Need advice

[dbruns]

I'm exploring the possibility of going into medicine. I will be turning 27 years old in a month. I started in software development when I was 16 and decided to go into Computer Science when I went to college since I enjoyed the field and had a huge head start. School was far too easy for me and I slacked off skipping class getting horrible grades. I ended up quitting school on the second semester of my third year to work as the director of development for a consulting firm. I think I have around 96 hours of coursework completed towards a BS in Comp Sci, but a pretty bad GPA and was put on academic probation twice due to not going to class (I'm requesting a transcript so I can have a better idea). To make a long story short, I've wanted to go into medicine since I was very young, but 'going with the flow' led me to computer science where I have over 10 years under my belt. In general, do not enjoy doing what I do. I really believe that I was meant to be a doctor. I want to directly help people in such a way that is both challenging and rewarding. I do not want a simple 8-5 job that requires completing specifically set tasks each day.

I have worked 80-100 hour weeks as a software developer and have learned how to deal with the stress fairly well. I consider myself to be a very quick/easy learning especially when it comes to difficult/complex topics. So just for the sake of simplicity, lets assume I have the mental and psychological capacity to successfully get through med school.

Here are the main obstacles:
1) I am married with a 1 year old daughter. My wife currently works part time (with a very good part time job for the government).
2) We plan on having at least 1 more child in the next 3 years.
3) We have a good amount of debt from previous student loans, credit cards, and an upside down car loan that we are working very hard (and successfully) at paying off ASAP.
4) I am currently working full time as a software developer.
5) We have little to no savings (busy paying off debt)

I want to make tentative plans with both long-term and short-term goals to do this, but I have no clue where to start.
We want to pay off our existing debt (at least our CC debt) before making any major life changes. I've projected that we will have payed off about $30k in CC debt in about 1 and a half years.

I am in no rush to go back to school if waiting and saving up will help, but I want to take the first steps immediately.

Here are the main questions I have:
How do I get back into school after being put on academic probation/suspension and what type of school should I look for?

What can I start doing now assuming I'm shooting to go back to school in 2010?

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[njbmd]

Whatever you do, ease back into your academics. You need a string of successes and those grades need to be "As". You also need to figure out your motivation for the study of medicine. If it's money and job security, you are in for a bit of a shock. If it's because you can't imagine yourself doing anything else, you may have an uphill battle with plenty of sacrifice both on the part of you and your family. At any rate, do a thorough investigation of what you seek and make a very informed decision because you are going to need every ounce of reality in order to get to your goal.

Sit down with a GPA calculator and find out what you need to do to get your uGPA into a competitive range. Depending on how low you are and how many hours you have taken, you may need years of "damage-control" to get yourself competitive from an academic uGPA standpoint. In addition, you need to figure out what classes you need to take and over what kind of a time frame.

Since you have a family and financial obligations, you likely need to work while going to school. This is a very tenuous situation at best. In addition to needing to achieve "As" in practically every course (definitely nothing less than B+ and not many B+s either), you will need to complete those courses while you are working (unless you have a ready source of financial support). When students work and attend school, it becomes the academics that suffer and not the work. You can't afford any mistakes period as you have "used up" your academic safety net.

You might try taking one course at a community college to ease back in. You can take anything (math would be a good choice) but avoid the pre-med courses (better taken at university). If you start back at a community college, you will likely save on tuition costs unless you have an inexpensive state university/college nearby.

You may consider yourself a " easy/fast learner" but if you were skirting academic dismissal when you withdrew from college, you don't have anything to back up your self appraisal. while it's nice to have some self confidence, you need to start working on getting some evidence that you have some academic ability which would be some very strong academics in several courses to show that now you have some maturity and ability. In addition, you need to go slow because you can't afford any mishaps period. Start slow and be prepared for a long haul. If you truly want to enter medicine, you will move slowly and successfully toward your goal.

 

[dbruns]

Thanks.

What math classes do you recommend.
I was a Comp Sci/Math Double major and ended up taking all but 1 or 2 of the required classes for both. I slacked on electives/gen ed.

My grades were either As, 1 C, 2 Ds and a handful of Fs (Incompletes that turned into Fs).
The Fs were mostly gen-ed classes and possibly differential equations.

The C and 2 Ds were classes that I had stopped going to before mid term exams, but had done well enough on previous tests,quizzes and assignments that my average score was high enough to not receive an F.g

I completely agree with the easing back into school. My motivation has very little to do with money or job security.
As a young child when asked "What do you want to be when you grow up" my answers changed from year to year just like every child's answer changed, but each year it went from Bio-engineering to Neurosurgeon to pathologist to diagnostician. Wanting to go into medicine never really changed. Thinking it was a possibility did .

 

[dec0y]

Thanks.

What math classes do you recommend.
I was a Comp Sci/Math Double major and ended up taking all but 1 or 2 of the required classes for both. I slacked on electives/gen ed.

My grades were either As, 1 C, 2 Ds and a handful of Fs (Incompletes that turned into Fs).
The Fs were mostly gen-ed classes and possibly differential equations.

The C and 2 Ds were classes that I had stopped going to before mid term exams, but had done well enough on previous tests,quizzes and assignments that my average score was high enough to not receive an F.g

I completely agree with the easing back into school. My motivation has very little to do with money or job security.
As a young child when asked "What do you want to be when you grow up" my answers changed from year to year just like every child's answer changed, but each year it went from Bio-engineering to Neurosurgeon to pathologist to diagnostician. Wanting to go into medicine never really changed. Thinking it was a possibility did .

I personally think you should wait for the transcripts then put all of your grades into a spreadsheet and see what kind of damage control you need to do GPA wise. This will dictate your courseload and pace to a large degree.

With regards to math, if you are solid with algebraic concepts you will be fine--there isn't much in the way of math in any of the pre-reqs or the MCAT (although calculus would help with physics, naturally).

 

[dbruns]

Yeah, I have a firm grasp on algebra. I also happened to take Organic Chemistry as my science gen ed elective which I did fairly well in. (If I recall, I aced the final)