Any former prevets who "converted"?

[Medmaid]

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Are there any former prevets out there who were wrestling with the two fields and ultimately decided on med school?

I know I'm facing a huge credibility problem here (two years of experience as a vet tech) and would have a long way to go to prove my dedication to the human medical field, but the truth is, my goal has always been to do medical research that would benefit treatment for people. I guess I didn't have the confidence to think I could get into med school (even though number-wise it may be "easier" to get into med school than vet school, the bar for being considered a competitive med school applicant seems a lot higher; doing well on the MCAT and doing well on the GRE are two entirely different things, for starters.) So I constructed this narrative (more to convince myself than others, perhaps) that by helping animals and doing research with animals, I would indirectly be helping people.

But when I am asked, "If you really want to help people and do something to benefit human medicine, why vet school and not med school?", I am increasingly unable to come up with an honest answer.

Anyway, I hope I don't come across as flaky. I have honestly put a lot of time and thought into this, and I am truly grateful for these boards and the exposure to the varied experiences and honest feedback of others.

 

[Catalystik]

I was pre-vet and switched to pre-med after my freshman year. I didn't really know many people before college, having grown up in the country. In college I quickly reorganized my priorities after discovering that humans weren't so bad and deserved good medical care too. At the time, I was under the impression that it was more difficult to get into vet school because there are so few of them. The switch was never questioned by anyone. I applied early decision to med school and was accepted. Once in med school, I found lots of vetmed clinical material on the library computers, and studied that too. It's amazing how similiar the two fields are. Research benefiting one species often has applications for the others. A lot of the pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, are the same. Don't worry about sounding flaky, because you aren't. It's a lot easier these days to do clinical research on animals than human subjects considering "informed consent" and having to jump through the hoops of an Institutional Review Board before you can do it.

 

[pathognomonic]

Think it's hard explaining the pre-vet to pre-med switch? Try explaining practicing veterinarian to pre-med. 😛

Follow your heart and explain your choices from your heart.

 

[kate_g]

I know I'm facing a huge credibility problem here (two years of experience as a vet tech) and would have a long way to go to prove my dedication to the human medical field, but the truth is, my goal has always been to do medical research that would benefit treatment for people.

I feel really horrible and jaded saying this, but I may as well say it as a veterinary type before some human-med person says it... With the very general impression I get of the very general impression that human doctors have about veterinarians... Nobody at the med school is going to think you're flaky for "seeing the light" and switching to "real" medicine. Unless you're talking to a really crusty old doc who doesn't care about appearing PC, probably nobody would actually *say* it, but I'd guess deep down inside a lot of people will be congratulating you on your good judgement for having made the switch.

The thing about switching fields is, you only have to convince the field you're switching *into*. Everyone believes that the field they've chosen is the best, so you can totally play to that predjudice and use the "this field is so much more worthwhile, I just had to join you" angle. Now, if for some reason you had to justify your choice to the field that you're leaving, that would be harder to do without hurting anyone's feelings.

 

[Medmaid]

Hi Kate.

What you said makes a lot of sense, and it's sad that vets are often looked down upon by MDs.

I guess I was more worried from a "how do we know that two years from now she won't change her mind... AGAIN?!" perspective. I can't even begin to compete with the kids who've been preparing for a medical career since high school (or before... scary!) One may be able to question their maturity, but no one would dare question their commitment.

By the way, everyone on this board (nontrad) so far has actually been pretty positive about the switch. I have no doubt, though, that the same post on the pre-allo board would attract the crass, non-well intentioned version of your observation here. 🙄

 

[kate_g]

I guess I was more worried from a "how do we know that two years from now she won't change her mind... AGAIN?!" perspective.

I think the key here is, you said you started out wanting to do human medicine, were intimidated and went in an "easier" (but still medical) direction, were dissatisfied and decided to get over your intimidation and go for what you wanted all along. That shows a continued dedication to medicine (rather having been a banker or an engineer or something for 10 years, then wanting to come back) and is also a lot different from saying you just couldn't decide, so you tried one for a while and now you want to try the other.

Actually I think pre-med intentions -> intimidation -> "easier" medical career -> pre-med is a pretty common pathway in this forum. In that "easier" career slot instead of vet tech they have nursing, EMT-ing, various other tech-ing type things, being a PA, hospital administration, and probably other things I don't remember now (these are careers I can remember people on this forum saying they detoured into and are now looking to get out of). If you take a cue from Penn and play up the "one medicine" aspect, you're no different from any of these people.

 

[MiesVanDerMom]

am i the only one who thought this thread title said "perverts" instead of "prevets"? I must be tired

 

[lainey234]

Rofl - I was about to post the same thing!

 

[Medmaid]

I can think of a few ways to "convert" a pervert... 😉