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First time poster, long time reader. This site has been an amazing resource and thank you to all of you. I have read several posts about this topic, but I'd like some feedback on my particular situation.
Let me start off with a little background info. This is a long story and I will try to make it as short and concise as possible, but bare with me. I'm 30 years old with about 1 semester left to finish my associates degree and transfer to to a 4 year university. I'm at a community college now after moving to a new area and buying a house with my new wife. We have been married for a couple months and we are looking to get pregnant soonish. We have been together for close to 3 years. I never went to college when I was younger because of a life interruption due to some losses in the family. I spent between the ages of 15-24 in the IT field where I was very successful in my career before deciding I wanted a change and that I wanted to pursue my real passion. I left my career and went to school, doing REALLY well in a community college before I decided to prematurely leave because I was accepted to Seton Hall University and given a scholarship (a huge regret of mine, I wish I had stayed and gotten my associates at the first CC). To try to sum this up, I hated Seton Hall, did very poorly, tried to work again while in school because I was unfocused, and eventually left. After leaving I focused on my IT career again because it's what I had to do. I eventually went back to that community college I had done so well in and didn't do so great because I was focused on running my company since some new opportunities had come up. In the last year (3 years after having left school) I decided I was done with my company, sold everything, and decided it was time to focus on getting into medical school. Hence where I am, living in a new area and at a new school. Working on getting my GPA back up.
Where I'm living now is Central Jersey, literally 5 minutes away from the Rutgers New Brunswick campus. I'm also about 20-30 minutes away from Princeton. My original idea was to just enroll at Rutgers, but I missed the deadline while I was moving to the area, which is why I'm at the local community college. I'm looking to finish my associates and transfer.
While I originally thought Rutgers was a pretty good choice, some recent opinions I have heard from students and parents are giving me some concern. Things like huge class sizes, poor quality professors, and just a huge student body in general. Don't get me wrong, I do not have a problem getting professors to notice me or speaking up. I know feasibility wise, Rutgers would likely be pretty good for me given the proximity and availability of classes. They also seem to have some decent pre-med mentor ship and programs.
I suppose I should also note that I am also a volunteer EMT (because I love it and for the experience, not necessarily to pad my med school application). I'm also currently looking for work in a hospital as a Patient or Critical Care Tech for the exposure. I haven't started looking yet, but I'm thinking about Pre-Med Internships with a focus on Emergency medicine.
Am I wasting my time with this stuff? I have tons of other extra-curricular's and leadership stuff I have done as well.
Regarding the school choice, what I'm wondering is, is there a better choice I could be making?
Thanks for your time everyone, it's truly appreciated.
-Chris
Let me start off with a little background info. This is a long story and I will try to make it as short and concise as possible, but bare with me. I'm 30 years old with about 1 semester left to finish my associates degree and transfer to to a 4 year university. I'm at a community college now after moving to a new area and buying a house with my new wife. We have been married for a couple months and we are looking to get pregnant soonish. We have been together for close to 3 years. I never went to college when I was younger because of a life interruption due to some losses in the family. I spent between the ages of 15-24 in the IT field where I was very successful in my career before deciding I wanted a change and that I wanted to pursue my real passion. I left my career and went to school, doing REALLY well in a community college before I decided to prematurely leave because I was accepted to Seton Hall University and given a scholarship (a huge regret of mine, I wish I had stayed and gotten my associates at the first CC). To try to sum this up, I hated Seton Hall, did very poorly, tried to work again while in school because I was unfocused, and eventually left. After leaving I focused on my IT career again because it's what I had to do. I eventually went back to that community college I had done so well in and didn't do so great because I was focused on running my company since some new opportunities had come up. In the last year (3 years after having left school) I decided I was done with my company, sold everything, and decided it was time to focus on getting into medical school. Hence where I am, living in a new area and at a new school. Working on getting my GPA back up.
Where I'm living now is Central Jersey, literally 5 minutes away from the Rutgers New Brunswick campus. I'm also about 20-30 minutes away from Princeton. My original idea was to just enroll at Rutgers, but I missed the deadline while I was moving to the area, which is why I'm at the local community college. I'm looking to finish my associates and transfer.
While I originally thought Rutgers was a pretty good choice, some recent opinions I have heard from students and parents are giving me some concern. Things like huge class sizes, poor quality professors, and just a huge student body in general. Don't get me wrong, I do not have a problem getting professors to notice me or speaking up. I know feasibility wise, Rutgers would likely be pretty good for me given the proximity and availability of classes. They also seem to have some decent pre-med mentor ship and programs.
I suppose I should also note that I am also a volunteer EMT (because I love it and for the experience, not necessarily to pad my med school application). I'm also currently looking for work in a hospital as a Patient or Critical Care Tech for the exposure. I haven't started looking yet, but I'm thinking about Pre-Med Internships with a focus on Emergency medicine.
Am I wasting my time with this stuff? I have tons of other extra-curricular's and leadership stuff I have done as well.
Regarding the school choice, what I'm wondering is, is there a better choice I could be making?
Thanks for your time everyone, it's truly appreciated.
-Chris
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