Is EMT course + pre-med course work too much?

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Kcarter321

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Hello,

New poster here. I have a bachelor's degree in biology already and am enrolled in an EMT course starting August. The course is two nights a week (5 hrs each night) from Aug- Dec. I am wondering if you guys think it would be too much to take this course and either A&P or organic chem II at the same time? I have almost all pre-med requirements, but through out my undergrad career I was planning to go to graduate school for marine biology, so I have a few organismal bio credits where I should have had these courses. I didn't decide to do medical school until after graduation. I'm looking to use EMT work as a way to pay down current student loans before taking on med school debt, study for the MCAT and gain as much experience and knowledge as possible.

Thanks for the opinions!

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I took A&P and paramedic class at the same time, and I didn't have any issues. I also teach EMT and paramedic students, and many of them are taking additional courses at the same time. The biggest thing is time management; you will most likely have lecture, lab, and clinical to keep track of in EMT class.
 
I second what Deranged Medic suggests. If you already have a bachelor's degree and a desire to learn/interest in what is being taught, EMT training will be a breeze. Organic definitely would be a bigger time-drainer at most institutions, but it is doable. As above, clinical and ride along time will take up a decent amount of your schedule, and I would recommend bringing some non-EMT stuff to work on in addition to your normal EMT text, etc. About the general idea of taking an EMT class to pay down loans and whatnot, it's not a terrible idea. However, generally speaking, EMT's and paramedics alike do not make that much money. I've made enough over the last four years to be comfortable and chip away at some debt, but this comfort came at the cost of working 3,000 hours annually instead of the standard 2,080 of the 40-hour a week employee. This being said, you will (most likely) have plenty of down time to study while on duty depending on the volume of your service. This has served myself and many others well, given that you can essentially get paid to hit the books. Best of luck, and if you need anything else, you can always PM me!
 
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Hello,

New poster here. I have a bachelor's degree in biology already and am enrolled in an EMT course starting August. The course is two nights a week (5 hrs each night) from Aug- Dec. I am wondering if you guys think it would be too much to take this course and either A&P or organic chem II at the same time? I have almost all pre-med requirements, but through out my undergrad career I was planning to go to graduate school for marine biology, so I have a few organismal bio credits where I should have had these courses. I didn't decide to do medical school until after graduation. I'm looking to use EMT work as a way to pay down current student loans before taking on med school debt, study for the MCAT and gain as much experience and knowledge as possible.

Thanks for the opinions!
How well do you study? Are you able to understand new material? What are your grades like with your undergraduate degree? The point is no one can tell you how well you might do by taking EMT-B training and organic II/A&P. What I can tell you however, is that making a bad grade in Organic because you want to become EMT-B certified doesn't make a lot of sense. I understand that you want to "pay down current student loans" but the salary as an EMT-B is not really going to do that, lets be honest. The best bet would be to take an online EMT class during your free time. The education is not hard and you can make sure your postbac work looks good for your application. On a side note, it will be much easier to study for the MCAT if you are not working, take it from a guy that had to work damn near full time. You want to put all of your time towards that test so you can obtain the best score possible. A good MCAT with some good shadowing looks much better than a few months working as an EMT.
 
I did EMT-B while taking introductory biology and chemistry courses (did well in all of them without feeling overworked). It requires some study hours but honestly if you pay attention in class you won't be spending much time outside of class. The class is pass/fail anyway as is the NREMT exam.
 
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