I’m 29 years old who is aspiring to become a physician. Specifically, D.O. I am ready to take on the challenge and commitment required to be D.O. however, I feel the past ( failed grade, low gpa from online college - university of phoenix ) may prevent my dreams from becoming a realty.
My question is should i opt for second bachelor or take prerequisite and then take the MCAT. Because of a job, I will need to to take prerequisite at a community college. Is this the right move ?
Some how I feel my qualification are not so competitive. Please advice.
However, I do have great work experience and well qualified ec’s.
Or Am I old to start a journey that can take nearly eight years.
Please recommend a path to success.
Previous education :
B.S. in Business Management from U of P ( Online)
GPA: 2.8
Few courses taken at community college and at a four year institute.
Two, F’s in the transcript.
I think it would be in your best interest to get a second bachelor’s degree at a brick and mortar university. Med schools do not look favorably upon online courses/degrees and since you did not do well in your initial undertaking, you should probably do a second degree.
Are you too old? No.
Community college? If it’s your only option, okay, but be aware that med schools generally do not regard CC courses as favorably as courses from a 4 year university. If you take the pre-reqs at a CC, I would highly recommend you take upper level science courses at a 4 year school.
- Dunk189 Said:
Or Am I old to start a journey that can take nearly eight years.
Don't have enough background to comment otherwise on your credentials (though I'm in a similar boat with my 2.7 GPA). That said, I do have two points on your above quotes.
First, it's a bit hard to exactly quantify the commitments as eight years. What exactly are you quantifying as your start and end points? Medical school will take four years, and getting there will take a few as well. Afterwards, you have internship and residency. If you want, there's also fellowships. If you want advanced ones, internship + residency + fellowship(s) can take another eight years in and of themselves. If you're counting years from now until you can sit back and breathe a bit, that can be significantly longer than a decade.
That said, I tend to opine that the way you're looking at it isn't the right way to do so. You're now 29 years old. No matter what, in 20 years, you're going to be 49 years old. If being a physician is the single most important goal in your life, then I say you might as well be 49 years old and a physician rather than 49 years old and something else.
Of course, that's in a vacuum. We all have tons of considerations and priorities in our lives that only we ourselves can be the judges of. Most of us would love to do far more things with our lives and (in your case and mine) our youths than we have time, energy, or money for. For example, are you really looking to retire to a quiet life when you qualify for social security at age 67? Beginning a career around age 40- and spending a lot of money to get there- is unlikely to be compatible with doing so. For me, if I'm doing what I love and I've passed the most physically exhausting stage of my career, then I'm ok with working much longer than 67. I've also accepted I'll need to sacrifice a longtime hope of hiking all of the National Scenic Trails in my lifetime. But those are my choices. Only you can make yours. How will this impact your ability to get married and have a family? To do things you've always wanted to do? It's your life, and you're free to get out of it what you want.
- Dunk189 Said:
My question is should i opt for second bachelor or take prerequisite and then take the MCAT. Because of a job, I will need to to take prerequisite at a community college. Is this the right move?
The word right suggests that there's one perfect way to do this. For non-trads, there's not. There's a lot of options and considerations for each.
If you want to know if it's a favorable move, then no. Med schools don't like community college courses. At the very least, I wouldn't expect courses at a community college on their own to be sufficient to get you into medical school. What they MIGHT do is get you to Step 2, which you'll use to vault yourself into medical school.
What's step 2? That's a separate question with its own considerations. But if you're finances are doing alright at the moment and you have the finances to take some classes at a community college, then there's certainly nothing to lose. You'll want to take them again later at a traditional four year school. But you'll need to do that anyway. Perhaps you could view this as "reading the book before the class starts," and you'll go into those with a leg up on everyone else in the classes.
- Fedaykin Said:
- Dunk189 Said:
My question is should i opt for second bachelor or take prerequisite and then take the MCAT. Because of a job, I will need to to take prerequisite at a community college. Is this the right move?
The word right suggests that there's one perfect way to do this. For non-trads, there's not. There's a lot of options and considerations for each.
