Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 12/17/2007

Question
Dear Dr. Levy,

First and foremost, I would like to thank you for your time and commitment.

The abridged version:
I am a 21-year-old female in Upstate NY. Great expectations were to follow me in the year 2004 after my high school graduation, however I became pre-occupied with family happenings and decided to stay home and care for my siblings as well as my ill mother and father.  Recently, my home life has changed drastically and I am now free to pursue my dreams, even though I would have been completely content to conform to my current 9-5 to simply care for them.-

Now, I just want to get busy and make up for the 3 years I’ve fallen behind due to the circumstances.

I’ve never finished my associate’s degree. Dr. Levy, I don’t know where to begin. However, I know I’m ready.  I just need guidance and I am cognizant to the fact I must start off small.

Undergraduate:

Where should I begin? What are the best schools? I want to work right through winter & summer breaks… should I maybe look for online courses on top of full time studies to? Is there any way I can finish my 4 years of undergraduate in maybe 2 years?

I could have stuck with my music, however my father wouldn't be too happy.. haa.

Again, thank you for the time you have given to me.

Truly,

Lindsey

Thank you again for your time Dr.


Answer
You haven't lost much time so don't worry too much about that. You need a 4 yr degree if you want to get into medical school and it doesn't matter which college or university you go to as long as you do well in all the required courses. etc. While working through summer gets you done faster, many medical schools look down on that because usually the summer courses are not as competitive and they feel that if you take some courses in the summer it's becuase you can't handle the workload during the year. I would stay away from online courses. Those are fine for some professions but medical school is not one of them. I think you would be better off taking the normal number of courses each semester and do really well on them rather than overloading and doing average.

Good Luck,

Ronald Levy, MD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston