starting over need advice!

[mylittlelion86]

i dont want to bore any one of you on my long story but i need advice on how to start over again.

after highschool i went to a private arts college for 3 years and never finished.b( i had a lot of life changes during that time so i never took school seriously and also had to abruptly quit do to a personal family reason)

after that was over i went to technical school for 10 months and then started working in my new chosen career. i am now 29

i always wanted to be a Dr. everyone in my family is (mom, dad, grandparents, uncles etc) life just got in the way but now i am ready.

question is how do i start the process? do i get a bachelors on line? and then try to get in to a Post-Bac program? most online schools do not offer bachelors in bi, unless you know of any? could i go to a regular college and go in to a bachelor's program? i have been doing lots of research online with the colleges in my area and the only degree programs they have for " adult students" is psychology or business and there is not a lot of selection. that being said i have never heard of colleges taking "older" students for a regular program for a bachelor's i mean i get it my act and high school transcript is 10 years old .

i was thinking i could do something like an online college and get some CLEP tests out of the way to get some credits out of the way. but CLEP dose not do anything about your gpa so how would post-bac programs look at that? anyway i need all the help i can get on how to start my plan is to be a DO

i cant seam to find a straight answer on how to do it correctly. im lucky enough to be surrounded by amazing medical schools and colleges but this dose me no good if i start on the wrong path. any advice will be great thankyou?

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[Eccesignum]

I also dropped out of a liberal arts degree fairly far in almost 15 years ago, and got an associate's many years later. When it came time to figure out how to do pre-med, I had two options -- finish the few classes from my old university and then do pre-med classes as a non-degree seeking student, or start all over again with a new bachelor's. I chose the latter. I had a terrible old GPA and I figured that if I wanted to show medical schools I was dead serious, I needed to put in a very large amount of work. Plus (your mileage may vary here) it's difficult to get into lower level classes as a non-degree student, so pursuing a full degree took out that stress for me. In the end I'm glad I did it; I got exposure to upper level science classes that I might not have otherwise, and the dedication of starting from scratch has been commented on many times in my interviews.

It was certainly a more expensive route, and is not for everyone, but that was my perspective. My current university was very lenient in transferring in some of my aging humanities classes, which was a factor (be careful of this though, as a few medical schools do place time limits on certain pre-reqs).

Bottom line: You need a bachelor's one way or the other, and you need the medical school pre-reqs. It's up to you how you accomplish this (you don't need to major in bio). You can certainly do a degree and then do a post-bacc, or you can take your pre-req classes while doing your degree. But do your classes at a brick-and-mortar university if at all possible. You don't have to do the "adult student" thing.

I would call the admissions office at every university you have access to, explain your situation, and see what they can do. As an associate's degree holder I was considered a transfer student at mine even with the time gap, which was a little unorthodox but I'm glad they worked it out that way.

 

[mylittlelion86]

Thank you so much! I am willing to start all over with a clean slate.. But all the 4 year schools around me at first glance don't have options for none traditional students.. How ever I will be calling and asking around. Any more advise would be great. I talked to phoenix and the offer a bachelor in bio but the catch with them is.. Its a new program so iya not yet student loan certified. And you can only take 1 class at a time.. Which if starting from scratch equals 5 years and $60,000 just for a bachelors..

 

[Eccesignum]

At many universities there's no such thing as a "non-traditional" student on the books. You apply like everyone else, you enroll, you do your classes. A major hitch for many working folks is that classes are normally during the day, but many of us find ways around that.

If by Phoenix you mean the online gig, I would not do that. Especially not a science degree. If you have 4-year universities around just talk to them, like I said before. Of the universities in my state only one gave me the stink eye about coming back as an adult student. The others didn't care, and as I said the one closest to me even transferred in old classes since I had never technically graduated with a bachelor's before.

Also look into Pell grants, on the financial side. Since you don't have a bachelor's you're likely eligible, unless you used it for technical school.

 

[mylittlelion86]

Thank you! I shall be doing my research I am at the begging stages that's why I have so many questions.. That being said.. Applying to schools.. They will take your old highschool transcript? And act? Or would I have to retest?.. Like I said I'm very much h in begging stages.. And I also think I have gotten. Rather bad advice before from people saying their is no way that its possible for me to start over INA 4 year school

 

[Eccesignum]

Thank you! I shall be doing my research I am at the begging stages that's why I have so many questions.. That being said.. Applying to schools.. They will take your old highschool transcript? And act? Or would I have to retest?.. Like I said I'm very much h in begging stages.. And I also think I have gotten. Rather bad advice before from people saying their is no way that its possible for me to start over INA 4 year school

They'll likely want your high school transcripts (and likely want to see ones from your previous 4-year and from your tech degree if it was a community college). As for what they do about test scores, how they handle that depends on the place. I did not have to retake the SAT since, as mentioned, the university I eventually attended considered me a transfer student. YMMV. You really need to talk to the universities for individual answers for that.

 

[mrdespair]

Hey OP,

I'm currently your age and had a full degree from overseas when I applied, so I was accepted into undergrad here as a transfer student (and I was accepted into every school I applied for). I've been back in school for a year and a half now. If you're a good applicant, you're definitely still young enough that school will take you! I agree with @Eccesignum that a 4-year university is the way to go if you want to be competitive.

As far as my understanding goes, your exam scores are only good for a few years, and after that they expire and you do have to retake them. I studied on my own for the SAT while working though and it was totally doable. Look for online prep courses, take the SAT, and call the schools you're interested in to find out if you should only use your HS transcript or if you should also send in your unfinished college transcript. They're the ones who can give you the final say in what you will need to get in.

Best of luck!