I have a unique situation. I am in my early 30s and looking to change my current career. I am successfully employed in the field of Finance and hold a bachelors in Business Management and a MBA in Finance and Accounting. I am on a path to a successful career in the field, but am realizing that its not satisfactory and not meeting my long term personal and spiritual goals. I have always been interested in Psychiatry and even majored in Psychology for a period of time in college. Taking on Psychiatry at that time meant moving out of state which I couldn't for various reasons. To make the long story short, I have always been interested in that field, what fascinates me is the way the brain works and I love interacting with people and working through various problems/issues. I know I am interested in the field for all the right reasons which are helping people and doing research on the human mind...unlike my previous choice of financial stability that led me in the direction it did. I realize it seems very strange after investing 10 years into the Finance field/education and licensing, I am now thinking of throwing a lot of it away and starting all over. I've done some research online and it seems like I will need to go back to get a bachelors in some sort of a related field and then 4 years of Medical School, residency etc. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking your time to read this!
A new start
- Thread starter tashadf
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You don't have to get another bachelors. You can do a career changer's post-bac where you take all med school pre-requisites in one year and then take the MCAT. Long story short, medical exposure, community service/volunteering, and research are things that you will need to do some combination of as well.
Your situation seems to not be terribly uncommon. You will get a lot of help on the Non-traditional Applicants board or in the Pre MD or DO boards. This board is mainly for practicing psychiatrists, psych residents, and those a little further along with the process. I just read it cuz it's interesting 🙂
Good luck!
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Your situation is far from unique. Every med school has a good number of career changers, some more than others.
I worry about where you are doing your research.
You can apply to med school with any undergrad degree. In fact, statistically, non-science majors used to have a higher acceptance percentage (this data is 3 years old).
As not so calm now mentioned, you need to do your pre-reqs, but lots of post-bac programs exist. If you go to night school for a year and do your chemistry requirement, you can then do a one year post-bac to satisfy the rest.
(doing one year of part-time classes is a wise move anyway. At any given in post-bac program, there are always some students that realize they want to be doctors but really hate science and aren't very good at it)
Check out the Non-traditional forum here, and if you're post-bac inclined, there's one for post-bacs too. Read the FAQs then post any questions you might have there. Best of luck!
First, have you ever seen an inpatient psych ward? Ever spent time with the severely mentally ill? You might want to before you commit to something.
I was a career changer in my late twenties. Some good career changer post-bac programs are at Bryn Mawr and Goucher College.
These programs both will allow you to start next June, complete your pre-req's in 1 year, and be immediately enrolled in a medical school the following year. Some of their medical school consorts will even accept you without the MCAT, others require a bare-minimum score (29 a few years back). If you started next June, you could be in the class of 2015. They might even have spots open starting in Sept 2009. You could contact them and find out. You could be in the class of 2014 if you could start in Sept (I could be wrong about this).
These programs cater to people in your situation.
But buyer beware! They come at a steep price themselves, and the medical schools that they link to are themselves among the most expensive private schools. I did one of these programs and I have over 250K in debt growing at 6% interest (probably higher for you (7-8.5% these days as some of my debt is from the pre-2006 low interest rate days).
In truth, if I could do it all over again, I wouldn't. It's been really difficult to move all over the country, medicine is rewarding but not as much as I'd hoped, and I'm looking at so much debt that I won't really be that well-set financially when I'm done. I'm also only an MS4 and might feel differently in 10 years when my debt's been paid off some, and when I've actually been given some more responsibility.
But I might also feel differently if I had gone to my state post-bac, tried to go in-state for medical school, and used that extra-year during the application period to get research experience. Since psychiatry isn't competitive for an American Grad (1.45 residency spots per applicant), I should have gotten a research job in radiology/ophthalmology/dermatology or something just to broaden my horizons and keep that door open.
PM me if you have more specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
Good Luck!
I was a career changer in my late twenties. Some good career changer post-bac programs are at Bryn Mawr and Goucher College.
These programs both will allow you to start next June, complete your pre-req's in 1 year, and be immediately enrolled in a medical school the following year. Some of their medical school consorts will even accept you without the MCAT, others require a bare-minimum score (29 a few years back). If you started next June, you could be in the class of 2015. They might even have spots open starting in Sept 2009. You could contact them and find out. You could be in the class of 2014 if you could start in Sept (I could be wrong about this).
These programs cater to people in your situation.
But buyer beware! They come at a steep price themselves, and the medical schools that they link to are themselves among the most expensive private schools. I did one of these programs and I have over 250K in debt growing at 6% interest (probably higher for you (7-8.5% these days as some of my debt is from the pre-2006 low interest rate days).
In truth, if I could do it all over again, I wouldn't. It's been really difficult to move all over the country, medicine is rewarding but not as much as I'd hoped, and I'm looking at so much debt that I won't really be that well-set financially when I'm done. I'm also only an MS4 and might feel differently in 10 years when my debt's been paid off some, and when I've actually been given some more responsibility.
But I might also feel differently if I had gone to my state post-bac, tried to go in-state for medical school, and used that extra-year during the application period to get research experience. Since psychiatry isn't competitive for an American Grad (1.45 residency spots per applicant), I should have gotten a research job in radiology/ophthalmology/dermatology or something just to broaden my horizons and keep that door open.
