Career-changer: quit my day job for a clinical role?

[Pungus]

I'm a career-changer coming from an engineering background. I have several years experience in an academic lab in a hospital (with limited clinical exposure). I am currently working in industry at a med device/IVD company in an engineering role while taking night prereqs. I recently spoke with a physician who basically told me "you have to quit your job in engineering and work as an EMT/CNA/MA, etc. If you were serious about this, you'd be willing to sacrifice everything and find a way to make it work, and get 'REAL' clincial hours."

The problem is, I live in an extremely high COL city, and the only way I can afford my rent and prereq classes is with my engineering salary. My job is also currently paying for some of my classes. Will I be at a disadvantage if I don't have clinical experience through my job? I'm actively seeking out shadowing and volunteering opportunities, will this be enough? I understand the reasoning behind what he said; I need to be sure that this career is really for me by interfacing with patients. I also understand that volunteering positions are often "sugarcoated", and not exposed to the less pleasant sides of medicine. Is that volunteering (Chemo infusion center) really giving me the type of clinical exposure that adcoms are looking for, and more importantly that I need as a future physician? I have ~80hrs of clinical volunteering and a couple hundred at various food pantries.

Not looking for someone to just tell me everything's going to be fine, if this will legitimately disadvantage me I am willing to make sacrifices.

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[gyngyn]

Do not quit your job just for clinical experience!

 

[Approach]

Good news: you already have a clinical volunteering opportunity. Questions I’d ask myself if I were you:

• What are your responsibilities as a volunteer?
• Do you have a chance to shadow some of the doctors you volunteer with outside of the center (perhaps at another clinic)?
• How many hours are you tracking towards within the infusion center?

FWIW. I, too, did my post bacc in a VHCOL place (NYC). About midway through, I quit my day job to work full-time as an ER. It was tough financially, and without taking on some student loans, I wouldn’t have been able to make it work. I ended up getting great clinical experience and shadowing all through this opportunity. I also found this job was very used to premeds, so when it came time to study/take exams/go to class/MCAT stuff, they could be flexible. That said, this wasn’t my original plan. I was forced to change my plan partly because I found clinical volunteering/shadowing opportunities during COVID for a non-trad almost nonexistent.

Assuming favorable responses in your answers to the questions I raised above, I’d probably stick to what you currently got going on. Jobs paying for your post bacc is amazing!

 

[Goro]

I'm a career-changer coming from an engineering background. I have several years experience in an academic lab in a hospital (with limited clinical exposure). I am currently working in industry at a med device/IVD company in an engineering role while taking night prereqs. I recently spoke with a physician who basically told me "you have to quit your job in engineering and work as an EMT/CNA/MA, etc. If you were serious about this, you'd be willing to sacrifice everything and find a way to make it work, and get 'REAL' clincial hours."

That doctor is a ****ing idiot!

Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimer’s or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.

 

[ridebiker]

I'm in a similar situation to you as a career changer, and personally I've chosen not to quit my job. I have a mortgage, medical expenses, and other things that make it untenable for me to live life as an MA or scribe. I also enjoy my job, it's WFH and gives me great benefits (including PTO that I can use for school/ECs if necessary). Medical school also isn't guaranteed....I would feel horrible if I quit my job, took a low paying clinical job, and still didn't get accepted. At this age, it just doesn't make sense for me.

I would work on finding some hands on patient experience, IF it's available in your area. I know my clinical hours won't be as high as a student who is able to work part or full time as an MA or scribe, but I volunteer at a free clinic once a week in an underserved area and I am in direct patient contact, either taking vitals or assisting providers during visits with patients. I won't have 1000+ hours like some people, but the hours I do have are very high quality IMO and I have a lot to write about them.

I'd also get some shadowing experience, especially see if you can connect with a doctor who will let you shadow more long term. I think this will also give you some good things to write about, and you'll see another side to life as a physician.

I think schools want to see that we are making the most out of the time we DO have to pursue ECs, even if that time is more limited by working a full time non-medical job. At least that's the impression I've gotten from other non-traditional students who have been successful.

Lastly, don't underestimate the work experience you have, and what that will bring to the table in medical school. I think life/work experience outside of medicine is valuable, and the discipline and skills you've gained in your current job will transfer easily to medicine

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

I'm a non-trad (think 4ish gap years) starting medical school this summer, and I did quit my non-clinical job and started a clinical job about a year before I applied. This was partly because at the time hospital volunteering was extremely restricted due to Covid, and partly due to other personal circumstances that made quitting my former job a logical decision.

