Any regrets?

[2017MU2017]

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I am graduating in December with a degree in finance and accounting and am planning on going back to school to get my prereqs done for med school. I have a really good job lined up and going back to school would obviously mean that I would have to turn down my offer. My GPA is decent (3.4), but it's not as competitive as many other applicants. I find medicine to be MUCH more captivating than public accounting, I love learning about bio, chem, and physics, and I feel a strong urge to utilize my skills to help people. Are there any career changers out there who have any regrets? What do you feel like you missed out on? What are some common misconceptions about medicine? I have one day of shadowing down and 7 more coming up soon. Nursing and PA have been ruled out. As compelled as I feel to go into medicine, I know it isn't the "only" field for me, but I know it's where I would feel the most fulfillment.

Feel free to throw any other advice or tough love my way.

 

[SpartanDOnoharm]

Why are nursing and PA filled out? What, to you, makes being a physician more fulfilling than being a nurse or PA? What do you mean it isn't the "only" field for you, and why do you think you'll feel so fulfilled by being a physician? Are you willing to give up a well paying job for several years? I'm not trying to be condescending, these are just questions you need to answer to yourself.

 

[2017MU2017]

Why are nursing and PA filled out? What, to you, makes being a physician more fulfilling than being a nurse or PA? What do you mean it isn't the "only" field for you, and why do you think you'll feel so fulfilled by being a physician? Are you willing to give up a well paying job for several years? I'm not trying to be condescending, these are just questions you need to answer to yourself.

Thanks for the response. I didn't mean to make it sound like nursing and PA are less fulfilling careers. Nurses and PAs have my utmost respect. I understand that there are certain duties that are limited for those positions and physicians operate with more autonomy (which is something I would value in a career). Also, it's likely that I may want to run my own practice some day. When I say medicine isn't the "only" field for me, I am referencing the many people in medicine who claim that medicine is the "only" field for them. A career in accounting or finance wouldn't necessarily make me miserable, but I would be disinterested in my job and it wouldn't feel very rewarding. A career as a physician would allow me to help people in the way I want to, I would work in a field that fascinates me, and I am really interested in the diagnostic/problem solving aspect of medicine as well. Helping patients improve and feel better is incredibly important to me and I am willing to give my time and effort to do it.

I guess I'm really just looking for some career-changers to give their perspective. What did you feel like you missed out on? What were some things you wish you knew before you made the change? How stressful was it transitioning from a stable job to the uncertainty of whether or not you would make it into med school?

 

[PastorDoc]

Career-changer here. My transition began in 2009 (I was 25-26) when I started taking pre-reqs while working full-time for a missions organization. The job provided the means to take classes but also allowed me to see that the field of medicine was where I wanted to be.

What do I feel I’ve missed out on? Not much. Right now the priority is med school. Yes, I look around and see my friends with their comfy jobs, traveling, purchasing homes and starting families. I’ve had to put some of those things on hold because of the dream, but personally it’s no biggie.

How stressful was it? There are moments and experiences that will cause you to question if you made the right switch. If your reason to become a doctor is substantial and you own that story and know it frontwards, backwards and inside out...you will have what it takes to get over any amount of stress and keep pushing forward. This self-awareness will also come in handy when formulating your PS, secondary essays, and interview responses.

Things I wish I knew before making the change:
- It takes time. (7+ years for me, but you can do it much quicker).
- Don’t listen to haters. You’ll hear them, but don’t listen (people close to you as well as some you’ll never meet...like on here).
- Listen instead to advice from people who’ve done it successfully or have helped others achieve success.
- Don’t rush to take the MCAT. (I did and it took time to recover and retake. Practice til your scores are consistently ≥ your target.)
- ECs enrich your story...pick a few you can commit to and are passionate about.
- When shadowing/volunteering, build a connection with your supervisor. You’ll have the opportunity to learn even more and they can speak more personally about you when you need an LOR.
- Be thankful for the little things. It’s a long journey, might as well make it pleasant 😉

 

[Blanky]

I think shadowing is going to be the first and most important thing for you do engage in. Follow a RN a PA/NP and a DO/MD. Be objective and see what you really like about each (They can all make great money.) As you can shadow while working you should take the accounting job. Then if you decide you can take the required classes for what you want.
I'm also curious what makes you sure you'll enjoy bio/chem/phy? I'm asking as someone who was so sure physics was going to be amazing and fun and I dislike it and just wish to sleep during lectures.

 

[2017MU2017]

I think shadowing is going to be the first and most important thing for you do engage in. Follow a RN a PA/NP and a DO/MD. Be objective and see what you really like about each (They can all make great money.) As you can shadow while working you should take the accounting job. Then if you decide you can take the required classes for what you want.
I'm also curious what makes you sure you'll enjoy bio/chem/phy? I'm asking as someone who was so sure physics was going to be amazing and fun and I dislike it and just wish to sleep during lectures.

