the only one here who doesn’t even have a BS yet? LOL!
Reading through all these posts seeing “I’m an attorney,” “I have a masters in…” etc etc… is getting discouraging!
I’ve been lurking around, so I guess I’ll re-intro myself…
I’m the 26yo married mama of 2 boys (4 and 15 mos)… I went to college straight out of high school and was completely unprepared for the amount of responsibility and freedom I’d have… and ended up dropping out (got LOTS of W’s left on my transcripts… 
) Got involved with some terrible people, ended up pregnant, and got married.
After my son was born, I went to work full-time and started taking night classes. So far I’ve been taking courses for almost 5 years and have, oh, 38 or so hours to show for it. LOL!
I am this close to entering a “tech” field (x-ray) to get an associates degree and work while I complete my BS, but the thought of graduating a community college with only an AS and 100+ hours discourages me. 
(some of you may remember me posting a while back asking about going to nursing school as a pre-med route)
Oh… I’ve been fascinated by medicine for as long as I can remember, but the idea that I actually could pursue this “dream” and my inspiration comes from my brother, a pretty-young-old guy having graduated with his MD at age 35.
I have lots of bouts of “mommy guilt” about longing for a career, though… I often wonder if I’m not “sacrificing” my children by wanting to pursue such an arduous education…
Sorry if this was all a repeat, but I couldn’t remember how long ago my intro was so figure I’d better begin again… I recognize a few names here from SDN, too!
Welcome to OldPM Manna…glad to see you found your way over here from that other site lol. And of course you’re not the only one without a BS/BA yet…the others will come out of the woodwork shortly I’m sure 
–Jessica, UCCS
I’ve been a software developer for 20+ years -
and I’ll be receiving my B.S. in Bio Sci this June (assuming I get thru Calc II )
Your not the only one working on a BS degree, I am finishing up my Bachelor's in Psychology this August. I have actually been going to school off and on for 13 years!! When people complain of getting their BS in 5 yrs instead of 4 I just laugh! Keep striving for your goal and you will get there.
Pam
OPM scared me off awhile ago… you know im still working on mine 
Still plugging away at mine.
Someday…someday.
| QUOTE (agent @ Apr 23 2003, 03:50 PM) |
| OPM scared me off awhile ago.. you know im still working on mine |
Hmmmm...how'd OPM scare ya off? We're harmless...really!
Many folks here are still working on their first BS/BA & quite a few others are engaged in either a formal/informal post-bacc or graduate work. There are many paths to success grasshopper. So fear not & keep your nose to the grindstone...few people, less than 5% last stat I saw, get into med school w/o a BS or BA...so, ya pretty much gots ta get one.
Best of luck to you.
I am a newbie to this, so I don’t know what route you are thinking of taking, but personally(being a nurse), i would not suggest you go into nursing. My first semester, we had a class where they taught (AND GRADED US!!!) on how to make hospital corners. In normal language, they graded us on how to make a bed. I should have known to drop out of nursing right then and there…but i am not a quitter, so i stuck it out and i even went on to get a masters in nursing…Now, i realize that a PhD in nursing is useless, and I even had only faculty member tell me that when I was interviewing for it! so you’re wondering where i’m going with all this?..(DRUM ROLL PLEASE) …that it doesn’t matter if i had a phd or i was a HS graduate. We are all in the same boat. We want to go to medical school because we want to be physicians, because we think that is what we are meant to do with our lives. just keep plugging and chugging away 
PS: I am not disrespecting nurses or what they do…healthcare would crash without them. I was just trying to say that it isn’t the right choice for me!
Been a programmer/team lead/software developer/all around computer guy for 10+ years.
Will be getting my BS next spring if I can arrange all of the classes I need between now and then. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Jason
You are certainly not alone in completing your BS/BA. I have been working on completing my degree for 16 years. I will graduate this Saturday with a BA in Management and Human Relations. 
It took me so long because I took time to get married, have children and work full time. I spent alot of years taking classes here and there to finish my degree in Management Information Systems(MIS) because I thought I wanted to make a career of being a Programmer/Analyst. I have worked in this field for 13 years and I know this is not my calling.l
I understand the feeling of guilt when you are away from your children and husband trying further your education. You may have to take it slow while your kids are young. A year ago I considered the AA route and then work on my BA but that would have been so time consuming, I needed to find another alternative.
My premed counselor told me simply to get a bachelors degree and don’t worry about trying to finish a degree in MIS. I enrolled in an accelerated degree program and one year later I am finished. My advice is find a degree program that will fit your situation as it is now. My BA program required me to attend class one night a week for 50 weeks but the program required at least 60 hours to transfer into the program. You are still a few years younger than most of us, so you have plenty of time. Don’t rush it while your kids are small. They will be grown up before you know it.
I look back on my life when I was about your age and our situations were similar. I also have several “W’s” on my transcript. I can’t let the mistakes of the past determine my future and neither should you. I look back and one year ago I didn’t have a degree in anything and now I’ll be graduating in a few days. I have completed one set of many hurdles I’ll have to cross as I continue this journey.
