Hello,
I was hoping for some guidance, advice, or thoughts from anyone…
I am 36 (turning 37 in 2 weeks)… I am currently enrolled in University of Phoenix (on-line) in pursuit of a Bachelors in Marketing. After a lot of soul searching I have come to the conclusion that a career in business/sales/marketing is not for me. I am interested in pursuing a career in medicine.
I have recently been diagnosed with ADD… in the course of learning more about my affliction and how to deal with it, I am confident I would excell in a program if I pursue it.
I have not taken any college science classes, and my high school biology grade was less then stellar (which I attribute to the ADD). I have always been fascinated with the sciences and learning more… I am uncertain if this is a realistic, attainable goal or just a pipe-dream.
Any thoughts? Where would I begin? What is the best course of action to take? or am I just kidding myself?
I appreciate any feedback!
Jim
Hey, Jim.
You are absolutely not “kidding yourself.” If this is a dream of yours, how could you not at least take a closer look at it?
With respect of where to go from here, a couple things come to mind. First, there has been some recent discussion on this board as to the ability to use an online degree to gain access to medical school. My “gut” feeling on this is that American medical schools would not go for it–but that is truly from the gut and not researched at all. I would recommend you contact a few of the medical schools you think you might be interested in and ask them the question directly.
Second, I would encourage you to take a biology (or chemistry) course at an established brick-and-mortar 4 year university to see if the excitement for science is maintained when you’re in the classroom (as well as to see how you are able to handle it academically). The deal with this is to remember that the grade stays with you regardless if you are applying to MD medical schools, so you will want to do very well in the course.
People with ADD complete medical school all the time. You can certainly be another success!
Best wishes.
I appreciate the response and feedback!
I have been doing some preliminary research and I am going to meet with an academic advisor as well to discuss possible paths to take.
I was first thinking of going for nursing, so I am already in the process of trasnferring any acceptable credits to a “brick and mortar” college. Even to enter the nursing program, I will need to take basic bio & lab as a prereq, so my thought process is that this will at least “start” to give me a foundation for more in-depth bio classes that would be required for med school prereq’s.
I have about 7 or 8 classes left for completion of a BS in Marketing, but not sure if it would be worth it (at this point) to finish that degree path or switch to a bio or biochem major… any thoughts?
Thanks again!
Jim