How many of you are non-trad by choice?

[Gurame1121]

As in, how many of you were interested in medicine early on but purposefully chose, for whatever reason, to postpone your medical pursuits until you were a little older/wiser/less distracted?

More specifically, were any of you trying to take a shot at some kind of artistic career before coming to medicine?

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[petyr_baelish]

Yeah, I took the meandering path to med school. I have no serious regrets but at age 22 I had no idea how much I would be annoyed by the fact that if it weren't for medicine, I would have a useless degree and be lucky to make more than $12/hour. In hindsight, I took a huge risk taking that path because now I am pushing 30 with little to show for it in the way of marketable skills. What if I didn't get in?

 

[Eccesignum]

I did not want to be a doctor early on, but did begin in the arts. I was a theatre major first round through. I was in professional stage for some time (I had wanted to be a director originally, ran the working gamut from acting to stage managing to asst. directing). Left that to go into teaching and then, almost ten years later, into healthcare.

I still love the performing arts, and have used those old skills and insight every step of the way.

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

I've been interested in medicine since high school. If you asked me back then what I wanted to do, I would have said unequivocally that I wanted to be an OB/GYN. By the time I got to college, I still had medicine on my mind but I found out that there were so many other things that interested me! Specifically the social sciences. I ended up studying medically-related topics but from a humanities/social sciences perspective and I loved it! After graduation, I worked in several clinical/research jobs. I thought seriously about NP/PA but just kept coming back to MD. That's when I realized that that nagging "I want to be a doctor" voice just wasn't going to go away. Looking back, I could have made the choice to be premed in undergrad but at the time, it just seemed like a waste of years of educational freedom.

I'll turn 29 a couple of weeks after I start med school. I see a lot of people on SDN freaking out about losing years of attending salary and things like that. I definitely see that perspective but for me, I feel like I've gained a level of experience, certainty, and understanding about myself and what I want to do that's worth more to me than money. Everyone has to find their own path and I'm pretty happy with mine!

EDIT: Still thinking seriously about OB/GYN. Funny how things come full circle.

 

[CBFutureHelper14]

I have said since age eight that I wanted to be a pediatrician. I entered college with that dream in mind. I eneded up graduating with a bachelor of science in criminal justice. After being out if school for a year and working odd jobs to get the bills paid, and applying to grad schools for counseling, I am seriously considering going back to school for med. I am trying to do some shadowing before i make a final decision

 

[wagonwheel23]

I always had an interest in medicine but was sucked into the research world instead. I even was working towards a PhD in biochemistry! But, once I realized it wasn't the right fit for me, I worked for a couple years outside of science and medicine. It was a wonderful time to discover my interests and really meditate on what kind of life I wanted.

This has worked out beautifully because I am far more mature, balanced, and prepared for this path today than I would have been right after college. 22 year old me in medical school would have been nothing short of a disaster.

 

[TallPreMed]

If you mean, "did I choose to screw around and not get the grades for med school in UG that eventually turned me into a nontraditional", then yes.

Always wanted to be a doctor. I shadowed pediatricians and ob/gyns in high school (my mom is an L&D RN at a big hospital and I grew up around those physicians). Even my elementary school "what I want to be when I grow up" always said "I want to work in a hospital".

My degree was in communication studies but I focused on health comm and health policy and loved it. I interned with a philanthropy group aimed at fundraising for hospitals. I sold my soul to the retail devil for a nice salary and somehow managed to escape with my sanity intact and landed back in healthcare in hospice. No one around me has a fricking clue how I made it here. I barely do. Hospice reawoke my passion for becoming a physician. But if I hadn't worked in retail I would have 0 people skills and that is one of my biggest strengths I bring to the table and is what makes me good at my position at my hospice. And now here I am.

Did the choices I make send me down the nontraditional pathway? Yes. Was it intentional? Nerp. Am I glad I went this route instead of going in right after UG? Absolutely.

 

[QofQuimica]

As in, how many of you were interested in medicine early on but purposefully chose, for whatever reason, to postpone your medical pursuits until you were a little older/wiser/less distracted?

More specifically, were any of you trying to take a shot at some kind of artistic career before coming to medicine?

I was interested in medicine in college, but not really committed to it at the time. I loved organic chemistry much more, so I went to graduate school instead. We can argue about whether that was an "artistic career" since it's probably not one in the sense that you mean, but a great deal of creativity was certainly required to design and synthesize new molecules. For sure it involved much more creativity than is required for a career in medicine, which is actually creativity-stifling in many ways. (This is not intended as a negative judgment; no one wants to be experimented upon by a physician if they have the option of being treated with the boring but tried-and-true remedies that are known to work.)

I will say this: if you value a career that offers you a great deal of latitude for creativity, artistic license, and doing your own thing, medicine is likely not the best choice for you. And based on what I've observed in some of my colleagues (having happily not gone through the experience myself thus far), if and when you are ever unfortunate enough to get sued, you will become even less "creative" in your practice than you were formerly.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I first wanted to be a physician in second grade and was planning on going straight through until I got to high school and realized I had many interests. I purposely took a meandering path, and while I would like to already be practicing, I'm glad I took the path I did (being in the military especially, as I had many great experiences and got my degree paid for).