Switching Gears into Medicine?

[Computing guy]

Hello all thank you for giving this attention.

I'm currently a computer science or theoretical computer science (depending on which classes I do decide to end up taking to finish up) who's a few years in. I'm realizing that I would like to try to pursue a career in medicine over going into computer science industry or doing post-graduate studies in mathematics and computer science. I also realize that no matter which path I take in my major I'm going to be completely unable to take any courses outside of the major because I'll be full up on classes and time as I wrap up my degree. If I'm unable to do the pre-requisites for medical school and the mcat are there things I can do to still try to get in? I'd have to begin motions during my final year of study and most likely take a year of preparing outside of school after my bachelor graduation before I'd be ready (so if I'm technically non-trad I apologize for posting in the wrong place).

Is it possible to study for the MCAT completely on your own? Are there MCAT prep books that start from 0 assuming no prior knowledge? Would this be too difficult to do and I have to get an entirely new degree? Also concerned about expenses because I have never had much in the way of money and only afforded my undergraduate through scholarship.

For more background I have no shadowing or anything really, I'm not connected to the pre-medical club on campus, the only on paper proof I have to taking the required courses is one semester of General Chemistry and I was unable to take the second semester because of having to do other classes.
I come from a school that doesn't do grades and is analogous to a pass/fail system.

Hopefully I still have options. I've been interested in medicine for a long time but always felt I was just not intelligent enough. Osteopathic Medicine also interests me on a philosophical level over the MD though I am aware that the end result is similar and while I see people on this forum who are concerned over it I was never much to care about titles or prestige or being respected by anyone who isn't myself as long as I'm able to offer helpful services to others the distinction doesn't matter too much to me.

Thank you for reading!

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[Mr. Babe]

Interesting situation you have here. Medicine is definitely a possibility for you, but you're going to have to kick it into high gear. Sure, there is a way to study for the MCAT without prior knowledge, but it'll feel like it's impossible. You can buy KAPLAN or ALTIUS books to help you along, but a base in core-science classes is always the best start. With that said, there is absolutely no substitute for your pre-requisite classes. You literally won't be able to submit an application if you don't have the classes required by each school. You may not have room in your schedule, but if you want to do medicine you need to see if your school will allow you to extend your time so that you can hold off graduation so that you can get your pre-reqs done. On top of all that, you'll need to get serious about volunteering, research, and shadowing. It's possible for you to do medicine, but it will be very hard.

 

[Computing guy]

Interesting situation you have here. Medicine is definitely a possibility for you, but you're going to have to kick it into high gear. Sure, there is a way to study for the MCAT without prior knowledge, but it'll feel like it's impossible. You can buy KAPLAN or ALTIUS books to help you along, but a base in core-science classes is always the best start. With that said, there is absolutely no substitute for your pre-requisite classes. You literally won't be able to submit an application if you don't have the classes required by each school. You may not have room in your schedule, but if you want to do medicine you need to see if your school will allow you to extend your time so that you can hold off graduation so that you can get your pre-reqs done. On top of all that, you'll need to get serious about volunteering, research, and shadowing. It's possible for you to do medicine, but it will be very hard.

Would it be possible to pursue purely these pre-requisite courses after my initial graduation ? I am ignorant as to how that process works or how much it would cost or if there are scholarship options . One of my issues with staying longer is every year I am in school I feel I risk not getting enough of my education funded to the point where I'd have to quit school (at the moment nearly everything is covered with at worse $1,000 needing to be paid on my end). I've had difficulties with financial aid in the past and have had difficulties getting explanations and figuring out how it all works as a first generation student and the only person in my family who speaks English. I also don't want to take a mixture of the classes and feel that I am half-assing the important classes for medicine or the classes in my degree.

 

[workaholic181]

Hey OP,

You can absolutely graduate college with your comp sci degree before taking your pre reqs for medical school. It’s called doing a post-bacc. You can either do one on your own at local community colleges (referred to as a DIY post bacc on here) or you can apply to a formal post bacc which is offered by a university.

I had about half my pre reqs done when I graduated college and finished them in a DIY post bacc and really enjoyed it. I also took this gap year to increase my clinical hours (a must have for med school apps) and the combo of these things got me into a few programs this cycle.

I’ll give you a brief breakdown of what you’d need coursework wise but there are a ton of great threads on here which will go into more details. Most programs will require 8 hours of gen chem, 8 of organic chem (some substitute biochem for 4, and you will need biochem for MCAT), 8 credits of physics, and at least 8 credits of biology. You’ll also need college English but I’m assuming you completed this through your undergrad degree already.

So basically you can take a few of these classes per semester while working in comp sci if you need to support yourself. I got an entry level healthcare job which I loved and gave me the flexibility to finish me classes on time, but these positions don’t pay great. Aim to take 8 credits per semester if possible.

Then comes the MCAT, but as the above poster said you can’t start studying for it without the main body of the tested coursework. I studied for it without physics 2 and that was hard enough.

In the meantime, you can contact physicians you’d like to shadow, and start getting volunteer hours preferably in healthcare settings.

I hope this was a somewhat informative if not brief overview. Good luck OP!

 

[Mr. Babe]

Would it be possible to pursue purely these pre-requisite courses after my initial graduation ? I am ignorant as to how that process works or how much it would cost or if there are scholarship options . One of my issues with staying longer is every year I am in school I feel I risk not getting enough of my education funded to the point where I'd have to quit school (at the moment nearly everything is covered with at worse $1,000 needing to be paid on my end). I've had difficulties with financial aid in the past and have had difficulties getting explanations and figuring out how it all works as a first generation student and the only person in my family who speaks English. I also don't want to take a mixture of the classes and feel that I am half-assing the important classes for medicine or the classes in my degree.

Money sucks.....whether you have tons or none at all, it's the worst thing to deal with. Talk to an advisor and see what you should do about your pre-req and also figure out your money stuff too. Financial Aid can be a pain, but student loans aren't the worst thing in the world. It's an investment as long as you don't screw up big time.