Deciding Before its TOO Late!

[tia_bluesky]

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Since I can remember the plan and my life goal was to become a doctor. I worked hard my first two years of college. But then I was assaulted and had a mental breakdown. I withdrew from school and plan on returning but see before my breakdown I began doing poorly in school because of my deteriorating mental health. Now I want to go back to school but my family suggests I pursue a career as a Physician Assistant not a doctor because I won't be able to handle the intensive studying involved with being a doctor. I don't want to chose PA and then regret not being a doctor in the near future. How can I decide? I constantly doubt myself thinking I cant become a doctor because of my poor grades before my melt down. It is hard deciding which career path to take and I feel like I am running out of time because I took a year off from school.
I am thinking of finishing a course as a CNA and then figure it out from there? What do you guys think?

 

[ndafife]

How bad is your GPA and how high can you realistically get it? How good are other parts of your resume (MCAT/Extracurricular/Clinical/Research)? If you are talking about a 3 GPA with a solid MCAT and REALLY good extracurriculars, you could do some post-bac work and get the GPA up to the point where you could go DO

You get a small area on secondaries to talk about why grades/MCAT/etc... aren't up to par. It really is not a whole lot, because you dont want to waste any other space that you should be highlighting your strengths by drawing attention to your weaknesses with excuses. Yeah they care about individual issues (and yours are very bad) but the explanation is really just small blip on the overall application.

 

[rafthemedic]

Since I can remember the plan and my life goal was to become a doctor. I worked hard my first two years of college. But then I was assaulted and had a mental breakdown. I withdrew from school and plan on returning but see before my breakdown I began doing poorly in school because of my deteriorating mental health. Now I want to go back to school but my family suggests I pursue a career as a Physician Assistant not a doctor because I won't be able to handle the intensive studying involved with being a doctor. I don't want to chose PA and then regret not being a doctor in the near future. How can I decide? I constantly doubt myself thinking I cant become a doctor because of my poor grades before my melt down. It is hard deciding which career path to take and I feel like I am running out of time because I took a year off from school.
I am thinking of finishing a course as a CNA and then figure it out from there? What do you guys think?

RE: I think if you only have one semester with bad grades and the rest are good and you plan on doing well when you return to your studies you should be fine. When you go for an interview and the interviewer asks you about that one bad semester you can explain and they will understand. If they see all other semesters you were a good student then you should be good to go. The best thing to do is to show experience in the medical field during college. Volunteering or working in various medical fields such as an EMT (that's a really good example), shadowing doctors, lab/research experience, etc, shows that you have a passion for the medical field and already have some experience. Medical schools look for that. They rather accept a student with a slightly lower GPA but more experience and passion for the field than someone with a 4.0 but has no experience or passion for the field. And make sure you do well on the MCAT as that will only improve your chances and bring more legitimacy to the fact that you are a good student who just had a small hiccup in her life but got over it and persevered. Good luck🙂

 

[claduva94]

Absolutely do not pursue a PA if you don't want to do it. This isn't something for your family to decide. You would be taking a spot away from someone who legitimately wants to be a PA. Your can still be a doctor with enough work. If that is what you want then work until you can achieve it.

 

[theseeker4]

Since I can remember the plan and my life goal was to become a doctor. I worked hard my first two years of college. But then I was assaulted and had a mental breakdown. I withdrew from school and plan on returning but see before my breakdown I began doing poorly in school because of my deteriorating mental health. Now I want to go back to school but my family suggests I pursue a career as a Physician Assistant not a doctor because I won't be able to handle the intensive studying involved with being a doctor. I don't want to chose PA and then regret not being a doctor in the near future. How can I decide? I constantly doubt myself thinking I cant become a doctor because of my poor grades before my melt down. It is hard deciding which career path to take and I feel like I am running out of time because I took a year off from school.
I am thinking of finishing a course as a CNA and then figure it out from there? What do you guys think?

More important than your GPA is your mental health. It meanings nothing to get into medical school if you have a poor chance at getting through. What does your psychiatrist think about your pursuing medical school? Have you had an in-depth conversation about your plans, goals, concerns, and what he or she thinks of your chances at succeeding in your current condition (whatever that is right now)? There are people who have overcome horrific pasts, and struggled with mental health issues, and still succeeded at medical school and residency training. Whether you are in a position to be one of those individuals is a topic you need to explore with your doctor, not really anything anyone on here can help you with, due to the fact that no one here actually knows you, let alone is a mental health professional treating you. Good luck!

