically (understanding) the easier it should be for you in ANY 1st & 2nd year professional school..

I'm a pre-dent, but I've recently been taking a LOT of interest in podiatry...Have you shadowed any?? What do you do for "community involvement?"---These are all things I'm sure pod schools take into consideration..(as like dental, med school, etc)...Get a head start on the competition..

Second.....If you have 2.5 years left, it would be very helpful to go ahead and start grabbing some used MCAT books...If you study about 10-20 mins a day for 2.5 years you will KILL the MCAT....(It will also help prepare you for upcoming classes like OCHEM!!) It's always good to be ahead of the classmates...

My DAT books helped me learn OCHEM, so by the time I got there, I already knew what was going on...My professor thought I was just naturally gifted, lol, so he DIDN'T hesitate when it came to LOR's 😉

Hope this helps...

-HM2

You will not kill the mcat if you study for 2.5 yrs. Some subjects can be easily taught for the MCAT (Biology/Inorganic cjemistry)Without taking some physics and especially O. CHM the OP will just be looking at formulas and O. CHM reaction mechanism trying to figure out where the carbonyl group went in a ozonolysis reaction or something. 90% MCAT prep books suck really bad at "teaching" physics and O.CHM. However, going though those mcat books with a O. CHM I,II and at least a physics I class will help. physics and o.chm are a think out of the box type of learning and unless exposed to it, you won't truly understand it. It may make you choose a new career path too early. What the OP needs to do for those 2.5 yrs is get a BS degree and finish his pre-reqs. Do not worry about the mcat until like 1 yr before you want to take it. 6 months to procrastinate and 6 months to study 3-4 hrs a day for it. Fianlly, it is important not to finish your pre-reqs too early or too late because some schools have 5 yrs windows and 4 yr old physics will do you no good on the mcat.Finish a Bs. Take like 1 pre-req each semester and take the MCAT when finished. Also, it takes about 4-6 months of light studying to score >25 on mcat, especially since he is active duty and can't study 8 hs a day.