Am I nuts? Career changes...

[craigerct]

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Is there anyone else out there making a major career change? Does it scare the living crap out of anyone else?

I'm 26, graduated with a B.S. in Econ and an M.A. in International Affairs and currently working for a business consulting company in New York City. During this past year, I decided to pursue a lifelong interest in medicine and apply to post-bac programs. I'm still not sure why I didn't pursue medicine/science in college, but after two years doing accounting/business consulting I realize I want to switch careers.

Anyway, I'm still waiting to hear from a few post-bac programs and wanted to know if anyone else is making a similar career change.

Thanks!

Craiger

 

[beanbean]

There are plenty of people who who changed careers in my med school class. There were people with a wide variety of backgrounds in my post-bacc class (finance, business, IT, education, engineering). Having experience in another area can be a real asset. For example, business, accounting or finance experience is very helpful when running a private practice.

 

[humuhumu]

Is there anyone else out there making a major career change? Does it scare the living crap out of anyone else?

I'm 26, graduated with a B.S. in Econ and an M.A. in International Affairs and currently working for a business consulting company in New York City. During this past year, I decided to pursue a lifelong interest in medicine and apply to post-bac programs. I'm still not sure why I didn't pursue medicine/science in college, but after two years doing accounting/business consulting I realize I want to switch careers.

Anyway, I'm still waiting to hear from a few post-bac programs and wanted to know if anyone else is making a similar career change.

Thanks!

Craiger

I'm nuts too. I actually like my job and the pay is good. I just want something bigger and better.

 

[fateema368]

Well, just see how it goes, the postbac may not necessarily lead to an MD-but if your not happy, then all that's left is to make changes. So really, it couldn't happen any other way.

 

[jeravi]

hey craigerct, what programs are you waiting to hear from- i am also waiting to hear from 3 programs, gtown, RF and miami. What about you?

Is there anyone else out there making a major career change? Does it scare the living crap out of anyone else?

I'm 26, graduated with a B.S. in Econ and an M.A. in International Affairs and currently working for a business consulting company in New York City. During this past year, I decided to pursue a lifelong interest in medicine and apply to post-bac programs. I'm still not sure why I didn't pursue medicine/science in college, but after two years doing accounting/business consulting I realize I want to switch careers.

Anyway, I'm still waiting to hear from a few post-bac programs and wanted to know if anyone else is making a similar career change.

Thanks!

Craiger

 

[myg]

Hi ....

You are not alone !! I am 28, married, been working in IT Consulting for about 5 years, and am planning on quitting my very decent paying job and starting @ RFU AP next month. I too had a lifelong interest in medicine, but the boom of the late 90s made consulting seemed like a much more lucrative idea at the time.

Having recently gotten married, I am so scared of making this change. I am giving up a decent career for a big unknown. It's not like i am going to med school this year, the ap program just gives u a decent shot at med school next year.

I have always supported myself and now that i have a wife, I am worried about our finances. My only purpose in life right now is to succeed in the AP program so I can get into RFU for the following year. Luckily, I have a very supportive wife and family that is behind me. Every now and then, it helps to hear some encouragement that you are not making a big mistake.

MYG

MYG

Is there anyone else out there making a major career change? Does it scare the living crap out of anyone else?

I'm 26, graduated with a B.S. in Econ and an M.A. in International Affairs and currently working for a business consulting company in New York City. During this past year, I decided to pursue a lifelong interest in medicine and apply to post-bac programs. I'm still not sure why I didn't pursue medicine/science in college, but after two years doing accounting/business consulting I realize I want to switch careers.

Anyway, I'm still waiting to hear from a few post-bac programs and wanted to know if anyone else is making a similar career change.

Thanks!

Craiger

 

[angietron3000]

i'm glad i'm not the only one who feels insane at times! i left a good paying (but totally unfulfilling) job to study for the mcat and volunteer in a research clinic. they eventually hired me on with a pretty meager salary.. i'm really hoping that it pays off in the long run!