 

[tia_bluesky]

How bad is your GPA and how high can you realistically get it? How good are other parts of your resume (MCAT/Extracurricular/Clinical/Research)? If you are talking about a 3 GPA with a solid MCAT and REALLY good extracurriculars, you could do some post-bac work and get the GPA up to the point where you could go DO

You get a small area on secondaries to talk about why grades/MCAT/etc... aren't up to par. It really is not a whole lot, because you dont want to waste any other space that you should be highlighting your strengths by drawing attention to your weaknesses with excuses. Yeah they care about individual issues (and yours are very bad) but the explanation is really just small blip on the overall application.

stuff.
As of now GPA is 3.3. I received my first C's in psych and an upper divison Bio and a D in anatomy the semester before I withdrew (hence the time I was going through a breakdown). MCAT haven't taken yet. Extracurricular I have a lot of good ones involving helping people not so much medical

 

[tia_bluesky]

RE: I think if you only have one semester with bad grades and the rest are good and you plan on doing well when you return to your studies you should be fine. When you go for an interview and the interviewer asks you about that one bad semester you can explain and they will understand. If they see all other semesters you were a good student then you should be good to go. The best thing to do is to show experience in the medical field during college. Volunteering or working in various medical fields such as an EMT (that's a really good example), shadowing doctors, lab/research experience, etc, shows that you have a passion for the medical field and already have some experience. Medical schools look for that. They rather accept a student with a slightly lower GPA but more experience and passion for the field than someone with a 4.0 but has no experience or passion for the field. And make sure you do well on the MCAT as that will only improve your chances and bring more legitimacy to the fact that you are a good student who just had a small hiccup in her life but got over it and persevered. Good luck🙂

Thank you this made me feel a little better 🙂

 

[Goro]

Tia, what does your heart tell you?

Since I can remember the plan and my life goal was to become a doctor. I worked hard my first two years of college. But then I was assaulted and had a mental breakdown. I withdrew from school and plan on returning but see before my breakdown I began doing poorly in school because of my deteriorating mental health. Now I want to go back to school but my family suggests I pursue a career as a Physician Assistant not a doctor because I won't be able to handle the intensive studying involved with being a doctor. I don't want to chose PA and then regret not being a doctor in the near future. How can I decide? I constantly doubt myself thinking I cant become a doctor because of my poor grades before my melt down. It is hard deciding which career path to take and I feel like I am running out of time because I took a year off from school.
I am thinking of finishing a course as a CNA and then figure it out from there? What do you guys think?

 

[tia_bluesky]

More important than your GPA is your mental health. It meanings nothing to get into medical school if you have a poor chance at getting through. What does your psychiatrist think about your pursuing medical school? Have you had an in-depth conversation about your plans, goals, concerns, and what he or she thinks of your chances at succeeding in your current condition (whatever that is right now)? There are people who have overcome horrific pasts, and struggled with mental health issues, and still succeeded at medical school and residency training. Whether you are in a position to be one of those individuals is a topic you need to explore with your doctor, not really anything anyone on here can help you with, due to the fact that no one here actually knows you, let alone is a mental health professional treating you. Good luck!

Personally I don't think I am ready. I am so afraid of taking undergrad classes that I can't really perdict how I will perform in PA/Medschool. I think for now I should concentrate on undergrad classes and finish pre reqs for both PA and MD (they mostly overlap anyways). From there I will be able to see who well I can handle course work and my mental strength.

 

[tia_bluesky]

Tia, what does your heart tell you?

Hi Goro

My heart says MD but then my decision gets clouded my doubt. 🙁

 

[Goro]

Take some time to think things over, then decide.

Hi Goro

My heart says MD but then my decision gets clouded my doubt. 🙁

 

[Conflagration]

"Courage is fear that has said its prayers." -Dorothy Bernard

My condolences to you for your traumatic episode; I wish nothing but the best for you.

Chasing after your goals requires nerve, and courage. You had something horrible happen to you, and yet you are here still today.

It took courage then to continue living your life after that incident. If being a physician is what you want, then use the courage you gained from that experience and go after what you want.

I believe in you, OP. 🙂