considering a career shift - Accountant to Doctor

[Accountant]

Hello,

I'm glad to see this forum is alive and well. One accountant I look up to has often said: “Of all the letters behind your name none of them are MD; no one is going to get hurt or be cured from this decision.” It was a great way to put a task into perspective, but perhaps that is something that I was missing…

For sometime I have been considering a career change. I am a 34 year old Canadian who holds three business degrees (my B.Comm has 3 majors as well). I am a certified management accountant and have an MBA. As such I do possess the ability to study. I do not however possess a single lick of knowledge regarding the sciences. I am a clean slate. My only hope is that my experience with the mathematics of the time value of money will translate well with physics (but I suspect not).

My first hurdle is gaining the proper skill set to write the MCAT. Has anyone written the MCAT based exclusively from independent study? If you have where did you start? What subjects did you study? I’m also curious to find out how receptive the med schools are to someone with a business background.

I have a couple members of my family that are doctors so I should be able to get my hands on text books and other study material.

So am I nuts or what?

I look forward to your feedback

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[TheMightySmiter]

In order to get into medical school, you have to take science prerequisites. A year of bio, a year of general chemistry, a year of physics, and a year of organic chem, all with labs. That's actually your first hurdle. Since you will have to take these courses anyway, there's no reason for you to take the MCAT without previous exposure to the sciences. Med schools look for students from all background, but you do have to have a good GPA and a good MCAT score.

Also, you have to find out for yourself exactly why you want to be a physician. It can't just be to get more letters after your name. 😉 Have you ever volunteered in a hospital or clinical setting? Ever shadowed a doctor? I'd start here before you decide to do anything else. Once you've determined that you really do want to go to med school, though, you'll need to enroll in school again to take your prereqs, and you'll need to do well in them. I'm not too familiar with the Canadian med school process, so maybe someone else could say more on that topic. If you were looking to attend med school in the US, however, keep in mind that it's more difficult for an international applicant to do so than for a US resident.

(Oh, and unfortunately finance/accounting math skills are very different from those used in physics. But being good at math in general will help you there.)

Good luck! 🙂

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

I agree with Smiter regarding the classes; they're required (at least by US schools) prior to beginning med school; this leaves some flexibility to take, say, that last english class in the year between application and admission, but it would be quite challenging to complete ALL prereq classes in the year after admission and before acceptance, particularly considering many applicants (i.e. me) had to apply a second time. And if you're pre-read all the books in order to sit for the MCAT, it would seem that taking Gen Chem 1 would be exceedingly boring for you after sitting for the MCAT.

I have an MBA from what many would consider among the toughest schools in the US, completed undergrad with top grades in 3 years a number of years back. What tripped me up my first go-around? Probably part of it was the arrogance that I could fly through this material. It's not difficult, but it is voluminous. The biggest things that I did not know the first go around were: 1) schools require things that are not posted or published anywhere. Example was one top school that I spoke with after being turned down -- they require clinical experience, absolutely, or the applicant is denied. And the "application deadline" of January? That means that an October application is way late to be considered. 2) the MCAT covers a lot of ground, and may cover many things that are not covered in the pre-med courses, and takes (for me at least) 1-2 months of dedicated, around-the-clock, review time to prepare well enough to hit a 30+. This is intentional, as the time commitment will be similar when sitting for the Step 1 exam (in the US at least)

 

[lawyerdoc2b]

You could go to medical school in 2 1/2 years.

Enroll now in college. Go three semesters a year (including the summer term)

Take Bio 1 & General Chemistry I the first semester
Take Bio 2 & General Chemistry 2 the second semester
Take Physics I and Organic Chemistry 1 the third semester
Take Physics II and Organic Chemistry 2 the fourth semester
Consider a course in Biochemistry and a course in Genetics

Enter MCAT hell and study like same.

If you do it and do well you can get accepted into medical school. I did. Even though I am a practising lawyer, my brain still works.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

In order to get into medical school, you have to take science prerequisites. A year of bio, a year of general chemistry, a year of physics, and a year of organic chem, all with labs. That's actually your first hurdle. Since you will have to take these courses anyway, there's no reason for you to take the MCAT without previous exposure to the sciences. Med schools look for students from all background, but you do have to have a good GPA and a good MCAT score.

Also, you have to find out for yourself exactly why you want to be a physician. It can't just be to get more letters after your name. 😉 Have you ever volunteered in a hospital or clinical setting? Ever shadowed a doctor? I'd start here before you decide to do anything else. Once you've determined that you really do want to go to med school, though, you'll need to enroll in school again to take your prereqs, and you'll need to do well in them. I'm not too familiar with the Canadian med school process, so maybe someone else could say more on that topic. If you were looking to attend med school in the US, however, keep in mind that it's more difficult for an international applicant to do so than for a US resident.

(Oh, and unfortunately finance/accounting math skills are very different from those used in physics. But being good at math in general will help you there.)

Good luck! 🙂

you can be a twin of my pcp. He did his b.s. in accounting, then worked for 15 years. One day, he decided to become a physician, so he went back to school. He graduated in the year 2000, and he was 41 years old. He said that it was the best decision he ever made in his life.