conflicted help!

[MyHobbyIsMedSch]

I am having a hard time with making a career choice. Please give me your opinion. I graduated college in 2006 with a Poli Sci Major after I dropped being a Neuroscience major. I dropped the major because it killed my GPA(below 3.0). I went to a VERY hard school and had a bad science background. I know what I did now and would like to correct my mistakes. However, I do not have the same fire to be a doctor now after being in the real world. It costs so much money and I am already deep into debt for my private undergrad.
Currently, I work as a researcher for a top 10 medical school. I am doing very well at my job. It is way more of a public health study than medicine. My boss is a professor at the medical school but I could never get in here no matter how much i fixed my gpa.
Anyways, I worked at a health fair today for my job to recruit people for my study and I had so much fun. I loved talking to people about our study and meeting local health care professionals. I used to dream about being like a director of public health for my county. It is one of the largest in the country. Also, one of the guys I worked with was a 1st year at a local medical school that is not the one I work at. I started day dreaming about applying again.
However, just yesterday I was seriously considering pursuing a PhD in Health Administration the other day. I would get a great discount if I got a PhD while working. It would cost me about 6000 a year. If I could get that NIH Loan Repayment for my research, I could be debt free within the next 10 years without stressing too much. Also, I do like social science kind of research I think it is pretty interesting. It would be cool to be PI for my very own study. The areas I would be into researching probably would not pay too much. Also, some of the people in my study say it is wayyy harder to get grants for health studies without having an MD behind your name.

I guess my issue is
1) debt-I do not know how much more I can handle
2) what do I really want deep down? I am really conflicted! I love social science research especially about health disparities. I love having one on one contact with people in the community too. Honestly, the PI's I know are not that involved in the actual research process. They are VERY involved in data analysis but not collection. I think data collection is the best part. What to do? Maybe both? My head hurts when I think about this.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[MyHobbyIsMedSch]

70 views and no responses ....gees

 

[njbmd]

I am having a hard time with making a career choice.I went to a VERY hard school and had a bad science background. I know what I did now and would like to correct my mistakes. However, I do not have the same fire to be a doctor now after being in the real world. It costs so much money and I am already deep into debt for my private undergrad.


Anyways, I worked at a health fair today for my job to recruit people for my study and I had so much fun. I loved talking to people about our study and meeting local health care professionals. I used to dream about being like a director of public health for my county. It is one of the largest in the country. Also, one of the guys I worked with was a 1st year at a local medical school that is not the one I work at. I started day dreaming about applying again.


However, just yesterday I was seriously considering pursuing a PhD in Health Administration the other day. I would get a great discount if I got a PhD while working. It would cost me about 6000 a year. If I could get that NIH Loan Repayment for my research, I could be debt free within the next 10 years without stressing too much. Also, I do like social science kind of research I think it is pretty interesting. It would be cool to be PI for my very own study. The areas I would be into researching probably would not pay too much. Also, some of the people in my study say it is wayyy harder to get grants for health studies without having an MD behind your name.

I guess my issue is
1) debt-I do not know how much more I can handle
2) what do I really want deep down? I am really conflicted! I love social science research especially about health disparities. I love having one on one contact with people in the community too. Honestly, the PI's I know are not that involved in the actual research process. They are VERY involved in data analysis but not collection. I think data collection is the best part. What to do? Maybe both? My head hurts when I think about this.

It looks like you have answered your question in the above convoluted post. You mention "your country" which makes me wonder whether or not your are a citizen of the United States. If you are not a US citizen, it is highly unlikely that NIH is going to pay for your tuition.

If you are in love with social science research and health disparities, medical school isn't going to help you much and with your description of your grades, it doesn't look like you are a viable candidate for application especially with the calibre of applicant at this point in time. Being below 3.0 is not very promising even if your employer is the dean of the medical school.

There are plenty of folks who are not MDs who are involved in healthcare research. They usually have a close affiliation with an MD/DO and thus you may want to look in that direction. Again, if you are located at a medical school, finding an MD to collaborate with for research should not be much of a problem especially if you are good at grant writing.

70 views and no responses ....gees

My guess is that you didn't clearly ask a question and you have many issues that you need to address not the least of which is what do you actually want to do with your life? If you like data collection, then seek some information from people who are involved in data collection. Most medical schools have plenty of options for interaction with people who are actively gathering data. If you can't find anyone on your project that has the info that you need, look at other departments such as Public Health or the Social Sciences.

 

[DrJosephKim]

Sounds like it would be very helpful to pursue an MPH. You can do this part or full-time. Then, you may have a better perspective on the entire healthcare system to make a decision.

