Hello all…
I have been a practicing Physician Assistant in Emergency Medicine for the past nine years and have finally got up the courage for i should have had many years ago, to apply to medical school…there were lots of reasons then, but there are even better ones now (which i will not go into)…
problem…it seems from my research that i will have to back-track and re-take all my basic science as PA school was 11years ago and undergrad basics were almost 16 years ago…
does anyone have knowlegde of how admissions look at folks like me? I have been practicing medicine (as a PA) with tremendous autonomy given by my MD collegues…it seems crazy i would have to start from scratch…basic science and MCATs, but if i have to…then i will have to to achieve what we all here are looking for…at 36years old tho, i was hoping to acheive my goal before all my hair was gray…
ps are admissions req’s to off-shore schools different?
thanks in advance
SB
Congrats on the decision!
Different schools have different requirements. Some require fresh pre-reqs, it seems to me that most don’t. You can check the individuals schools requirements on their websites, under “admissions” usually.
I think that if I were in your situation, I’d speciifically look for schools that didn’t require me to repeat courses I took years ago, but thats just me. I would also think that a PA would be very favorably considered by most med schools, since the PA training is so similar to the basic science years of med school.
The off-shore schools I’ve looked at (the big 4 in the Caribbean, especially) don’t have a time requirement on your coursework or MCATs.
MCAT’s for US schools are somewhat more varied. Lots of schools have requirements that the MCAT score be relatively fresh (3 years or less, 5 years or less, depending).
Hi Fenway, I don’t know if I’m the best one to answer your questions as I have never completed my basic science prereqs. and am only just getting started with them. With regards to retaking your sciences classes taken 11-16 years ago, I do not believe that there is any uniform expiration/time limit for these courses. I believe the story is that you need to contact each medical school you’d be interested in applying to/attending as each school has their own specific requirements/policies regarding time elapsed on your classes. Of course, you may want to audit some basic courses or take some advanced sciences courses to reacquaint yourself with the sciences necessary for the MCAT. I’m not sure of what courses you’ve already taken for the PA degree, I can tell you that the classes you’d need are Bio1, Bio2, Chem1, Chem2, Physics1, Physics2, Org.Chem1, Org.Chem2…sometimes Biochemistry, sometimes Calculus depending on the medical school.
P.S. Don’t make gray hair your deadline for medical school. I’m 26, but thanks to premature graying my time would be almost up!
Good luck and Welcome to OPM!
Hi there,
You should contact the individual schools that interest you to see if you need to re-take pre-reqs. You are probably going to have to re-take MCAT because most schools are not going to accept MCAT score more than a couple of years old.
Call some schools and find out what you need and go from there.
Natalie 
Hi and welcome to OPM
Hope you enjoy your time here. There is a great bunch of people here.
Congrats on your decision to pursue medical school. I don’t know what other schools say about PAs, but here is what VCOM (a DO school) has on the admissions web site…
"""“5. VCOM offers special consideration for practicing Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, Pharmacists, and graduates from foreign medical colleges who hold a masters, doctorial, or professional degree. For candidates with this professional and academic background, we are willing to review graduate transcripts to ensure our undergraduate course requirements are met. We will require these applicants take the MCAT. We will be unable to offer advanced standing.”""""""""""""""
Here is their home page.
http://www.vcom.vt.edu/index.html
Good luck and welcome again to OPM.