IMO you just need some sort of experience that will solidly answer the "why medicine" question once you apply. This did not truly hit me until I started writing my personal statement and secondaries; the ~100 hours of hospital volunteer experiences I'd had before Covid may have checked the box but didn't give me anything profound to write about. My clinical job gave me a wealth of patient encounters and experiences that solidly confirmed becoming a physician was my one and only path, taught me a bit about our healthcare system, and provided excellent writing material. I would have had an excruciatingly difficult time writing good essays if I only had a small amount of hospital volunteering to draw from.

It sounds like quitting your job may not be as reasonable as it was for me. As you seek out other clinical opportunities, try to find one that you're genuinely excited or passionate about. You'll thank me later when you start writing your essays. Good luck!

 

[Pungus]

Thanks all, I think I have been scared seeing all the traditional pre-meds with their thousands of hours. I have been shadowing plenty, and I think I have a very solid "why medicine story". I'll definitely be pursuing more breadth of volunteering and shadowing experiences, and specifically more uncomfortable situations. I have a couple more years before my application cycle, so I think I have time to become a more well-rounded applicant. I really appreciate everyone's replies!

 

[dataengnyc]

How do you find the time to shadow? Weekend volunteering opportunities I can find, but for shadowing I'm only available to find 9-5 which conflicts with my work schedule

 

[ridebiker]

How do you find the time to shadow? Weekend volunteering opportunities I can find, but for shadowing I'm only available to find 9-5 which conflicts with my work schedule

I use PTO. I haven't taken PTO for a personal reason or fun reason in 2 years. I use it all for shadowing, ECs or exams. It sucks but it is what it is!

 

[Pungus]

How do you find the time to shadow? Weekend volunteering opportunities I can find, but for shadowing I'm only available to find 9-5 which conflicts with my work schedule

Similar to ridebiker, I have taken time off for shadowing in the past. I am also lucky that I was able to shadow as part of my job previously. In the past I have also negotiated with my employer to work some saturdays in exchange for being off one day during the week. Obviously not all jobs are willing to let you do this, but might be worth asking.

 

[chicandtoughness]

This is coming a little late but this is a huge problem in the field. Scribe companies in particular know about this poor advice and will use it as an excuse to exploit the hell out of premeds. All the big scribe companies pay near minimum wage. When I was scribing in Boston I was paid $12/hr. In Dallas it was $9/hr. You cannot comfortably live on that. Even CNA and EMT don’t pay much better (and require time/cost input to get the certifications). True clinical volunteering (where you are interacting with patients) are just fine. And as someone else said, you don’t need thousands of hours of it.

 

[deleted1095841]

1. Don't quit your job.
2. Think carefully about why you want to do medicine. This will help you write a good personal statement, but more importantly, decide if medical school is really a good decision for you. Don't forget that you go through 4 years of school accumulating debt, then residency of 3-7 years depending on specialty where your salary is very low. And then you might need to do a fellowship for 3 years. And you are worked extremely hard throughout this time. Lots of night shifts. Most residents at my school have gray/balding hair, and they're only in their early 30s. This career change will come at a huge cost. Even if you make more as a doctor than you do now, your lifetime earnings are unlikely to catch up. Due to inflation and the possibility of investment, $1 today is worth much more than $1 twenty years from now.
3. So many students do EMT, MA, scribe work that it no longer carries the meaning it once did. Your unique background as an engineer will probably have more weight for the adcoms.
4. If you're still sure you want to do medicine, think about what kind of doctor you want to be, and what kind of research/contribution to medicine you imagine your future self doing. Pursuing related activities/research helps you craft a nice coherent story for the adcoms. (e.g. if you are interested in population health, volunteer at a free clinic for the homeless/urban underserved; if you are interested in cancer research, then get on a cancer research project and get 1-2 pubs in a reputed journal and an LOR from the PI). Adcoms don't just want qualified potential med students. There's way more of those than they can accept. They want people who are going to do great things in medicine and bring prestige/glory to their school. And they don't want a "jack of all trades." You just need to pick something you're passionate about and go deep in that area. And it's ok if you don't know what you want to do yet. You can always change your mind after getting in.