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- Thread starter 21p
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- Dec 18, 2008
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CC: I failed three courses my M1 year and repeated them successfully on the 2nd go-round. This year is going poorly and I'm considering jumping ship.
S: I'm a non-trad and do exceedingly well in clinical situations. Several professors have told me I just need to get through the year's work and pass boards, assuring me my intellect would be more evident in person than on paper. My father nearly flunked out of dental school and then graduated in the top 10% for the same reason. He has been very successful, but of course we're not clones and these are different wars.
I love medicine and all its intricacies but 12-13 hours of studying a day = 4 hours for most of my classmates. I have ADHD (or whatever it is). Recall is b#%^h! I'm also 32 and the prospects of practicing at 40 in a mountain of debt, having sustained the age-related insults of a solid residency are frightening and somewhat comical in hindsight.
During the year I remediated, I really enjoyed teaching anatomy and physiology at the school and finished two of the honors fellowships... all of which are history now because the books are back in season.
O: I'm failing the sh$t out of my classes and close to losing my wits.
A: burnt out and in a little over my head.
Plan: I would like to become a PA and teach on the side. The academic portion would be easier (no offense, but it's a safe assumption with 2 1/2 years of basic sciences under the belt), time to goal is less, and I can still have a family and do all the things in life currently awash in a sea of books. The future is bright for PAs and I think the end game of our current medical meltdown will make titles secondary to skill (thank god).
Not looking for answers, but more experience with this sort of situation.
statistics:
MCAT 9/9/10
publications, all the academic hoops
4 years as a Nurse Tech in level 1 trauma
taught anatomy to PAs and M1s for a year
ran the school note service
(I wasn't pissing people off and smoking spliffs all day)
As a former PA, I can assure you it won't be a cake walk. Also most programs will frown upon you using the profession as a back up.
Also I am confused how can you be teaching and yet had to remediate? I think you are better off figuring out why you keep failing(there are non clinical test in pa school as well) and not jumping ship.
