What are my chances? Military experience etc.

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Dogleash

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Hello everyone! This is my first post on SDN. I'm just curious what you think my chances are for medical school..

I have been an active duty medic in the army for 4 years now. I have a BA in psychology, an AA in general science and an AAS in paramedicine. I am a certified paramedic through the NREMT. My total GPA is 3.89, I haven't taken the MCAT yet but I am currently studying for it. I have several awards, including valedictorian of my paramedic class, a distinguished leadership award and a distinguished honorgrad award from the army's basic leaders course. I get out of the army in 8 months and I will soon be starting a post baccalaureate pre-med program to get a few science classes that I am missing. I work in a clinic every day and I will have over 2000 clinical hours by the time I get out. I work with both PA's and MD's and I can get several excellent letters of recommendation.
In addition, I am fluent in both English and Swedish. The one thing I am lacking is research, but could my military experience make up for that?

I want to apply for matriculation in 2018, and I am just curious to hear from you with experience, what do you think my chances are for getting in to med school? I have a lot of life and clinical experience and a lot of schooling. Do you think all this will be enough to get me accepted?

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If you want to matriculate in 2018 you will have to take the MCAT, ideally, no later than April. Anything past mid-summer and you will be at a real disadvantage for MD schools.

It sounds like your app is otherwise outstanding. If you can get a competitive MCAT score you should be in terrific shape. Hopefully some of your 3.89 GPA was earned at a normal not for profit brick and mortar institution. If not, that may be something you need to supplement.
 
If you want to matriculate in 2018 you will have to take the MCAT, ideally, no later than April. Anything past mid-summer and you will be at a real disadvantage for MD schools.

It sounds like your app is otherwise outstanding. If you can get a competitive MCAT score you should be in terrific shape. Hopefully some of your 3.89 GPA was earned at a normal not for profit brick and mortar institution. If not, that may be something you need to supplement.



Thank you for your reply! I'm planning on taking the MCAT in January.
I earned my AA at a brick and mortar community college, my BA I earned online because I could not possibly complete it in a traditional college while in the military, and my AAS I also earned in a traditional community college (the army gave me 9 months off to get that degree). The AAS I also earned a 4.0 GPA and was awarded valedictorian. Should I be okay even though I've earned a lot of my classes online? I will be doing the postbac pre-med at university of Texas at El Paso, and will be taking traditional classes. Will that supplement?
 
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First off, many thanks for your service to our country.

Your GPA and military service make you highly competitive for med school. But to best advise, you need an MCAT score.

You don't need research.


Hello everyone! This is my first post on SDN. I'm just curious what you think my chances are for medical school..

I have been an active duty medic in the army for 4 years now. I have a BA in psychology, an AA in general science and an AAS in paramedicine. I am a certified paramedic through the NREMT. My total GPA is 3.89, I haven't taken the MCAT yet but I am currently studying for it. I have several awards, including valedictorian of my paramedic class, a distinguished leadership award and a distinguished honorgrad award from the army's basic leaders course. I get out of the army in 8 months and I will soon be starting a post baccalaureate pre-med program to get a few science classes that I am missing. I work in a clinic every day and I will have over 2000 clinical hours by the time I get out. I work with both PA's and MD's and I can get several excellent letters of recommendation.
In addition, I am fluent in both English and Swedish. The one thing I am lacking is research, but could my military experience make up for that?

I want to apply for matriculation in 2018, and I am just curious to hear from you with experience, what do you think my chances are for getting in to med school? I have a lot of life and clinical experience and a lot of schooling. Do you think all this will be enough to get me accepted?
 
Thank you!

I took the full practice MCAT a few weeks ago and I got a 26. But that was before I started to study for the exam. I predict I may get a 30 after I study


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Thank you for your reply! I'm planning on taking the MCAT in January.
I earned my AA at a brick and mortar community college, my BA I earned online because I could not possibly complete it in a traditional college while in the military, and my AAS I also earned in a traditional community college (the army gave me 9 months off to get that degree). The AAS I also earned a 4.0 GPA and was awarded valedictorian. Should I be okay even though I've earned a lot of my classes online? I will be doing the postbac pre-med at university of Texas at El Paso, and will be taking traditional classes. Will that supplement?

I just want to make sure I understand your situation. If you have the science pre-reqs, with your GPA, you do not have to do a postbac. If you don't have the pre-reqs, you may want to hold off on the MCAT until you've taken them all.

Also, it sounds like you may be in TX. If you are not a TX resident, think about establishing residency. It is arguably the best state for med school admissions. Military members can establish TX residency by having it as the their state of residence for tax purposes for 12 months on their LES.
 
I need to take chemistry and physics classes, but I have all other prerequisites. Yes I am in Texas, and I actually just established residency about a week ago, though I've lived in Texas for 2 years now. In what ways are Texas schools superior to other schools when it comes to med admissions?


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I just want to make sure I understand your situation. If you have the science pre-reqs, with your GPA, you do not have to do a postbac. If you don't have the pre-reqs, you may want to hold off on the MCAT until you've taken them all.

Also, it sounds like you may be in TX. If you are not a TX resident, think about establishing residency. It is arguably the best state for med school admissions. Military members can establish TX residency by having it as the their state of residence for tax purposes for 12 months on their LES.

I need to take chemistry and physics classes, but I have all other prerequisites. Yes I am in Texas, and I actually just established residency about a week ago, though I've lived in Texas for 2 years now. In what ways are Texas schools superior to other schools when it comes to med admissions?




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They highly favor TX residents and military. Double-win for you.
 
Thank you for your service.
Your app sounds solid ,but to close the deal you need a 30+ on the mcat. Only research power houses want research you should be fine Without it. Good luck.

I would also not use your real picture for an avatar.
 
Sounds great. Youll be fine without research with all that.
I have 3 IIs so far with no research, and one of them is a top 10(ish) research school. If you can play off the leadership experience from your time in, you'll be great.
Just nail the MCAT.
 
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I need to take chemistry and physics classes, but I have all other prerequisites. Yes I am in Texas, and I actually just established residency about a week ago, though I've lived in Texas for 2 years now. In what ways are Texas schools superior to other schools when it comes to med admissions?


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You may need to push your timeline back one year. It will be tight fitting those classes and taking the MCAT for a 2018 matriculation. Unless you are comfortable taking the MCAT without a solid foundation in those subjects.
 
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