A little too ambitious?

[StillAKid]

I'd appreciate any advice. Been researching for sometime so figured I ask for help!

Background:
I'm 34, worked in finance for sometime. Always aspired to be in medince and now ready to take the plunge! Like my current job and the money is good(about $175) but feels like I'm losing my soul!

Didn't do it when I was younger because of finances. I have about $250k in savings and mentally prepared to pour it all in!

I've read the challenges about non-traditional students besides that is the following realistic? Which post bacc, which med schools, linkage program, any advice?

Ideally would like to do something like this:
2018-2019 post bacc +mcat
2019-2022 med school (3 years program-nyu, Wisconsin, Penn , etc)
2022-2025/2026 : residency

2018-2019 post bacc+ mcat
2020-2023 med school (3 years program-nyu, Wisconsin, Penn , etc)
2023-2026/2027 : residency

Update - thanks for the quick replies.

Took the MCAT back in college when I got a 28. (That was 10 years ago) Wasn't a premed student but studied with my ex.

Is it altruistic? I don't know, I want to do it because I want to and something I have always wanted to for a long time. Many of my friends and family are physicians and they all are miserable.
But that doesn't not really bother me much.

In the past 5 years, I've crossed into 6figures salary mark but neither my lifestyle nor my tastes have changed. So not doing this because I think the grass is greener on the other side.

Thinking about quitting my job and go
for the 9-12 month post bacc program.

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[BTC0821]

I'd recommend shadowing a doctor before anything to make sure that its what you really want. There are plenty of other ways to get into medicine without going MD/DO considering the substantial time it will still take you. Have you taken any of the pre-reqs before or will you begin doing so soon? Doing these will take you at least 2.5 years the way I see it unless you take summer and winter courses due to taking gen chem 1 then 2, organic chem 1 then 2, and then at least 1 semester of biochem. Doing so in this order while knocking out the other pre-reqs while you undergo the chemistry background, and then studying for what would be a semester for the MCAT could really be a 3 year track. 3 years of those courses, the MCAT, and racking up ECs is a large order while working a job so that may need to be cut down substantially. 3 years of that, 4 years med school (most places aren't 3 year programs so I believe it would be best to be liberal with how many years it will knowing how the best laid plans go), then at least 3 years of residency puts the total at 10 years of work to start your career at around age 44 assuming everything goes according to plan, potentially as late as 45 or 46. Its obviously your call, just make sure that you are aware of what you're getting yourself into. You could always call med schools about short masters programs affiliated with the med school as a possible in, but they will likely require you to have already done your post-bacc. classes, couldn't hurt to call and ask though. There are plenty of schools who show plenty of love to nontraditional students, its just a matter of making yourself a candidate that they want at this point. Do you by chance recall your GPA from college? Considering the time gap you have, I'm not sure if your grades from back then will have any affect or not.

@Goro is an adcom for DO schools from my understanding and may be an invaluable resource for the journey you may have in your future.

 

[Goro]

I'd appreciate any advice. Been researching for sometime so figured I ask for help!

Background:
I'm 34, worked in finance for sometime. Always aspired to be in medince and now ready to take the plunge! Like my current job and the money is good(about $175) but feels like I'm losing my soul!

Didn't do it when I was younger because of finances. I have about $250k in savings and mentally prepared to pour it all in!

I've read the challenges about non-traditional students besides that is the following realistic? Which post bacc, which med schools, linkage program, any advice?

Ideally would like to do something like this:
2018-2019 post bacc +mcat
2019-2022 med school (3 years program-nyu, Wisconsin, Penn , etc)
2022-2025/2026 : residency

2018-2019 post bacc+ mcat
2020-2023 med school (3 years program-nyu, Wisconsin, Penn , etc)
2023-2026/2027 : residency

You're in a marathon now, not a sprint. This will take longer than your time line.
You need to shadow, have patient contact experience, plus show off your altruism via non-clinical volunteering.

The pre-reqs, taken in a formal post-bac program, for career-changers will take at least two years. Then you need time for dedicated MCAT prep. Plus add in all the extracurriculars that you also need.

Do NOT assume that you will get into the med school you want to go to. Most applicants fail to get any accepts. Of those that do, the majority only get a single accept.
For starters, read everything by the wise @DrMidlife in this forum

 

[DokterMom]

Good advice so far -- I'd like to echo the "start with shadowing" bit for two reasons.

• One: You may think you know what it's like to be a physician, but until you actually step into their shoes for a few days, you really don't. Give yourself that last "are you sure?" chance before you throw away a 'perfectly good' (if soul-sucking) life for a "grass is greener' one.
• Two: Even if you're right about medicine and it's everything you ever dreamed of and more, as a rational fully-adult career-changer, shadowing first is still the most prudent course of action to demonstrate that you're a thoughtful, methodical person and not an impulsive risk-taker.

Then yes, get the coursework and volunteering you need in to set yourself up as a successful applicant. And as has been said - it will be harder and take longer than you think. But don't be in such a rush to cross the finish line that you start the race unprepared.

 

[operaman]

Agree with the shadowing advice above. You’re definitely not alone as I’ve known some other folks who jumped from finance to medicine.

I’m going to put another suggestion out there regarding what I did when in your shoes around the same time of year. Obviously this is not typical advice and comes with some risk but it allowed me to condense the entire pre med and application thing into a single year.

Summary: teach yourself the mcat material this spring. Start formal coursework this summer around the same time you take the mcat. Apply to medical school at the same time. Get accepted before you finish pre reqs. Finish your post back and start med school a couple months later.

So when I made the decision I called the pre med advisor at the small 4 year school near my family and asked to meet. I told him my plan and he thought I was nuts but said he would help me get the necessary overrides to do this thing.

Jan-May: I used iTunes U and Khan Academy to start teaching myself the pre reqs. I also used mcat prep materials to start getting ready for that as well.

Summer: i started with biochem because it was offered in a condensed Maymester course. Did some shadowing and volunteering. Took the mcat. Knocked out gen chem and calculus. Also applied to medical school.

Fall: took pretty aggressive course load: orgo, physics, micro, another upper level bio course I can’t recall. Continued med school apps, volunteering and shadowing, etc.

Spring: similar load. Got accepted to med school in March. Finished all of my crazy out of order courses with a 4.0.

Summer: took some much needed R and R. Moved.

Fall: MS1.

Currently a pgy3 surgical subspeciality resident and still loving it. Two more years to go. All in the process will still end up being 10 years which isn’t really that bad since you are getting paid for half of them. My thought on the time was that those years would pass no matter what I did with my life, so I might as well do what I wanted to do.

Doing the super condensed post bacc thing required both getting overrides from the departments and making sure the schools i applied to would allow applicants who hadn’t completed all the pre reqs. My personal thought was that med school would be even more rigorous so I should be able to handle a full science load like that. Having pre studied most things for the mcat definitely helped. Add in anki and other free online resources and it becomes almost impossible not to get As if you put the time in.

My original plan was to do all of this, retake the mcat and reapply more broadly with all Pre reqs done the following year if I didn’t get in. I put my odds of acceptance the first round at about 50-50 but the costs of applying early were negligible and potential upside very high.

The prudent advice is to take your time as many things could have sunk me along the way: poor grades, Low mcat, etc. However, If you know you can pull something like this off and are willing to risk it, it sure was nice shaving off a year or two from the whole process.

 

[StillAKid]

I'd appreciate any advice. Been researching for sometime so figured I ask for help!

Background:
I'm 34, worked in finance for sometime. Always aspired to be in medince and now ready to take the plunge! Like my current job and the money is good(about $175) but feels like I'm losing my soul!

Didn't do it when I was younger because of finances. I have about $250k in savings and mentally prepared to pour it all in!

I've read the challenges about non-traditional students besides that is the following realistic? Which post bacc, which med schools, linkage program, any advice?

Ideally would like to do something like this:
2018-2019 post bacc +mcat
2019-2022 med school (3 years program-nyu, Wisconsin, Penn , etc)
2022-2025/2026 : residency

2018-2019 post bacc+ mcat
2020-2023 med school (3 years program-nyu, Wisconsin, Penn , etc)
2023-2026/2027 : residency

Agree with the shadowing advice above. You’re definitely not alone as I’ve known some other folks who jumped from finance to medicine.

I’m going to put another suggestion out there regarding what I did when in your shoes around the same time of year. Obviously this is not typical advice and comes with some risk but it allowed me to condense the entire pre med and application thing into a single year.

Summary: teach yourself the mcat material this spring. Start formal coursework this summer around the same time you take the mcat. Apply to medical school at the same time. Get accepted before you finish pre reqs. Finish your post back and start med school a couple months later.

So when I made the decision I called the pre med advisor at the small 4 year school near my family and asked to meet. I told him my plan and he thought I was nuts but said he would help me get the necessary overrides to do this thing.

Jan-May: I used iTunes U and Khan Academy to start teaching myself the pre reqs. I also used mcat prep materials to start getting ready for that as well.

Summer: i started with biochem because it was offered in a condensed Maymester course. Did some shadowing and volunteering. Took the mcat. Knocked out gen chem and calculus. Also applied to medical school.

Fall: took pretty aggressive course load: orgo, physics, micro, another upper level bio course I can’t recall. Continued med school apps, volunteering and shadowing, etc.

Spring: similar load. Got accepted to med school in March. Finished all of my crazy out of order courses with a 4.0.

Summer: took some much needed R and R. Moved.

Fall: MS1.

Currently a pgy3 surgical subspeciality resident and still loving it. Two more years to go. All in the process will still end up being 10 years which isn’t really that bad since you are getting paid for half of them. My thought on the time was that those years would pass no matter what I did with my life, so I might as well do what I wanted to do.

Doing the super condensed post bacc thing required both getting overrides from the departments and making sure the schools i applied to would allow applicants who hadn’t completed all the pre reqs. My personal thought was that med school would be even more rigorous so I should be able to handle a full science load like that. Having pre studied most things for the mcat definitely helped. Add in anki and other free online resources and it becomes almost impossible not to get As if you put the time in.

My original plan was to do all of this, retake the mcat and reapply more broadly with all Pre reqs done the following year if I didn’t get in. I put my odds of acceptance the first round at about 50-50 but the costs of applying early were negligible and potential upside very high.

The prudent advice is to take your time as many things could have sunk me along the way: poor grades, Low mcat, etc. However, If you know you can pull something like this off and are willing to risk it, it sure was nice shaving off a year or two from the whole process.

Agree with the shadowing advice above. You’re definitely not alone as I’ve known some other folks who jumped from finance to medicine.

I’m going to put another suggestion out there regarding what I did when in your shoes around the same time of year. Obviously this is not typical advice and comes with some risk but it allowed me to condense the entire pre med and application thing into a single year.

Summary: teach yourself the mcat material this spring. Start formal coursework this summer around the same time you take the mcat. Apply to medical school at the same time. Get accepted before you finish pre reqs. Finish your post back and start med school a couple months later.

So when I made the decision I called the pre med advisor at the small 4 year school near my family and asked to meet. I told him my plan and he thought I was nuts but said he would help me get the necessary overrides to do this thing.

Jan-May: I used iTunes U and Khan Academy to start teaching myself the pre reqs. I also used mcat prep materials to start getting ready for that as well.

Summer: i started with biochem because it was offered in a condensed Maymester course. Did some shadowing and volunteering. Took the mcat. Knocked out gen chem and calculus. Also applied to medical school.

Fall: took pretty aggressive course load: orgo, physics, micro, another upper level bio course I can’t recall. Continued med school apps, volunteering and shadowing, etc.

Spring: similar load. Got accepted to med school in March. Finished all of my crazy out of order courses with a 4.0.

Summer: took some much needed R and R. Moved.

Fall: MS1.

Currently a pgy3 surgical subspeciality resident and still loving it. Two more years to go. All in the process will still end up being 10 years which isn’t really that bad since you are getting paid for half of them. My thought on the time was that those years would pass no matter what I did with my life, so I might as well do what I wanted to do.

Doing the super condensed post bacc thing required both getting overrides from the departments and making sure the schools i applied to would allow applicants who hadn’t completed all the pre reqs. My personal thought was that med school would be even more rigorous so I should be able to handle a full science load like that. Having pre studied most things for the mcat definitely helped. Add in anki and other free online resources and it becomes almost impossible not to get As if you put the time in.

My original plan was to do all of this, retake the mcat and reapply more broadly with all Pre reqs done the following year if I didn’t get in. I put my odds of acceptance the first round at about 50-50 but the costs of applying early were negligible and potential upside very high.

The prudent advice is to take your time as many things could have sunk me along the way: poor grades, Low mcat, etc. However, If you know you can pull something like this off and are willing to risk it, it sure was nice shaving off a year or two from the whole process.

Thanks! Appreciate all the sobering and encouraging comments. Physics and General Chem comes easy to me. I haven't touched orgo and Bio in a long time.

One comment here about 'grass is greener' got me to think harder- I'll be quitting my job and forgoing $175 which sounds crazy to most. But I'm convinced that doing what I'm doing to make some hedgefund manager richer isn't what I want to do forever!

The intersection of technology and medicine what excites me the most. But I don't have the skillset or the street cred to enter that field. I feel like going to med school , relearning the basics and building some creditability is the right thing.
Pros:
1)I learn and maybe do something meaningful with life.
2) get to be a kid again

CONS:
-Give up salary and having a family (or at least delay it)
-opportunity cost: $175*12 years= $2.1m plus debt

 

[coppernickel]

intersection of technology and medicine what excites me the most.

Tell us more about this statement! What type of tech?

 

[Blanky]

Add a year to those prereqs and add another for med school.