 

[MyHobbyIsMedSch]

It looks like you have answered your question in the above convoluted post. You mention "your country" which makes me wonder whether or not your are a citizen of the United States. If you are not a US citizen, it is highly unlikely that NIH is going to pay for your tuition. If you are in love with social science research and health disparities, medical school isn't going to help you much and with your description of your grades, it doesn't look like you are a viable candidate for application especially with the calibre of applicant at this point in time. Being below 3.0 is not very promising even if your employer is the dean of the medical school.

There are plenty of folks who are not MDs who are involved in healthcare research. I know this I work with some. The just say it is easier to get funding being an MD. They usually have a close affiliation with an MD/DO and thus you may want to look in that direction. Again, if you are located at a medical school, finding an MD to collaborate with for research should not be much of a problem especially if you are good at grant writing.




My guess is that you didn't clearly ask a question and you have many issues that you need to address not the least of which is what do you actually want to do with your life? If you like data collection, then seek some information from people who are involved in data collection. Most medical schools have plenty of options for interaction with people who are actively gathering data.I know this but I do not want to be broke. If you can't find anyone on your project that has the info that you need, look at other departments such as Public Health or the Social Sciences.

I clearly said my county.

I know my grades are not up to par. I was not even finished with my premed classes. This is why I could go back to school and finisih it up and knockout the MCATs.

 

[MyHobbyIsMedSch]

Sounds like it would be very helpful to pursue an MPH. You can do this part or full-time. Then, you may have a better perspective on the entire healthcare system to make a decision.

I might do this. I have been going back and forth on it for awhile.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

I guess my issue is
1) debt-I do not know how much more I can handle
2) what do I really want deep down? I am really conflicted! I love social science research especially about health disparities. I love having one on one contact with people in the community too. Honestly, the PI's I know are not that involved in the actual research process. They are VERY involved in data analysis but not collection. I think data collection is the best part. What to do? Maybe both? My head hurts when I think about this.[/quote]

thoughts/suggestions:

1) Debt - what is the income of the path(s) you're considering? For medium/upper income, student loans are not tax deductible; future income after school would need to reasonably cover current and future student loans. This partially depends on if current loans are subsidized/unsubidized; subsidized federal student loans can be deferred while in school and accrue no interest. (mine are deferred now as a post-bacc undergraduate)

2) What do you really want to do? There are many books on this, determining the answer is the precursor to applying to any grad program. An admissions person will smell indecision from far away, that interview will not go well unless you can clearly articulate what you've done, what you want to do, and how the grad program will get you there. This needs to be in a clear line; saying I worked in business and now I want to be a doctor -- not so good. Saying I've gone fulltime post-bacc 1 1/2 years pulling a high science GPA, gained research experience at a med school, clinical volunteer experience, and have LORs from physicians I've shadowed.. better. From what I've seen, an applicant has to be 100%, gung-ho, TOTALLY committed, both inside themselves and in their everyday actions, in order to do that volunteer clinical work when exhausted from studying o-chem, skip the bars/social things with friends or family, be broke while taking several months off to study for the MCAT, pay for those plane tickets for interviews. Happy researching!

 

[Lacheln]

I don't see much actual interest in going to med school coming from you, and this is the premed forum, which is probably why you didn't much in the way of responses.

Sounds to me like an MPH is the obvious degree for you, you can probably get more info in the MPH forum.

 

[sunny1]

It sounds to me like research on health disparities is more suited for you than medical school/being a doctor.

The one thing you need to consider is whether you want to stay at the data collection and personal interaction level for a few years since you say you enjoy it (perhaps while you get your graduate degree) and then progress to the PI level -- or whether you simply want to stay at the level of data collection and assistance with analysis.

I suppose if you worked as director of research for a small non-profit they might still need your assistance with data collection, e.g. conducting focus groups, or you would at least train your moderators. But you're right - as a PI it more so envisioning, designing, and analyzing than the actual interaction with people one on one to get the data you need.

In terms of getting grant funding without the MD behind your name, you could always get your PhD so you are more of an epi/research design expert and then team up with an MD co-PI who represents the clinical expertise part of the team. That has been a successful model at least from grants I've been involved with (co-PIs, one PhD and one MD).

 

[nu2004]

as you've mentioned, you don't really have the grades for the top research schools. less research-oriented schools may be willing to accept someone with a lower GPA, but they are also more interested in training clinicians - people who interact one-on-one with patients. it doesn't really sound like this is your interest, and you'd probably fare poorly in the application cycle because of it.