I’ve been browsing the forum on and off for a year or two, wrestling with the idea of going to med school.
I’m 27 and on active duty with the Air Force. I’ve been doing intelligence for 8 years now. I have an AA in Korean and AAS in Intelligence Studies. I’ve got 137 credits but never locked down on a major because I wasn’t sure about med school. I figured it’d be easier to raise my GPA a bit if I don’t finish it until I’m committed either way. C’s get degrees for Computer Science but I’d have to get out and do some full-time college to knock out pre-reqs and hopefully bring my GPA up to snuff, especially in the science arena.
I’m good at what I do but I don’t find it challenging or rewarding. I’m nervous about leaving a successful career to go to school and be a poor starving student. I’m divorced with a 2yr old too. Luckily, my ex is also active duty so my daughter will be provided for but I’m still nervous. I have a great service record so I know I could easily continue for another 12 years and retire but who knows what that will be worth considering today’s fiscal climate.
I’ve always loved medicine. I teach Self-Aid Buddy Care (essentially first-aid with a few combat/field-related concepts) and BLS/CPR. I read health and medicine for fun but I struggled with Chem and Bio in school (read: didn’t apply myself) so some of it is a bit over my head but I still love it.
Anyway, even though I have a habit of psyching myself out, I’m hoping to find some encouragement here. I know I can do it if I apply myself but it seems admissions is mostly a craps shoot so I know there’s risks no matter what.
sraboy - Welcome!
I wouldn’t say admissions is a “crap shoot”. It’s more like poker, and you get a little time to stack the deck! 
Having a background in the service is excellent. Also your teaching experience. Sounds like the beginning of a wonderful personal statement. Your job is to complete a degree, take the prereqs and ace them (there is actually a bit of advantage to doing them after you complete a bachelors degree. That way, in your application, as well as an overall GPA, the schools will see a separate post-bac GPA. This can demonstrate academic improvement.
Also, you’ll want to shadow some docs. There’s more, but in any case, you will have a very interesting story to tell at interviews, and that’s key. The GPA and MCAT need to be good enough to get looked at, and your personal statement can take it from there
Best of luck!
Kate
I’m also active duty but got my degree prior to entering, so I’m in a little different boat. I don’t know all of the details, but one of my IDMTs was telling me about a program he was applying for through the AF that sends you through a post-bacc course and then to med school. It’s for enlisted only, and I know it requires a current SAT/ACT score. I don’t know what the program is called or anything other requirements (sorry, I’m worthless here), but I’ll try to ask him more about it on Monday. Maybe your shirt has access to more info about it?
In the meantime, you definitely need to get some shadowing done. It’s basically required, fun, and can open your eyes to the world of healthcare you might not know about already. When I applied, I had minimal shadowing (~50hrs), no volunteer time, and what the AAMC views as roughly average GPA/MCAT for those accepted to school. I relied heavily on how my experiences in the military shaped me, taught me leadership, and otherwise prepared me for the challenges of med school and life as a doc. I took for granted a lot of what the military offers to people as far as life/cultural experiences go until I sat down to write my personal statement. 10 drafts later, I had a greater appreciation for all of the long-days and time gone from home.
I appreciate the responses from both of you. I’ve shadowed once so far, an ER doc, since I’m looking into EM. I enjoyed my time with the team there and I’m hoping to shadow in a few more specialties at the local hospital once work calms down a bit.
The only issue I have with completing my BS in CompSci and then doing post-bacc is that I’d have to be in a formal program or apply to a school for a second bachelor’s, else I’ll be at the bottom of the list for class selection and registration.
Kennymac, the school and program you mentioned is EMDP2 offered by USUHS (http://www.usuhs.mil/adm/emdp2.html). I’ve looked into it a bit but they only take 5 students from each of the services so that’s quite a long shot. It would also require me to finish my bachelors (I could knock out a BA in Liberal Arts quickly) which may give me the problems I mentioned above later if I were to not get accepted. I’m also in a chronic-critical career field (1N3-Korean) so I’d also have to hope the functional manager was willing to release me–not likely considering how valuable my cyber skills are to the force right now.
Anyway, thanks again for the replies. I’ll continue lurking around here and SDN and hopefully just pull the trigger on my dream. I’m overseas so I have a DEROS Option RIP (for you non-AF folks, that’s paperwork that requires me to choose to stay overseas or go back stateside, also requiring me to extend my contract if I wish to move) coming up in a year and I have to decide to extend or re-enlist at that point. I’m currently planning to extend my enlistment 10mos so I can move back stateside and hopefully get to Maryland. I’m from CT and UConn is #1 on my list so I’d like to be nearby to shadow there and meet the admissions committee.
I feel you on the AF manning issue. AFPC is the reason why I can’t go to med school this year despite getting accepted, and my career field is OVERmanned…
Would it be easier to knock out a degree when you get stateside, or does your current base offer classes through OU, U Maryland, or whatever other schools that have on-base programs? In the end, “they” say the degree doesn’t matter and can actually add diversity to the class if you’re not the standard bio major (I did engineering). I would probably knock out whatever degree would require the least additional classes at this point, then try to knock out the remaining prereqs via post-bacc. It could theoretically backfire if you try to take the prereqs at a school that puts non-major students at the lowest priority. It definitely sounds like you’ve done your research and have a plan going into it. Good luck!
There’s classes here. I could finish a BA or BS in liberal arts through Excelsior in 3-4 classes, I think. I wouldn’t be able to do prereqs though.
Is the general consensus that I should finish my bachelor’s and just do a post-bacc or self-guided prereq thing afterwards?