Preparing Smartly, Active Duty with No Degree

[SemperBandito]

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Hey everyone,

31 year old male here looking for some advice on the route I planned out. Currently I am active duty military with 100% of my Post 9/11 benefits and I am 36 credits into my Bachelor of Science in Biobehavioral Health from Penn State World Campus. I haven’t started using my benefits yet but given my timeframe the only way to finish would be to use the Post 9/11 or get seriously good at writing grant essays.

I am a EMT-B/Corpsman with almost three years of hands on patient care in a primary care clinic and before that I did search and rescue missions with a decent amount of medical cases. I have quite a few “credits” from military training, none of which have been applied to my degree though I have been at the top of all the classes I have taken.

Ideally I would like to complete my degree and the prerequisite courses for the schools I plan on applying to before I get out of the military. Presently I have 2 years and 8 months on my contract, which is enough time to finish my degree with Penn State without taking pre-reqs. I have a wife and two young children so I would like to avoid going jobless during this journey.

I am stationed in a city with a four year university and a good community college, they have all of the courses I would need to complete for med school but due to my schedule I cannot afford to go to school during the daytime to complete my degree entirely at the four year university which is a HBCU (though I am an ORM).

I know that my Post 9/11 is a golden ticket, and I don’t want to waste it- I would really like to use it wisely. Any advice or pointers would be really appreciated. I am planning on applying in SC, NC and VA - I am very open to DO and plan on pursuing FM.


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[rdyotz]

Hey everyone,

31 year old male here looking for some advice on the route I planned out. Currently I am active duty military with 100% of my Post 9/11 benefits and I am 36 credits into my Bachelor of Science in Biobehavioral Health from Penn State World Campus. I haven’t started using my benefits yet but given my timeframe the only way to finish would be to use the Post 9/11 or get seriously good at writing grant essays.

I am a EMT-B/Corpsman with almost three years of hands on patient care in a primary care clinic and before that I did search and rescue missions with a decent amount of medical cases. I have quite a few “credits” from military training, none of which have been applied to my degree though I have been at the top of all the classes I have taken.

Ideally I would like to complete my degree and the prerequisite courses for the schools I plan on applying to before I get out of the military. Presently I have 2 years and 8 months on my contract, which is enough time to finish my degree with Penn State without taking pre-reqs. I have a wife and two young children so I would like to avoid going jobless during this journey.

I am stationed in a city with a four year university and a good community college, they have all of the courses I would need to complete for med school but due to my schedule I cannot afford to go to school during the daytime to complete my degree entirely at the four year university which is a HBCU (though I am an ORM).

I know that my Post 9/11 is a golden ticket, and I don’t want to waste it- I would really like to use it wisely. Any advice or pointers would be really appreciated. I am planning on applying in SC, NC and VA - I am very open to DO and plan on pursuing FM.


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It's been a while since I have kept up on military rules, so some things may not be relevant anymore.
Have you exhausted military tuition assistance opportunities? I know it is limited and it would likely be rough trying to get
Some commands offer free classes that may count as credit without using tuition assistance. I was stationed on a carrier (15 years ago though) and they had college professors come out during cruises and teach some classes that gave us credit.
You can always take out federal loans. Undergrad loans have a lower percentage rate than graduate loans, so it's best to take loans there and save the GI bill for medical school. Undergrad loans can also be subsidized (you don't pay interest while in school).
Most military commands will have an office or someone you can talk to about education and get advice. Start there. Do everything you can to not use the GI bill.

As for time constraints, 2.5 years for 84 credits (or more with prereqs) is doable, but tough while serving. Do you plan to go through an application season while serving, or the year after you get out? It could be hard to schedule interviews for the application of summer 2022 if you deploy (it seems you get out January 2023). If you start applying during the summer of 2023, that would give you time during the next year to finish your degree/prereqs (though prereqs are valuable for the MCAT).

 

[SemperBandito]

Thank you for the reply, you comment about student loans has given me a lot to think about. Originally I wanted to avoid loans at all cost but it does seem like a smarter option to borrow for undergrad.

I have tuition assistance that is available to me annually (though I think you need 2 years left on your contract to use it). My branch (USCG) is capped at $2250 annually for TA so there is not a whole lot you can do but that certainly is something. I am rather fortunate because the two colleges near me are insanely cheap ( $75/SH @ Community College, $500/full time @ local 4 year University).

I am starting my summer semester @ Penn State in a little over a week- after that I will rework things to save the rest of my GI Bill for med school.


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