Hi all!
What an excellent idea to create a forum for non-trad pre-med students! I am wrapping up my first semester back to school at age 30. I am really enjoying my studies of the sciences. I’m fortunate that my husband is supportive.
I have a degree is in business/accounting so now I’m taking the chemistry, biology and physics courses required to apply to med school. I’m not sure yet if my business calculus, statistics & english courses from 2002 can be applied to the required courses for medical school. I might need to retake them? Anyone have experience with this?
No one in my family has ever been a medical doctor. I became passionate about taking up the studies and I do believe my family (with the exception of my husband) thinks I’m a little off my rocker. LOL. I’ve always been able to excel in an academic setting and am extremely motivated to learn and practice medicine, for a variety of reasons. I started volunteering in the fall at a hospital clinic to help out and get a feel for what it’s like working in healthcare. This experience has helped to reaffirm my decision to continue pursuing my prerequisites to apply to medical school. It’s so crazy, though. I want to become a doctor to help others and admittedly, am fascinated by the intellectual pursuit of the profession. At the same time, I’m a bit concerned that its selfish…in that my husband is supporting our family (we don’t have any kiddies yet but probably will soon!) while I pursue medicine. Can anyone offer some insight on this?
Looking forward to chatting with you all! I appreciate any and all advice!!
Best,
Jackie
Jackie,
Welcome to the group! I understand your concern about feeling selfish re: your husband supporting you through the schooling. Many of us are in the same situation. Remember that the investment that you are making now in time and money will have benefits in the future for both of you. IMHO, marriage is about supporting each other through your dreams. You comment that your husband is supportive, perhaps he views this as a gift that he can give you. When my wife went back to school and I was the sole bread winner I certainly wouldn’t have wanted her to feel that she was being selfish.
To your question about your courses, likely if they were earned at a 4 year institution and they were passing scores they will be accepted. Each medical school has different course requirements beyond the typical chem, ochem, physics so you’ll want to confirm this with the schools to which you’re most interested in applying early so that you can take any additional courses you may need.
Best wishes!
Hello Jackie,
Welcome from a fellow newbie and I hope you will find this forum & site as a whole helpful. I can understand your concern about not wanting to put too much strain on anyone in your life. However, I agree with MD2B2010. Your husband more than likely doesn’t think your selfish and is happy that he can help you. You probably both share in each other’s successes and try to bare the burden of what is perceived as failure. Just think, after you graduate medical school, your husband will be so proud to say, “my wife is a doctor”. Just as “beside every good/successful man is a good woman”, the same can be said in reverse. As far as the courses, from what I’ve seen many schools are just concerned with how long ago one’s science courses were, but it can’t hurt to double check with your top schools of interest. Take care and best wishes!