 

[Deanmonster]

You're definitely not the only one. I left a well paying engineering job to do Post-Bac on my own and am applying this summer. I still think it's the right decision but I'll tell you what... I miss the paycheck!!

 

[Jack1919]

Me too...Spent last four years in working the legal arena. . . Now volunteering and beginning pre-req's. Good luck, you're not alone...

 

[craigerct]

Thanks everyone for posting so many responses. It's great to know that there are others out there who made a similar change.

I'm waiting to hear from UConn and Gtown. I live in Connecticut and UConn is my top choice. Apparently they're making decisions on June 20 and will notify shortly thereafter.

The scary part about this is that I'm the son of two doctors, and I have two Uncles and an Aunt who are also doctors. Why didn't I see the light earlier? Probably because I wanted Wall Street to "show me the money" when I graduated from college. Oh well!

 

[Febrifuge]

Anyway, I'm still waiting to hear from a few post-bac programs and wanted to know if anyone else is making a similar career change.

I left my job of 7 years at the end of May to move out to a postbac in New England. We started a week ago, and have done three chapters' worth of chemistry already. Last night some of us played wiffle-ball from midnight to 2am on the lawn.

If you have 'seen the light,' then you should be okay with remembering why you're making this change, and you'll be able to stay focused. If you learned out there in the "real" world how to work hard and play hard, postbac is completely do-able. Good luck!

 

[TiggidyTooth]

I am leaving my job as a commercial real estate sales agent where I was recieving a great income so it is something I certainly struggle with. Going into debt, and living like a student for the next 5 years does not sound too appealing. But it is a dream and I am a dream chaser so I'm sure it will be worth it!

Tooth

 

[blankguy]

I am leaving my job as a commercial real estate sales agent where I was recieving a great income so it is something I certainly struggle with. Going into debt, and living like a student for the next 5 years does not sound too appealing. But it is a dream and I am a dream chaser so I'm sure it will be worth it!

Tooth

But look on it on the brightside. There are a lot of people in this world who look back at their student days fondly, that is before the reality of having to earn a living set in.

 

[SaeWhat]

I am in the same situation as many of yall. I have a good job but want to chase a dream. I have a 3.302 GPA with 152 credit hours. Is this too low to take a chance? A PBPM program will only give me around 32 credit hours and even if I have a 4.0 when i finish, it will only raise my gpa to around a 3.4. With that gpa - what would I need to make on the MCAT to have a realistic chance? What GPAs are everybody else dealing with?

 

[blee]

I barely graduated (some would say, "thank-the-laude") from an Ivy League university in '99 and worked in IT for five years afterwards. I quit in May of last year and re-took my pre-req classes in 12 months. I took the MCAT last April and my AMCAS was submitted 6/1. Currently waiting for secondaries.

So, no, you're not crazy. Either that, or all of us are crazy. 😀 I quit my job because the comfortable lifestyle that I was earning could not make up in any way for the crap nature of the actual work. I could not get past the frustrations and spiritual limitations of my career, so I bailed.

 

[barasch]

For what it's worth, I hear that a great number of medical students are now like us "non-traditional"

I'm leaving a 9 year career as a computer programmer/analyst and moving my family to Philadelphia so I can do the Bryn Mawr Postbac program this fall.

good luck to everyone.

 

[TheSecret]

So I'm at second stage lunacy...

I had a lucrative enough software development career that I finished my undergrad degree part-time so I could make some money. For 5 years I built software for telecommunications companies, and really enjoyed the lifestyle it allowed me, rolling in six-figures in my early twenties.

So then feeling like my career was lacking in social importance, I left IT to become a New York City Teaching Fellow, and have been teaching high school math for the past two years. Let me tell you, that is one of the toughest, most frustrating, and most fulfilling jobs you can have. Doesn't pay quite as well though.

