I am 32 years old and am wrapping up a career as a Firefighter/Paramedic. My undergrad degree (earned in 2004) is in Agriculture with an overall GPA the first time around of 2.0.
Ten years into my career, I decided to return to school and am now finishing up my pre-med coursework, with the MCAT scheduled next month. There aren’t too many sciences in the Agriculture degree plan, so I started from the ground up taking all the requisite sciences, and have a post-bac GPA (all science) of 3.1.
Throughout my four years of post-bac coursework, I have balanced class and grades with my career, family life, owning my own company (construction, development of medical apps for the iPhone/Android platforms) and thousands of hours with the volunteer fire department.
Working two jobs to support a family means that I don’t have any volunteer time in a hospital or shadowing physicians like many applicants do, but working full time as a paramedic on an ambulance for almost 14 years has obviously given me a very strong clinical background. In addition, I have spent my entire career continuing my professional education and training and have an alphabet soup of certifications.
Everyone tells me “the MCAT is going to be a huge leveling factor” and that I’m going to have to hit it out of the park.
So… thoughts from anyone on how much bearing my prior life, career, and experience will have on medical school admissions?
No expert here, but I think it will depend on the school.
For example, I went to an advisement session at the school I plan to attend and they give a lot of thought about non-trads experience. The point of volunteering isn’t just to do something to help others, but to make sure you LIKE and know what you are getting into. With your background as EMT I think you are covered there. I think with your GPA’s they will want to see a pretty decent MCAT score to show that you can handle the rigors of med school.
BUT like I said, it all depends on the individual school. I am very happy that the school I am interested in gives so much “credit” to us non-trads and see us for the well rounded individuals that living a while makes us.
Thanks for the info Pharm…
“to see if you can handle the rigors of med school” has been mentioned before. This isn’t intended by any means to “toot my own horn”, but I’m not sure how much more rigorous med school is than my current work schedule… Something that many people outside my profession don’t realize is that we work 24 hour shifts, which, in the urban setting I’m in, is quite rigorous in iteslf.
I get off work at 7am (usually after being up all night running 9-1-1 calls) and either go sit in class for the day, work another job, study, or pull another 24 hour shift. Should I expect more rigorous than that?
I think my career has prepared me for medical school fairly well (not just in the interest aspect, but also in the lifestyle), but how do I relate my current life of being awake for 48 hours at a time (and still expected to make sound clinical decisions at hour 47) to show that I am prepared for the strenuous life in medical school?
You’ve hit one aspect of the rigors of medical school, but not addressed the academic ones. Med school course work is an unbelievably heavy academic load (can be about 25 credits a semester), and the volume of material in each course is far beyond what one usually encounters in an undergraduate science course. Figuring out how to learn that much, that quickly, that thoroughly is a real adjustment.
I did a very rigorous post-bacc program (all science prereqs in one year, with labs), and got I think a 3.8 something gpa. 1st year med school I struggled to get B’s in the courses but managed it with perhaps twice the effort I put into my post-bacc. Had one or two A’s. Many of the students with lower admission gpas (B averages) struggled to get C’s (70), with maybe an occasional B, and perhaps failed some courses. 3 failures and the school MIGHT let them repeat the year, 2 can be made up in the summer. All that goes to say that it is extremely academically demanding. I wouldn’t be surprised if being able to devote time to school without working or volunteering allowed you to handle the academic workload…but that’s what you have to convince admission committee’s of. A strong MCAT score could do that.
Kate
Welcome Aggie.
Adcoms will most definitely infer your ability to multi-task, prioritize, push through the fatigue, etc., and this is huge in terms of your overall application. But I agree with Kate; if your pre-reqs are mediocre, a strong showing on the MCAT is imperative to seal the deal. It seems unfair, but the people making the decision have to have a benchmark (I think a previous poster referred to it as “the great equalizer”) somewhere in the process, and the MCAT is it. Like it or not, it is statistically the most accurate predictor of how a student will perform academically.
I also had the full time job, part-time DIY post-bacc, ridiculous commute, etc, and managed to pull off a decent science GPA and MCAT. I thought once I got into med school it would be easier. Wrong! Like Kate, I struggled to get Bs and I was putting in at least double the amount of study time. Fast-forward ten years…I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything, but I do wish I hadn’t lulled myself into thinking I had an academic advantage going in, just because I was able to balance career/studying/family before.
All that being said, overall you do have an advantage with your previous experience and medical exposure, so play it up…and do well on the MCAT! Best of luck and keep us posted.
Just HOW strong of an MCAT do I need to be looking at? Obviously I’m shooting for a 45, but can someone give me something quantifiable? Even a range…?
Have you looked at the MSAR or your target schools’ websites? They should have the MCAT & GPA stats of the accepted applicants from last year. This might give you an idea of where you should be aiming.
As a general rule, anything in the 30s is considered med school material. The (very) rough formula is (GPA*10+MCAT)-1 with an aim for about a 65+ for allopathic and 60+ for osteopathic. Keep in mind that exceptions exist on both sides of that scale and non-trad friendly schools will generally be more willing to look at recent performance vs past performance, but it’s a decent guideline to start with.
That’s a neat equation. I had to go look up my AACOMAS GPA calc, and got exactly 60. 
- NightGod Said:
Where is that equation from?
That’s the LizzyM score from SDN. A search for “Free SDN Matriculants spreadsheet” will bring up the SDN thread that contains the most updated spreadsheet for comparing the applicant’s LizzyM score to schools’ LizzyM score. A very useful tool even to me, who has only completed 50% of pre-reqs.
Disregarding all non-numeric factors such as ECs, personal statement, LORs etc, and purely from a numeric perspective, it is regarded that an applicant’s chances are good if his/her LizzyM score >= School’s LizzyM score.
http://www.studentdoctor.net/answers/131/what-is-m …
- NightGod Said:
Interesting. I've never heard of this "rule." Where did it come from?
Cheers,
Judy
Your EMT should be very useful. The fact that you juggle “lots of stuff” - well, most people do, and you aren’t likely to be cut any slack because of it.
GPA of 3.1 is a bit on the low side. Aim for an MCAT in the 30’s.
Cheers,
Judy
- jcolwell Said:
Interesting. I've never heard of this "rule." Where did it come from?
Cheers,
Judy
See Dullhead's post right above yours. Again, this is all just a very rough guideline, but it seems to have borne out pretty well over the years since she introduced it to the SDN forums.
AggieEMT
Nice to see another Paramedic in simliar shoes as myself. My GPA is roughly even with yours and I am looking to go back to school (graduated UG TTU, been out since 2009) at U of H in Clear Lake for a masters in Biology pre-health focus.
I think the above advice is quite fitting for us both, do well on the MCAT and be big time self promoters with regard to clinical exposure / work load / etc.