Where to attend undergrad and my GPA. Predicament

[Alexf]

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This is my first post, I hope this is the right section. I apologize in advanced for the lengthy post.

I've hit a major cross road in my life. I am 21, finished my AA at my local state college. As I began looking at life long careers, I became attracted to being a Physical Therapist Assistant or a Radiography Tech. I've always been interested in working in a field where I get to help people, and the medical field was especially appealing to me as I grew up with a lack of access to good healthcare. I re enrolled at my state college and I am currently taking A&P 1, the lab, and Medical terminology. To make things even better, I recently landed a job in registration in the ER at a hospital an hour away (better pay and benefits than my local hospital).

After spending time in the ER, interacting with nurses and doctors, interacting with patients, and reading books and articles, I am considering pursuing my bachelor's and going to med school.

I have a few options, but the two ones that seem the best to me are this:

Go to the University of Florida and pursue my bachelor's and med school pre reqs.
Pros: Top 50 university Cons: The hospital I work at does not have a facility in Gainesville. I will not have this job with the great benefits and will lose the awesome connections to doctors and mentors to shadow.

Go to the University of West Florida
Pros: I can maintain my current job with connections to a large hospital, doctors, and mentors. Cons: Less reputable university.

I currently have a 3.08 cumulative GPA, but I have not completed any of pre reqs for med school. I have also stepped up academically since finding potential career field that excites me and drives me to perform better, so as for now, I am very certain I can bring up my GPA. I am currently maintaining an A in both my A&P lecture and Lab classes where the class average is about a 68. If I shape up now, do I have a decent shot at a school in the top 100?

If it helps any, I am planning on specializing in Psychiatry (but I know everyone changes their minds about 3 different times).


tl;dr
Should I attend a top 50 university for my undergrad and lose my job and awesome connections or go to a smaller university and transfer my job to keep connections to a large hospital.

 

[rain4venus]

I'm no expert, but presumably your best bet would be a state med school in Florida. In that case, I would say you're probably fine going to any school in Florida for undergrad, as any Florida med school will be familiar with it.

However, I would consider long and hard if you think you could still pull up your GPA enough to get into med school while working your job at the hospital. You don't say how much you work, but "benefits" suggests to me that it's a lot of time each week. I know a lot of people have to work to put themselves through college, but a full-time work schedule plus a full-time class schedule (I did not understand if you would still have to make the hour-long commute to work if you went to this new school, but if so, that's another thing) is a lot of work, and is not something that lends itself to great GPAs for most people.

I definitely don't want to be discouraging. I totally think you can do it! I just don't want you to overwork yourself so that we won't see you in the nontrad forum in a couple years asking if you can get in with a 3.1 GPA and 4 W's or bring up your GPA after you've already taken 110 credit hours. :/

 

[Alexf]

I work 48 hours bi weekly, as long as I manage that, I keep my benefits. I just do two twelve hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday and then have the rest of the week for school and friends. I feel that I could probably manage this during my undergrad, if not, I would withdraw and use additional loans to support myself. Also, if I transferred, I would no longer have a long commute.

 

[Alexf]

I work 48 hours bi weekly, as long as I manage that, I keep my benefits. I just do two twelve hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday and then have the rest of the week for school and friends. I feel that I could probably manage this during my undergrad, if not, I would withdraw and use additional loans to support myself. Also, if I transferred, I would no longer have a long commute.

And by withdraw, I meant vacate my job, not my classes.

 

[darkmb101]

3.08 is LOW for MD. Seriously calculate your best possible grades that you could at graduation. Is it close enough to 3.5? With high MCAT, good LORS. You'll be a good candidate for medical school.

Somethings to consider.
1) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Can you afford the cash to go for undergrad, mcat prep, medical school application. Med school apps could cost anywhere starting at $2000+ (this is primary, secondary, interview travels). Can you afford to attend medical school?
People legitimately attend PA, PT, nursing school because of TIME and MONEY.
2) Do you have the time to work and learn? Can you not only pass, but EXCEL in undergrad and grad?
3) What is you motivation for medicine? To make money? Seriously, there are better careers which will pay plenty with the same job security. (PA, Nursing) Helping people? Well you can do that by doing just about anything....

But seriously. Think about this LIFELONG commitment. Can you do it? Is it worth doing? Rejection and burnout = waste of time and money. What are your chances of getting in? Then staying in? People fail board exams, hate their jobs as doctors, etc.

Just food for thought.