Somewhere along the way I figured out that I really need to be a physician. I knew this in college, but I didn't have the grades or the drive to get there. As of this fall, though, I'll be at the Columbia postbacc program, living like an undergrad again as I turn 30 in November. Am I scared? Hell yeah, I'm scared $h!tless!! Spending thousands upon thousands of dollars just to be able to apply to med school...it's really a mind boggling thought.

It's nice to see some others in the asylum here with me, though.

 

[DaveinDallas]

No, you're not insane. I left 18 years of s/w engineering for defense/telecomm to work 2 (sometimes 3) part time jobs while doing the prereq/MCAT thing. After two years, help from friends and a lot of Divine intervention, I've been accepted at my first choice of schools. I'm over 35 with a family. You'll make it....

 

[RogueRules]

As everyone has already said - you are most definitely not nuts and also not at all alone in making a career change. I graduated undergrad in '95, worked for 7 years in IT consulting before going back to do my post-bacc work when I was 29. I did my studies at Hunter (MUCH cheaper than Columbia) and had a most amazing experience there. I have to say that the happiest time of my adult life was during my post-bacc years. I certainly had been TERRIFIED to quit a very successful and well-paying career, but the minute I actually quit and started school, I knew I had made the right decision. I was SO much happier learning again and being on a track that for the first time felt 'right'. I am now at an Ivy med school, just finished my first year and continue to be very happy that I made the choice I did.

So, absolutely - go for it. And don't ever wonder why you didn't do it earlier. I had thought about it earlier, but just wasn't ready. I'm now in a position to enjoy it in a way that I would never have done when I was younger (and, well, more immature 🙂 ) The time is right for you now, it seems, so don't look back and just look forward to pursuing that which you really want to do!

Best of luck!

 

[r_salis]

Be sure to check out the SDN non-trad forum for more discussion about being a non-traditional student: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=110

Also oldpremeds.org -- http://www.oldpremeds.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php -- which is a partner site with SDN.

 

[Learfan]

One more candidate for the asylum here. I will be leaving a $100K plus position in about 7 weeks to start med school at a very shall I say senior age for a soon to be student again. I currently work a research position for a major oil, refining and chemical company. Over the years, I have worked in chemical process research, new product development, sales, been an internal entrepreneur and worked as a researcher on the oil side of the house. I have been bored for years and utterly fustrated with the wasteful stupid behavior of most of those appointed to management. In the business area of the company, most people do not have the sense to pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel. The technical projects do not work. I have wasted too much of my life on this worthless company. The only thing I will miss is the money.

 

[mjs853]

Hi there, I am 28 and also considering Med School. I am also married to a wonderful person. Medicine has always been a dream and I am wondering how much time and effort it will take to accomplish this goal. I am in the same boat as you, however I wanted to know if anyone knows any good pre-med programs in the Chicagoland area and what processes they had to go through to get into those programs? Thanks and good luck to everyone in this forum!

 

[EL CAPeeeTAN]

I graduated in psychology many moons ago (only 8 years ago). My first job out of college was as a sales rep for Pfizer selling legal drugs to docs, like Viagra, Zithromax, etc. I did that for a year and then because I saw so many individual private docs failing at the business side of medicine, I started a medical business consulting business which over several years formed into owning / running a multispecialty clinic with 20+ docs and 5 locations. About 2 years ago I sold my owbership because I was bitten with the MD bug. I went back to school and took my premed classes and took the MCAT last August and applied for 2005. I am starting the Rosalind AP program in about a month and could not be more excited (nervous too)! I am 32 married and have 2 daughters. Even though I sold my business I did not "make it rich" and will still go into big debt for school and not have any income so it will be interesting. My wife and kids are great and very supportive. Life is too short to not follow your dreams. Believe me from working directly in the field with docs, medicine is not what it used to be and riddled with many frustrating problems but I have the bug and I am happy to chase my dream. Good luck to all!!!!

 

[benelswick]

Are you nuts?.....Yes, of course. Now go for it!