Career Advice?

[DandelionQueen]

Hello All,

I currently work as a Licensed Massage Therapist, and have been in this field for almost 2 years now. It is difficult to see myself stopping within this career and never moving forward. I have always held a special interest in all sorts of medical fields, and truly enjoy learning all I can about various subjects. I suppose the reason for posting this is because I would like to hear other people's opinions on whether I should/could start the prereq's for medical school.
Some things for people to note when replying:
1. I have yet to take the ACT, because while I was in high school my parents could not afford to expend the money on me taking the test at that specific time in our lives.
2. I have taken several anatomy courses (but fully plan on retaking those if need be.)
3. I haven't decided on which college to attend yet, and am having difficulties in deciding when to begin (if I ever should.)
4. I am currently 22 years of age, is it too late to begin learning?
5. Would this be a bad choice for someone who is married? I realize that during medical school and during the prereq courses you have little time for familial commitments and relationships.
6. Any information given will be extremely helpful.

Thank you to everyone who responds!
Dandy

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[tco]

Welcome.

1. If you can afford to take it now, this is a non-issue. Just study up and take it as soon as possible. The tests to get into college aren't "knowledge based," as much as they are to test your ability to understand material presented to you (or at least they were when I took them).
2. Excellent. This will be beneficial to you no matter what way you go in healthcare.
3. Still not a problem. Start with taking the ACT and doing some general community college courses. Community college is a great way to get required classes out of the way and keep your debt to a minimum. Since you have a job, you could probably pay for them as you go. Take a few hours each semester (start as soon as possible) and just pay as you go. I would even suggest doing your first two years of college here and transferring the credits to whatever university you decide to attend.
4. It's never to late to learn. It's also not too late to begin down the path to become a physician. If we do the math, and assume you start full time school at age 23, you'll finish medical school at 31 assuming no hiccups. That's hardly old. 3-7 years of residency later and you're still young enough to put away for retirement.
5. It would be a great choice for someone that's married, depending on your spouse. It's great to have extra support during the medical school years. If your spouse is understanding, and they don't demand time that you can't afford to give them, they'll be nothing but an asset. Also, if they have a decent job, you won't have to take out loans for living expenses, which can be a huge benefit later down the road. Again, this is all between you and your significant other, and depends on their temperament.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[DandelionQueen]

Welcome.

1. If you can afford to take it now, this is a non-issue. Just study up and take it as soon as possible. The tests to get into college aren't "knowledge based," as much as they are to test your ability to understand material presented to you (or at least they were when I took them).
2. Excellent. This will be beneficial to you no matter what way you go in healthcare.
3. Still not a problem. Start with taking the ACT and doing some general community college courses. Community college is a great way to get required classes out of the way and keep your debt to a minimum. Since you have a job, you could probably pay for them as you go. Take a few hours each semester (start as soon as possible) and just pay as you go. I would even suggest doing your first two years of college here and transferring the credits to whatever university you decide to attend.
4. It's never to late to learn. It's also not too late to begin down the path to become a physician. If we do the math, and assume you start full time school at age 23, you'll finish medical school at 31 assuming no hiccups. That's hardly old. 3-7 years of residency later and you're still young enough to put away for retirement.
5. It would be a great choice for someone that's married, depending on your spouse. It's great to have extra support during the medical school years. If your spouse is understanding, and they don't demand time that you can't afford to give them, they'll be nothing but an asset. Also, if they have a decent job, you won't have to take out loans for living expenses, which can be a huge benefit later down the road. Again, this is all between you and your significant other, and depends on their temperament.

Good luck with your decision.

Thank you so much for your supporting answer tco. It's good to know that you think it would be beneficial to begin sooner rather than later. I am a little concerned about taking the ACT considering I have been out of high school for a few years and feel very rusty on the basic subjects like math and English (grammatically, anyhow.) Do you have any suggestions or tidbits of information that you think would make the transition easier for me? Would it be best to take some refresher courses before attempting the ACT or should I just attempt it first off?
Also, when applying for medical school, do you necessarily have to have extracurricular activities like groups, or clubs? I understand the necessity of shadowing and, of course, volunteering to various organizations,.. but feel like between working and attending college, I may not have time to do the more social based activities.
And yes, my spouse is certainly within the supportive department. He feels that my attending medical school would be a great life choice for me. He doesn't exactly have a high paying job but he does help pay the bills and that is what matters.
I suppose the only issue I truly have is affording to pay for classes out of pocket directly. I can take out loans again, I suppose. And hopefully get some sort of grant or scholarship to aid me with paying for tuition.
Also, doesn't it take more than two years to complete all of the prereq's for medical school? I know you generally have to acquire a Bachelor's in some form or another, but I could have sworn that takes about four years for most people... Am I wrong on that?

