Non-traditional med school question. Current DC student and veteran
Hello everybody!
I wanted to make a post to this thread to seek some advice or guidance from those of you who have gone through the process of applying to med schools.
For context, I am a 30 y/o male and got out of the Marine Corps last June. I served for 4 years as a police K9 handler/trainer, during which I worked mainly for the Secret Service, specifically for POTUS, VPOTUS, and other presidents/heads of state, providing explosive detection when they travelled, and boy did we travel. During my last year of service I finished my bachelors degree in Business Management. After separating I applied to DC school and began shortly after when their new term started. I know how many of you probably view chiropractic, and you are entitled to that opinion, and I actually agree with you in many cases; thankfully my school is completely evidence-based and not one of the "Subluxation, we can heal your diabetes schools." One of the draws to chiropractic was the ability to own my own practice one day and have some autonomy, however, as I have gone through the program I have found a true passion for learning and the human body. This passion has inspired me to think beyond this program and the potential to do more and not be limited by the scope of a DC. My DC will be paid for in full by the VR&E (VA benefit for those non-military reddit members), after which I will still have 3 years of free school through the GI Bill. After doing some research, the pool of individuals who hold both MD/DC is extremely small, as in around 100-150 total in the US, and less than 4 in AZ where I live, which could provide a unique opportunity to serve wearing both hats, essentially without competition, in a family medicine concierge model business one day.
My main concern is the MCAT, as my bachelors was not in foundational sciences, and even though I'm taking doctoral level science courses now (Anatomy 1&2, Human Biochem, Pathology, pharmacology, among many many more) I just don't know how to wrap my head around studying for the MCAT without the previous education that many of you have.
I reached out to University of Arizona's MD program to address any gaps that I may have if I applied towards the end of this program, and they determined my only gap to be General Chemistry, everything else will be satisfied by my doctoral curriculum. I will be taking an accelerated Gen Chem course through my current school between terms, which they confirmed would satisfy their remaining requirements.
Not too sure what questions I should be asking that I am not, but I just wanted to put some feelers out there, considering my passion for this field, and also considering the potential to have close to $1,000,000 of school paid for the government.