Where do I start ?

No you are not too old to go back to school for professional degree. I think first you need to decide which professional degree you want to pursue. Getting your pre-reqs from CC shouldn't hurt you for DO schools (IMO), but I don't know anything about pharmacy or PA schools.

 

1) Community college?

There's some debate as to whether you should do prereqs at a community college. I always advocate taking your prereqs at a 4 year college and for you especially because of your lack of science background. You want med schools to see you can handle a science curriculum and some schools either frown on taking prereqs at a CC or won't accept them at all (in the absence of other science coursework).
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2) Are you too old?

You're kidding right? Browse the nontrad age thread. You are an infant by non-trad standards.

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GOOD LUCK! I'll be rooting for you.

 

No you are not too old.
All those fields are science-heavy. I think the first thing you should do is go enroll in a science class or two at one of your local 4-year universities. I would start with general biology (take the biology course that science majors take, not some other nonscience major course). I recommend talking to the health professions advisor at the university where you enroll, if there is one. If they send many students at all to pharm and DO and PA and nursing school, they should have such an advisor and/or advising office. Community college would be OK for some programs, but you'd better check with some schools before you go the community college route (i.e. check with a couple of nearby pharmacy schools, a DO school, a PA school, etc.).

Timewise, realize that the DO thing takes a lot longer. You are talking about at least a couple of years of getting ready and trying to get in, then 4 years med school and 3 years residency at minimum. Residency is kind of like being in school + working at the same time, because you have to study a lot, the hours are terrible but you do get paid.

If you do PA school, it's just the school and then you are done. Some people elect to do a short residency but I think it's just 6 months at most.

Pharm. school is 4 years from what I know, but once you are done you can go straight out and get a good paying job (i.e. a lot more than what a medical resident gets). I have heard that competition for pharm. school is becoming fierce. You'll need a good science background to get in, with good grades.

 

I think starting out at a CC is a good idea to get a feel of the sciences. And if you got B's in Chem then I would call you bright as well as smart. Good Luck.

 

Well, some school will say they want the pre-reqs, like chem, taken within 5 years of application. Even if they don't, you might want to take them again anyway to refresh for the MCAT.

When it comes down to it, it is a matter of how much money you have for classes and how much time you are willing to spend prepping to just get into school.

I graduated in 2001 with a degrees in chemistry. I started my prereqs (bio 1&2, Anatomy/physiology1&2/ genetics, psych, microbiology) at community college in the fall of 2007 (because it was super CHEAP). I then retook organic chem because I took it ten years ago. I did it at 8 week summer course at a local university -- kinda intense; we covered a chapter a day, but it was review for me. I'm now taking undergrad and grad level bio (human phys, cell metabolism, toxiocology, etc) at the local university and will walk away with a post-BACC certificate.

I'm applying to MD and DO schools right now even though I haven't technically finished the post-BACC, but I feel I'm qualified (I took the MCAT in August). I may retake the MCAT because I honestly didn't study much and I know that I could do better.

Anyway, there are many routes you can take. I'd say you should talk to some doctors, PAs, and pharmacists to first determine what path you find the most appealing and try to concentrate your efforts.

 

Some schools have a cutoff at 10yrs, so I would say your fine as far as medical school goes. I took Chem I back in 2000 and I'm not going to retake it either. If you show that you can master the sciences in your other pre-reqs then there shouldn't be a reason to retake the class unless you feel uncomfortable studying on your own for the MCAT.

 

Where are you located near?? AZCOM has a postbac I believe or maybe its a master's program. But I would definitely go with the taking undergrad courses at a 4yr and CC.

 

Hey. I just wanted to add something that no one else has mentioned yet. I have researched DO and PA school, so I know how you are feeling about just starting to look into this. I just wanted to add that MOST PA schools require about 2,000 hours of patient contact. Some will accept volunteer hours at a hospital or clinic, but most want it to be piad work as a CNA, RN, EMT, nurse's Aid, you get the idea.

There is a forum devoted to just PA's so you can look over here for a lot of good information.

Also, sometimes the pre-reqs may be slightly diffrent for DO vs. PA so you would need to look into this before wasting time and money. Hope this helps.

 

I graduated with a pharmacy degree. I would recommend that you start with all of your science pre-requisites at a 4-year institution. Not all pharmacy schools accept community college credits so it may limit your options in terms of applying. You will also have to take the PCAT examination.

You could probably wrap-up your pre-requisites in a year or so and apply. Feel free to private message me if you have any questions about pharmacy.