Hello
Anyone on her that has worked as a medic and decided to go on to MD or DO? Just wondering if your experiences as a provider helped ?
Hey Bosox,
I’m a full time firefighter/paramedic and I have had several interviews from D.O. schools thus far. I think it helps to have had some real world experience as a health care provider, it’s one of those things they look for in non-traditional applicants. It makes answering that “why medicine, why now” question a bit easier.
There are several people on this site who were former medics or EMT’s who have gained acceptance, including Gabe Lerman, whose diary is on this site. I can’t remember his name, but I want to say there is one medic who got an M.D. acceptance in N.C. this past year as well.
Keep those grades up and do as well as you can on the MCAT.
Best of luck,
Dan
I worked as a medic for about 4 years and am currently in the interview stage. Aside from emergency physicians, not many of the admissions people realize that medics aren’t EMTs. In other words, they dont know that we intubate, decompress, run codes by ourselves etc. It helps the most in answering questions on secondaries and in person like Guardian said. The only advice I would add is to not assume they know that we do a lot of stuff. You’ll feel redundant but tell them. Make sure they know you’ve run codes and made decisions etc.
As for the premed/prereq part, it doesn’t really help with the physical sciences that much. I gained some advantages in classes like bio2, physiology, microbiology, and some random things here and there. The biggest advantage was being used to getting tested all the time. ACLS practicals, PALS practicals, state test, national test, recert stuff etc. I never really batted an eye at the barrage of tests that can happen in some semesters but my classmates did. It’s doable for sure.
Bosox,
While still early in my premed schooling, I can already see advantages in being an older student with 13 years of healthcare experience.
As far as the schooling itself is going, like Matt said above, it is very advantageous to be used to being repeatedly tested. I feel it is also quite useful to be used to high stress situations and be able to cope with the stress some tests might cause. At times, I see a lot of test anxiety in the younger students in my classes.
While I am still a long ways from medical school, I cannot help but think that all of the things we learn as Paramedics, give us an advantage in a lot of areas. After talking with several ER physicians about taking the leap, they all agree the experience will help a great deal.
Mike
I kind of did the slow and steady route up the health care ladder. Ever now and then I ask myself, “what the hell am I doing???”
But I’m still here so I must be doing something right. 
(so to answer your question, yes. It helps tremendously!)
Just another paramedic chasing the dream here.
Yes, absolutely yes, my experiences as a medic have helped me on the path to attempting to become a MD or DO. Simply because I doubt I would have the same drive and will to complete all these classes while working full time if I did not know what I was getting myself into.
I see how hard these ED Docs work, and I see how frustrating the circumstances can be. I know that juggling a full-time job as a medic and taking a full course load (Ochem II, Genetics, Medical Self-Assessment, and labs this semester) is just a taste of how hard things are going to be in the future.
My experiences help me to keep focused, and to work as hard as I can. As far as helping my chances to get into a medical school? I have no clue what it means on the application, but in life they have already helped incalculably.
Good luck, and best wishes. I like to remember that even if I don’t ever go on to medical school: I have a job I love, I am doing what I want to do with my life, and I want to do more. I don’t think many applicants can claim the same.