BIG crossroads. Help please.

[shouldidothis]

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Hey everyone! as you can tell from the name of the account, this isn't my real account I just don't want to be identified.

My path into medicine wasn't exactly straightforward. I finished high school in country X, moved back to Australia for uni and majored in psych, knowing that I wanted medicine all along. After a year of psych, my GPA was 6.5 out of 7 (you need a minimum of 5.5 to get in) average was around 86, and I was on track to getting into med. At the start of second year, I started comparing myself to my friends that got into medicine all around the world, and how they were really enjoying it and I slipped into depression. The university asked me to see a psychiatrist, tried to help me out with my units but to no avail. I still ended up dropping 3 units in second year, and the university pretty much asked me to sort my **** out and take a break. At this point my parents intervened and offered to pay for my education in country X on the condition that I sort my life out. Something that I'm very grateful for.

Fast forward, I'm about to finish my degree and graduate as a doctor. I've done USMLEs and my scores are good (>250) but there's a part of me that still wishes that I hadn't quit my first degree. I recently contacted my previous uni and asked them about finishing my degree, and they said that as long as I enrol in the same major I can pick up where I left off.

I'm now tempted to go back and finish my first degree. I know that it won't add much value to my career, but I don't want this to gnaw away at me for the rest of my life. My ultimate goal is to move back to Australia but getting a residency spot as an FMG in Australia is pretty much impossible, it would be easier to match as an IMG in the states. Even if I manage to land a residency by some miracle, it would take me around 7 years to become an internist! So I'd much rather do residency in the states and move back to Australia then.

What should I do? I appreciate any advise or perspective on this because it's gotten me to a point where I'm about to go see a shrink (oh the irony).

 

[shouldidothis]

I'd really like to hear from you @Phloston

 

[bashwell]

Hey everyone! as you can tell from the name of the account, this isn't my real account I just don't want to be identified.

My path into medicine wasn't exactly straightforward. I finished high school in country X, moved back to Australia for uni and majored in psych, knowing that I wanted medicine all along. After a year of psych, my GPA was 6.5 out of 7 (you need a minimum of 5.5 to get in) average was around 86, and I was on track to getting into med. At the start of second year, I started comparing myself to my friends that got into medicine all around the world, and how they were really enjoying it and I slipped into depression. The university asked me to see a psychiatrist, tried to help me out with my units but to no avail. I still ended up dropping 3 units in second year, and the university pretty much asked me to sort my **** out and take a break. At this point my parents intervened and offered to pay for my education in country X on the condition that I sort my life out. Something that I'm very grateful for.

Fast forward, I'm about to finish my degree and graduate as a doctor. I've done USMLEs and my scores are good (>250) but there's a part of me that still wishes that I hadn't quit my first degree. I recently contacted my previous uni and asked them about finishing my degree, and they said that as long as I enrol in the same major I can pick up where I left off.

I'm now tempted to go back and finish my first degree. I know that it won't add much value to my career, but I don't want this to gnaw away at me for the rest of my life. My ultimate goal is to move back to Australia but getting a residency spot as an FMG in Australia is pretty much impossible, it would be easier to match as an IMG in the states. Even if I manage to land a residency by some miracle, it would take me around 7 years to become an internist! So I'd much rather do residency in the states and move back to Australia then.

What should I do? I appreciate any advise or perspective on this because it's gotten me to a point where I'm about to go see a shrink (oh the irony).

If I were you, I'd try to match in the US, become a specialist in the US, then come back to Australia, where most of your training should be recognised (depending on your specialty). You'll have an advantage over pure IMGs in Australia because you're an Australian citizen and you'd be coming as a specialist, not as an intern or resident, so that should look better for you. I'm speaking generally because I don't know what field you want, apart from general IM, or where country x is (can we assume a country on par with Australia and the US?). By the way for most specialties from IM, the trend is moving to getting a PhD at least for staff specialist jobs in capital cities like Sydney. So you're looking more at maybe 10 years. But the pay and lifestyle during your training in Australia are much better than the US.

 

[gutonc]

What should I do? I appreciate any advise or perspective on this because it's gotten me to a point where I'm about to go see a shrink (oh the irony).

What question do you want help on exactly?

Should you go back to Aus and complete a useless degree? No

Should you try to match in Aus? No idea.

Should you try to match in the US and then go practice in Aus? Seems like a roundabout way to do it without an easy/clear path to get what you want.

Should you stay in "Country X" where things seem to go the best for you educationally speaking? Probably. But since that may be Yemen, Syria or Afghanistan as far as we know, maybe not the best plan.

 

[shouldidothis]

What question do you want help on exactly?

Should you go back to Aus and complete a useless degree? No

Should you try to match in Aus? No idea.

Should you try to match in the US and then go practice in Aus? Seems like a roundabout way to do it without an easy/clear path to get what you want.

Should you stay in "Country X" where things seem to go the best for you educationally speaking? Probably. But since that may be Yemen, Syria or Afghanistan as far as we know, maybe not the best plan.

The main reason that I'm even considering doing this is because I had never failed at anything before, always accomplished what I had set my eyes on. If I ever do this, it'll be purely for my own satisfaction.
Should I go back, knowing that it might hurt my chances of matching in the states? Or should I gun for the US and hope that I will stop looking at the whole 2 year experience as a catastrophe?

 

[smq123]

I'm now tempted to go back and finish my first degree. I know that it won't add much value to my career, but I don't want this to gnaw away at me for the rest of my life.

I have no idea why you would want to do this. This sounds like a tremendous waste of time and money to me.

It will gnaw away at you for the rest of your life only if you let it. If you look at it as a chance for growth, as a learning opportunity, and not dwell on it as "one of the only times I've failed," then it won't cause you problems.

 

[gutonc]

Should I go back, knowing that it might hurt my chances of matching in the states? Or should I gun for the US and hope that I will stop looking at the whole 2 year experience as a catastrophe?

If you go back now, just to soothe a bruised ego from several years ago, you can pretty much write off matching in the US at all...ever. And since you've already more or less decided that matching in Aus isn't an option for you, you're basically done if you won't/can't practice in the UAE or elsewhere.

I will also say that it's not clear what you've done for your US application other than taking the Steps. USCE? LORs from US physicians? If all you've got is the Steps, it's going to be a bumpy (but not impossible) ride.

 

[Crayola227]

perfectionism gone amok

explains how many get in/through med training and can service you, it can also destroy your life

get help now and forget that degree