All Branch Topic (ABT) Military career or doctor?

[WesternCowboyMarine]

I leave for my military training as an officer in a few weeks and I'm having trouble deciding what I should do once I leave the military. I would like to become a career officer, but I would also like to settle down and raise a family, and I would rather raise them out west somewhere. Thus, I would like to ask if anyone has any feedback for me. Like, would it be smart to go back to medical school after I leave the military? The biggest thing that I'm worried about is all the money that I'll have to spend for medical school, and what I might put my family through. A doctor that I shadowed told me that he worked in a research lab for six years before going back to medical school and that the stress of school caused him to get a divorce from his first wife. Would anyone be able to verify this? If you're a veteran, what advice would you recommend?

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[pgg]

I leave for my military training as an officer in a few weeks and I'm having trouble deciding what I should do once I leave the military.

You should decide later.

Like, would it be smart to go back to medical school after I leave the military?

That depends on you and a lot of factors hard to predict now.

In general, it's tough to get the medical school prerequisites done while on active duty. If you already have them done (with a high gpa), that helps.

The biggest thing that I'm worried about is all the money that I'll have to spend for medical school,

The Post-9/11 GI Bill is very generous.

If you do go to medical school, don't go to USC or Tufts or similarly stupid-expensive places.

and what I might put my family through. A doctor that I shadowed told me that he worked in a research lab for six years before going back to medical school and that the stress of school caused him to get a divorce from his first wife. Would anyone be able to verify this?

Verify what?

That a doctor you talked to got divorced, just like 50%+ of the rest of the non-doctors who get divorced? I don't know the guy. He was probably telling the truth.

That medical school is stressful? Sure. But probably 1/2 my med school class was married, and I'd wager that for most of us, the security and stability of marriage was a positive thing during that time. I can verify that picking the right person to marry is wise. The wisdom of not marrying a psycho hose beast is not something particular to medical students.

If you're a veteran, what advice would you recommend?

Do your time as an officer, excel at it, enjoy life, decide later.

 

[Perrotfish]

I leave for my military training as an officer in a few weeks and I'm having trouble deciding what I should do once I leave the military. I would like to become a career officer, but I would also like to settle down and raise a family, and I would rather raise them out west somewhere. Thus, I would like to ask if anyone has any feedback for me. Like, would it be smart to go back to medical school after I leave the military? The biggest thing that I'm worried about is all the money that I'll have to spend for medical school, and what I might put my family through. A doctor that I shadowed told me that he worked in a research lab for six years before going back to medical school and that the stress of school caused him to get a divorce from his first wife. Would anyone be able to verify this? If you're a veteran, what advice would you recommend?

It would be easier to advise you if we knew where you were at in this process. Some questions
1) How old are you?
2) How are you entering the military? A freshman joining ROTC, a plebe at the Academy, a graduating recipient of an ROTC/Academy scholarship, and college graduate going to ODS are all going to get very different career advice.
3) Where are you at in your pathway to become a doctor? Did you take any premedical courses? All of them? any research experience? Any medical volunteering/shadowing? If you're a college graduate was your GPA and how many credits did you take?
4) When you're talking about settling down and raising a family, do you have a family already? Just a wife? Steady girlfriend? Or is this just all theoretical?

On thing I can talk about now is the rate of divorce in medicine. The statistics concerning physician divorce are interesting. Despite what you may think, divorce in general is less prevelant among physicians than other white collar professionals (including dentists and nurses), which in turn is lower than the divorce rates among people who are less educated, marry earlier, or make less. So no, we do not all get divorced Source: http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h706

However its the subgroup analysis that's really interesting. Basically there are 3 scenarios:
1) Doctors who marry doctors: This is a huge chunk physicians, and their divorce rate is one of the lowest of any group in the nation, < 15% based on one survey
2) Male doctors who marry non-doctors: A slightly higher than average divorce rate, but still < 30%.
3) Female doctors who marry non-doctors: A dismally high divorce rate, approaching 50%
So if you can, marry a doctor. If you can't do that, try to be a dude.

