So many questions

[AmyPond]

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Right, so here's my story. I'm a 21 year old High School graduate with no college experience (I had troubles with my FAFSA and being dependent on my parents tax info) anyway, I never really had good grades in High School because I was interested in other things. Now that I'm out of high school and I've become a member of the working class, I've realized what I really want to do with my life. I want to go to medical school. For surgery specifically. I haven't decided what I want to specialize in obviously and the last couple months I have been brushing up on everything I should have paid attention to in High School so I can be ready to go back to college. My question, or questions are What classes should I take? What college should I attend? Should I go to community college and do general studies and prove that I'm ready to learn and I'm not a reflection of my High School grades anymore? What books should I buy to help me to catch up? Please, I know this probably a long shot but it's what I really want to do.

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

How did you graduate high school at 21?

This is what you have to do:

https://www.meded.umn.edu/futuredocs/documents/The-Hand-of-a-Phenomenal-Pre-Med.pdf

 

[Apoplexy__]

Community college sounds like a good idea. Low commitment and cost in case college isn't what you were expecting.

I wouldn't worry about "catching up" now honestly, although that's great that you're that ambitious. I'd wait until you notice deficiencies in your college classes to backtrack and re-learn.

So your action plan now is:
-Walk into the nearest community college
-Get a counseling/advising appointment
-Start taking your advised general ed classes
-Get A's
-Once you get A's and feel like confirmation that this is something you can do, start working on extracurriculars and thinking about the future as in Kilimanjaro's pdf.

 

[Winged Scapula]

This forum is for current HS students; moving to Pre-Allo.

 

[Catalystik]

Community college sounds like a good idea. Low commitment and cost in case college isn't what you were expecting.

I wouldn't worry about "catching up" now honestly, although that's great that you're that ambitious. I'd wait until you notice deficiencies in your college classes to backtrack and re-learn.

So your action plan now is:
-Walk into the nearest community college
-Get a counseling/advising appointment
-Start taking your advised general ed classes
-Get A's
-Once you get A's and feel like confirmation that this is something you can do, start working on extracurriculars and thinking about the future as in Kilimanjaro's pdf.

Good plan. Dip your toe back into the waters of academia slowly and cautiously while you regain study strategies.

Do you have a job where you interact with patients?

 

[AmyPond]

No, I meant I've graduated High School and now I'm 21. I graduated in 2010. I wasn't very interested in school back then because I was finally being allowed some freedom by my parents and I ended up just deciding not to go to school and just have fun. I had a full ride soccer scholarship too. Well, I was interested in learning but my teachers were very dull and monotonous, they didn't enjoy teaching anymore so it kind of turned my drive off. I've decided to go to Community College and try to fill the prerequisites for med school and I promise you I will come out at the top. I've got my drive back now, maybe a little too late, but I know I really want to do Cardiovascular Surgery. Thank you all for your helpful insight and advice. No I do not have a job in the medical field but I plan to ask around about shadowing, unless I need more experience to do that? I don't know, but if that doesn't work out I can always do some other form of volunteer work at a hospital, any ideas?

 

[Pacna]

No, I meant I've graduated High School and now I'm 21. I graduated in 2010. I wasn't very interested in school back then because I was finally being allowed some freedom by my parents and I ended up just deciding not to go to school and just have fun. I had a full ride soccer scholarship too. Well, I was interested in learning but my teachers were very dull and monotonous, they didn't enjoy teaching anymore so it kind of turned my drive off. I've decided to go to Community College and try to fill the prerequisites for med school and I promise you I will come out at the top. I've got my drive back now, maybe a little too late, but I know I really want to do Cardiovascular Surgery. Thank you all for your helpful insight and advice. No I do not have a job in the medical field but I plan to ask around about shadowing, unless I need more experience to do that? I don't know, but if that doesn't work out I can always do some other form of volunteer work at a hospital, any ideas?

3 things:
1. Prereqs at a CC aren't looked on well.
2. I doubt you know that you really want to do cardiovascular.
3. You're crazy for turning down a full ride to "have fun." What the hell do you think college is??

 

[AmyPond]

It's more of a learning experience than really fulfilling prereqs, I know cardiovascular is probably one of the most competitive fields in surgery and I'm more than willing to take the journey; I mean I will have it in my rotation in school so if it's really not to my taste, I can change my mind.
I've had plenty of friends tell me how fun college was but my mind wasn't on education then, I had other influences on why I didn't pursue higher education but that's not what my post is about.

 

[amazing tekkers]

Your past is your past, don't regret turning down the scholarship, better things lie in your future.

So now that you've started community college, take your general education courses and earn a 2-year and transfer. Also, make sure to take some prerequisites along the way, general biology, general chemistry, and so on. Once you transfer, you can take higher level courses at a college/university.

So your action plan now is:
-Walk into the nearest community college
-Get a counseling/advising appointment
-Start taking your advised general ed classes
-Get A's
-Once you get A's and feel like confirmation that this is something you can do, start working on extracurriculars and thinking about the future as in Kilimanjaro's pdf.

This is good, do this.

 

[Catalystik]

1) I've graduated High School and now I'm 21. I graduated in 2010. I wasn't very interested in school back then because I was finally being allowed some freedom by my parents and I ended up just deciding not to go to school and just have fun. I had a full ride soccer scholarship too.

2) No I do not have a job in the medical field but I plan to ask around about shadowing, unless I need more experience to do that? I don't know, but if that doesn't work out I can always do some other form of volunteer work at a hospital, any ideas?

1) Did you attend college for awhile and then drop out, or did you never matriculate at all?

2) You don't need any experience for shadowing. If you like it, eventually you'll want to get more active experience with sick folks through volunteering or a job. This could be at a hospital, or a hospice, skilled-level nursing home, rehab center, clinic, etc.

 

[LizzyM]

1. Prereqs at a CC aren't looked on well.

This is not entirely true. In a situation like the OP, community college is a very reasonable route. For a current student at a top 20 university, to take a required course in a community college in the summer is not looked on well because it looks like the student it trying to avoid a challenging course at a school where the competition is more fierce.

I saw an application some years ago from a guy who had a story similar to the OP. When he woke up from "just having fun after HS" mode he started classes in a CC, got a job in a retail pharmacy, was encouraged by a pharmacist to get an EMT license, had a life-changing experience as an EMT at the site of a mass casualty, his 4.0 CC GPA got him into an Ivy and he walked out 2 years later with a GPA> 3.95. Believe me, no one faulted this guy for taking CC courses when he had no cash & had been disowned by his parents for not going to college right out of HS.

 

[Apoplexy__]

This is not entirely true.

To add supportive anecdote: I'm an MS2 whose first 2 years of undergrad were CC.

 

[AmyPond]

Thank you for the link Kilimanjaro, it's very detailed and it makes some of my anxiety go down, haha. I plan on taking EMT Classes and getting certified while I'm in school, it's a perfect way to prepare me for triage. As I work my way up in school I'll eventually become a Paramedic. It's a good way to get experience and I'll get paid and perhaps be able to keep myself out of so much debt. Thank you guys for your help.