A little advice, please

[MisterVeil]

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My story: Took the MCAT after my sophomore year in August 2008 and did very well. I am now a senior. Originally my plan was to apply this coming cycle in the summer after graduation and take a year off.

The dilemma is that I've only recently begun questioning my commitment to medicine. I feel like there's a whole world of careers and opportunities out there that I never took the time to explore, and while I've always loved medicine, I have started to re-evaluate whether it is really the right choice for me.

But if I choose to take some more time off in between, my MCAT will no longer be valid and I will have to retake. I feel that med school is not something I should jump into unless I'm absolutely certain; at the same time, I don't know if my desire to explore other careers is just a case of cold feet, or if it will lead me back to medicine after all. And I really don't want to retake my relatively high MCAT if I don't have to.

While my decision obviously won't be based entirely on what other people have to say, some advice and outside opinions would be great right now.

 

[golfman]

It's always good to make sure you really want to do it, because it is a big sacrifice. If I were in your shoes, I would definitely apply before your MCAT score runs out, unless you don't mind the stress of taking it again and possibly doing worse. Also, when you apply people might want to know what took you so long to apply and they may question your commitment (although I doubt that last part).


If I were you, I would apply, get accepted, and then defer a year if you want to. I have quite a few friends that got accepted and then decided they wanted to wait a year, and they just deferred, partied for a year, and then started med school. In your case, you may not want to party, but you could explore other options in that time frame. The only downside is that if you decide not to go back after that year you take off, it may be pretty hard to get another acceptance somewhere (I don't think med schools like it when people turn down acceptances and then reapply later).

Best of luck. In sum, I would apply, and then defer a year to think about it if you are still concerned.

 

[Practitioner]

If you did well enough on the MCAT and are confident consider taking it late in your senior year. That'll give you another three years while you explore everything else. Either way (whether you come back to medicine or decide on something else) you'll probably look back and be glad for the time off, like most people are who take that time.

I had a similar situation (took MCAT fresh and soph years), only by the time I was graduating (one semester late) I needed more experience to improve my competitiveness with sub-avg stats. I also needed time off to sort myself out. Anyways, I repeated the MCAT a year after graduating so things weren't rushed again, but I made the mistake of taking it too late in the application cycle. I don't regret it though, I've learned a lot and picked up a ton of "people skills" in the process, met great people, traveled all over the place, and picked up a couple new hobbies.

If you're not confident about retaking the MCAT, golfman's advise sounded really good too.

 

[MisterVeil]

Thanks for the help.

The only issue I might have with deferral is that not all schools would grant a deferral. Or are most schools relatively open to the idea?

 

[crystalgreen]

i think u should apply using ur "good scores" now to get in and once accepted, u can always defer a couple of years b4 matriculation if you wanto explore other fields...cuz if u dont apply now and decide later u still wanna do medicine after ur mcat score has expired, then u run the risk of not scoring as well the second time...and even if u do, ur adding extra stress to urself cuz u have to prepare all over again.

 

[mvenus929]

I started questioning becoming an MD after I got rejected the first time. I took a year off to address weaknesses in my application and also pursued other routes. I got a job as a phlebotomist, and spent time getting to know what other people in the hospital did. I got accepted to the med tech internship at my hospital, but after a couple months, I decided that I liked the patient interaction and problem solving aspects of being a doctor more than I liked the duties of the other health care workers. It was the best decision I ever made.

 

[cpants]

What doubts are you having? It depends how unsure you are, but with a good MCAT score which will be expiring, I would apply now. You will have all of next year to explore other career options and possibly a year after that in deferral. I certainly wouldn't go to med school if you aren't sure about it, but you have 1-2 years ahead of you to try other things. I worked for a year after college, and it definitely confirmed my choice of medicine. If you are really leaning toward another career, then it is ok to wait and retake the MCAT if you change your mind.

 

[MisterVeil]

What doubts are you having?

A lot of it can be summed up into 4 aspects:
1) Will not have a lot of time as a physician, and I'd like to have time for my hobbies (hiking, music, exercise, reading) and also eventually starting a family.
2) The feeling of being tethered to medicine. After all, once I start medical school, I am essentially signing away the next 7+ years of my life. This especially concerns me because recently I've grown to hate classes, studying, and school... and I honestly don't know whether a year or two away from it all will change that.
3) Knowing that there may have been other potential career paths that I never explored (looking back and wondering what could have been)... although I guess this could go both ways.
4) Declining satisfaction and reimbursement; decreasing physician autonomy, lower pay for more work, midlevels encroaching on physician scope of practice, etc.

At the same time, there are a lot of rewards in medicine that I've always longed for. I know that, if it weren't for some of these cons, I'd choose medicine in a heartbeat. I just don't know anymore if the upsides outweigh the down.

 

[Excelsius]

My story: Took the MCAT after my sophomore year in August 2008 and did very well. I am now a senior. Originally my plan was to apply this coming cycle in the summer after graduation and take a year off.

The dilemma is that I've only recently begun questioning my commitment to medicine. I feel like there's a whole world of careers and opportunities out there that I never took the time to explore, and while I've always loved medicine, I have started to re-evaluate whether it is really the right choice for me.

But if I choose to take some more time off in between, my MCAT will no longer be valid and I will have to retake. I feel that med school is not something I should jump into unless I'm absolutely certain; at the same time, I don't know if my desire to explore other careers is just a case of cold feet, or if it will lead me back to medicine after all. And I really don't want to retake my relatively high MCAT if I don't have to.

While my decision obviously won't be based entirely on what other people have to say, some advice and outside opinions would be great right now.

You actually don't have a huge dilemma. Look at it this way - would you rather get into debt over $200K before you realize that medicine is not right for you or allow some test to expire? If you were getting into a PhD program, I'd say it's ok to go for it and try, even if not ideal. But you absolutely cannot do this with medicine. Once you get into medical school, you're in the field for life because your debt will never allow you to have many other choices. This is why it is of paramount importance that you find out whether this is the right field for you or not. A friend of mine recently decided to quit her PhD, get a masters in one more semester, and start work in a month - she felt she didn't like her PhD enough. I thought the decision would have devastating consequences for her until I found out that she had no debt - PhD is free and her undergrad was free as well. Medical schools are far more different and you won't have this luxury, so make sure you take your time to decide.

As for the MCAT, again, it is not a dilemma. If you did well on your MCAT, you can always do well again or even better the second time around. The material barely changes once a decade, and even then it is not significant.