There is also the question of whether being a specific KIND of doctor increases the divorce rate. There is some evidence that being a surgeon increases your chance of divorce relative to being an Internist. However there's a real question of whether that's correlation or causation. Source: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/19...vorce-rate-pediatricians-marriage-and-divorce

 

[WesternCowboyMarine]

You should decide later.




That depends on you and a lot of factors hard to predict now.

In general, it's tough to get the medical school prerequisites done while on active duty. If you already have them done (with a high gpa), that helps.




The Post-9/11 GI Bill is very generous.

If you do go to medical school, don't go to USC or Tufts or similarly stupid-expensive places.




Verify what?

That a doctor you talked to got divorced, just like 50%+ of the rest of the non-doctors who get divorced? I don't know the guy. He was probably telling the truth.

That medical school is stressful? Sure. But probably 1/2 my med school class was married, and I'd wager that for most of us, the security and stability of marriage was a positive thing during that time. I can verify that picking the right person to marry is wise. The wisdom of not marrying a psycho hose beast is not something particular to medical students.




Do your time as an officer, excel at it, enjoy life, decide later.

It would be easier to advise you if we knew where you were at in this process. Some questions
1) How old are you?
2) How are you entering the military? A freshman joining ROTC, a plebe at the Academy, a graduating recipient of an ROTC/Academy scholarship, and college graduate going to ODS are all going to get very different career advice.
3) Where are you at in your pathway to become a doctor? Did you take any premedical courses? All of them? any research experience? Any medical volunteering/shadowing? If you're a college graduate was your GPA and how many credits did you take?
4) When you're talking about settling down and raising a family, do you have a family already? Just a wife? Steady girlfriend? Or is this just all theoretical?

On thing I can talk about now is the rate of divorce in medicine. The statistics concerning physician divorce are interesting. Despite what you may think, divorce in general is less prevelant among physicians than other white collar professionals (including dentists and nurses), which in turn is lower than the divorce rates among people who are less educated, marry earlier, or make less. So no, we do not all get divorced Source: http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h706

However its the subgroup analysis that's really interesting. Basically there are 3 scenarios:
1) Doctors who marry doctors: This is a huge chunk physicians, and their divorce rate is one of the lowest of any group in the nation, < 15% based on one survey
2) Male doctors who marry non-doctors: A slightly higher than average divorce rate, but still < 30%.
3) Female doctors who marry non-doctors: A dismally high divorce rate, approaching 50%
So if you can, marry a doctor. If you can't do that, try to be a dude.

There is also the question of whether being a specific KIND of doctor increases the divorce rate. There is some evidence that being a surgeon increases your chance of divorce relative to being an Internist. However there's a real question of whether that's correlation or causation. Source: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/19...vorce-rate-pediatricians-marriage-and-divorce

I'm 22 years old, I'll be 23 in a few months and I'll be going through the Marine Corps Basic School this fall. I just graduated from college in the spring with a degree in criminal justice with a 3.69 GPA with 134 credit hours. I've wanted to be a Marine ever since high school, but I fell in love with the west during college and I would like to become a doctor in a remote area out west. I've shadowed three doctors so far, and just to clarify, the doctor who went back to medical school after working in a research lab told me that if I wanted to be a doctor that I should go for it, but he told me to be absolutely sure that going back to school was worth the time and money since I didn't have a science degree. I only asked about the divorce rate because it's getting pretty serious with my girlfriend and I would like to propose to her sometime in the near future (she's a secretary for a businessman) and I'm just worried that it might be hard on her if I

It would be easier to advise you if we knew where you were at in this process. Some questions
1) How old are you?
2) How are you entering the military? A freshman joining ROTC, a plebe at the Academy, a graduating recipient of an ROTC/Academy scholarship, and college graduate going to ODS are all going to get very different career advice.
3) Where are you at in your pathway to become a doctor? Did you take any premedical courses? All of them? any research experience? Any medical volunteering/shadowing? If you're a college graduate was your GPA and how many credits did you take?
4) When you're talking about settling down and raising a family, do you have a family already? Just a wife? Steady girlfriend? Or is this just all theoretical?

