12-28-2010, 12:45 PM
I'll start straight into it. I am a paramedic presently but I am wanting to pursue a degree, finish pre-med requirements, score high on the MCAT, get into medical school, finish medical school, and become a full-fledged M.D. I am 21 years old, want to finish my undergrad fast, and don't want to spend four years on a traditional campus, but I don't want to waste time and money if it's not going to help me obtain my goals.
Are you a member at SND forums? That's a place to start. Secondly, you're too young to do a non-trad approach. I'd bet my house that if you test out of your TESC/EC degree and apply MD only- that you won't get in, even with a >30+ mcat. People get denied MD for having a single online course. If you are going alternative, you should also consider DO instead of only MD. Lastly, you can cut SIGNIFICANT time off of a traditional 4 year degree at a university by using testing at your home college. Also, you'll need letters of rec from your science lab professors, so if I were 21 and starting the process, I'd enroll locally and exploit the testing option at my community college- then transfer inside of an articulation agreement to a 4 year university that has a pre medical advisory committee.
The first question I have is: Does anyone know of someone that has completed their bachelors through testing out and been accepted into medical school?
Yes and no. You can search MD Stats and you'll find 3 admissions from EC and TESC. "How" they earned their degree isn't revealed.
I have heard of one person getting accepted to med school with a degree from TESC but don't know if that was a random chance or if many more people have done it.
She wasn't typical. In addition to earning her degree at TESC, she was a lab assistant at Johns Hopkins which helped her gain admission to their post-bac program. She completed her entire post bac from JH with committee letters and science professors- she also hired a portfolio company to ramp up her application. You can google her, you might even find the press release where she was "success story of the month" for the portfolio company.
In its most basic form, my plan is to obtain my bachelors from TESC or EC, then do my pre-med at a physical university (probably University of Texas). In theory that should be perfectly acceptable, correct? A bachelors from a Regionally accredited school, and pre-med from a large university.
No. This is not wise. Obtain your associates from TESC/EC and then go to a physical university IN STATE and do your premeds as a junior and senior. By testing out at the associate level, you can complete that degree in under 6 months- making your whole bachelor's degree process about 2.5 years.
One thing I know is that medical schools are picky about grades/GPA's. If I wanted to have a chance at med school should I be really focused on scoring extremely high on all my CLEPs/DANTES?
No, they don't see those scores.
If I understand correctly, TESC awards a GPA (and a letter grade?) for courses taken from their school only. EC will give you a grade/GPA from courses you take with them, and a separate GPA for transferred credits (CLEPS/DANTES). Am I correct in this thinking?
If all of my tests are going to be graded and an overall GPA awarded for them, I need to score very high.
Anyway, I have thoughts all running around my head but I must say it's really hard to put them down in writing!
Thanks to anyone who tries to answer this discombobulated question!
I'm planning on applying to med school as well, however, I'm 40 years old and have followed a very different path. NO MATTER WHAT I DO at this junction, I'm still a nontrad, there's no way around it. You, on the other hand, have an opportunity to be a traditional student- and it will be expected. ADCOMS value tradition, non trads are the exception and have to be exceptional. If you insist on your plan as outlined, I'd suggest you also consider applying DO and Caribbean....but you don't have to. There are plenty of ways to cut time and cost off of the process and still make yourself a highly competitive applicant.
Are you a member at SND forums? That's a place to start. Secondly, you're too young to do a non-trad approach. I'd bet my house that if you test out of your TESC/EC degree and apply MD only- that you won't get in, even with a >30+ mcat. People get denied MD for having a single online course. If you are going alternative, you should also consider DO instead of only MD. Lastly, you can cut SIGNIFICANT time off of a traditional 4 year degree at a university by using testing at your home college. Also, you'll need letters of rec from your science lab professors, so if I were 21 and starting the process, I'd enroll locally and exploit the testing option at my community college- then transfer inside of an articulation agreement to a 4 year university that has a pre medical advisory committee.
The first question I have is: Does anyone know of someone that has completed their bachelors through testing out and been accepted into medical school?
Yes and no. You can search MD Stats and you'll find 3 admissions from EC and TESC. "How" they earned their degree isn't revealed.
I have heard of one person getting accepted to med school with a degree from TESC but don't know if that was a random chance or if many more people have done it.
She wasn't typical. In addition to earning her degree at TESC, she was a lab assistant at Johns Hopkins which helped her gain admission to their post-bac program. She completed her entire post bac from JH with committee letters and science professors- she also hired a portfolio company to ramp up her application. You can google her, you might even find the press release where she was "success story of the month" for the portfolio company.
In its most basic form, my plan is to obtain my bachelors from TESC or EC, then do my pre-med at a physical university (probably University of Texas). In theory that should be perfectly acceptable, correct? A bachelors from a Regionally accredited school, and pre-med from a large university.
No. This is not wise. Obtain your associates from TESC/EC and then go to a physical university IN STATE and do your premeds as a junior and senior. By testing out at the associate level, you can complete that degree in under 6 months- making your whole bachelor's degree process about 2.5 years.
One thing I know is that medical schools are picky about grades/GPA's. If I wanted to have a chance at med school should I be really focused on scoring extremely high on all my CLEPs/DANTES?
No, they don't see those scores.
If I understand correctly, TESC awards a GPA (and a letter grade?) for courses taken from their school only. EC will give you a grade/GPA from courses you take with them, and a separate GPA for transferred credits (CLEPS/DANTES). Am I correct in this thinking?
If all of my tests are going to be graded and an overall GPA awarded for them, I need to score very high.
Anyway, I have thoughts all running around my head but I must say it's really hard to put them down in writing!
Thanks to anyone who tries to answer this discombobulated question!
I'm planning on applying to med school as well, however, I'm 40 years old and have followed a very different path. NO MATTER WHAT I DO at this junction, I'm still a nontrad, there's no way around it. You, on the other hand, have an opportunity to be a traditional student- and it will be expected. ADCOMS value tradition, non trads are the exception and have to be exceptional. If you insist on your plan as outlined, I'd suggest you also consider applying DO and Caribbean....but you don't have to. There are plenty of ways to cut time and cost off of the process and still make yourself a highly competitive applicant.
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