Former Commitmentphobe Seeks Roadmap to Degree

[MSK9]

My husband's cousins both graduated with degrees in Computer Science, served in the marines, and then came out and decided to go to med school.  Neither had the prereq's, and just ended up going to a community college/4yr school to get them.  One even did the CLEP for Bio and Chem, then was allowed to take the labs at school.  Both got into med school, and one is now a Psychiatrist, while the other is in his residency.

Point is, you can get into med school without a Bio/Pre-Med degree (most people think you need that in particular), and you can always go back later to get any prereq's.  Yes, it's smart to plan those into your degree if you can, but who knows, you might decide to take a different path.  At least you'll have your 4-yr degree to fall back on while you're figuring out your next step!

Exactly. If I had been smart about planning from the jump, I wouldn't be in this position now.   Thank you for posting that degree plan, by the way; getting started on it today.

Normally I would say work on GenEds for 2-3 months while you think about the degree you want. However, like dfrecore said, Psych courses are going to be downgraded. I would probably knock those out. Worse case, they end up being electives in your non-Psych degree.

Actually, I would also hurry and do the Study.com biology courses which are going to be downgraded soon. Then at least if you change your mind later, you have those. I don't know if you have prior knowledge in pathophysiology, for example, but either way, I'd get that done since it's really cheap and relatively quick. Although the Study.com ones do not have labs, it is better than lacking the science course completely.

Do you think you can do really well on the MCAT without taking college courses in Chemistry, Physics, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Biology? Are you good at math?

I think with enough studying I'll be okay. I'm fortunate to have a sharp memory, so recalling information isn't a problem, for anything else I'll find a tutor.. lot's of name-brand colleges around me. The USMLE Step 1 will also be difficult.

[Ideas]

Some biology labs can be done online, by the way. Including A&P I and II, Microbiology, and Pathophysiology. I'm not sure if OChem and BioChem can be done online.

If you end up getting a Psych degree from TESU, or any Bachelor's from them, you could consider getting the Associates degree with concentration in Biology, although this might slow you down a little. The main challenge is that you do need the Bio II lab through a community college or other school. (Can be done online.)

[MSK9]

It certainly wouldn't hurt to have the sciences and lab work, and though most legitimate medical schools won't accept online work or CLEP credits, it would be some kind of foundation for medical schools that do. I'll need to look deeper into your suggestions. The medical schools I'm interested in really only have a couple of requirements which are A.) a baccalaureate degree and B.) a decent MCAT score.. for better or worse.

[dfrecore]

It certainly wouldn't hurt to have the sciences and lab work, and though most legitimate medical schools won't accept online work or CLEP credits, 

I don't think this is necessarily true.  Both of the guys I'm talking about got into multiple "legitimate" medical schools.  The first went to a 4-yr state university for his med school portion, then did his residency at Duke, and was chief resident of psychiatry his last year - I'm fairly certain he's a legitimate doctor! 

[sanantone]

It certainly wouldn't hurt to have the sciences and lab work, and though most legitimate medical schools won't accept online work or CLEP credits, it would be some kind of foundation for medical schools that do. I'll need to look deeper into your suggestions. The medical schools I'm interested in really only have a couple of requirements which are A.) a baccalaureate degree and B.) a decent MCAT score.. for better or worse.

Have you read the Student Doctor forum? They have threads on schools that don't require specific prerequisites. These schools still expect you to have the competencies, and it'll be hard to do well on the MCAT without them.

[MSK9]

I don't think this is necessarily true.  Both of the guys I'm talking about got into multiple "legitimate" medical schools.  The first went to a 4-yr state university for his med school portion, then did his residency at Duke, and was chief resident of psychiatry his last year - I'm fairly certain he's a legitimate doctor! 

Haha! Okay, let me change "legitimate" to "traditional model." It seems like some of these bonafide schools are making access easier as long as the student can make it through the academics.

Have you read the Student Doctor forum? They have threads on schools that don't require specific prerequisites. These schools still expect you to have the competencies, and it'll be hard to do well on the MCAT without them.

I have. It's how I found the schools I'm interested in.    The MCAT, like most other tests, I think, can be conquered through patience and diligent studying. I'm going to have to do some pre-req science coursework to give myself a foundation for the MCAT regardless, but I'm thinking online classes with a real life tutor to make up the difference.

I'm working out a budget / financial details with my wife to accommodate the cost of Study.com's "College Accelerator" program in the meantime.

[Berzerker]

Well, I think the first thing you need to do is remove the "ifs" and "on the fences".  The medical climate in the USA isn't for the undecided.  If you can, talk to some different doctors in certain areas of medicine you think you want to go into and get some incite into what it's like being a doctor today.

Medicine isn't all "helping people" these days as much as it is treating a warm body the way insurance companies want you to treat them, regardless of how asinine it may be.  I'm not saying doctors don't have freedom, but not as much as you might think.  I've had plenty of my doctors leave the field and go into teaching at universities because they could not take the clinical world anymore.  They all did it for 20+years, too.

I have been in in the medical system EXTENSIVELY as a patient for over a decade and I can tell you most doctors and nurses are miserable and the only ones who seem to cope best are the ones who are most mentally organized.  And they are amazing at what they do, too!

Don't go into medicine "on the fence".  Figure out which side of the fence you want to be on, then proceed from there.

That said, you may also want to consider being a PA-C over an MD or a DO.  I only say this because it seems that hospitals and clinics are staffing more PA-Cs than doctors these days.  However, it appears they are used as doctor's slaves and possibly preferred over MDs to save on salary expenses (just a guess).  But there sure are a lot of them these days.  Way more than MDs.

[MSK9]

I appreciate your candor and thank you for your post. You're on target about medicine not being for the undecided. I should clarify that there is no conflict in my feelings of the job and what it entails, but rather, the practicality of undertaking the journey with so many "unknowns" on my very non-traditional path. In my current career, I've had the opportunity to meet and befriend various medical professionals, to include Emergency Medicine Osteopaths and Neurology Allopaths. In conversations about it, they've been generally supportive. 

As for a discipline of medicine, well, I'd be happy just to be admitted to a medical school and complete an Internal / Family Medicine / Psychiatry Residency somewhere.