Reinvention with a gap year to be a paramedic worth it?

[PsychPop]

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Hey guys so I am in the process of reinventing myself to be a competitive applicant for medical schools. I will graduate in one year from my undergrad with a degree in psych with approx a 3.0 GPA ; obviously that is very low and will need some boosting (I plan to spend two-three years completing pre-req sciences to bring that up). My question is: is getting my EMT and working on the side as that good enough, or should I take a gap year between my prereqs after graduation to earn my paramedic license to really stand out? I am interested in gaining as much exposure to the medical field as possible before I apply to medical schools, and a paramedic seems to be one of the best options for that. From what I know, you can do an accelerated course to become a paramedic in around 9 months full time.

I will also continue shadowing and volunteering at hospitals when I can 🙂
Thanks for your advice!!

 

[Kardio]

I think it would overkill to become a paramedic if you’ll be applying in ~2 years. If your timeline is closer to 3-5 years, it could be an awesome experience (if you like the work).

Are you interested in applying DO as well?

 

[PsychPop]

I think it would overkill to become a paramedic if you’ll be applying in ~2 years. If your timeline is closer to 3-5 years, it could be an awesome experience (if you like the work).

Are you interested in applying DO as well?

Hi, yes I will be applying DO, and my goal is to be applying in the fall of 2022. I was just thinking that being a paramedic would be a nice stand out from the regular bunch but in the end, being an EMT is still great exp for me. So yeah my timeline is about three years!

 

[Kardio]

Hi, yes I will be applying DO, and my goal is to be applying in the fall of 2022. I was just thinking that being a paramedic would be a nice stand out from the regular bunch but in the end, being an EMT is still great exp for me. So yeah my timeline is about three years!

F2019-S2020: Paramedic School + ECs
F2020-S2021: Post-bac + medic + ECs
F2021-S2022: Post-bac + medic + ECs
Summer 2022-S2023: MD/DO apps/IIs + medic
F2023: MD/DO matriculation

Is this your plan?

 

[PsychPop]

F2019-S2020: Paramedic School + ECs
F2020-S2021: Post-bac + medic + ECs
F2021-S2022: Post-bac + medic + ECs
Summer 2022-S2023: MD/DO apps/IIs + medic
F2023: MD/DO matriculation

Is this your plan?

Haha yes pretty much how does it look?

 

[Kardio]

Haha yes pretty much how does it look?

It looks very plausible. You’ll have to squeeze the MCAT in during Spring 2022 or beginning of Summer 2023.

I still think the first year, and medic work, isn’t necessary. You might want to get the EMT-B first and see if you even like EMS in the first place.

IMO it’s better to get some scut-level, longitudinal clinical/volunteer/research experience as you work on the post-bac and nail the MCAT (you want an MCAT proportionally higher than the schools you’re applying to, as a reinventer).

 

[PsychPop]

It looks very plausible. You’ll have to squeeze the MCAT in during Spring 2022 or beginning of Summer 2023.

I still think the first year, and medic work, isn’t necessary. You might want to get the EMT-B first and see if you even like EMS in the first place.

IMO it’s better to get some scut-level, longitudinal clinical/volunteer/research experience as you work on the post-bac and nail the MCAT (you want an MCAT proportionally higher than the schools you’re applying to, as a reinventer).

Okay I think you are right, if I like EMT then I could always get EMT-A. I do plan to kill the MCAT as I must! My dream schools are any of the UCs in California which I know are very competitive. And wait, it takes a year to get in?! I would like to get in by the Fall of 22 is that plausible?

 

[Kardio]

Okay I think you are right, if I like EMT then I could always get EMT-A. I do plan to kill the MCAT as I must! My dream schools are any of the UCs in California which I know are very competitive. And wait, it takes a year to get in?! I would like to get in by the Fall of 22 is that plausible?

I just reread your original post. If you are graduating college in Spring 2020, then the year-by-year I wrote out is incorrect. You should go to your premed advisory office and ask what you should do academically this year. It might be worth it to postpone graduation and startup the premed courses now. Make a plan for yourself with them, and you can run it by us SDN folks immediately after; you can PM me if you want.

