pre-med/med school?

Question

I am currently attending a community college, finishing getting my paramedic certification which is inclusive with an AAS degree. I plan on going to medical school and have just begun researching. My AAS degree will not satisfy all the requirements for med school. Does anyone have any advice on what to do next? Enroll in a 4 year school or is finishing my pre-req's an option? I am in the dark here and I don't want to waste any time on moving on. Thanks so much in advance for your help.

Answer 1

I agree with budhaboy. Enroll in premed as a transfer student and you will reach ur med school requirements faster. Look at this way you have extra qualifications when u apply for med school and it will carry a lot of weight since the competition is tough. I just read gumdrop girl's answer and I have to disagree with her suggestion.
The asker should not give up his dreams midway just because a question of transfering credits and became a PA. Since medicine is a challenging career how you show your ability to overcome these obstacles is actually will be a mark of your acumen for solving and facing problems, sth you gonna face in med school. Dont be a quiter. Actually premed is nothing compared to the real deal, med school. So dont be scared of going through premed, the time you put in for chasing your dreams is worth it in the long run. Actually frm now onwards a lot of people gonna advice to to take easy way out. Choose a career as a paramed/nurse/PA they will say. But ur the one who is gonna live ur life. Dont live a life of regrets. Follow ur dreams and dont falter. Some of ur course credits can be transfered. After all they are still college credits and high school students get to transfer their AP credits and ur credits have even more weight.The rest of credits you hv to work hard for in premed. But that is part of the process of making you stronger for med school. I am rooting u and I HOPE YOU WILL MAKE IT ONE DAY INTO MED SCHOOL!

Answer 2

If the college you plan to attend for undergraduate schooling (where you will obtain your bachelor degree) offers a major in pre-med, then that is what you should major in; however, if the school does not offer this major, then you can major in anything you want, but make sure you take a good amount of science and math courses. A very common major for those looking to go on to med school is the degree in biochemistry. After your 4 years of undergraduate, you need to take the MCAT exam and then apply to med school. You will have 4 years of med school to complete and one year of internship and then 3 years of residency. Once you finish your residency, then you can choose a specialty and that take about 2 more years. It is about 13years of school all together.

Answer 3

Enroll in a four year college. Most of your credits will transfer over from community college. Most likely you will only have to take 2-3 years to complete a B.S. degree. From there on apply for med school.
You could have attended a specialized university where you would be combining premed and med school within 6 years in KC, MO

Answer 4

I'd recommend you go next to a 4-year school. You might consider using your EMT-P certification while you're at it. And if you can get in a lot of humanities on the side, I'd call that a wise investment, not a waste of time.

Answer 5

Contrary to Buddhaboy, PREMIL and alwaysmoose, the coursework you have taken thus far is NOT going to transfer to the 4-year program and will NOT count towards medical school requirements.

Pre-med coursework needs to include:
1 year general chem (with lab)
1 year organic chem (with lab)
1 year general biology (with lab)
1 year intro. physics (with lab)
1 year English
1 year calculus
Suggested coursework includes: psychology, statistics, biochemistry, humanities

The problem is, the versions of these courses (bio, chem, physics, etc.) that are required for AAS programs in allied health do NOT count towards pre-med required coursework. You have to RE-DO these classes. http://www.assist.org should have more info about which classes at your comm. college meet the pre-med requirements.

I would strongly suggest taking the above pre-med courses at your community college so you don't have to deal with as much competition. Then you can transfer to a university and finish out your degree.

But if time is of the essence, I would really suggest you consider PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT programs. Grad-level PA programs are targeted towards people like you: EMTs, allied health, military medics. PAs spend 3 years getting their grad-level degree. They can prescribe drugs and treat patients. Many PAs work in primary care and are doctors in all but name. Your AAS coursework will be directly applicable towards PA requirements, so you won't have to retake so many classes.

Answer 6

I'm sure it satisfies enough that you would not have to enroll full time for four years.