PM me if you have more specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
Good Luck!
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I was in a similar situation, although my first career was science-oriented. I went right to grad school after my getting my BA and completed a PhD in biological psychology. In the middle of my post-doc I was like, F*** this, and decided to go to med school. It wasn't really a random decision, I had always flirted with the idea. I just figured it was smarter to finish the PhD rather than abandon the program in the middle if it. The post-doc sucked big time, and I didn't feel like slicing 10um sections of rat brains for the rest of my life.
I entered Rutgers post-bacc program and finished within the year. They linked me with one of the med schools in NJ and it was basically an automatic acceptance as long as you scored well on the MCAT and did well in the post-bacc classes.
Some things I will say that I didn't really understand before entering med school. As a semi-older student (I entered when I was 29), I was not prepared for how much studying and work this would take, and the toll it would take on me mentally and physically. It really sucks the life out of you. And in your situation, after having worked for many years in the real world, you will find yourself in a situation where you have to kiss everyone's butt from the nurses on up for years. I'm just finishing third year, and getting ready to apply for residency this summer. I really can't wait until school is done, but residency looks even more miserable at times. It is a long road with a lot of sacrifice. So you have to REALLY want this. That is the main thing you need to think about. How much do you want it?
I'm not trying to be super negative, it's just that things can look a lot easier than they seem from the outside looking in.
I entered Rutgers post-bacc program and finished within the year. They linked me with one of the med schools in NJ and it was basically an automatic acceptance as long as you scored well on the MCAT and did well in the post-bacc classes.
Some things I will say that I didn't really understand before entering med school. As a semi-older student (I entered when I was 29), I was not prepared for how much studying and work this would take, and the toll it would take on me mentally and physically. It really sucks the life out of you. And in your situation, after having worked for many years in the real world, you will find yourself in a situation where you have to kiss everyone's butt from the nurses on up for years. I'm just finishing third year, and getting ready to apply for residency this summer. I really can't wait until school is done, but residency looks even more miserable at times. It is a long road with a lot of sacrifice. So you have to REALLY want this. That is the main thing you need to think about. How much do you want it?
I'm not trying to be super negative, it's just that things can look a lot easier than they seem from the outside looking in.
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You don't need a whole new bachelor's degree, but a business degree might not seem terribly academic to some people, and depending on your undergrad GPA, you might need more than just the bare bones post-bacc type preparation. I do not honestly know. I did my own post-bacc at a state university and loved it. If you do not have a science background I do not see how you can finish everything in one year. Some med schools require psychology (which you've done) and some require English too.
You should be open to more than just psychiatry if you're going to med school.
Some people will kill me for saying this but I think 30s would be tough to start post bacc. The reasons generally given I think are bogus (such as not having the energy to do the studying, overnight calls, etc.) What bugs ME is having a lower level of responsibility than I would like to have at this stage. Just a thing to think about. If you are determined you can do it!
People are right that other forums will have more info.
You should be open to more than just psychiatry if you're going to med school.
Some people will kill me for saying this but I think 30s would be tough to start post bacc. The reasons generally given I think are bogus (such as not having the energy to do the studying, overnight calls, etc.) What bugs ME is having a lower level of responsibility than I would like to have at this stage. Just a thing to think about. If you are determined you can do it!
People are right that other forums will have more info.
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tashadf-
The programs BobA mentions are great ones. You'll see a list of about 10 prominent ones on the postbac forum too.
But please keep in mind that folks on the SDN postbac and pre-allo forums (this isn't you, BobA) are often overachieving types, many of whom come into the game with a lot of cash. You'll hear a lot of snobbery about going to a top name postbac.
It's really not necessary. Some programs have linkages and all sorts of whistles and bells, but you can take the prereq classes at any four years school and no one will turn their nose up at them. Do not spend an additional $50-70K for the sake of a "name" postbac unless you have a very compelling reason.
I agree with this rec 100%
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Right on. I would personally avoid dedicated programs, but that's just me. Top state universities are cheaper and have excellent science courses. I took the classes for the majors in each department and loved that part of my education more than any other before or since and did well in the med school application process. It's up to you.
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Disclosure:
I should probably mention that I actually ended up doing my postbac at Mills College, which is one of the overpriced Bryn Mawr/Goucher College type programs on the west coast. I'm happy with my choice and had some reasons for doing it how I did, but could have saved $30K by attending a state program in the area and probably had the same acceptances. So I should qualify my post as a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of thing.
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I started as a farmer, then in college for Ag Economics and a Masters in Resource Economics. Not that much science involved. It wasn't till I was 35 that I changed, did chemistry summer school and then organic chemistry, biology and physics semesters rest of the year, took MCAT in the spring, and then moved. Big mistake as it set me back a year, but hey, I got really good at setting up drywall 🙂
So I still entered medical school at 37, and am now enjoying what I do immensely. Should still have a few good years left in me.😀
So nothing you are thinking about is impossible. Or (as Not So Calm said) especially atypical.
So I still entered medical school at 37, and am now enjoying what I do immensely. Should still have a few good years left in me.😀
So nothing you are thinking about is impossible. Or (as Not So Calm said) especially atypical.
