Seeking help for a (possibly) non-traditional...non-traditional student

This is my first post found the site yesterday after a replied email from an administrator at aspiringdocs.com. I’m very exciting to find a network of people with like circumstances and goals!


I write this topic, as I sit at Starbucks where I’ve been since 6:30 AM today, waiting to walk over to University of Kansas Medical Center for a Pre-Med forum. I’ve finally decided to pursue my dream and journey to practicing as a physician! I’m so excited and have a world of support. I’d like some help with a timeline after I discuss my situation.


I’m a 24 year old and am in the financial industry. I work for a wonderful company and have had a phenomenally successful, high profile and enriching career, however, I am unfulfilled and have a burning desire to help humanity. I am recently married and graduated from the University of Kansas with a Finance degree in December, 2006 and as such have very little science background. I was an athlete for a short time (one semester) where I experienced the worst grades of my life…2.2 GPA. Thereafter, in a discussion with an undergraduate advisor, I was told that I never stood a chance to matriculate to medical school and should pursue something else. I was devastated. I was accepted to the school of business, which was fairly competitive, and finished my degree with a cumulative GPA of 3.41! I only took Biology with a Lab in my undergrad career as a science course.


Now, one year after graduating, one year filled with great success, one year filled with detailed introspection…I want, more than anything, to be a practicing physician. I am committed to this goal with everything I have, and to that end, this is my personal ministry. My own ‘health and people ministry’, if you will.


I have found that the Kansas City Metro area has 2 Post Bacc programs. I have met several current students and an admissions officer. I have gotten mixed reviews regarding this route from students in and out of the programs. Also, some believe that I haven’t been out of college long enough to really need to enroll in a program like this.


My wife is a nurse and fully supports my decision. She has served as a wonderful forum, sounding board, and source of physicians to speak with. We are a strong team and I couldn’t ask for more!


I seek guidance regarding a timeline that I should set for myself to fulfil the prerequisites, master the MCAT, and matriculated to medical school. Should I focus on a Post Bacc program? Should I quit my job? Anyone else with these experiences? How can I finance this?


I really love the attitude here and any feedback would be greatly appreciated!


I’m off to a Pre med info session at the University of Kansas!


Best of luck to you all.

I was also at KUMC today. Perhaps we met in the non-trad forum? I don’t know enough to offer advice, except to say my experience at JCCC has been excellent. I’m planning on the post-bacc at Avila beginning this fall, and have heard good things about the one at Rockhurst. Also, I thought KU was a good place before today…and now I have stars in my eyes about it. (As an aside, oh my goodness med school and getting there is going to be so much work! Ugh. Yes, I won’t have it any other way, but it makes me a little bit sad. I’m going to miss my daughter a lot, especially during residency…assuming, of course, that I get in.) Good luck to you. Feel free to PM if I can be of any help.

Hm. Well, I had most of a rather lengthy reply written to you yesterday and accidentally hit the “page backward” button on my keyboard and lost it all.


First, welcome to OPM!

  • shrekkc Said:
I was an athlete for a short time (one semester) where I experienced the worst grades of my life...2.2 GPA. Thereafter, in a discussion with an undergraduate advisor, I was told that I never stood a chance to matriculate to medical school and should pursue something else. I was devastated. I was accepted to the school of business, which was fairly competitive, and finished my degree with a cumulative GPA of 3.41! I only took Biology with a Lab in my undergrad career as a science course.



Although the semester of a 2.2 certainly would have made things more difficult for you applying to medical school, I hate it when advisers tell people that they have no chance based on so little information. If you had a 2.2 cum after a couple of semesters and several pre-reqs as an undergrad, that's a different story. You were obviously very early in your academic career as you were able to pull your GPA up to a 3.41. Congrats on your resilience.

  • In reply to:
I have found that the Kansas City Metro area has 2 Post Bacc programs. I have met several current students and an admissions officer. I have gotten mixed reviews regarding this route from students in and out of the programs. Also, some believe that I haven't been out of college long enough to really need to enroll in a program like this.



