26 years old, really lost as to what to do. Would appreciate any advice.

[Parm1234]

I'll try to keep this short-ish.

I'm 26 years old. I have a bachelor's I got in 2011 from a good university. I had a bad GPA because I battled clinical depression, anxiety and adhd.

I graduated, started an MBA, didn't really like it. Worked odd/crappy jobs until I was 25.

At 25 I decided I wanted to go into medicine. I had also want to be a doctor like my dad. I also have a some heart problems that require me to be in the hospital a couple times a year for checkups, so I am familiar with the environment.

I talked to a friend in PA school and he told me I should go for it. So I started taking my pre-reqs for PA school. Around this time I also got treatment for my depression, anxiety and ADHD, which helped tremendously.

Unfortunately, the pre-reqs are taking an incredibly long time. I've done them for a year already (3.2 GPA, much better than my undergrad), and still have 2 more years to go. (I sat with an advisor and laid everything out semester by semester). I'm only able to take 2 or 3 classes at a time because of scheduling/lab/etc.

This snail's pace really gets to me. 2 more years of this and I'll be 28, in class as an undergrad with a bunch of 21 year olds. This prospect doesn't get me excited or motivated.

So I started looking at Carribean med schools, specifically SGU. My dad said he has residents from there and they are no less competent than ones in the states.

So now I can either stick with my snails pace and go for PA School

or

Apply to SGU's post bac program, and see if I get in.

I laid out the years and they would go like this:

PA:
2016: Pre-reqs
2017: Pre-reqs
2018: (Many people don't get in their first time, and take a year off to beef up their resume. I figure I'd probably have to do this)
2019: PA School
2020: PA School clinicals
2021: Job
2022: Job

Med School at SGU:

2016: Pre-Bac program
2017: Med School
2018: Med School
2019: Med School clinicals
2020: Med School clinicals
2021: Residency (paid)
2021: Residency (paid)
2022: Residency (paid)


So, the breakdown isn't all that different. I'd be making money in residency the same year that I would be a PA.

So my questions are:

-Which option looks better time-wise to you? To me, isn't med school.

-How do I "know" if I want to be a doctor vs PA? What are factors to consider? People say doctors have "no lives" because they work so much, but I've never seen that from my dad.

-Is med school in the Carribean just as hard as med school in the US? Is PA school in the US just as tough as med school in the Carribean?

-Generally, people say those who enter med school or the health field in general really have to "want it," and its almost "a calling." What does this mean?


Any other things I should consider before I decide which one to pick? Any thoughts would be really helpful, thanks!

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[Goro]

So you really want to be deeply in debt and unemployed?

Do some searching through these forums on why going to a Carib diploma mill is career suicide. BTW, you are displaying two of the morbidities that they prey on: an inability to look before you leap, and an inability to delay gratification. This process isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.

Also, why do you think you can handle med school if only taking classes part-time, you're still only at a 3.2 in them? You should be acing them!

Medicine is a calling like being a policeman or a priest. If you still don't understand that, I can't help you much.
-Generally, people say those who enter med school or the health field in general really have to "want it," and its almost "a calling." What does this mean?

Not in clinical training, that's for sure. And yes and yes.
-Is med school in the Carribean just as hard as med school in the US? Is PA school in the US just as tough as med school in the Carribean?

 

[mavric1298]

The way I see it; if you were so wealthy you didn't have to work a day in your life, would you still dedicate the time required to become a doctor, and would still love going to work every day? In a physician panel we just put on, one doc had a great piece of advice (he was talking about choosing a specialty and how he thought thru premed he knew what he wanted to do but ended up changing). You want to love the drive in, as well as the drive home every day; the drive in should have you excited to going to work, the drive home should be great because of how rewarding your day was.

It's taken me 5 years, basically starting from nothing (career change from artistic) of taking 2 classes every term while working more then full time, an AS, now finishing a bachelors and submitting my application as soon as grades post in a week. I'm 29 and just finished my 3rd term of Ochem with students averaging 19-21 years old. Does that matter? No, all I care about is doing what I need to do to become a doc.

And sorry, but a 3.2 just isn't competitive - much less competitive if you had bad grades before. Those don't just go away, they all get added together.

What was your GPA and # of credits for your first degree?

 

[j4pac]

Go PA if you can get in. If you can't, try Podiatry. Never go full Caribbean.

 

[Dares Dareson]

You do realize that to get into PA school, you have to work thousands of hours in a patient care job? Have you thought of which job you're going to do? Not to mention PA school admissions are very competitive and the coursework rigorous. I'm not saying you can't do it, but I think you need to man up and take a full load of classes, at least to show either med or PA schools that you can handle their curriculum, and more importantly to see if you can handle med or PA school. Getting in is not a matter of just completing everything on a checklist. Even for PA school you'll be competing with people who were going to school full-time and working 24+ hours per week.

I'd recommend you get a job as a CNA or EMT so you can start logging hours for PA school. That will also help you if you decide to go med or PA school. You'll never know which job is right until you shadow and work with docs and PAs. But seriously, you gotta take more classes! Maybe if you get into the post bacc it will help you take a more full-time course load.

Also, I was 32 and taking classes with 18 year olds. It did feel weird but you're not the first.