On thing I can talk about now is the rate of divorce in medicine. The statistics concerning physician divorce are interesting. Despite what you may think, divorce in general is less prevelant among physicians than other white collar professionals (including dentists and nurses), which in turn is lower than the divorce rates among people who are less educated, marry earlier, or make less. So no, we do not all get divorced Source: http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h706

However its the subgroup analysis that's really interesting. Basically there are 3 scenarios:
1) Doctors who marry doctors: This is a huge chunk physicians, and their divorce rate is one of the lowest of any group in the nation, < 15% based on one survey
2) Male doctors who marry non-doctors: A slightly higher than average divorce rate, but still < 30%.
3) Female doctors who marry non-doctors: A dismally high divorce rate, approaching 50%
So if you can, marry a doctor. If you can't do that, try to be a dude.

There is also the question of whether being a specific KIND of doctor increases the divorce rate. There is some evidence that being a surgeon increases your chance of divorce relative to being an Internist. However there's a real question of whether that's correlation or causation. Source: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/19...vorce-rate-pediatricians-marriage-and-divorce

I'm 22, and I'll be 23 in a few weeks. I'll be going through the Marine Corps Basic School this fall, and I have a degree in Criminal Justice with a 3.69 GPA and 134 credits. I've wanted to be a Marine ever since high school, and while OCS was both physically and mentally draining, I loved it. But, during college I fell in love with the west, and I would like to be a doctor in a rural area out there. I've shadowed three doctors so far, and just to clarify, the doctor I shadowed told me that if I wanted to be a doctor that I should go for it, but that I should make absolutely sure that that was what I wanted to do since I didn't have a science degree and that it would take a long time, and cost a lot before I started practicing medicine since I was going into the military first. It's gotten pretty serious with my girlfriend and I would like to propose to her sometime in the near future. I would like to become a general practitioner.

 

[HighPriest]

You certainly don't need a science degree to go to medical school. I can't tell you how irritated I was with all of my classmates who majored in history, linguistics, communications, or whatever else - all majors that I found to be dramatically easier than my chemistry degree in terms of pulling down a high GPA. However, you do need to do well on the MCAT, which requires that you buckle down and learn (read: memorize) a lot of science. If you're a poor science student, the MCAT and medical school will be difficult for you. But contrary to popular belief, you can be a good science student and not have majored in science.

If you know for sure that you want to live in a certain area of the world, you should not join the military. If you know for sure that you want to pursue a specific major, you should strongly consider not joining the military for your medical training. If you're thinking Family Med (there are essentially no general practitioners outside of the military any longer - unless you're shadowing someone in their 80s), you'll probably be ok, but there are no guarantees.

Starting late is no big deal. I suppose if you were 50 when you started medical school, the return could be questionable, but if you're thinking 27-28 it is very, very do-able. I speak from experience on this. In terms of family during medical school - many of my colleagues had families - and actually had children - while in medical school. It requires more hardship, it requires more loans, but it is do-able as well. So far as the dicorve rate goes: I personally don't understand why people ask that question. I've been with my wife for 15 years, and I feel that nothing is going to MAKE us get a divorce. Divorce is an internal thing, not something caused by an outside influence. If you marry your girlfriend and your relationship is strong, you'll stay together. If its not, then you'll get divorced. If she puts up with 4 years of Marine training, deployments, and the poverty of enlisted service, then she should do fine with med school.

In terms of affordability: the military will pay for your medical school. If you really enjoy your time in the Corps, then that may be an option for you. If you find yourself chafing on the yoke, then I promse you that you will find another way to pay for medical school. There are plenty of ways to work in rural environments - in the West if you like - while having your educational debts reimbursed. You do not HAVE to do military medicine to pay for your medical school.

Other than that, I agree with what pgg said - it's too early to make a decision. I applaud you for thinking about it at an early stage in the game, but your opinions and outlook on life will change significantly in the intervening years.

 

[pgg]

If I had it to do over again, I'd have majored in something other than biology. I liked biology, but all those upper division bio classes didn't make me a better med student.

