hi guys,
I just finished my BSBA with a major in finance/minor in economics and am trying to figure out if a postbacc would be a good idea for me.
An incredibly long story short, I suffered from depression and anxiety beginning in my teens and continuing through my college years without an actual diagnosis until my sophomore year of college. While in high school it actually led me to excel in school (class president, 4.0, salutatorian, 34 ACT and 2200 SAT along with 4s and 5s AP scores and acceptances to a few premed scholar/accelerated tracks), I was incredibly unsocial and overall unhealthy which led to what I would call a deterioration and complete break down during undergrad. I attended a prestigious school (non Ivy but right up there with them) and still managed to graduate with a 3.4, but I was unmotivated and a lot of my grades are all over the place (some good semesters, most bad) along with some sporadic involvement but overall no clear commitments or "story" to my time there.
my parents are both ER physicians and my mother pushed and pushed for me to be premed. Unfortunately due to my depression (which stemmed from family issues) I insisted I do something different than what my family expected and ended up pursuing what I would describe as a very selfish excuse for a career (IBanking, consulting) due to the fact that I thought it would "make me a lot of money". It became crystal clear during my junior year when I was much healthier that I wanted to instead work with and for people who need actually need help. Unfortunately my parents took on almost 6 figure debt for my undergrad and I've got $18k in loans to pay back myself so I graduated a semester early to save money and kept my business track despite my discontent.
SO where I'm at now: psychiatry is the epitome of the kind of life I want to have. I don't just mean career; my own struggle with mental illness and what I've picked up about the specialty from my parents, therapists, sister in med school, online and via word of mouth has only confirmed that. I just don't know if post bacc is practical for me because of the $$$ and the chance that I will have wasted my time.
I will start my job in healthcare consulting at a pretty prestigious firm in a month. I'm hoping I will be assigned to a project for a university, research foundation, or hospital. While consulting isn't exactly what I want to do, I'm excited to be healthy enough to give it my all and learn a ton about the healthcare field.
I just spent 2 months teaching English in Nicaragua and doing (limited) clinical/administration work at a low income clinic here. I did manage to develop an interest in behavioral finance and economics and can probably get one good reference from an undergrad professor I wrote a political/business behavioral theory paper on for that topic. I completed a free online course in psych/behavioral science which I plan to go back and do, along with others, for an actual certificate (you have to donate to do that, which as a broke undergrAd I didn't do).
But since consulting is 50-60+ hours a week, I would most likely have to quit my job in order to start taking post bacc courses. My plan would be to (hopefully) apply to med schools that accept AP scores as I have credit in stats, calc, physics, and biology although my university didn't accept physics at all for transfer credit so it's not on my transcript. That way I can take just chemistry and organic chemistry (maybe physics and biology) at a state university for in state tuition. Then study for the Mcat and take whatever I need to satisfy admission requirements AFTER (and if!) I'm accepted to a med school.
That's a shortened version of everything I've considered. I think I would be a decently unique candidate especially because I excel at writing/reasoning from my business background but I definitely did not do as well as I could or spend my time wisely while in college. I realize how difficult it is to get into med school and while I wouldn't completely regret spending the money on chem/orgo courses (I miss undergrad!!! And want to take more classes), it's more about the opportunity cost of not pursuing consulting or some other career during the 2+ years it would take me to do all this.
Anyways just looking for any and all advice since I've pretty much kept these thoughts and ideas to myself up until this point. Thank you!!!
I just finished my BSBA with a major in finance/minor in economics and am trying to figure out if a postbacc would be a good idea for me.
An incredibly long story short, I suffered from depression and anxiety beginning in my teens and continuing through my college years without an actual diagnosis until my sophomore year of college. While in high school it actually led me to excel in school (class president, 4.0, salutatorian, 34 ACT and 2200 SAT along with 4s and 5s AP scores and acceptances to a few premed scholar/accelerated tracks), I was incredibly unsocial and overall unhealthy which led to what I would call a deterioration and complete break down during undergrad. I attended a prestigious school (non Ivy but right up there with them) and still managed to graduate with a 3.4, but I was unmotivated and a lot of my grades are all over the place (some good semesters, most bad) along with some sporadic involvement but overall no clear commitments or "story" to my time there.
my parents are both ER physicians and my mother pushed and pushed for me to be premed. Unfortunately due to my depression (which stemmed from family issues) I insisted I do something different than what my family expected and ended up pursuing what I would describe as a very selfish excuse for a career (IBanking, consulting) due to the fact that I thought it would "make me a lot of money". It became crystal clear during my junior year when I was much healthier that I wanted to instead work with and for people who need actually need help. Unfortunately my parents took on almost 6 figure debt for my undergrad and I've got $18k in loans to pay back myself so I graduated a semester early to save money and kept my business track despite my discontent.
SO where I'm at now: psychiatry is the epitome of the kind of life I want to have. I don't just mean career; my own struggle with mental illness and what I've picked up about the specialty from my parents, therapists, sister in med school, online and via word of mouth has only confirmed that. I just don't know if post bacc is practical for me because of the $$$ and the chance that I will have wasted my time.
I will start my job in healthcare consulting at a pretty prestigious firm in a month. I'm hoping I will be assigned to a project for a university, research foundation, or hospital. While consulting isn't exactly what I want to do, I'm excited to be healthy enough to give it my all and learn a ton about the healthcare field.
I just spent 2 months teaching English in Nicaragua and doing (limited) clinical/administration work at a low income clinic here. I did manage to develop an interest in behavioral finance and economics and can probably get one good reference from an undergrad professor I wrote a political/business behavioral theory paper on for that topic. I completed a free online course in psych/behavioral science which I plan to go back and do, along with others, for an actual certificate (you have to donate to do that, which as a broke undergrAd I didn't do).
But since consulting is 50-60+ hours a week, I would most likely have to quit my job in order to start taking post bacc courses. My plan would be to (hopefully) apply to med schools that accept AP scores as I have credit in stats, calc, physics, and biology although my university didn't accept physics at all for transfer credit so it's not on my transcript. That way I can take just chemistry and organic chemistry (maybe physics and biology) at a state university for in state tuition. Then study for the Mcat and take whatever I need to satisfy admission requirements AFTER (and if!) I'm accepted to a med school.
That's a shortened version of everything I've considered. I think I would be a decently unique candidate especially because I excel at writing/reasoning from my business background but I definitely did not do as well as I could or spend my time wisely while in college. I realize how difficult it is to get into med school and while I wouldn't completely regret spending the money on chem/orgo courses (I miss undergrad!!! And want to take more classes), it's more about the opportunity cost of not pursuing consulting or some other career during the 2+ years it would take me to do all this.
Anyways just looking for any and all advice since I've pretty much kept these thoughts and ideas to myself up until this point. Thank you!!!
