My goal is go to medical school and be commissioned as a Naval Medical Officer. I am currently an enlisted Marine stationed overseas in Japan for the next two years and my education options out here are very limited. I have looked at HPSP program and it seems like what I'm most likely going to end up doing, but my problem is the undergrad schooling. I came into the Maine Corps right after high school and have no college, how can I complete the required courses for medical school and earn a bachelor's degree while still in the Marines? I have been told that medical schools look down on On-line degrees and the only 2 colleges (UMUC and Uni. of Pheniox) that offer face to face classes don't offer any of the required med school courses. Is there a way for me to complete my bachelor's or be close to finishing it with all required courses from a school that won't be looked down on when I apply for medical school before I get out in 2014?
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Don't use an on-line school for any pre-med courses. You may be able to take some of your general education courses towards a bachelors degree while you're in Japan, but make sure that they will transfer to whatever school you'd like to attend once you get back to the states.
At this point, you couldn't get your bachelor's degree before 2014 even if you were in the States and attending school full time, unless you've already got some AP credit or something. If you took a full course-load every semester and took summer classes every summer, you could possibly complete your degree by January of 2015.
I'd suggest that you try to find someone else who has completed college courses while serving in the Military. You could also contact a recruiter from the HPSP program and see if they have any suggestions. My husband went to Medical School with a couple people from the HPSP program, and I know that one of them was stationed in Japan before going to Medical School, but he was in the Navy, so maybe his educational options were different.
I hope everything works out for you. Thanks for your service.
EDIT: You don't have to have a Bachelor's of Science to attend Medical School. You can major in any subject, as long as you maintain a high GPA and complete all the prerequisites (I know MDs who majored in English, History, Psychology, and several who majored in a foreign language. My husband majored in Religion before going to Med School). You should have your prerequisites completed before taking the MCAT during your final year of undergrad so that you can apply to schools while you're still completing your degree - this way you won't have to take a year off between undergrad and Med School.
If you want to be taking seriously, you need to enroll in a state, private, or ivy league school. Online, for profit, and community colleges will NOT get you into medical school. You will need to obtain a 4 year (bachelors of SCIENCE) in either microbiology, biochemistry, biology, or chemistry with a strong foundation in math and sciences (calculus based physics, calculus, microbiology, organic chemistry, etc). Medical schools DO NOT accept students with 2 year degrees or 4 year degrees from online or for profit schools. It is very hard to get into a medical school with a 4 year degree from a community college. You also have to obtain a very high MCAT score. The best thing for you to do is look now at the 4 year state schools (since you went military, I am guessing you were too stupid to get scholarships to go to college so forget going to private or ivy league schools). Find out what the STATE school requirements are for a B.S. in Microbiology (or similar degree). Then enroll in a community college for 2 years and take all the easy basic classes (art 101, music 101, philosphy 101, english 101, etc). This will help raise your GPA and get all the BS out of the way. After your sophomore year, transfer (check with both schools before you enroll to make sure all the classes you take will transfer). Finish your junior and senior year at the state school taking the more important classes like advanced biology 300, microbiology 400, calculus III, Calc based physics II, etc. Save most of the science and math classes for the state school. They will be more in depth and can prepare you for the MCAT. Try to get a GPA of 3.8 or higher at the community college. If you can't pull a 3.8 GPA in easy 100 and 200 level BS classes at a community college, forget about medical school. You will not make it a week. you are just too stupid and continue being the military with all the other retards