 

[tco]

Thank you so much for your supporting answer tco. It's good to know that you think it would be beneficial to begin sooner rather than later. I am a little concerned about taking the ACT considering I have been out of high school for a few years and feel very rusty on the basic subjects like math and English (grammatically, anyhow.) Do you have any suggestions or tidbits of information that you think would make the transition easier for me? Would it be best to take some refresher courses before attempting the ACT or should I just attempt it first off?
Also, when applying for medical school, do you necessarily have to have extracurricular activities like groups, or clubs? I understand the necessity of shadowing and, of course, volunteering to various organizations,.. but feel like between working and attending college, I may not have time to do the more social based activities.
And yes, my spouse is certainly within the supportive department. He feels that my attending medical school would be a great life choice for me. He doesn't exactly have a high paying job but he does help pay the bills and that is what matters.
I suppose the only issue I truly have is affording to pay for classes out of pocket directly. I can take out loans again, I suppose. And hopefully get some sort of grant or scholarship to aid me with paying for tuition.
Also, doesn't it take more than two years to complete all of the prereq's for medical school? I know you generally have to acquire a Bachelor's in some form or another, but I could have sworn that takes about four years for most people... Am I wrong on that?

I think that you should take it one step at a time, at least that's what I would do. Worry about what's immediately in front of you now and learn as much as you can about that process (undergrad) and then worry about medical school as that approaches.

For the now:

I don't know much about the ACT any more. I took it nearly a decade ago (man, that makes me feel old). I would wait to see what some other youngsters say about that in this thread. I just know that I would try to knock it out as soon as possible. You might not even need the ACT to take community college courses. You might want to check into that.

I'm not saying that you have to pay for classes out of pocket. I'm just saying that it would help if you could. Also, to clarify, usually it takes 4 years to get an undergraduate degree. While not *required* for medical school, most medical schools like to see that you have a bachelors of something. The required courses usually take at least 2 years to do (for the really advanced students), or 3 years for students that have taken some college classes in high school. My comment was about completing the "other" classes at a community college such as English, Fine Arts, Sociology, Psychology, etc.

Medical schools love non-traditional students. They also love females. It's shows how "diverse" they are. If you're a non-traditional minority female, you're in great shape. Yes, it would help to have club and volunteer activities, but is not absolutely required for the most part. Again, however, I digress...Worry about medical school after a year or so of undergrad.

 

[DandelionQueen]

I think that you should take it one step at a time, at least that's what I would do. Worry about what's immediately in front of you now and learn as much as you can about that process (undergrad) and then worry about medical school as that approaches.

For the now:

I don't know much about the ACT any more. I took it nearly a decade ago (man, that makes me feel old). I would wait to see what some other youngsters say about that in this thread. I just know that I would try to knock it out as soon as possible. You might not even need the ACT to take community college courses. You might want to check into that.

I'm not saying that you have to pay for classes out of pocket. I'm just saying that it would help if you could. Also, to clarify, usually it takes 4 years to get an undergraduate degree. While not *required* for medical school, most medical schools like to see that you have a bachelors of something. The required courses usually take at least 2 years to do (for the really advanced students), or 3 years for students that have taken some college classes in high school. My comment was about completing the "other" classes at a community college such as English, Fine Arts, Sociology, Psychology, etc.

Medical schools love non-traditional students. They also love females. It's shows how "diverse" they are. If you're a non-traditional minority female, you're in great shape. Yes, it would help to have club and volunteer activities, but is not absolutely required for the most part. Again, however, I digress...Worry about medical school after a year or so of undergrad.

Tco,

You are certainly right that most community colleges do not require the ACT to attend, but I was worried that most medical schools do require it (which, as you previously stated, I do not need to worry about until I get my undergrad years out of the way.) I was just thinking that getting the small tests like that out of the way first would be preferable, because by the time I would be applying for med school I will probably not have time to take the ACT or SAT, for that matter. But no worries, I a sure I can get everything situated in a more than orderly fashion. It will just take some planning and budgeting on my end.
Truly, I am thinking of pursuing a Bachelor's in Science. I am thinking psychology would be the way to go, because the mind is an interesting subject. But I also wouldn't mind taking classes for the Arts either. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
What exactly does non-traditional constitute?
I appreciate all of your advice.
Dandy

 

[Arayh]

Traditional students basically applies to students who attend medical school right after college at the age of 22 or students who attend after 1-2 gap years after college. Beyond that is non-traditional.

 

[Developer]

I'm almost positive there are no med schools that require the ACT/SAT for admission. You will need to take the MCAT eventually though.