NJ Paramedic Program during Undergrad?

[thatSPIKYflip]

I am an NJ EMT-B, and I have three years of experience riding on a local volunteer ambulance squad (two years as an EMT and one as a non-EMT). I am also a current full-time undergraduate student, planning on going to medical school. Recently, I have been considering going to one of the nearby county colleges to attend a paramedic program. The reason that I am looking into paramedic programs is to gain experience and because I have a genuine interest in EMS.

Does anyone have any experience with attending a paramedic program while still taking a full courseload as an undergrad?

 

[StickySideDown]

I wouldn't recommend doing this...

The Paramedic Course in NJ is two years long no matter what Sponsorship you go through as far as I know. Your only choices are Capital Health, Virtua, Monoc, and Underwood which is currently not accepting applications.

The workload for these classes and studying will be enough for one person + your clinicals. I don't think you will literally have any time to do it, if your already taking 4/5 classes as an undergrad. My personal opinion is that you will be spreading yourself to thin, and will not do well in all of your courses. But I've never done it, and maybe you'll be able to handle the work load. But Medic School is at least one night a week if you do the online, and 3/4 days a week when doing all classroom lectures. Add that in with clinical shifts and good luck!

I mean do you really want to go to school full time and then start another full time 2 year course?

 

[medicsb]

I generally advise against this.

If your ultimate goal is medical school, you need to focus on your undergrad courses. You need a competetive GPA (3.5 at least) and admissions committees won't really care that you were also undertaking paramedic training if your GPA suffers. Also, you really need to master material in bio, physics, chemistry, and now psychology to do well on the MCAT.

An option, if you do want to gain you paramedic certification is to enroll in a college that provides a BS and paramedic cert. University of Pittsburgh has a BS in emergency medicine and it includes a paramedic certification. There are 2 medical students at my school that did this and they were able to fulfill the medical school pre-reqs via electives. Another option is University of Maryland - Baltimore County, where they have a similar program (BS in paramedicine, I think). I think Northeastern University in Boston may have a BS option for their medic program.

Also to consider is getting your medic cert first and then applying to a 4 year. Many universities will grant a number of credits for medic training, but understand that they the credit will fall under "free elective" credit. There are some medic training programs near NJ that are shorter than 2 years (JeffSTAT being one). These program generally require a similar number of hours, but more condensed.

 

[MochaRaf]

I generally advise against this.

If your ultimate goal is medical school, you need to focus on your undergrad courses. You need a competetive GPA (3.5 at least) and admissions committees won't really care that you were also undertaking paramedic training if your GPA suffers. Also, you really need to master material in bio, physics, chemistry, and now psychology to do well on the MCAT.

An option, if you do want to gain you paramedic certification is to enroll in a college that provides a BS and paramedic cert. University of Pittsburgh has a BS in emergency medicine and it includes a paramedic certification. There are 2 medical students at my school that did this and they were able to fulfill the medical school pre-reqs via electives. Another option is University of Maryland - Baltimore County, where they have a similar program (BS in paramedicine, I think). I think Northeastern University in Boston may have a BS option for their medic program.

Also to consider is getting your medic cert first and then applying to a 4 year. Many universities will grant a number of credits for medic training, but understand that they the credit will fall under "free elective" credit. There are some medic training programs near NJ that are shorter than 2 years (JeffSTAT being one). These program generally require a similar number of hours, but more condensed.

I most definitely agree with that. If your ultimate career goal is to become MD, it is extremely imperative that you have a stellar undergrad track and do well on your MCAT.

If it is that you really want to do emergency medicine, I recommend you focus on your undergrad, get into medical school, and once you have completed your initial 4 years that you go into emergency medicine. Stopping your undergrad now to go into the medic program would essential just slow you down from your ultimate career goal.

But if this is something that you feel you must absolutely do, there are a few medics I know that went to a 1 year program outside of NJ.

 

[firecoins]

It has been done.

 

[Devilz311]

The Paramedic Course in NJ is two years long no matter what Sponsorship you go through as far as I know. Your only choices are Capital Health, Virtua, Monoc, and Underwood which is currently not accepting applications.

Eh, +/- a few months... I finished Monoc's program in just about 15 months.

It depends on the school you go through, as some are different. Monoc's Program through OCC was three nights a week when I went through. I did it with a full-time job 4 days a week and never really had a chance to study at work. In all honesty, I really didn't study much at all during medic school and still came out with a B+ average, so it may be possible to have a few more college classes on top of it.

 

[Anu]

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