I would also recommend Goro’s reinvention & application guides on here, if you haven’t already read them.

As an aside, figure out if medical school is really what you want. If it’s just an urge to go to graduate school in California, just about any path is easier than medical school.

 

[Tenk]

You need to focus on your GPA above anything else. In terms of a job, you should scribe and get to know physicians over becoming a paramedic or EMT. Being a paramedic or an EMT doesn’t get you one on one time with a physician every day and with a 3.0 you’re gonna need all the help you can get. My $0.02.

 

[PsychPop]

I do plan to talk with a pre-med advisor; I am squeezing in a year of bio but that is about all I feel comfortable with while finishing my degree. I will then move back home to take the pre-meds at a community or possibly my local 4 year that would accept me. Scribing sounds great for physician interaction, but I heard it is seen as just glorified shadowing? This concerns me. I have read Goro's guide thoroughly.
Thanks for your quick responses!

 

[Kardio]

I do plan to talk with a pre-med advisor; I am squeezing in a year of bio but that is about all I feel comfortable with while finishing my degree. I will then move back home to take the pre-meds at a community or possibly my local 4 year that would accept me. Scribing sounds great for physician interaction, but I heard it is seen as just glorified shadowing? This concerns me. I have read Goro's guide thoroughly.
Thanks for your quick responses!

And EMT is seen by some as glorified bus driving. Opinions on the quality of premed clinical experiences vary person to person.

What’s important is clinical exposure, preferably in collaboration with physicians, and making sure you actually get something out of the experience - something you can articulate in your essays and interviews.

 

[pericardium]

Sorry for such a late reply, hope I'm not bumping too old of a thread, but I may have some insight. Currently a 4th year DO student and became a paramedic prior to med school, but after taking the MCAT. I can fairly confidently say that becoming a paramedic did not help me get into med school at all. At each one of my interviews, my 4 years of EMS experience never came up once, and interviewers elected to ask me about my hobbies instead.. some of which I had not practiced in many years.

The biggest thing that helped me get into DO school was a good MCAT score and grade replacement, which unfortunately has died.

I advise you to not go to paramedic school unless you absolutely love EMS and are doing it for your enjoyment only.

 

[PsychPop]

Sorry for such a late reply, hope I'm not bumping too old of a thread, but I may have some insight. Currently a 4th year DO student and became a paramedic prior to med school, but after taking the MCAT. I can fairly confidently say that becoming a paramedic did not help me get into med school at all. At each one of my interviews, my 4 years of EMS experience never came up once, and interviewers elected to ask me about my hobbies instead.. some of which I had not practiced in many years.

The biggest thing that helped me get into DO school was a good MCAT score and grade replacement, which unfortunately has died.

I advise you to not go to paramedic school unless you absolutely love EMS and are doing it for your enjoyment only.

Thanks for the heads up! That is a shame that they never asked about that and instead went as far as to ask about your hobbies! That sadly suggests that medical schools don't care much about EMS work. I will definitely go for a medical scribe position if I can. I guess I should also work on my hobbies too! 😀

 

[303medic]

Almost every single paramedic in our division that has applied to medical school has gotten in in recent years. You can’t beat experience with the level of autonomy, decision-making, and patient contact that comes with being a paramedic. Being a scribe and having one on one time with a doctor is great..if that doctor is an ADCOM. If they didn’t ask you about your experience, you didn’t sell it correctly.

 

[arjusmc]

Almost every single paramedic in our division that has applied to medical school has gotten in in recent years. You can’t beat experience with the level of autonomy, decision-making, and patient contact that comes with being a paramedic. Being a scribe and having one on one time with a doctor is great..if that doctor is an ADCOM. If they didn’t ask you about your experience, you didn’t sell it correctly.

