need help/advice with med school options

[chicagoml]

Hi....here with a request that is similar to many others. I've gotten tons of info from this website - thanks to posters with so much info, etc.

A little background - I am a 30-year old full-time worker and graduate student. Did the 4-year undergrad thing and never thought I was up for doing medicine. My undergrad GPA is not so hot - about a 2.7 from Vanderbilt....lots of reasons for that.
I currently work in healthcare - I'm in health info management. Also, I'm about to finish my MBA with a 4.0 GPA, which is good. That will end in December. The MBA course has been a little over 2 years, so I'm able to juggle school and work. I just started a health info mgmt course - it's online, and a lot of work. However, I'm managing....again, able to handle a lot of "non-fun" activities in life (i.e. not socializing a huge amount).
I've been researching my options for getting into medical school. The 3 I've come up with are:

1. take science classes on my own time - I need to take at least 8 of them. I figure that's 4 quarters of academic work. I could start in January 2006. From there, I'll figure out MCAT classes, the timing of the exam (April '07 earliest), applications, etc.

Pros: I can continue to work and pay for school as I go (and have employer pay for some of it)
Cons: time; potential disorganization of taking one or two classes at a time; not having the "right" people to write letters of recommendation when the time comes

2. apply to a post-bacc course. Earliest entry would be Jan 2006. Take the MCAT in April or August '07.

Pros: structure; being part of a group moving toward the same goal
Cons: expense; might have to cut back on hours worked

3. medical school in Ireland. I could potentially apply for a fall '06 start.

Pros: might not have to take MCAT, can start earlier
Cons: all the obvious ones - being a foreign medical graduate, trying to secure a residency in the U.S., far from "home" (ironic, since I was born in Ireland and spent my first 11 years there).

I know that I can apply for the fall '06 Ireland round of admissions - I took biology and physics in college, but would definitely want to take those classes again in order to come out with a better grade. It looks like I fit the rest of the requirements for the Atlantic Bridge Program.
Any thoughts on this? Suggestions? Advice?
Thanks!

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[leorl]

Hmm. All I can say for the moment is that you really need to weigh your priorities...what do you value most? Is it getting your degree sooner and not wasting time? Is it having money while you're in school without depending on outside sources? Is it returning to your birth country? Where do you ultimately want to practice?

Do you really want to do medicine?

 

[Sage880]

Apply to an Irish school.

I was kind of in your same boat when I applied. If you're anything like me, you'll feel much better when you're in med school working towards being a doctor. Yeah, there are hurdles along the way but they're really not the doomday senerios you read about here. Apply anyway, you can always decide not to come after that.

Also, your stats are ok but they're not gaurentees you'd get into an American school even after going back to school and writing the MCAT. If I was you, I'd play it safe and apply abroad. Consider Australia as well.

You gotta do what you're comfortable with but there's my two cents since you asked.

 

[Mike MacKinnon]

Hey

I think that if you want an honest assessment I will give you one.

1) Your overall GPA is going to be in the 3.2 range at best. The recent GPA will look good in one way and bad in another.
Good: You clearly got over the issues that gave you low grades
Bad: None of these marks are in the hard core science classes where the workload is similar to medicine style science classes.

2) You would probably get accepted to 6 year program. You dont have all the classes to apply into a 5 year anywhere, including Trinity. I am assuming that the 2 you did take were from the 2.7 GPA. How were the marks?

3) What volunteer experience or shadowing do you have for med school? Since your job is not at all related to the clinical side of medicine they wont count that at all.

Cons of the 6 year program for non traditional students.

1) It isnt worth it.
2) it isnt worth it.
3) you can do all the classes in the US in a year for 1/5 the cost and probably still work.
4) if you do 4 you will be in the same place if you apply to the 5 year the very next year as if you started in the 6 year the year earlier.

Lastly, apply. Its 75 bucks and an easy application. It cannot hurt. I am not trying to get you down but i get the impression you want the truth. Chances are slim, but if you have the 75 bucks for one app then hell why not


how thats helpful

 

[chicagoml]

Thanks to you both for the comments. Someone else in another thread also recommended thinking about the Australia option.

I have a lot to think about......

 

[Unch]

I applied to both Australia and to Ireland (from circumstances roughly like yours-- except I'm older and had a bit more science behind me). Definitely give it a shot (in both countries) but remember it's no walk to get in to either country. I'd really recommend focusing on the MCAT for now. The applications to Ireland and Australia are trivial and inexpensive but you won't even get on the radar in either place without pretty solid scores (probably minimum 28 and more like 30 to be reasonably competitive). In Oz many schools grant interviews solely from MCAT scores and while it's not everything in Ireland, you'll need those scores to be competitive with the other NAmericans who apply. It's not as easy in either country as it was even a few years ago since more and more people are applying all the time (300+ applicants this year for the 18NAmerican spots at UCC, for instance).

I was working full-time and had to knuckle down for 5 intense months for the MCAT. Purchase all the AAMC practice exams from the official AAMC site and really work to the exam. Also, ExamKrackers is, in my view, the best set of review books. Spend the money and spend the time.