The thing about my job is that it doesn't start until the end of August and I graduate in December. Until I start, I would be taking the CPA exam. The CPA exam requires a lot of prep time. If I pass each one on the first try, it would probably still take 4 months. Also, it's expensive. The firm that gave me the offer would reimburse the cost of taking the exam as well as the prep course but only if I took the job obviously. So by the time January rolls around, I would like to be committed to either accounting/finance or medicine.

I took AP Phys in high school and loved it (same with BC calc). One of my main sources of procrastination this semester has been taking crash courses in introductory chem and physics courses. I really need to get physics 1 down again because I would hop right into physics 2 next semester and it's been 5 years since I took AP in high school. I don't think bio would come as easily to me since it isn't as intuitive of a course and requires more memorization from what I've heard, but I still always enjoyed applying what I learned in class to bio labs in high school.

Just out of curiosity, what did you do before going into medicine?

 

[2017MU2017]

Career-changer here. My transition began in 2009 (I was 25-26) when I started taking pre-reqs while working full-time for a missions organization. The job provided the means to take classes but also allowed me to see that the field of medicine was where I wanted to be.

What do I feel I’ve missed out on? Not much. Right now the priority is med school. Yes, I look around and see my friends with their comfy jobs, traveling, purchasing homes and starting families. I’ve had to put some of those things on hold because of the dream, but personally it’s no biggie.

How stressful was it? There are moments and experiences that will cause you to question if you made the right switch. If your reason to become a doctor is substantial and you own that story and know it frontwards, backwards and inside out...you will have what it takes to get over any amount of stress and keep pushing forward. This self-awareness will also come in handy when formulating your PS, secondary essays, and interview responses.

Things I wish I knew before making the change:
- It takes time. (7+ years for me, but you can do it much quicker).
- Don’t listen to haters. You’ll hear them, but don’t listen (people close to you as well as some you’ll never meet...like on here).
- Listen instead to advice from people who’ve done it successfully or have helped others achieve success.
- Don’t rush to take the MCAT. (I did and it took time to recover and retake. Practice til your scores are consistently ≥ your target.)
- ECs enrich your story...pick a few you can commit to and are passionate about.
- When shadowing/volunteering, build a connection with your supervisor. You’ll have the opportunity to learn even more and they can speak more personally about you when you need an LOR.
- Be thankful for the little things. It’s a long journey, might as well make it pleasant 😉

This is great advice. Thanks you! I hope everything is going well for you. What made you want to switch to medicine? How far into med school are you and how are things going so far?

 

[coppernickel]

The thing about my job is that it doesn't start until the end of August and I graduate in December. Until I start, I would be taking the CPA exam. The CPA exam requires a lot of prep time. If I pass each one on the first try, it would probably still take 4 months. Also, it's expensive. The firm that gave me the offer would reimburse the cost of taking the exam as well as the prep course but only if I took the job obviously. So by the time January rolls around, I would like to be committed to either accounting/finance or medicine.

I took AP Phys in high school and loved it (same with BC calc). One of my main sources of procrastination this semester has been taking crash courses in introductory chem and physics courses. I really need to get physics 1 down again because I would hop right into physics 2 next semester and it's been 5 years since I took AP in high school. I don't think bio would come as easily to me since it isn't as intuitive of a course and requires more memorization from what I've heard, but I still always enjoyed applying what I learned in class to bio labs in high school.

Just out of curiosity, what did you do before going into medicine?

Hey, so step back and give yourself the space and time to get things in order. I'm also a career changer and while your gut and heart are leading you in the right direction, getting into an MD school takes way more prep time than you probably realized now. You're here for advice so here's what I think:
-take the cpa exam, just do it, you made it all this way
-agree to the job, realizing hey you can exit that agreement because you have lots of time before the start date. Do so ethically, but you got the reigns of your life here. You will at least not worry about money but find out how stressful/distracting this job could potentially be. Ideally you can do your Med school prep while making the bigger bucks.
-start shadowing and volunteering in a hospital (emergency dept)
-once you gain this experiential knowledge, make a commitment to the Doctor dream or leave it behind
-if you commit, then don't let anything including the accountant job derail, distract, or discourage you. Get the prerequisites done. Then do the mcat. In that order is optimal.

Good luck

 

[PastorDoc]

This is great advice. Thanks you! I hope everything is going well for you. What made you want to switch to medicine? How far into med school are you and how are things going so far?

I witnessed the impact a physician can make in underserved communities during my time working on the administrative end of overseas missions. I start this July 🙂