To me it seems that very few kids actualIy go to college planning on podiatric medicine as a career. Rather, it seems a career option that most students seem to stumble upon. I was curious to know:
I'll answer this as though I were a pre-pod, and forget any new information I learned since beginning my graduate education.
Why were you drawn to podiatry?
Like most others, I didn't realized podiatry existed as a different degree from MD/DO until well into my undergraduate education. I love science, I love to learn, and I love to use my hands on a regular basis. I've rebuilt a '69 Olds Cutlass from a ragged machine into a beautiful beast, and enjoy building computers from parts, setting up electronics systems, wiring my house, etc.
Medicine piqued my interest during an experience that isn't widely condoned, so I'll leave it's specifics out. Long story short, I realized that the human body is an immaculate machine, from it's atomic basis all the way to it's interconnected systems and unbelievably complex workings. It's the perfect place for someone who likes complicated systems and doesn't want to work behind a desk. It's great for the creative side of me that doesn't want to see the same things day in and day out (everybody sees /some/ of the same things over and over, but I mean this insomuch as every human body is different), and still wanted to get down and dirty and perfect my craft with my own two hands.
It's more complicated than a combustion engine and more interconnected than even the most advanced computer. Regardless of when I enter the field, I will be standing on the shoulders of giants with still astronomically farther to go to reach a ceiling. It's a beautiful thing, to think I can be at the cutting edge of a field that's constantly changing.
Podiatry in particular would allow me to get what I wanted out of the field of medicine while leaving me with exponentially more time with my family. As a soon-to-be-married undergrad student, this was a big deal to me.
What career options did you consider before?
I changed majors 6 times through my undergraduate tenure, from chemistry to business to psychology to general studies, and finally back to psychology. Psychology was to be my next decision, behind medicine, because I love the abstract nature of human consciousness and the limited studies I did with psychedelics gave me a craving to explore more into their utility. Considering the negative stigma attached and their relatively unresearched potential, getting into the game would have been hard, but the rewards tremendous.
What tipped the scales in favor of podiatry over another option?
Money and time. Being ready to start a family pushed me away from some of my desires to explore consciousness and be realistic about how long I would be in school, the loans it would require, and the eventual financial situation my education would leave me in. Needless to say, when comparing psychology to a medical field, it was an easy choice.
When did you first consider podiatric medicine?
When I read the medical field statistics paper for my university, trying to determine "what are my chances" (as if we don't see that enough here...). I saw podiatry on the paper, explored it, and became enthralled.
Who was most influential in helping you hear about/decide on podiatry?
My future wife. Not in her influencing my decision directly, but by what it would mean to be married and be in the various educations and the impact they would have on my family life. Were I not married, I would have probably not given it a second glace. Cardiology was the field I was most interested in in undergrad, and either that or neurology would have been my eventual goals after obtaining an MD.
Are there many pre-pods at your school?
No, I believe in my school of 50,000+ I was one of maybe 3. That being said, the year before mine sent 3 to my current podiatry program, but I didn't know that until I started attending here.
How have your undergrad studies been as a a pre-pod?
Easy enough. Sciences came naturally to me and my grades were competitive for most any program I would have wanted to do, anywhere. It probably made it a lot easier on me that I was a psychology major and most consider psychology classes to be relatively easy. I know I did.
In the transition between high school and an undergraduate university, I was amazed at the difference between the two, and it made me wonder what I did with all my free time, and wish I'd appreciated it more. Now that I've started podiatry at DMU, I wonder the exact same thing all over again, with an even more intense transition. I found it pretty easy to pull A's in classes and have all the time in the world to party, to watch movies, to have a relationship, to do whatever. That is no longer the case. My time is entirely devoted to my studies with as much left over as I can muster for my wife. I've found that here, it's almost impossible to know everything you can possibly know to guarantee a 100 on an exam, which was a far cry from undergrad. With that understanding, it means if you want to do much outside of study, you'll have to choose how much in the way of GPA you're willing to sacrifice.
What school do you attend? State? Private? CC? Big? Small?
Texas A&M University, a state university with ~50,000 students (undergrad, grad, doctorate)
If you have any other questions, let me know. The semester is winding down and I'm finding it easier and easier to slack off and find other things more interesting to do than study for the last 3 exams...
