So this is the OPM that people on SDN are talking about.
A brief intro first. I’m 33 with 4 kids. I had been a stay home mom for 9 years before returning to school last year. I have a foreign B.A. in English from a decade ago. And I worked as a translator only for a year after college. Long story short, I found my passion in medicine when I was preg with the youngest. At that time, we were still living overseas, and with little ones to care for, I quickly dropped the idea of med school and started looking at a Physician Assistant career.
We moved to NC 2 years ago. Early last year I started volunteering at the hospital. Last summer, I began to take courses (mostly PA school pre-reqs) at a community college and have finished 40 credit hours so far. I went full time. I took 15 credits in fall and 20 this spring. I studied really hard and my GPA is 4.0. Then 3 weeks ago, a small incident occurred that made me think about the med school again, much more serious this time than 5 years ago. Medicine is what I love then why not a medical school I asked myself. What’s stopping me? My age, my children, my foreign non-science B.A. or my non-English native language?
Certainly, a year of study here has helped me regain my confidence. Although I like the flexibility of taking classes at CC, I soon realized that my GPA earned from a CC wouldn’t be competitive against others from 4 year universities. So I looked into the pre-med post-bacc programs locally, quickly applied to the only one still accepting(UNCG) and got admitted last month.
This all happened really fast during the busy final weeks of the semester. Fortunately, my husband is very supportive of what I want to do. But we are concerned about me driving 3hours round trip to school for a year. The commute will take away a big chunk of my time needed for my family and children. I also looked into the DIY option. Unfortunately, the deadlines for full-time student application are long past. So my only option is to register as a part time student at two nearby universities and take a maximum of 8 credits(It’s the policy) at each uni. However, the open enrollment period for parttime students doesn’t begin until first week of August. Won’t most classes be completely full by then? Due to the sequential order of upper level science classes, postponing one course would delay my whole plan to complete the rest prereq by next summer. I have a year of Orgo, a year of physics, Cell bio, Genetics and biochem left to take.
I’m in a bit of a bind right now. I can’t commit to living on campus away from my family for a year. Neither do I want to wait around just to find out the classes I need to take are all full. I thought about reaching out to professors and make an appeal for early registration.
I’m curious about how everyone else does DIY post bacc. Do you all apply as full-time students? Is there any other way that I’m not aware of?
Thanks!
Welcome to OPM! (The anti-SDN!)
If you haven’t yet, check out all of our podcasts - you’ll find some great stories on The Premed Years that match yours.
I honestly would not retake all the classes you took at a community college. Don’t let SDN tell you that you can’t compete with CC courses. Your story as a mom of 4 taking classes full-time trumps the fact that it’s “just” community college. I would try to fit in the rest of the classes you need, where you can. I’d start talking to medical school and make sure they are on board too. Take a listen to my interview with Carrie - very similar to yours.
Good luck!