Think it will work?

[HotelCo]

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Here is a small background on me. I'm 19 years old and graduated Highschool in 07. I'm In Paramedic school (which I love by the way), and I'll be attending college this fall for Health Sciences (with a Pre-Med concentration of course😛). I'll be going full-time at my college but I'll have to finish up my last term of medic class during the first semester of college. How do you (and by you, I mean those who have finished freshmen year) think this will work out? Is it possible? (Let me note that the class is one day a week for 12 hours.)

HotelCo

 

[McPoyle]

Don't do it, its a waste of time. Finish medic school, work a lil while and then go back and do yuor undergrad. That is the path I took and wuoldn't trade it for a thing. I really enjoyed the time I had working as a paramedic before going back to school.

 

[HotelCo]

I was more thinking of should I drop down to a lower amount of credit hours at college while doing medic school, or should I just go for it. Stalling isn't really an option for me right now. Did you work through college as a Paramedic, or up to? If so, did you find it was still possible to do all of the shadowing and other ECs that were required.

 

[Stratego]

If you do both, you run a high risk of destroying your GPA, and it wouldn't be worth the risk of never getting into med school.

 

[Booster]

During your last term in your medics program, are you required to do any "ride along" or clinical hours outside the one day you have class? If so, you might want to take that into consideration.

Doing your first year of undergrad, the difficulty isn't the classes, but the adjustment to college and the work. You are accustomed to studying for medics, and I am sure you would be okay taking 9 or 12 credits for your first semester as a freshman while finishing up medics. You have class 1 day a week for medics, and if you can pack in 3 or maybe 4 classes for undergrad in 2 days a week, that leaves you a few days for studying for those classes and/or fulfilling any required hours needed to complete your medics program.

I personally think it is doable, but you will definitely have your hands full. I would maybe consider taking only 3 classes in your first semester, or perhaps even 2, just to see how much you can handle. Better to have less on your plate than more than you can handle and have your GPA suffer.

I do not think it would be a huge problem for you to work as a medic throughout college (depending where you work, and how busy you are). As a good amount of time during your work schedule, you are able to study since you are not out on a call (at least where I am from).

 

[Slow]

lalala

 

[niranjan162]

Its doable. You have so much free time in college and your class is only once a week. If its on a weekend day youre even more set.

 

[0Complications]

Don't do it, its a waste of time. Finish medic school, work a lil while and then go back and do yuor undergrad. That is the path I took and wuoldn't trade it for a thing. I really enjoyed the time I had working as a paramedic before going back to school.

I think this is a great option.

Finish up your paramedic training then work for a bit. This will allow you to actually get something out of all that training. Once you've been at it for a bit and are familiar with your schedule and the demands of the job look into starting school. This way you can work through school.

OP, I'm slightly confused by the logic of your question. To me it implies that once you are done with your paramedic training you are going to just focus on school and no longer worry about pursuing the paramedic idea.

If that is the case I'm not even sure why you went through the trouble of going through the training to become a paramedic. If it's not, then I'm not sure how 1 day of 12 hours is going to stack up against the 36ish hours that you're shifts will entail as a paramedic while you're in school? Could you clarify this a little for me?

 

[HotelCo]

I think this is a great option.

Finish up your paramedic training then work for a bit. This will allow you to actually get something out of all that training. Once you've been at it for a bit and are familiar with your schedule and the demands of the job look into starting school. This way you can work through school.

OP, I'm slightly confused by the logic of your question. To me it implies that once you are done with your paramedic training you are going to just focus on school and no longer worry about pursuing the paramedic idea.

If that is the case I'm not even sure why you went through the trouble of going through the training to become a paramedic. If it's not, then I'm not sure how 1 day of 12 hours is going to stack up against the 36ish hours that you're shifts will entail as a paramedic while you're in school? Could you clarify this a little for me?

The last semester is more of a review semester, along with one or two new things. It will be 10 weeks that will overlap into my undergrad time. Shifts are 12 hours here, some do 8. and If you work at a hospital it's about 8.5 hour shifts on average. (which is totally doable in college, sitting in the rig most of the time just waiting for a call, plenty of time to study and do homework). let me say that this won't be my first run at undergrad. I've been in college before , but left to enlist in the military.

I really don't want to delay since I've had trouble getting into college in the first place. (Low high school GPA). Let me put the question this way. How many credits can I take and still not sacrifice my GPA? 9? 10?

 

[0Complications]

The last semester is more of a review semester, along with one or two new things. It will be 10 weeks that will overlap into my undergrad time. Shifts are 12 hours here, some do 8. and If you work at a hospital it's about 8.5 hour shifts on average. (which is totally doable in college, sitting in the rig most of the time just waiting for a call, plenty of time to study and do homework). let me say that this won't be my first run at undergrad. I've been in college before , but left to enlist in the military.

I really don't want to delay since I've had trouble getting into college in the first place. (Low high school GPA). Let me put the question this way. How many credits can I take and still not sacrifice my GPA? 9? 10?

If you're working ~36 hours a week doing your paramedic stuff I would say start with 12 credit hours. You're still full-time and you can mix in science and general studies requirement course. You probably have a good grasp of some general bio after your paramedic training so for your first semester you could do something similar to Bio 1, Gchem 1, English, and depending on how many credits that is toss on another easy gimme class to get you to 12. But be careful with the general studies requirements, because sometime professors hate that they have to teach them and they stack on the work to give you an 'appreciation' for the field.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Here is a small background on me. I'm 19 years old and graduated Highschool in 07. I'm In Paramedic school (which I love by the way), and I'll be attending college this fall for Health Sciences (with a Pre-Med concentration of course😛). I'll be going full-time at my college but I'll have to finish up my last term of medic class during the first semester of college. How do you (and by you, I mean those who have finished freshmen year) think this will work out? Is it possible? (Let me note that the class is one day a week for 12 hours.)

HotelCo

I went to school a nights for paramedic and to college during the day for a B.S. It never really interfered with anything other than having a paying job which I had no time for. I reflect on it now thinking it's kind of cool that I accomplished it. It's definitely possible. As long as your schedules don't conflict I don't see why it would be a problem for you. Once you're done you can take your National Registry exam, or what have you, and start getting paid to ride the truck, lol. Good luck, man. I had to let my medic lapse last year so I'm faced with retaking the practical and written test. 🙁 I'm not concerned about the written, but there are a few new things to the practicals I'm not familiar with nor do I have an avenue to practice them so I'm kind of stuck right now.