An injury delayed my med school app a year, and I spent the extra time doing research, and finishing off English and comp sci minors. That was a more fun time than the year I spent labratting my way through biochem, botany, zoology, o-chem, physics, etc.

 

[TheEarDoc]

You certainly don't need a science degree to go to medical school. I can't tell you how irritated I was with all of my classmates who majored in history, linguistics, communications, or whatever else - all majors that I found to be dramatically easier than my chemistry degree in terms of pulling down a high GPA. However, you do need to do well on the MCAT, which requires that you buckle down and learn (read: memorize) a lot of science. If you're a poor science student, the MCAT and medical school will be difficult for you. But contrary to popular belief, you can be a good science student and not have majored in science.

If you know for sure that you want to live in a certain area of the world, you should not join the military. If you know for sure that you want to pursue a specific major, you should strongly consider not joining the military for your medical training. If you're thinking Family Med (there are essentially no general practitioners outside of the military any longer - unless you're shadowing someone in their 80s), you'll probably be ok, but there are no guarantees.

Starting late is no big deal. I suppose if you were 50 when you started medical school, the return could be questionable, but if you're thinking 27-28 it is very, very do-able. I speak from experience on this. In terms of family during medical school - many of my colleagues had families - and actually had children - while in medical school. It requires more hardship, it requires more loans, but it is do-able as well. So far as the dicorve rate goes: I personally don't understand why people ask that question. I've been with my wife for 15 years, and I feel that nothing is going to MAKE us get a divorce. Divorce is an internal thing, not something caused by an outside influence. If you marry your girlfriend and your relationship is strong, you'll stay together. If its not, then you'll get divorced. If she puts up with 4 years of Marine training, deployments, and the poverty of enlisted service, then she should do fine with med school.

In terms of affordability: the military will pay for your medical school. If you really enjoy your time in the Corps, then that may be an option for you. If you find yourself chafing on the yoke, then I promse you that you will find another way to pay for medical school. There are plenty of ways to work in rural environments - in the West if you like - while having your educational debts reimbursed. You do not HAVE to do military medicine to pay for your medical school.

Other than that, I agree with what pgg said - it's too early to make a decision. I applaud you for thinking about it at an early stage in the game, but your opinions and outlook on life will change significantly in the intervening years.

I agree completely! I had a 4.0 in Psychology, but my Bio pre-med degree pulled my overall GPA down to 3.25. So of course it did not make me competitive for med programs. Had I just been straight Psychology with all my research I did with professors I would have been golden. I wish schools would make a better try of looking at actual majors rather than just the MCAT and GPA.

 

[TheEarDoc]

If I had it to do over again, I'd have majored in something other than biology. I liked biology, but all those upper division bio classes didn't make me a better med student.

An injury delayed my med school app a year, and I spent the extra time doing research, and finishing off English and comp sci minors. That was a more fun time than the year I spent labratting my way through biochem, botany, zoology, o-chem, physics, etc.

Oh and don't get me started on nursing school. People always say how hard nursing school is. I thought nursing school while working full time was a walk in the park compared to pre-med undergrad.

 

[HighPriest]

No doubt. I think majoring in something I found practical and interesting outside of science would have made me happier and more well rounded than just all science all the time.

Then again, beer and pizza makes me well rounded.

 

[pgg]

No doubt. I think majoring in something I found practical and interesting outside of science would have made me happier and more well rounded than just all science all the time.

Then again, beer and pizza makes me well rounded.

One of my college roommates was a viticulture and enology major. We homebrewed beer in the garage before home brewing was hipstery cool. Tasted awful. I assume he got better at it. I coulda done that and still fit in the premed reqs ... but I lacked the sense and insight to do the really important things at that point in my life.

Oh well, youth is wasted on the young, so they say.

 

[Shikima]

UC Davis has a beer brewing degree.....

 

[pgg]

UC Davis has a beer brewing degree.....

That's where I went to school. Thought I was going to be a veterinarian.

 

[Shikima]

East bay for me...