any pharmaceutical reps turned pre-med?

[kcmomed]

i am. just wondering if anyone else has decided to go towards the light from the dark side

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[maharaja]

i am. just wondering if anyone else has decided to go towards the light from the dark side

I am a pharm rep who is curious about the light at the end of the tunnel too!

What has sparked your interest to do medicine?

Was it just being around the doctors all day and seeing what they go through?

How long have you been pondering it?

I have been thinking about becoming a doctor ever since I was young, but was not up to doing all the years of schooling. Now that I am out and in the work force, I realize that time does fly by very quickly and that med-school will be hard, but before I know it, I will be a doctor.

Also, have you talk to any your doctors about your curiousity?

 

[cfdavid]

I have been thinking about becoming a doctor ever since I was young, but was not up to doing all the years of schooling. Now that I am out and in the work force, I realize that time does fly by very quickly and that med-school will be hard, but before I know it, I will be a doctor.

?

Time does fly by! I come from sales (but had all the pre-req's from undergrad, so I didn't have to take them over) and now I'll be starting med school this August. (I'll be 32 in Sept.)

As an undergrad, I remember thinking "but 8 yrs is SUCH a long time". lol
Well, it's really not, sadly. lol

 

[maharaja]

Time does fly by! I come from sales (but had all the pre-req's from undergrad, so I didn't have to take them over) and now I'll be starting med school this August. (I'll be 32 in Sept.)

As an undergrad, I remember thinking "but 8 yrs is SUCH a long time". lol
Well, it's really not, sadly. lol

When you were an undergrad, were you thinking about becoming a doctor then or was working as a pharm rep the catalyst? What made you pursue it now instead of then?

Where are you going to attend med school?

 

[f_w]

You guys might want to check out the thread 'ban all pharmaceutical and device reps' in the general residency forum.

As you are probably aware, there are activists out there who think that you guys are the evil incarnate. The thread is up to something like 420 posts in less than a week.

More typical are things going the other way around. Pre-meds turning drug-rep after they decide that the climb to become a doc is just too long.

 

[wook]

i am. just wondering if anyone else has decided to go towards the light from the dark side

I believe the Emergency Medicine Program Director from Duke did that route. She is very intelligent and engaging. From the limited conversation I had with her, it did not negatively affect her getting into school and in fact gave her some insights that most med students do not have.


Wook

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

I was in hospital administration and managed care as a CPA before I was accepted to medical school. Doesn't that qualify me as being from the dark side, too?

 

[f_w]

The drug reps at least bring lunch, hospital administration eats our lunch. It's not the same 😉

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

The drug reps at least bring lunch, hospital administration eats our lunch. It's not the same 😉

Touche... that's the best laugh I've had all week. Thanks.

 

[cfdavid]

When you were an undergrad, were you thinking about becoming a doctor then or was working as a pharm rep the catalyst? What made you pursue it now instead of then?

Where are you going to attend med school?

Actually, my field was industrial automation (components-sensors, valves, actuators etc. and smaller sub-systems that we'd design for an application etc.).

I was interested, however, in medicine as an undergrad. But, I had other interests and did not really feel up to so much more schooling at the time. It just seemed like forever.... lol

Also, at this point in my life, I know I'll be enjoying this journey. So, the time frame really makes little difference. I'm excited to be a med student. Then, I'll look forward to my residency. But, the experiences and adventure are what I look forward to as much as becoming a practicing physician.

When I first seriously considered going for medicine (after 8 years with my company), it really required a series of paradigm shifts. I had to slowly get used to the idea of "sacrificing" much of my comfortable lifestyle. This occured in steps, though. So, above all, I'd recommend a series of baby steps, perhaps, and to set small goals. Maybe take one or two night classes in the sciences to see how you like it. If you enjoy it, you can set your next goal, taking you further into the process. It's less overwhealming that way.

I had the advantage of already having all of the basic pre-req's for med school. However, they were quite old (10-12 yrs old), so I needed to take a bunch of mid-upper level sciences to develop a "recent academic track record". There's a wealth of information on these things (as well as MCAT prep) on these forums, but feel free to ask anyway.

