Do you believe ppl's "breakthroughs" to change careers to medicine?

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rocketbooster

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I'm referring to ppl who already established another career and worked in it for a good few years. You hear them saying they had a "breakthrough" or a "wake up calling" that convinced them they were meant for "greater things." there are tons of ppl like this getting into med school, posting on SDN, etc.

adcoms tend to eat up these ppl. they love them. I know it's becuase adcoms love ppl with lots of life experience.

now, honestly, what would make someone get this "breakthrough" when they are 30? it sounds more like they don't like their previous career and want to make more money and have more job security. I don't think these ppl should be denied acceptance to med school or something, but I don't know if I buy their "wake up call," either. if they are working fulltime, they aren't going to be in a hospital setting, especially as like an engineer, where they might see how a doctor's career is and realize it's meant for them. also, even if it seems appealing, they must really, REALLY hate their career to get into an entirely new one at age 30+.

there are tons of ppl on this board who fall into this. care to explain your reasoning for jumping ship towards a new career that take 7+ years to even begin?

if you're intentions are so altruistic now, why did it take you this long to realize it, ya know? I can understand ppl who are like 25 and switch to medicine because chances are they just never really sat down and thought about what they want to do with their lives. once you're in your 30s, though....I'm still trying to understand...so?

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The number of reasons for jumping ship are just as numerous as the reasons for wanting to be a physician in the first place. Personally, I buy the motivation and desire of people with realistic alternatives to those of the 22 year-old bio major whose dug themselves into a hole...
 
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Unless you've worked a soul-sucking job for at least a decade, I think you have zero room to be questioning people's motivations to switch careers.

I'm 42. I think I understand, kid.

But, no, seriously, many doctors I've met also consider themselves being in a "soul-sucking job." The last FPer (she's in her early 30s) I shadowed last week after only 3 years of real practice was telling me how jaded she was already with the whole career. I started this thread to ask these ppl, "Why is it worth jumping to a career that takes 7+ years to start when you're at risk of trading one 'soul-sucking' job for another?"

I don't perceive it as "soul-sucking," haha but I'm saying many doctors do. It seems awfully risky to jump to another career because you never know FOR SURE you'll join it until you actually become involved yourself. Shadowing doctors only givse a glimpse of the physician life. None of us will truly know what it's like until we start to practice ourselves.

And, that's why I started this thread to find what their motivations are. Go somewhere else with your attitude, Negative Nancy. :laugh:
 
adcoms tend to eat up these ppl. they love them. I know it's becuase adcoms love ppl with lots of life experience.
Not necessarily...actually quite a few career-changers (e.g. those with PhD in biomedical science) had a hard time to convince the adcom that they decided to go into medicine not simply because they realized the grass on the other side is greener. You can find more of these posts in the non-traditional forum.
 
Was a premed in undergrad. Decided to take a "break" after college. Well that break ended up being about eight years. Working dead-end desk jobs just gave me the motivation to go back and pursue medicine.
 
If you're 42 and a pre-med, wouldn't that make you a bit of a hypocrite? What have you been doing for the past 20 years? Living in your mom's basement, unemployed, still finishing up undergrad? :laugh:
 
Some people enter the workforce thinking they're going to do something they really enjoy, then realize 5 years into it, this isn't it. And it's hard to understand what you want to do or what you would be good doing right out of college when you've never really worked full-time before. As a 30-year-old applicant, it's hard for me to imagine someone who's 21 knowing for sure what they want to do with their life! How funny is that.

Also, I consider myself to have grown tremendously in the past 10 years, and I'm thankful that I had my 20's to myself to grow and learn personally while "only" working 40 hrs/week.

For me, I hit a point at 27 where I realized I wasn't doing everything I had thought I would be when I was in college and I wasn't feeling the satisfaction at the end of the day that I wanted to. I wanted to make a bigger difference. Although I knew it was a long road ahead, I was going to end up 40 years old either way, so I might as well be doing what I wanted at 40. I enrolled in post-bacc courses and here I am.

It's not to say it was an easy decision. Because I believe it's harder to go back when you're older. I won't finish my residency until I'm 38, and I'm about to be married in 6 mos. So, now I face questions like, when do I have kids? Questions that younger students won't have to face.

Everyone's life path is different and people reach decisions at different ages.
 
not necessarily...actually quite a few career-changers (e.g. Those with phd in biomedical science) had a hard time to convince the adcom that they decided to go into medicine not simply because they realized the grass on the other side is greener. You can find more of these posts in the non-traditional forum.

+1
 
I'm 42. I think I understand, kid.

But, no, seriously, many doctors I've met also consider themselves being in a "soul-sucking job." The last FPer (she's in her early 30s) I shadowed last week after only 3 years of real practice was telling me how jaded she was already with the whole career. I started this thread to ask these ppl, "Why is it worth jumping to a career that takes 7+ years to start when you're at risk of trading one 'soul-sucking' job for another?"

I don't perceive it as "soul-sucking," haha but I'm saying many doctors do. It seems awfully risky to jump to another career because you never know FOR SURE you'll join it until you actually become involved yourself. Shadowing doctors only givse a glimpse of the physician life. None of us will truly know what it's like until we start to practice ourselves.

And, that's why I started this thread to find what their motivations are. Go somewhere else with your attitude, Negative Nancy. :laugh:

Now, be nice to the youngsters. We older folks (I'll be 42 next month) are supposed to be more mature, remember? :laugh:

For me, I've been asking myself lately "do I want to do what I'm doing now for the rest of my life?" The answer keeps coming up "no." I have always felt that law, particularly litigation, was never quite right for me, but I didn't dislike it enough to walk away. I also had to find a way to pay my student loans. I had an interest in going into medicine shortly after graduating from law school, and took most (but unfortunately not all) of my prereqs before being offered a law job I had been trying to get for some time. The med school thing was then put on the shelf until a couple of years ago. Given my current financial and other obligations, it's going to be very difficult to go back to school, so we'll see what happens...

As for the risk of going from one possibly soul-sucking career to another, I suppose it's possible, but not likely. If I end up going to medical school and residency, and hate it after practicing a few years, I could always go back into law as a lawyer with an M.D.
 
I think "the calling" is a total bull **** notion made up by the religionists and then now transfered to the field due to people wanting to justify their ways. A-holes!
 
Eh, I don't know if some people ever make up their minds. Some seem to rediscover themselves every few years or so. We didn't always live long enough for that to be possible.
 
I think "the calling" is a total bull **** notion made up by the religionists and then now transfered to the field due to people wanting to justify their ways. A-holes!

Jesus told me to be a doctor.
 
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