Hi there,
I am 25, recently graduated with a Bachelors in Business Administration - Management last year and had a really tough time finding work in my city. My city has a really strong economy with lots of wealth and open positions available but I still struggled to find work that paid well. I had previous sales experience and customer service experience and it seems like a trap I’ll never get out of.
I took a job that pays about $40k per year and I feel unfulfilled. I am strongly considering completing the pre-requisites for PA school or DO school and switching careers altogether but the public University near me is not accepting Post Baccalaureate students at this time.
I can get into ASU’s Online Biology program and still continue to work full-time. Is this a viable path to a physician’s assistant program or a DO program? There is a private christian university near me that I can take in-person classes at but it is not a well-known school and I would have to quit my job or find a job part-time. I can either graduate with a second bachelor’s or simply finish the pre-requisite courses at ASU Online. I have no debt and make more than enough to cover all my living expenses and still cash-flow tuition.
Any and all advice would be appreciated! Thank you so much for reading!
Usually there are problems with online coursework from what I’ve read. Especially needing lab sections. Some schools offer lab separate from lecture courses so it may be possible to do the lectures online and then take the lab courses elsewhere. Check with individual schools.
I don’t anything about ASU’s program, but I did a DIY post-bacc that included online Orgo I + lab, Orgo II + lab, Bio II + lab, and Biochem. Not all schools accept online credits, but there are a lot that do (granted I haven’t checked in a 4 years). How schools view the credits will be very individual to each school. Some view them as equal to other credits, some view them as acceptable but not as “equal” to in-class stuff, and some don’t accept them at all. I applied pretty broadly and approached applying as a “who will accept my stuff” versus “I really want to go here” and narrowed it down so the two categories overlapped. It may limit where you can apply to, but I’m extremely happy with the program I’m in (MD, actually my #1 pre-interview target school).
I did classes through UNE COM distance learning. The classes are probably overpriced but were my best option given a very demanding full time job. All of my labs were done with software mimicking lab setup and chemical reaction. I actually liked it better than the grueling hours of boredom from in-class chemistry labs and thought it was amazing to be able to fast-forward to actual reactions. Some of their other classes require you to rent physical equipment to setup at your house (ie physics). Like I said, no idea how ASU does it. UNE does not require you to be a full time student and has rolling start dates. The classes were adequate, however, I heavily relied on commercial prep courses to relearn organic (5 year gap between classes and MCAT).