Medical Am I Crazy To Change Careers / Start Med or Dental School Prep?

[MusicDOc124]

Hi everyone, thanks in advance for your help and responses. Any suggestions or perspective would be greatly appreciated.

I graduated undergraduate with BA in Mathematics and a BS in Finance with a 3.95+ GPA. I got an A in every Math class I took. The only pre-med class I took was Physics 1 and I got an A.

I've been working for the past decade and currently a Director who manages a team of internal consultants directly for Corporate Executives of a Fortune 50 company. I help restructure organizations in the firm, establish long-term strategies such as real estate footprint, drive Executive Communications for a 40k+ Employee / $10B+ organization.

Along the way I got a Masters in Analytics from Columbia with a 4.0 GPA.

I've done consulting work for small family medical and dental practices to help them on a journey of modernizing practice procedures and transition from using papers to going fully digital, adhering to applicable insurance laws, ensuring HIPPA compliance, etc. I've shadowed physicians and dentists for 100+ hours.

I've started to think more and more about the rest of my life, and trying to figure out if medical or dental school is still possible. I'm married with a family so quitting my job to focus on pre-reqs doesn't seem feasible. I don't want to look back and feel that I didn't at least try.

I would need to take all of my pre-reqs while working full time and then only if I get in I would stop working. The local 4 year universities only have labs during the day, but I strongly feel I could fit the schedule of the local community college into my demanding work and family schedule.

I would take the following sequence:

- Summer (Chem 1 and Physics 2)
- Fall (Chem 2 and Bio 1)
- Spring (Orgo 1 and Bio 2)
- Summer (Orgo 2 + MCAT / DAT + Apply to Medical / Dental School
- Fall (Advanced Courses - Microbiology / Anatomy / etc.) + Interviews

I understand that schools generally do not like community college classes. Hoping that since I have two bachelors degrees and a masters degree with near-perfect GPAs, honors, awards, etc. then my abilities wont be questioned, but not sure if that's true.

Do you think CC classes are going to kill any chances of getting an interview? Anyone have experience of transitioning from a different career and then taking pre-reqs at CC?

Wouldn't worry about taking pre-reqs at CC. Many people change careers at various points in their lives, thus I also wouldn't worry about your age. Many of us have had classmates in their 40s and 50s. Two of my co-residents are in their mid 40s having started med school late 30s/early 40s.

Seems like a solid plan.

Good luck!

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[GoSpursGo]

I agree with above. Just make sure you do well on the MCAT--if you get a "meh" score, you might have those CC courses scrutinized more closely.

 

[lord999]

Summer classes tend to be messy. Since you have a math background (hopefully you do remember enough of your Calc), it shouldn't be that large a discrepancy.

Note, if you do work either an Accounting or Management Consulting company, you have to clear that with your HR (sometimes Conflicts, sometimes Personnel) as most equity personnel are not allowed to have structured outside matters that are uninterruptable.

As above, age is not an issue, but opportunity cost is. This is no longer a decision you can make alone. It is up to the family as well. If you are in a stable and satisfying job, it is a hard argument to make as it will put the family in some sense of sacrifice.

 

[artist2022]

From the dental side of things, classes at a 4 year are preferred over those at a CC, and some schools do not accept CC credits at all, so just make sure that you don't apply to those schools. Besides that, your plan seems solid but since you would be a career changer, you'd need to show that you are serious about dentistry through your PS, as well as your activities (you'd need some dental-related volunteering, as well as a letter of rec from a dentist). I would really first decide whether you want to pursue medicine or dentistry, because as similar as their application processes may seem, they are very different fields.

 

[Goro]

I suggest that you Shadow some doctors in volunteer with patients once covid is over, to find out if this is really for you. There's a big difference between running away from where you are right now as opposed to running to Medicine

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Sounds like a good plan. Make sure you REALLY know what you are getting into. What are your volunteer hours like and clinical hours?