Glorious_Ignoramus

MGH - $1,125/credit for non-degree students. Wow...I mean, wow. Blatantly ripping off pre-health students who are desperate for quick pre-reqs because they can't wait another cycle is a crime in my book. My southern CA private U residential undergrad was less than 1/2 of that. Unless one has cash to burn, I would caution against paying such extortion rates for online courses, especially since financial aid cannot be applied. The phrase "it's a small price to pay relative to losing a year of potential income as a PA" is exactly what these expensive programs are literally banking on, that pre-health students are so desperate to get an application in this cycle that they will shell out Harvard residential rates for an online science course. We all want in to PA school, but my goodness don't rack up $12,000 in debt just for a handful of pre-reqs that cost pennies on the dollar at a local school. That is just poor financial literacy.

Ws are not looked down upon. I would suppose if your transcript is full of them, that would demonstrate some kind of quality which the school does not want to bother with but otherwise it's all good. The thing with college academic counselors - and I mean no disrespect to any - is that a lot of them have no idea what they're talking about. These are folks who have probably never been through the process themselves and extrapolate from other grad/doc admissions processes. Ws happen all the time; especially for non-trad students who have to rearrange schedules for family and work. I've got a few, no questions have ever been asked and I've done no explaining.

If you're the nervous type - i.e. how many times have you checked the replies on this thread since you started it? - then do yourself a huge favor and take some time off the forums. You can answer the "what are my chances" question easily by checking average accepted stats on your prospective school's admissions site. Or you can use a throw away email and ask for the stats from the dept if they don't have them posted. I'm applying with a 3.4 sGPA, including Bs, Cs and a D. I've got 3 interview invites, withdrew my app from 2 schools so far and have yet to hear from another 2. You'll do fine. If you are of age, then go have a beer and chill out for a while.

School is school; presumably, you're applying to accredited schools, they all have PANCE pass rates which are acceptable to you, and they are schools which you want to attend. Therefore, why not just take the first acceptance you get and withdraw all the others? What is most important to you in choosing between two schools? Here is my strategy: I am not a stellar applicant, I have average grades and decent HCE. There are certainly more compelling candidates out there. I am applying to schools at which I have a competitive application, of which most are over 1000 miles away on the east coast. One school is only half the distance away here in the Midwest. I will take the first acceptance I get (if I am that lucky!), and withdraw my application to all other schools except the closer school. If I am accepted at the closer school then I will give up my other deposit and go to the closer school. I've got a family to feed, I'm trying to keep my credit card as low as possible throughout this process and I don't want to burn up most of my paid leave at work on interviews. Best of luck to you.

The best way to address past academic mistakes is to own it. Be brief in your explanation and what you've done to correct it since the instance(s). If it doesn't further your application by trying to explain it, then don't bother. If it brings clarification and helps to complete your statement, then give it a couple of lines.

First attempt. Undergrad: General biology, pre-med conc. cGPA: 3.5 sGPA: 3.4 Submitted: 07/01 Verified: 07/14 Age at application: 30 GRE: Didn't take HCE: Navy Corpsman with a Marine Corps infantry unit Shadowing: None Research: None Other: Pre-health advisor, volunteer camp counselor x2, homeless outreach, currently seeking a patient centered care committee seat, current accepted applicant for MPH. Awards: Handful of citations and awards from the Navy, dean's list a couple times but didn't list it Applied to: Drexel (interview Aug. 14th), Quinnipiac U (interview Sep. 18th), King's College (withdrawn), Le Moyne College, U Findlay (withdrawn), West Liberty U, Salus U (interview Sep. 16th). Rejected: Waitlisted: Accepted: Good luck to us all!

This thread is nearly a year old.

You may be interested in knowing that, battalion recon (where most recon SARCs live and play) is not really SF, per se (potential flame war right here...) but rather more like advanced infantry. Typically, they are tasked out to deploying MGTAFs in order to be the forward eyes and ears of the grunt battalion COs. (enough jargon yet?) They do some high speed schools and live on their own part of the base, but they are under division, not SF command. MSOB recruits some of their members from battalion recon, they are under JSOC and deploy independent of the grunts, often on with joint commands. Recon Corpsman take the BRT (recon school) screening during the regular old Marine Corps indoc school. Neither btl recon nor MSOB docs do 18D. Things may have changed since I've been in... Navy Independent Duty Corpsman is a sweet gig. They are exactly halfway between a Corpsman and PA, with limited prescribing power. Surface and sub IDCs have been hot fill billets for the past few years, but you have to be an E5 to apply, with some E4 waivers granted according to the CANTRAC. You have some lofty goals set; were I you, I would take a route that guarantees me something worthwhile if I were to wash out of the SF pipeline. For example, going the Corpsman route will mean that, even if you wash out of BRT, you will be sent back to the fleet as a Corpsman. It used to be the case that SEALs could only join from a source rating, and if one washed out of BUD/S, one was sent back to the fleet as that rating which tended to be boatswain's mates, storekeepers, etc.

