Physical Therapy or MD/DO?

[NYCDancer]

Hi All,
I am new to the forum. I posted this for the PT Forum, but wanted to hear from the MD/DO folks as well. I figure, you'll have a differing point of view about all this. So here goes....I was a dancer for many years professionally. Danced with three great choreographers, and am now returned to school. Doing a postbac premed cert at a very competitive school and doing well. 3.55 GPA. I'm older (47). I wanted to finish dancing before pursuing another career; our careers end around 42. I became a rehearsal director, then a choreographer, then a professor, but felt as though I wanted more, didn't want to deal with the nonsense of raising money for dance in this country with no government support; didn't like the small-minded, lackadaisical approach to tenure...etc....and deep down I felt that I could make a more profound difference. So, I am thinking about the DPT, working with athletes, saving dancers from too early a retirement due to injury... but to tell the truth, I'm concerned about the debt-to-income situation after DPT school. I don't have a lot of years to pay off school debt making $70,000/year, which is apparently what a DPT makes straight out of school. Some even make less. I also secretly want to be a doctor, but I am nervous that they will just laugh at my application due to my age. Also, I'm worried about fatigue and the 7 additional years of med school and residency that awaits once I finish this premed cert. Also, there is a real fear of not getting into a residency. So many much younger doctors are having trouble with that. Physiatry sounds fascinating though, and if I were younger I would not hesitate. Anyone care to weigh in on my dilemma?
Thanks much!

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[BillrothI]

Working as a PT is pretty taxing on your body. Medical school and residency might be rough, but it is plausible that you will be able to practice well into your 70s after you make it through training. PT, on the other hand, will be physically demanding throughout your career.

I would suggest you spend some time shadowing MDs and PTs before making your decision.

Good luck!

-Bill

 

[Catalystik]

Hi All,
I am new to the forum. I posted this for the PT Forum, but wanted to hear from the MD/DO folks as well. I figure, you'll have a differing point of view about all this. So here goes....I was a dancer for many years professionally. Danced with three great choreographers, and am now returned to school. Doing a postbac premed cert at a very competitive school and doing well. 3.55 GPA. I'm older (47). I wanted to finish dancing before pursuing another career; our careers end around 42. I became a rehearsal director, then a choreographer, then a professor, but felt as though I wanted more, didn't want to deal with the nonsense of raising money for dance in this country with no government support; didn't like the small-minded, lackadaisical approach to tenure...etc....and deep down I felt that I could make a more profound difference. So, I am thinking about the DPT, working with athletes, saving dancers from too early a retirement due to injury... but to tell the truth, I'm concerned about the debt-to-income situation after DPT school. I don't have a lot of years to pay off school debt making $70,000/year, which is apparently what a DPT makes straight out of school. Some even make less. I also secretly want to be a doctor, but I am nervous that they will just laugh at my application due to my age. Also, I'm worried about fatigue and the 7 additional years of med school and residency that awaits once I finish this premed cert. Also, there is a real fear of not getting into a residency. So many much younger doctors are having trouble with that. Physiatry sounds fascinating though, and if I were younger I would not hesitate. Anyone care to weigh in on my dilemma?
Thanks much!

I have a colleague who entered med school in his fifties and finished residency in his early sixties. DO, even MD potentially, aren't impossible goals for you, though we don't yet have enough information about your application to "chance" you just yet. Med schools like to add diverse elements to their classes, and you have a double header going for you so far. And physiatry seems like a reasonable goal for someone with your background.

You might look for posts by @DrMidlife , a 40-something y/o now in med school, who hangs out in the Nontraditional Forum and elsewhere, and gives good advice.

 

[NYCDancer]

Thank you Bil and Catalystik,

I am leaning toward the MD/DO to tell the truth. It's just one more year of school, and then residency, which though difficult sounds totally interesting, and I will get paid instead of occurring more debt. Or at least, that's my perception of it. I also have a feeling that if I lean toward physiatry, which is what I want to do, the residency won't be as taxing as say internal medicine. Right?

A question for Catalystik, when you say you don't have enough info, what exactly are you looking for? Perhaps I need to be clearer so that you might better be able to give more advice?

 

[Catalystik]

A question for Catalystik, when you say you don't have enough info, what exactly are you looking for? Perhaps I need to be clearer so that you might better be able to give more advice?

Some things you know, like undergrad cGPA and BCPM GPA/sGPA from undergrad, but haven't shared. Hard to believe, but grades from that long ago will be taken into account. You don't have an MCAT score, or postbac GPA, both of which are part of the decision-making process, too. And we don't know what classes you're lacking or plan to take You haven't brought up all relevant activities, which may be part of your past or which you will engage in prior to applying. We do know you have Teaching, Artistic Endeavors, and Leadership covered, from what you said, but not about active clinical experience and physician shadowing. Or research, which I doubt you will bring to the table. Or about volunteer activities/community service/humanistic involvement.