Texas Non-Trad/Career Change (MD)

[NittMed31]

Hi All,

I am looking for some guidance in deciding on a path towards medical school (pref. MD). A brief background:

• Dallas, TX resident
• Currently working in the IT industry
  
• B.S. Management Information Systems - Penn State University (2015)
  • cGPA: 3.0
  • sGPA: 1.0 (Took a semester away from Penn State for my 2nd semester of freshman year; took classes at local community college where I received a "D" in Biology 1; only science class I have taken to-date)
• Have not completed any pre-reqs other than the Biology course taken above
• No medical volunteering/shadowing experience as of yet

I want to preface by saying that I am well aware of the path ahead of me. It will be a long road with plenty of risk, ups and downs, etc. The end game for me, like many of you, is well worth braving the challenges ahead.

My reach goal is to attend UT Southwestern or Baylor College of Medicine as a member of MS1 Fall 2020.

I plan on spending the next couple of years (beginning this summer) completing informal post-bacc credit at my local CC - retaking BIO1 and taking pre-reqs with the mindset of receiving nothing less than A's in these classes. Additionally, I will utilize my remaining free time volunteering/shadowing and preparing for the MCAT which I plan to take beginning this time next year (Spring 2018). I would like to do all of this while maintaining my current job.

I understand the goal is lofty and the timeline is questionable. I have done this on purpose as I am a big believer in the "shooting for the stars and landing on the clouds" type of mentality.

That being said, does anyone have any insight/suggestions? I am certainly open to other options... formal post-bacc, SMP, or a combination of options. Being a Texas resident, I am very partial to staying in-state for school due to cheaper tuition and better chance of acceptance.

Feel free to tell me like it is - good and bad. Any guidance is much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

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[amuseddoughnut]

Shooting for Tx schools is a great idea, and you've got your best chances there IMO.

It's going to be a difficult road to completing all your prereqs, studying for the MCAT, getting your application ready, volunteering/shadowing, and working a full time job over the next 14-15 months. For matriculation in 2019, you need to apply by June 1, 2018 to give yourself the best shot. I agree that you should aim for the stars, but you should also avoid setting yourself up for failure.

What is your draft course schedule for completing all of your pre-reqs by next Spring, assuming you will finish most of them before you take the MCAT?

If you want to do yourself justice on your MCAT score, you should plan on giving yourself at least a solid month of full time studying before you take the exam. As a full time working non-trad, that time commitment was the hardest part for me.

 

[NittMed31]

You are right, @amuseddoughnut. I misread the application timeline for these schools. My timeline above would be impossible to matriculate in 2019. I have edited my original post to plan matriculation in MS1 2020. That will give me plenty of time to complete courses and MCAT prep.

 

[esob]

In order to matriculate in 2020, you will need to be nearly done with your prereq's (at least the courses you need for the MCAT) by spring of 2019. In order to do this you would need to:

Summer 1: Chem 1
Summer 2: Chem 2
Fall 2017 : Ochem 1 + Bio 1
Spring 2018 Ochem 2 + Bio 2
Summer 1: physics 1
Summer 2: physics 2
Spring 2019: Biochem + some other relevant bio class such as cell bio or genetics (plus prep for MCAT)

In the meantime, you also need to figure out how to fit stats in there and likely micro, and all of those courses are + Labs.

It's daunting but depends a lot on your home life. If you are single and don't mind being lonely then you're set. Your mileage may vary with other home scenarios.

It should also be noted that the more classes you take at a CC, the higher your MCAT will need to be to offset that fact. If you are aiming for Baylor or UTSW you are hindering your application by not taking your science classes at a 4 year institution. If you were looking at TCOM or some of the other less competitive schools it might be OK but you will be competing with the best of the best for those two schools and all of your competition will have taken their core sciences at a 4 year school when an A is generally considered a greater achievement than an A at a CC. Also, even working full time, you will be judged for not taking a full load so you either need to take some filler classes or do something spectacular during the fall and spring semesters (like volunteer a ton). The general flavor is either work full time and take 12 hrs or be a traditional student who doesn't work and carry 18.

 

[DrMidlife]

Back in my day TMDSAS included computer science in the science GPA, so your sGPA looks iffy to me w/MIS. Make sure to sweat those categorization details before it's too late to do something about them.

 

[gyngyn]

TX schools put a lot of store in gpa. Their mean gpa was 3.73 with a SD of 0.24.
The 10th percentile gpa at Baylor is 3.7. At UTSW, 3.66.

 

[amuseddoughnut]

Also, even working full time, you will be judged for not taking a full load ...