I'll be heading to Wayne State in August (commuting actually.. lol)

 

[Bluemirage]

I am an ex-pharmaceutical rep from big pharma that saw the light and turned to the "enlightened side". I started thinking about jumping over to medicine as early as the 3rd week of initial product training! (It's the influence of all those high powered specialists that our company hired to speak to us each day-how can you not be influenced by them? The interesting thing was that I wasn't the only one that thought about this after product training...but I was the only one that eventually did something about it). It took me about a year and a half to make the definitive decision to return to school and take pre-med classes. Spending 50 hours a week with physicians, shadowing them and learning about their lives consolidated my decision. I did share my goals with my customers...some encouraged it and many thought I was crazy to give up such a cush job in exchange for years of pain and debt. I came from a business background (both my bac. and masters were in business) and so I had to start all my science pre-reqs from scratch. I did all my pre-med pre-reqs while working full-time in my job, trying to maintain a 4.0 while also maintaining our team's top 5% region ranking. I eventually had to resign from my job in order to finish up the rest of my classes( I decided to go ahead and complete a BS in Biology) and take the MCAT. It has been tough but if you want this bad enough, you will be willing to go through anything to reach your dreams. I will be applying this coming cycle...I will be 31 if I get in. I cannot believe I'm at this stage already! Good Luck to all my fellow pharm reps who decide to do this!

 

[cfdavid]

I am an ex-pharmaceutical rep from big pharma that saw the light and turned to the "enlightened side". I started thinking about jumping over to medicine as early as the 3rd week of initial product training! (It's the influence of all those high powered specialists that our company hired to speak to us each day-how can you not be influenced by them? The interesting thing was that I wasn't the only one that thought about this after product training...but I was the only one that eventually did something about it). It took me about a year and a half to make the definitive decision to return to school and take pre-med classes. Spending 50 hours a week with physicians, shadowing them and learning about their lives consolidated my decision. I did share my goals with my customers...some encouraged it and many thought I was crazy to give up such a cush job in exchange for years of pain and debt. I came from a business background (both my bac. and masters were in business) and so I had to start all my science pre-reqs from scratch. I did all my pre-med pre-reqs while working full-time in my job, trying to maintain a 4.0 while also maintaining our team's top 5% region ranking. I eventually had to resign from my job in order to finish up the rest of my classes( I decided to go ahead and complete a BS in Biology) and take the MCAT. It has been tough but if you want this bad enough, you will be willing to go through anything to reach your dreams. I will be applying this coming cycle...I will be 31 if I get in. I cannot believe I'm at this stage already! Good Luck to all my fellow pharm reps who decide to do this!

Hey man, I wish you the best of luck. It's not an easy thing to do. And at least I didn't have to take the pre-reqs since I had em already. Kudos to you on getting it done, bro. Good luck this cycle!

 

[Bluemirage]

Hey man, I wish you the best of luck. It's not an easy thing to do. And at least I didn't have to take the pre-reqs since I had em already. Kudos to you on getting it done, bro. Good luck this cycle!

Congradulations on your acceptance into Wayne State cfdavid! You must be so relieved to know that you are in and can make definitive plans for the upcoming years. I am very envious...I hope I will get in the first time this coming cycle....I'm getting old and need to get this part of life started ASAP! Thanks for your well wishes and I wish you luck in medical school!

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

Hi All,
I am actually in the process of changing careers. I have always wanted to be a physician, but now that I am almost 32 with my first child on the way, I am looking at other related fields. Pharmaceutical or medical device sales were both intriguing options for me. Would some of you mind sharing with me what caused you to change your minds and pursue medicine...I certainly don't want to move in that direction and then find out that I would still rather be a physician.

Thanks!

 

[burntcrispy]

There is a pharm rep in my medschool class. Can be done. As far as the banning of Drug reps, I've seen this at several institutions. Many see it as unethical to take free dinners, trips, gear, etc from the reps.

Go to med school. You definately won't regret it. I worked as an RN for a while before going to medschool. Med school has definately been the best time in my life!!

 

[f_w]

Go to med school. You definately won't regret it. I worked as an RN for a while before going to medschool. Med school has definately been the best time in my life!!

Funny how people who held a real job before medschool rarely describe it as the drudgery it seems to be for the students who enter right out of college. I guess it all depends on the contrast.

 

[etudiante04]

Funny how people who held a real job before medschool rarely describe it as the drudgery it seems to be for the students who enter right out of college. I guess it all depends on the contrast.

This is something I've noticed too; however, the responses vary during residency training (see General Residency Forums - "If you could do it over again, would you?" - or something like that. The thread is SO LONG!)