Edit: I answer your questions at the end. PJ (pararescueman) training is to the Air Force what BUD/S is to the Navy. It is very rigorous and very selective school; the majority of enrollees are either dropped or drop out voluntarily. PJ is not for those who want an EMT-P in the military, but rather for knuckleheads who enjoy being punished to the brink of physical breakage for fun. PJs come out of their pipeline as a licensed paramedic, whereas MSOB Corpsman have to fight just to be able to get an EMT-P on the side. If you are interested in the military, take a look at the Navy Corpsman. As a Corpsman I saw MANY patients for sickcall, including full examination notes with diagnosis, treatment, prescriptions and follow up, all bottom lined by the unit physician. Stuff like URIs, UTIs, ITBS, pneumonia, dislocations, iritis. I carried and administered lots of meds, given countless vaccinations including anthrax and taught countless Marines basic trauma management. I trained, ate, lived with and slept amongst Marine infantryman every day and wore their uniform with a US NAVY nametape across it. During deployments I carried narcotics and a field srug kit alongside two firearms and grenades. I also trained and deployed with a former Force Recon unit (I never did the Recon pipeline, I was just a tagalong for a single deployment), trained in a simulation house in Iraq alongside some CAG guys (Delta Force, as the media likes to call them), and have been all over the pacific including Guam, Korea (on the DMZ, and a little bit across it), Philippines, Japan, Australia...and were it not for the economy crashing I would add Italy to that list as well. I got to live on the beach in Orange County CA for a good bit of my time in, got to shoot 10s of 1000s of rounds of ammo, drop a few mortar rounds, attend some stellar schools (including one taught by the doc in charge of the first response team during the USS Cole bombing, and another hush-hush school out in the sticks where we got to see and treat live trauma and witnessed a field chest crack...ever seen a heart beat or lungs inflate in the chest? Amazing.), send casualties off on medevacs and run after bad guys all over western Iraq. If you are of age to partake in adult libations: I've walked into numerous bars in uniform with Marines and had drinks handed to me before I even got to a seat at the bar. Walked in to a standing ovation once, that was pretty awesome. Many times I've met fellow barfolk who have taken my buddies and I into their homes and gave us a place to crash. The Army's IPAP program though, developed the first (and now 1 out of only 2) doctorate program for PAs which is pretty sweet if you are interested in emergency medicine. You could, just as easily, get into any other branch as a PA though. The Navy hands out scholarships on a first come, first serve basis if you are accepted to a school. The Navy does have an ED residency for PAs. Not sure about the Chair Force. You might also look into Navy rescue swimmers. Pretty badass bunch - I think they get a paramedic license but my memory on that is fuzzy and cursory google results don't help much. The school is tough, but worlds easier than Air Force PJ. If that sounds the least bit interesting to you, you might also consider Coast Guard rescue swimmer. A big part of me wishes I would have stayed in, though I've been known to romanticize and be nostalgic. Best of luck to you. PS forgot to answer you questions: PJ classes will not sub for PA pre-reqs, no military training will. What you will get is a joint service transcript by the American association of college credits (or something like that) full of units that are potentially applicable toward general education units in college, but will mostly just serve to grant you senior status which helps with scheduling. I was able to partly use some of my training to help meet some A/P pre-reqs, but that training would not satisfy those pre-reqs on its own. Generally, your training will be viewed as an experience and will not be given any kind of academic recognition with respect to PA/med school. If I were you, I would not take pre-med classes on the side while in the service; if you are interested in SF, you won't have the time it takes to attend labs and earn competitive grades. Your life will consist of shooting, tactics, sleeping, deploying, shooting, shooting, shooting, tactics, deploying, etc. PJs will also have CMEs and countless trauma scenarios. Earn the GI bill and enroll in college full time after you get out. Repayment for DoD scholarships is generally year-for-year with a minimum and residency is not counted as payback time. It is good time to start figuring out whether you want an MD or to be a PA. These are two very different career paths to take, and both are treated very differently in a military hospital. The only way to figure this out is to get your hands on patients and start exposing yourself to either profession in a clinical setting. Paid time for both options is the best experience.