Fourth year DO student here with two kids (4 & 2 years old), matched #1 choice orthopedic surgery residency in DO match, currenly enjoying a bunch of free time off before I begin residency.
At what age did you matriculate?
30
What was your background going in?
Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, Backpacking guide for 10 years prior to matriculation. Guide and save money during the summers, travel to warm climates and climb all winter.
What motivated you to make a switch into medicine?
I always knew I wanted to go back to school and enter a more meaningful profession at some point. Never considered any medical field until my mid-twenties when I was rock climbing in Southern Thailand a few weeks after the 2004 tsunami. I was inspired by orthopedic surgeons and other medical providers who volunteered to help tsunami victims. After that, enrolled in my state university and completed my bachelors in physiology in four years and jumped through all the hoops (volunteering, research, etc). Did very well and opted for DO school in part so I could stay in my home state (the one MD school here is ridiculously hard to get into).
Did you go for an MD or Mid–Level credential (such as NP, PA, CRNA)? How did you weigh the trade-offs for those roles/credentials given age, financial, and other considerations?
For my thoughts on MD/DO vs midlevel, I've written on this extensively in another thread, so I'm just going to copy and paste my two posts from that thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/p-a-vs-m-d-job-satisfaction.1103672/#post-16337689
"I was a climbing guide and have been into wilderness medicine and stuff for a long time. I went through the intense internal debate of med school vs. PA school for a while. I'm now in my mid-30s, have two small kids, and am in my third year of medical school. It definitely sucks sometimes, and having to handle two huge life challenges (med school and parenting) is extremely difficult at times. As said above, it totally sucks to be at the bottom of the totem pole.
However, I am so happy I chose medical school. I want to be an orthopedic surgeon now and I'm SO happy that I have that option! I think being an ortho PA would not cut it for me and I would be quite regretful if I hadn't gone to med school to become an actual surgeon.
Med school doesn't have to be that bad for non-trads. I've done well in school and spent tons of time with my family over these past three years. While having a family can make school harder because of the time commitment, in some ways it's really helped me. I have been forced to become ultra efficient and to not constantly think about and stress about school all the time. This has helped me substantially and I think it's partly why I've been able to do better than most of my younger, single classmates who spend way more time studying than I do.
Even if I don't make it into ortho, I'll still be happy in whatever backup specialty I choose (FM or EM probably). I'll know that I went as far as I could and tried my hardest and didn't limit myself. While the schooling is hard, I find it overall enjoyable to learn so much interesting material, much of which I wouldn't have gotten in PA school. As someone above said, being a non-trad gives you good perspective. While guiding was awesome, I also worked plenty of ****ty manual labor jobs. I'll tell you I think some of my younger classmates are a bunch of whiners and have no idea how much more ****ty than med school it is to work 50 hours/week of landscaping or something like that.
Sure I've met some unhappy docs. However, most of the docs I've worked with so far are super happy in their jobs. It really comes down to personality. Some would be unhappy no matter what they were doing while others appreciate how great their job and pay is compared to what most people in the world have.
Taking the PA path would be awesome in many ways, but I've always kind of been a "go big or go home" type of person and PA school would not have worked for me. For some, it's an excellent option. You'll just have to figure out if you'd be okay being a PA or if you want to have the option to go as far as you can in your training and become the true expert in your field who's calling the shots."
"Someone sent me a PM with some followup questions and I realized that my response may be helpful for others. So here it is.
It is a really tough call that's for sure. As I said, I went through the PA vs med debate for quite a while. In the end, I decided go to med school. It's kind of leap of faith that's for sure, and technically I can't say if it's worth it since I'm not even in residency yet. Med school is really hard and sometimes very stressful. My wife and I both have had our moments where we're not happy with the choice. I've had moments where I wish I chose PA school for the reasons you mentioned. Overall it's gone well though and we are happy that I'm in med school. I've met lots of really happy docs who love their jobs, which makes me pretty confident that I'll continue to love it.
I get the whole entering the workforce sooner thing, I still sometimes consider just doing three years of FM instead of ortho just so I can get working and have a more normal life again sooner. Although, I am definitely still planning on ortho because it's awesome and when I keep the big picture in mind, I think ortho will be better in the long run for job satisfaction and earning potential. I'll be 39 or 40 by the time I finish ortho residency, but I don't at all worry about stamina issues. Most practicing ortho docs I've worked with so far are that age or older and do just fine. At my age now, I feel more energetic, do better, and complain less than many of my younger and single classmates. It's all about taking care of yourself and keeping a good attitude. I go for two big trail runs a week and have a power tower at home to workout on. I try not to worry about my huge $400,000 debt, especially with ortho since I'll make an excellent salary. A lot of docs get themselves in trouble when as soon as they start making an attending salary they buy a mansion and sports car. I'm not worried about this and know my wife and I can continue to live modestly and just pay off the debt within five years.
You do have to have an understanding and hard-working wife. She will have to step it up a lot in terms of childcare and household responsibilities at times. The difficulty of med school comes in waves. This month on peds GI I worked 9-3 most days and was given a whole week off by my preceptor. Last month on ortho I worked 5-7 most days and sometimes wouldn't see my kids for days (this was at a residency program that was not lifestyle friendly). During the first two years its similar, some days I didn't have that much to do, other days I'd have to study for 15 hours straight. She'll also have to be flexible and willing to handle the lack of routine since the schedule changes so much depending on what year you're in and what rotation you're on.
It really has helped us to have my parents 20 minutes away. Having some support is super important, both for childcare help and finances. We live in an expensive area and have had to borrow some additional money from my folks since the cost of attendance is calculated for single people with roommates. We probably could have made it financially without this if we moved into a much smaller place in a worse part of town and drastically changed our lifetyle. We are thankful to have some extra financial help so that we can maintain a pretty nice life in a nice house in a good neighborhood. My wife worked as a teacher for the first two years, but now she stays at home, which is great. Paying for daycare would be super expensive for two kids (we had our second kid recently) and logistically challenging since my schedule changes drastically each month this year depending on which rotation I'm on.
Overall my wife has been happy and doing well with it all. I think she sees the big picture as well and knows that it will all be worth it in the end.
You have to go to a school that has non-required lectures. This was so important in terms of spending time with my family during the first two years. I only showed up to campus when absolutely required. This opened up lots of time to spend quality time with my wife and kids. You also have to really prioritize your family. I don't really rock climb these days, which is what I used to live for. It's okay though, I'm perfectly happy putting my personal hobbies on hold for now to get to spend time with my family. I know that one day I'll have time for that stuff again. Again, it's all about keeping a good attitude and accepting and enjoying the fact that your life revolves around nothing but kids and studying.
So overall I'm VERY happy I chose med school and not PA school. If you think you may want to do a specialty, especially surgical or other procedural, go for med school since this will keep open the most options. It seems like ortho PA's are stuck forever doing things that 4th year med students do and there's a big difference between PA and ortho physician salaries, even if you start making that bigger number later. I'm so glad I have the option to be a surgeon (hopefully I'll match ortho!)"