Seeking constructive feedback

[GuanYu]

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First post to SDN! Let me give a quick synopsis. My first attempt at college was roughly a decade a go and let’s say that it didn’t go to great and squandered a terrific opportunity.

Doing what many young anxious young people would do I enlisted in the military and all though my time has been enjoyable, I’m not particularly fulfilled with the impact I make on a day-to-day basis. I’ve spent much time meeting with/shadowing health care professionals and I keep coming back to becoming a physician.

I’ve accomplished several small personal milestones since enlisting, such as achieving two associates degrees (not bragging whatsoever), an undergraduate degree from an online college (definitely not bragging about this one), and becoming proficient in another language.

Since this is the nontraditional forum this is yet another tale about correcting almost decade old grades and basically starting over. At this stage in the game I’ve been able to improve study habits and I now know what works for me. To sum all of this up finally, I’m asking for any advice regarding helping me achieve my goal. Also, does anyone think it is even possible? I still have a few years left on my enlistment but at that time I’ll be nearing 30yrs old.

I’ve listed some stats below

A.A. Intelligence studies
A.A. Chinese Mandarin 3.4
B.A. Liberal Arts 3.3

cGPA from prior school and current education is somewhere around 2.8
Science pre-reqs from before range from A- to D (IMO this will be the hardest to overcome)

 

[SpoiledMilk]

Pro:

• Med schools love veterans

• 30 years old at the end of your enlistment so age is not an issue

Con:

• 2.8 cGPA

• BA from an online college

Advice:

• Purchase a subscription of the MSAR to look at what the schools you want to target are looking for regarding prerequisites

• Since most if not all medical schools will not consider online courses to satisfy prerequisites (don't know if there are exceptions for military), then I suggest after you get out of the military at age 30, you enroll in a 4 year university under the GI Bill for a second BA to satisfy prerequisites as well as getting an actual non-online BA. You could probably transfer in some of your AA credits to shorten the years

But this needs expert advice, so calling @gonnif and @Goro

 

[Goro]

First off, OP, many thanks for your service to our country.

I don't have a good sense of what your academic record looks like, other than that you did poorly a decade ago. Do you have recently coursework? If so, what are the GPAs? I need to know if you can handle med school. Agree with DV-T 100%

 

[GuanYu]

First off, thanks for the quick reply. I'm in Hawaii time right now and I can only imagine what time it is on your end.

My current tentative goal was to essentially start over at one of the local CC. I don't want to attend a community college but Hawaii CCs are relatively inexpensive for in-state residents and active duty military count as in-state. My goal was to save the G.I Bill for a professional school down the road.

I've recently taken A&P 1 and Mirco and earned an A in both courses. I decided on these courses originally because I was originally considering the IPAP program for PA and they are pre-reqs. After meeting with several professionals it dawned on me that if I only have one chance, I want it to be something that I had always wanted to do but didn't have the self-confidence to do (while younger).

I think the best way to sum up my academic records would be just to list them. Also just to clarify, all of my science grades will be a a little over a decade old at the time of my separation except for A&P and micro.

Gen Bio 1: C
Gen Bio lab 1: B
Gen Bio 2: C+
Gen Bio 2 lab: B+

Chem 1: C
Chem lab: A-
Chem 2: B+
Chem lab: A-

Phy 1: C+
Phy 2: B+

A&P 1: A
Micro: A

 

[GuanYu]

Wanted to add this as well, the major courses that are killing me are three failures (F) in psychology. Younger me wasn't nearly as disciplined as I am now.

I have no expectations of using the undergraduate degree now. At the time, I just wanted to prove to myself that I can finish and achieve small goals.

 

[calivianya]

Fun fact: I actually APed out of both general chemistries, so I never had an actual grade for those at all, and then I took the intro bios for my first degree and my grades in those looked a lot like yours because I was too lazy to care at the time. Retaking is not 100% necessary.

What I did instead of retaking my questionable prereqs was pick up another bachelor's degree at a four year institution. The core courses for a BS in biology where I went were pretty much just the standard premed classes (gen chem 1/2, orgo 1/2, intro bio 1/2, physics 1/2) with cell bio, genetics, ecology, evolution, and my choice of 3-4 out of a slew of electives (biochem was available and a good choice). I pretty much just let my gen chems/intro bios transfer over even though they were crappy and then I killed everything else. Didn't need to take any gen eds to accomplish this because of my previous bachelor's, and I'm thinking you wouldn't need to either if you tried this for yourself.

I managed to finish up with around a 3.55 c/s cumulative and a GPA of 3.86 for the last bachelor's, which only took me three semesters and one summer class to complete. I also have an acceptance, so there's some proof that you don't HAVE to retake things if you made at least a C.

Good luck!

 

[SpoiledMilk]

Normally, it is not recommended that you retake a course that you received a C or higher. However, in your specific situation regarding your online BA and the fact that your science courses already taken will be over 10 years old by the time your service is up, I think that retaking them and getting A's on your way to a second non-online BA will certainly provide reassurances to Adcoms that you are a different student and will be able to handle the med school curriculum.

Since the sciences are also dynamic, getting a refresher on them will also help your prepare for the MCAT.

@gonnif will have a more precise opinion regarding courses over 10 years old and AAMC's policy on them.

 

[GuanYu]

@gonnif thank you for the detailed response. I pretty much come to terms with that everything I've done before is basically worthless and am more then willing to address it come application time.

5) my gut feeling is you may have to do this Postbacc but still may need an SMP. While you could do a complete second bachelors, I do not think it will give you the impact that 2 years of postbacc and an SMP would

Just need a little clarification below (I've been asking myself these next questions almost daily):

1) Are you recommending that I create my own Postbacc at the local CC and try to attend an SMP later post-separation from service? ;
2) Or are you recommending that I look into an official Postbacc post-seperation of service and then attend an SMP?

 

[GuanYu]

Since the sciences are also dynamic, getting a refresher on them will also help your prepare for the MCAT.

This was my thought exactly and my reasoning behind starting it now as opposed to post-service.

 

[GuanYu]

Either way on postbacc, DIY or "formal" though formal PB at a 4-year school might have better impact. However, in your atypical situation, great grades at a CC and MCAT will suffice. You can also consider an SMP directly, though is not usually the route I recommend mostly because of cost. What I normally recommend is postbacc first, then applying, and then SMP prior to reapplication if need be.

I appreciate the feedback. I'll take your advice and run with it.