A formal postbacc is not at all necessary. There is absolutely no reason that you can't enroll at a four year university on your own as either a degree-seeking undergrad (you declare that you are seeking a second degree) or a continuing education student. If you are getting mixed vibes on the various programs, do some more research before committing to one. If you are strongly interested in the local medical school, I suggest you ask them if they perceive any advantage to an applicant going through one of the formal programs in the area versus doing it on your own.

There are advantages and disadvantages to the different ways of enrolling and if you decide to go that route or are interested, I (and others) would be happy to expound on them. Some advantages of doing your own informal postbacc:

1. more flexible schedule - usually, formal programs have a fairly rigid timeline/schedule (which could be an advantage of a formal program, depending on your viewpoint).

2. formal programs are usually more expensive than enrolling on your own in regular undergrad courses.

3. you are usually eligible for any services offered to pre-med students (committee letters, advising, etc)

4. easier to shine/excel. Formal programs are often very competitive - much more so than regular undergrad classes. It can be tougher to stand out among the crowd in a formal program.

  • In reply to:
My wife is a nurse and fully supports my decision. She has served as a wonderful forum, sounding board, and source of physicians to speak with. We are a strong team and I couldn't ask for more!



This is crucial. Her support is not only necessary but invaluable.

  • In reply to:
I seek guidance regarding a timeline that I should set for myself to fulfil the prerequisites, master the MCAT, and matriculated to medical school. Should I focus on a Post Bacc program? Should I quit my job? Anyone else with these experiences? How can I finance this?



A general rule is that it will take you approximately three years from starting the pre-reqs to starting medical school. The reason for three years is because of the requirement for two full years of chemistry. You need to complete (or nearly) the chemistry requirements (and the rest of the pre-req) before taking the MCAT. You would take the MCAT the spring/summer that you submit your application for medical school. The application process then proceeds over the next academic year, with people being accepted for the following year. For example, if you applied in June of 2010, you would be applying to start medical school in August of 2011.

Depending on your finances, work schedule, ability and etc, two years generally allows you to spread the pre-reqs out without too heavy of a load. (i.e. gen chem and physics year one, org chem and biology year two). It may also depend on requirements your school has (some schools require a term of chemistry before you can enroll in biology) and the sequence of frequency of courses being offered. Smaller courses may only offer a course during the fall term, for example. Alternatively, you could load up a little heavier in year one and then take some other science courses such as anatomy, physiology, microbiology, immunology, etc. Many medical schools are requiring biochemistry now - this wouldn't have to be completed prior to applying (as org chem is usually a pre-req) and could be taken during the application year.

You would probably want to give yourself a little bit lighter of a load the quarter/semester you plan on taking the MCAT to allow yourself time to prep.

As far as quitting your job - that depends. Can you afford it? You don't want to strap yourself and run up a bunch of credit card debt prior to starting medical school because medical school budgets don't allow for paying off a lot of debt. In fact, you want to try and pay off as much debt as you possibly can before starting medical school. If you don't quit, are courses offered in the evening? It can be very tough to find the pre-reqs offered as evening courses which is why many non-trads end up having to quit their jobs.

Financing - not sure if you are referring to financing post-bacc coursework or med school, so I will just talk about post-bacc. There are three main options for financing your post-bacc work.

1. Depending on how much you borrowed for your undergrad and how many total hours you have for your undergrad, you may be eligible for federal loans if you enroll as a degree-seeking student. You may need to talk to a financial aid officer to find out how much you may be eligible to borrow/how many hours you can borrow for.

2. You are eligible to borrow federal loan money for 12 CONSECUTIVE months for the purposes of taking coursework required for admission into a professional program. A adviser will have to certify that the classes you are enrolled in are pre-requisites for medical school. A major disadvantage to this is that it is very difficult to complete all of the pre-reqs in 12 months.

3. If you have good credit, you can borrow from private educational lenders.

Hope that answers some of your questions. Good luck!