Good luck to you.
Savannah
| QUOTE (JNormandin @ Apr 28 2003, 07:39 PM) |
| Been a programmer/team lead/software developer/all around computer guy for 10+ years. Will be getting my BS next spring if I can arrange all of the classes I need between now and then. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Jason |
I'm a computer guy as well, but I've switched my focus to biology.
Maybe I'll get lucky and attend Northwestern's SCS in the fall.. here's to hoping
I'm getting my Associates in 2 weeks
Hi,
Just thought I'd share. I am taking my final degree req/premed req–Physics II–this summer. This will be my first and only degree, a BS in Biological Sciences. I started out at my university five years ago, and now regret not having taken the basic sciences at a comm. college first, then Xferring them over to Univ. It's been a long, hard path, but it's almost over! I decided against taking the MCAT and applying last year for the Fall 2003 class, took the April 03 MCAT instead, and will apply to med school this spring/summer. I will spend the year between now and next fall probably working part-time and enjoying life without textbooks and multi-choice exams, though the thought of taking culinary classes is tempting…anyway, here's to you, OP, and everyone else here at OPM that's still working toward that Bachelor's!
Mina Wilson
as I graduate in June, I'm eyeing a summer community-based course in either billiards or darts – maybe I'll do both !
Hi! I’m new to the forum. I have a BA in Communications and Media Arts (A fancy way of saying Film and Video Production) 
Aaaaanywayyy… I’m currently attending classes at the local community college and just recently decided to go to med school. I was taking courses on Health and Fitness and I will be a certified Personal Trainer in November (I need first aid and exercise physiology to complete the certificate).
Initially I enrolled in Community college to become a personal trainer and massage therapist. I thought the two would combine wonderfully.
Then, I thought I’d add Dietetics to the mix so that I could prescribe diets for optimum health.
Then I thought I’d become a physical therapist because I really wanted to use exercise and massage therapy as a healing art.
But then, I realized that I didn’t want to just “Fix” illness and injuries, I wanted to PREVENT them. Not only that but, I wanted the authority to diagnose and treat illness and to prescribe exercise as treatment. (It’s been a long day so I may not be writing as clearly as I’d like).
So, long story short (yeah, I know, too late) I decided to go to med school. And now for the hard part.
Like I said, I have a BA but I purposely avoided ALL the maths and sciences the first time around. Not only that but, I graduated 11 years ago so, it would be outdated anyway. I have no idea which sciences to take. I mean, I have a clue (Bio, Chem, Physics, Psychology) but I’m not sure how much to take. I have to take A&P I-III for the AS program, I also have to take Exercise Physiology (which is also a Bio course). So do I need to take General Bio I-III or can I take any Bio with lab course (like Microbiology). For that matter, with the A&P coursework count?
It’s little things like this that throw me. Mainly because, I feel like I’m going to have to cram 4 years of Math and Science into a 2-year program. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I want to have enough of the right kind of science. I want a good foundation, but I don’t want to overdo it either. IE, why take freshman Chem I-III AND Organic Chem I-III if Fundamentals of: General Chem, Bio Chem and Organic Chem will do the trick? Do I need to take a separate run of Calculus or will classes that contain calculus suffice (like Calculus-based physics).
I know, different med schools have different criteria. But, I would love to know what some of the med students out there did to prepare. Especially since I was so NOT a science major the first time around and I have a LOT of catching up to do.
Thanks! (and thanks for putting up with my babbling)
Jill
Jill–
Are you at a trimester or quarter school? You mentioned chem 1-3, orgo 1-3, and bio 1-3, so I thought maybe you were. Anyway, you need one academic year of each, which at most schools equals 2 semesters.
For bio, you need to take General Bio with lab, although some schools will let you substitute a semester of zoology. General bio goes by many names, but it’s usually the class that covers everything from ecology and evolution to genetics and metabolism. Micro and physiology probably won’t count.
For chem, you have to take a full year each of general chemistry and organic, with labs. If the “fundamentals” courses you’re talking about are condensed versions, they won’t work. You really need a whole year of each. At most schools, whichever chem classes the chem majors are taking is the one you should take. Same goes for biology.
For physics you have a choice–calculus based or algebra based. Some schools offer a special physics class for life science people. If you DO take calc-based physics like you mentioned, you have to take calculus first! Calc is required at some med schools, and not at others. A few require statistics too.
Psychology isn’t a common prerequisite, although it’s out there. So is biochemistry.
You can get all this information, for each school, from a book called MSAR (Medical School Admissions Requirements) published by AAMC. I recommend it!
Good luck to you!
Actually schools vary in the biology requirement. The ones I applied to simply wanted 8 credits of biology with labs. They didn’t specify the sequence. The school where I did my post-bacc stuff didn’t have a “general bio” sequence per se, so I took the intro course that was required of all bio majors (cell biology) then took microbiology. No one questioned it.
Hey,
Sorry if I was wrong about the bio requirements. You should probably check around at different schools, to see what they prefer.