Exactly, non-traditional implies atypical. There are general guidelines but with the wide and vary backgrounds each of us has; the different current life styles, family, jobs that we deal with; and the array of academic opportunities that we can utilize, will make each of our paths different
- Fedaykin Said:
If you want to know if it's a favorable move, then no. Med schools don't like community college courses. At the very least, I wouldn't expect courses at a community college on their own to be sufficient to get you into medical school. What they MIGHT do is get you to Step 2, which you'll use to vault yourself into medical school.
a very rough estimator I use for evaluating what a student has and what a students needs is listing things as positives or negatives and then qualifying them as minor, moderate or severe. With your background, community college on its own is at least a moderate negative. As Fedaykin points out it will unlikely get you to medical school by itself
- Fedaykin Said:
What's step 2? That's a separate question with its own considerations. But if you're finances are doing alright at the moment and you have the finances to take some classes at a community college, then there's certainly nothing to lose. You'll want to take them again later at a traditional four year school. But you'll need to do that anyway. Perhaps you could view this as "reading the book before the class starts," and you'll go into those with a leg up on everyone else in the classes.
I'm not quite sure who I would take this specific view. I think CC courses should be the beginning of a expanded post-bacc, but should take some of the pre-reqs and additional advanced course at a 4 year school. You don't need to complete a second bachelor's but tactically (ie in order to get priority in class scheduling) you made need to register as such.
- gonnif Said:
I'm not quite sure who I would take this specific view. I think CC courses should be the beginning of a expanded post-bacc, but should take some of the pre-reqs and additional advanced course at a 4 year school. You don't need to complete a second bachelor's but tactically (ie in order to get priority in class scheduling) you made need to register as such.
Probably should have been more clear, but I feel 100% that any prerequisite coursework taken at a CC level will be repeated in whatever stage he comes to next. Taking (say) Biology at a local CC would simply be a stepping stone to get to an institution where he can take it "for real." And having had the material once, even if not on the same level, will definitely help the second time around.
I could be wrong, but I'm assuming that if Biology is taken at a CC level and then at a a regular college level, the fact he took it at a CC previously would be neither here nor there.
- Fedaykin Said:
- gonnif Said:
I'm not quite sure who I would take this specific view. I think CC courses should be the beginning of a expanded post-bacc, but should take some of the pre-reqs and additional advanced course at a 4 year school. You don't need to complete a second bachelor's but tactically (ie in order to get priority in class scheduling) you made need to register as such.
Probably should have been more clear, but I feel 100% that any prerequisite coursework taken at a CC level will be repeated in whatever stage he comes to next. Taking (say) Biology at a local CC would simply be a stepping stone to get to an institution where he can take it "for real." And having had the material once, even if not on the same level, will definitely help the second time around.
I could be wrong, but I'm assuming that if Biology is taken at a CC level and then at a a regular college level, the fact he took it at a CC previously would be neither here nor there.
Depends on the situation:
A) If you took general bio at a CC some time ago (5+ years) and did OK or even well, repeating that particular course may be a reasonable idea.
b) If your are starting out fresh, and going to take general bio at a CC, obviously do well in the course. In the 4 year school, you shouldn't repeat the bio course but add higher level bio/chem courses.
Taking the same course over so close together simply looks like a repeat and that would likely raise a flag. In my opinion, that would be have a larger negative impact on a transcript than simply having a good grade in a CC.
Lets put CC into context. For most non-trads, combined with previous college work, and followed by some upper level course work at a 4 year school and good MCAT, is workable path. Having CC on your transcripts is not some sort of death knell to an application.
From my own research into this subject, what I’ve learned is that there are no absolutes. Yes, there may be specific schools that set an absolute bar against CC coursework. However, at most places, there is no iron-clad rule, and Richard’s Rule applies “It Depends.” There are at least two users on this forum who have made it to medsch with CC coursework. SomedayDrA and I’m guessing the other user is jlr8 in the Boston area though I can’t find that post. CC coursework may stop you from getting into Ivy League, but that’s not necessarily the case at all medschools. “It Depends.”
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showpost.php?po…
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…
Here, I found that other poster who was accepted with CC coursework. I’m adding this here because I want this to show up in my posting history for my own future use.
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showpost.php?po…