I figured I’d give some insight as a current paramedic and applicant. A couple of things to take into consideration. You need to look at the paramedic school you would be attending and how they grade. Some are pass/fail, meaning it won’t help your gpa.
My advice about going the paramedic route would be this, don’t decide now. It’s pretty well accepted that EMT experience(working, not just school) is a good premed EC for many reasons. It is typically a semester course, followed by a licensing exam. You could be working in 4-6 months. If, after working as an EMT you still want to pursue paramedic, decide then.
For what it’s worth every physician I’ve shadowed has told me how valuable my experience will be once I’ve started medical school. However, only one had admission committee experience. I don’t know how it will impact my cycle.

 

[arjusmc]

Almost every single paramedic in our division that has applied to medical school has gotten in in recent years. You can’t beat experience with the level of autonomy, decision-making, and patient contact that comes with being a paramedic. Being a scribe and having one on one time with a doctor is great..if that doctor is an ADCOM. If they didn’t ask you about your experience, you didn’t sell it correctly.

I agree in principal to everything you’re saying, the unfortunate part is that a vast majority of physicians don’t deal with EMS all that often. Most don’t understand the difference between an EMT and a medic, and think what we do hasn’t changed since they had their ED rotation in an intern year. It sucks but a lot of physicians think we literally just put everyone on O2 and drive them to the hospital.

 

[PsychPop]

I figured I’d give some insight as a current paramedic and applicant. A couple of things to take into consideration. You need to look at the paramedic school you would be attending and how they grade. Some are pass/fail, meaning it won’t help your gpa.
My advice about going the paramedic route would be this, don’t decide now. It’s pretty well accepted that EMT experience(working, not just school) is a good premed EC for many reasons. It is typically a semester course, followed by a licensing exam. You could be working in 4-6 months. If, after working as an EMT you still want to pursue paramedic, decide then.
For what it’s worth every physician I’ve shadowed has told me how valuable my experience will be once I’ve started medical school. However, only one had admission committee experience. I don’t know how it will impact my cycle.

I appreciate your input! I will definitely try and go for the EMT, a perfect scenario I think would be if I could squeeze in somehow, doing some EMT and scribe work as both would be very valuable. Maybe I could apply for a scribe get the training done which is typically just a week, and then work part-time while getting my EMT. Might be too much at once, what are your thoughts on that?

 

[arjusmc]

I appreciate your input! I will definitely try and go for the EMT, a perfect scenario I think would be if I could squeeze in somehow, doing some EMT and scribe work as both would be very valuable. Maybe I could apply for a scribe get the training done which is typically just a week, and then work part-time while getting my EMT. Might be too much at once, what are your thoughts on that?

To be honest, I don’t know much about scribing. As far as the emt coursework goes, it is time consuming. Typically it is one semester. 11-12 credit hours. You spend plenty of time in lecture then have clinicals. It can be expensive. Books, uniforms etc add up. I’m a preceptor for both EMT and medic students, and I always tell the emt students one thing. No matter where you go in healthcare you will be doing assessments, so learn them now. An emt can assess all the same things as a paramedic, they just can’t do as much with their findings. So get good at patient assessments.

 

[LizzyM]

Thanks for the heads up! That is a shame that they never asked about that and instead went as far as to ask about your hobbies! That sadly suggests that medical schools don't care much about EMS work. I will definitely go for a medical scribe position if I can. I guess I should also work on my hobbies too! 😀

Please do not confuse what interviewers ask about with what is important to adcoms or what it was about your application that got you the interview in the first place. When we are interviewing dozens of applicants each year, we try to keep things interesting for ourselves by asking about things we know little about, or things that we see that we have in common with the applicant (creating a bond) rather than asking about the more common activities such as scribing, etc. If we are there to assess your ability to speak off the cuff (not rehearsed answers to predictable questions), your language skills, your friendliness, your maturity, almost any question that gets you talking is going to help us answer the prompts we'll been asked to respond to after the interview is over and we write our commentary.

One other thought: if you never get into medical school, would you be happy to be a paramedic? How do you know? If that seems like a reasonable "Plan B" then it might be worth preparing for. It can also position you with sufficient experience to get into physician assistant programs if you decide on that path toward a clinical career.

