Career changers - what helped you finally make the decision to make the jump?

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numbersloth

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Curious as to how career changers found the courage to leave their old career behind and start anew in medicine.

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I am just starting the process of changing careers from nursing to pursue a career in medicine. Honestly I had always wanted to pursue medicine but life happened and I worked my way through nursing school and worked the past 8 years as a nurse only to realize that I was not challenged mentally at all during my time as a nurse. I find it unappealing mentally and I am seeking medicine also because the influence you can have in helping people and truly saving a life. The final kick I needed to truly see that was my wife telling me that the ER resident she saw saved her life when she was previously diagnosed with cancer. The true influence physicians have on saving a life were so evident in that statement to me and woke me up to the idea of actually pursuing a career in medicine. I am currently working on my prerequisites for medical school admission and look forward to taking the next step into medicine, and away from nursing.
 
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I am just starting the process of changing careers from nursing to pursue a career in medicine. Honestly I had always wanted to pursue medicine but life happened and I worked my way through nursing school and worked the past 8 years as a nurse only to realize that I was not challenged mentally at all during my time as a nurse. I find it unappealing mentally and I am seeking medicine also because the influence you can have in helping people and truly saving a life. The final kick I needed to truly see that was my wife telling me that the ER resident she saw saved her life when she was previously diagnosed with cancer. The true influence physicians have on saving a life were so evident in that statement to me and woke me up to the idea of actually pursuing a career in medicine. I am currently working on my prerequisites for medical school admission and look forward to taking the next step into medicine, and away from nursing.
Are you working while taking courses?
 
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Are you working while taking courses?

Yes, I am currently working. I do travel nursing contracts with a local health system that has great flexibility and I primarily work night shift and complete course work during the day. Full time is difficult but its the best way to keep the lights on...
 
My first “career” was a stay-at-home mom. I only finished one semester of undergrad 15 years previous to my return, and I’d spent those years raising lots of kids, doing the mom thing, and being really unsatisfied with myself as a person.

One day I got tired of PTO meetings and fundraisers, and decided to look into going back to school. At first it felt selfish, but the benefits of finally achieving my goals have poured into my family in ways I couldn’t imagine.

The only scary part for me has been walking back into a classroom with students 15+ years younger than me, and trying to compete with them. Often I’m even older than the professor, and that’s weird in the beginning. I finally told myself that my only competition is ME, not the 20-somethings in classes with me.
 
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I had a solid career as a paramedic and firefighter for a number of years after high school. It wasn't until having a wife and kids, mortgage and vehicle payments, that I sustained a career ending injury.

I tried to forget about public service to a certain extent and went into the private sector. But that desire to help never went away.

So, after more than 15 years since my last educational course, I told my wife I wanted to be a physician. We sold everything and moved across the state to our university. Just got accepted to our M.D. program and start next month.

It was (and in some ways still is) the scariest thing I've ever done.
 
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I always toyed with the idea of being a doctor but roadblocks such as marriage and children were in my way.
I decided to return to school after someone close died. And now here I am.
 
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Grew up disadvantaged, Low-SES..the whole shebang...Growing up I was never really thought about what I was going to do with my life just knew I wanted to be the first to go to college and complete a Bachelor's degree. My mother convinced me to pursue nursing and so thats what I did. I completed a year at a Private University but had to drop out because we couldn't afford to pay for my education. I took a year off and found an accelerated RN associate's program and completed it. Got a job at a large regional teaching hospital in the NICU and then I did a RN-to-BSN 1 year program.

When I took Anatomy and Physiology in Nursing school I had fell in love with the human body, during clinical rotations in nursing school I had experienced direct patient contact and just how much of an honor it is to care for others and the gratifying feeling of having meaningful impacts on the lives of strangers. It was life changing, truly. Yet, when I got my nursing job there was still a lack of fulfillment for me. I would wake up and be like "now what do I do?", not only that but even as a brand new nurse I would sometimes dread going to work. I still felt as though I could do more, and that I wanted to do more. Then one day I had realized that I was in a position where I could pursue a career as a Physician, and I began to research and shadow. Now I'm a few prerequisites out, and if all goes well, I'll be applying for med school next cycle.
 
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