I didn't apply to any TX schools, but in my experience, I was not judged during the application cycle for working full time while taking some pre-reqs. I worked in financial services while taking organic chemistry at night, one three credit class at a time.

 

[AnotherLawyer]

There is a disproportionate emphasis on GPA even at the less competitive TX schools. TX is a great state for medical school applicants in many respects, but it's not a great state for people who want to overcome a lower GPA with a higher MCAT.

Even if you get 40 credits of 4.0, you'll only have a 3.25 cGPA. Your high sGPA and upward trend will count for a lot, but it's by no means certain that it will be enough anywhere, much less at the the two best schools in TX. Last year in TX, 473 people applied with a GPA between 3.16 and 3.3 and only 45 ended up matriculating. For all applicants in the U.S., a white applicant with a 3.25 and 99th percentile MCAT would only have a 49% chance of being accepted somewhere.

I say this not to discourage you, but only to help you plan properly and manage expectations. If I were you, I would consider knocking out the pre-reqs and then doing the excellent low cost SMP at TCOM.

 

[esob]

I didn't apply to any TX schools, but in my experience, I was not judged during the application cycle for working full time while taking some pre-reqs. I worked in financial services while taking organic chemistry at night, one three credit class at a time.

haha, I just left a thread where an adcom said if you had less than 5 activities to list (not including parenting) then you shouldn't apply. Most of my classmates carry 15 hrs and do NOTHING ELSE except maybe play xbox or go club hopping. You might ask how I know that and it's because I'm the one leading the study group teaching them the things they can't wrap their minds around because they were playing xbox or clubbing. None the less, TCOM's website did say 100% that you should take a full time load even if you are working full time.

 

[skeptastic]

The general flavor is either work full time and take 12 hrs or be a traditional student who doesn't work and carry 18.

Is this truly the consensus from Adcoms? Just making sure I approach everything properly before I begin taking courses. I thought it was cool to do two classes per term if working full-time but absolutely want to give myself the best opportunity to succeed during the eventual application cycle.

 

[esob]

https://www.unthsc.edu/texas-colleg...nts-home/academic-problems-with-applications/

This is from TCOM's site

Low Course Loads
Completing courses on a part-time basis does not demonstrate the ability to handle the rigorous course work of medical school regardless of how well you do in them. The average semester in medical school is 30 credits in length. Even if you are working full-time while attending college, you should do so with the intention of being a full-time student. Course loads are as concerning as the grades themselves.

 

[skeptastic]

You're the man brother!


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[McRibs]

https://www.unthsc.edu/texas-colleg...nts-home/academic-problems-with-applications/

This is from TCOM's site

This clashes with what I've read in the past.

I've been under the impression that 2 science courses + lab + fulltime work is enough.

Is this not the case?

 

[popopopop]

You take your chances I guess. I'm going to TCOM and I did part-time classes. Frankly, I think it is just one metric the schools are evaluating. It was a hard decision, but I valued more chances of getting As vs. a harder course load (that and money).

 

[skeptastic]

Yeah, I honestly believe it's up to the student and what makes sense for them. Obviously, the person who takes 20 credits per term, works full-time, has crazy ECs and earns a 4.0 is going to wow adcoms. From what I'm gathering, if you work full-time and go to school part-time, the key is just to show that you were taking on a full load in terms of school + activities outside of school (work, ECs, etc).

I wouldn't worry about it too much, but t seems like if you do attend part-time, you'd want to absolutely ace your courses in order to present the best application possible. This is all based off of reading in the forums. The key seems to be to do well, regardless of how you go about it. Part-time school without working or doing any ECs would be a problem.


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[AnotherLawyer]

This clashes with what I've read in the past.

I've been under the impression that 2 science courses + lab + fulltime work is enough.

Is this not the case?

I don't think there's a one size fits all answer to this issue.

For example, let's say two people do their post-bacc one or two classes per semester. They both get a 4.0. Student 1 was a 3.85 uGPA. Student 2 has a 3.3 uGPA, both at average four year universities. Adcoms may have some doubts about whether Student 2 is really a 4.0 student in a full time setting. They probably won't worry nearly as much about Student 1.

Now let's say Student 2 gets a 518 on the MCAT. Those concerns will likely be lessened. Or let's say Student 2 is a single parent with a full time job. Again, adcoms will likely be less concerned.

But if Student 2 works 25 hr/week at Whataburger with no other significant obligations? This will probably cause some doubt.

I think at the end of the day adcoms want to have a degree of certainty that you can handle academic rigor. So when someone evaluates what they've done in the past and what they plan to do in the future, they should be asking "is this enough to show I can handle medical school academically?"