 

[PsychPop]

Please do not confuse what interviewers ask about with what is important to adcoms or what it was about your application that got you the interview in the first place. When we are interviewing dozens of applicants each year, we try to keep things interesting for ourselves by asking about things we know little about, or things that we see that we have in common with the applicant (creating a bond) rather than asking about the more common activities such as scribing, etc. If we are there to assess your ability to speak off the cuff (not rehearsed answers to predictable questions), your language skills, your friendliness, your maturity, almost any question that gets you talking is going to help us answer the prompts we'll been asked to respond to after the interview is over and we write our commentary.

One other thought: if you never get into medical school, would you be happy to be a paramedic? How do you know? If that seems like a reasonable "Plan B" then it might be worth preparing for. It can also position you with sufficient experience to get into physician assistant programs if you decide on that path toward a clinical career.

Thanks for the insight! So at this point, I am going to graduate in the spring of 2020, then I was thinking about doing a year to complete some foundational coursework like gen chem and physics; I would also apply to scribe and possibly EMT. Then the next two years I am considering maybe applying to complete my prereqs at the UCSD SMP which if I could get in I think would be far better than just a DIY as I do have the money to attend that. The real question is though can I actually get in? by that time I might have a 3.2 gpa with hopefully like a 3.5 science. Not sure if I need to take the GRE or not...I know SMPs can be a gamble but I am dead set on medical school so if I can get in and do well, that would be advantageous.

 

[NontraditionalEMS]

Sorry if this is bumping an old thread and you've already made your decision. However, I'm a current medic with a cruddy undergrad GPA (2.9). Medic school counts as a science if you list it that way. So after medic school I have a 3.2 c and sGPA. It was cheaper than a post bacc and way more fulfilling. Good Luck!!

 

[arjusmc]

Sorry if this is bumping an old thread and you've already made your decision. However, I'm a current medic with a cruddy undergrad GPA (2.9). Medic school counts as a science if you list it that way. So after medic school I have a 3.2 c and sGPA. It was cheaper than a post bacc and way more fulfilling. Good Luck!!

are you sure about medic school counting as science? I believe all allied health counts as non science.

 

[LizzyM]

Sorry if this is bumping an old thread and you've already made your decision. However, I'm a current medic with a cruddy undergrad GPA (2.9). Medic school counts as a science if you list it that way. So after medic school I have a 3.2 c and sGPA. It was cheaper than a post bacc and way more fulfilling. Good Luck!!

Did you get that past AMCAS in 2019 or are you planning to try that this year? In all likelihood, it will be reclassified as HEAL.

 

[candbgirl]

Okay I think you are right, if I like EMT then I could always get EMT-A. I do plan to kill the MCAT as I must! My dream schools are any of the UCs in California which I know are very competitive. And wait, it takes a year to get in?! I would like to get in by the Fall of 22 is that plausible?

Since this was bumped anyway, I’m assuming you want to start med school in the Fall2022. Is that correct? That means you’ll have to apply in June 2021. So only you know if that’s plausible. ,

 

[PsychPop]

Since this was bumped anyway, I’m assuming you want to start med school in the Fall2022. Is that correct? That means you’ll have to apply in June 2021. So only you know if that’s plausible. ,

Hi guys thanks for responding!
So, I don't think I will be ready until Fall of 2023 as I believe more work experience and volunteering plus some additional classes will make my app much stronger. This will also give me more time to make some better connections and hopefully get some great LORs. Hopefully by then, my gpa will be around the 3.4 range with science being a bit higher. If I get a 515+ on the MCAT I should be in good shape! I think at this point I might just try and scribe alongside my classes instead of going for the medic side of things.

 

[NontraditionalEMS]

are you sure about medic school counting as science? I believe all allied health counts as non science.

Positive. I applied this cycle and it was calculated into my science and overall gpa for both AMCAS and AACOMAS

 

[arjusmc]

wish i would have known that. oh well, thanks