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.