DPT to MD

[Bonga]

Hi,

I am a 30 y/o physical therapist thinking about transitioning to MD/DO. I graduated from a DPT program in 2020, and have been working in the acute care setting for the last 4 years. I chose the acute care setting because of my fascination for medicine and working with patients with acute medical presentations. Only thing is, after about 1 year, I found myself being drawn more and more to medicine. I poured through medical charts and found myself wishing I could provide patient care from the perspective of a physician. When I worked with my patients, I found myself feeling constrained by my limited scope. Don’t get me wrong, I do love physical therapy, but my mind keeps coming back to the same place. I thought to myself “oh that’s crazy, you have ‘grass is greener on the other side’ syndrome” and I tried to shake it off.

I tried different avenues to try expanding on my career. I’ve spent the last two years working as an adjunct instructor in an DPT program and now am teaching a semester as a course director for a physiology and pharmacology class, in addition to my full-time job. I went to Ethiopia for a medical mission trip and instructed nurses on providing physical therapy to patients post hip replacement. All of these things have been wonderful. Alas, teaching this subject has only expanded my horizons on how much more I want to learn, to do, and expand my scope of practice as a physician. Now my primary floor is the critical care unit, and my itch only grows stronger.

I am married to a wonderful and supportive husband and we plan on growing our family in the near future. If I go down this route, I would take some prerequisite courses, shadow, study and take the MCAT. Pop out a baby before matriculation hopefully. We are very lucky in that my parents are on board with helping with childcare.

The idea of upending the life of my family is absolutely daunting. I am, however, more afraid that 10 years down the road, I will regret not attempting to take this leap. Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.

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[Dral]

First off, shadow as much as you can in a meaningful way. You want to be as sure as possible that you are not getting into something that you might regret. There are many sacrifices you have to make for this to happen. You will miss out on a lot of your child's early years if you follow the plan you have outlined.

As an example, during my surgery rotation I stayed in an old dorm (away surgery site), asleep at 10pm (if I was lucky), up at 4am to start my day. This was 6/7 days per week for those few weeks. That's not what may happen to everyone, but it's just an example.

You'll need clinical and non-clinical volunteering as well. Nontrads usually don't have to check off the research box though as I understand it.

 

[SWR1913]

Hi,

I am a 30 y/o physical therapist thinking about transitioning to MD/DO. I graduated from a DPT program in 2020, and have been working in the acute care setting for the last 4 years. I chose the acute care setting because of my fascination for medicine and working with patients with acute medical presentations. Only thing is, after about 1 year, I found myself being drawn more and more to medicine. I poured through medical charts and found myself wishing I could provide patient care from the perspective of a physician. When I worked with my patients, I found myself feeling constrained by my limited scope. Don’t get me wrong, I do love physical therapy, but my mind keeps coming back to the same place. I thought to myself “oh that’s crazy, you have ‘grass is greener on the other side’ syndrome” and I tried to shake it off.

I tried different avenues to try expanding on my career. I’ve spent the last two years working as an adjunct instructor in an DPT program and now am teaching a semester as a course director for a physiology and pharmacology class, in addition to my full-time job. I went to Ethiopia for a medical mission trip and instructed nurses on providing physical therapy to patients post hip replacement. All of these things have been wonderful. Alas, teaching this subject has only expanded my horizons on how much more I want to learn, to do, and expand my scope of practice as a physician. Now my primary floor is the critical care unit, and my itch only grows stronger.

I am married to a wonderful and supportive husband and we plan on growing our family in the near future. If I go down this route, I would take some prerequisite courses, shadow, study and take the MCAT. Pop out a baby before matriculation hopefully. We are very lucky in that my parents are on board with helping with childcare.

The idea of upending the life of my family is absolutely daunting. I am, however, more afraid that 10 years down the road, I will regret not attempting to take this leap. Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.

Go for it. Or you will always regret that you didn't. I'm a 42 year old PA with 15 years of experience making the leap. The feeling will never go away

 

[Bonga]

First off, shadow as much as you can in a meaningful way. You want to be as sure as possible that you are not getting into something that you might regret. There are many sacrifices you have to make for this to happen. You will miss out on a lot of your child's early years if you follow the plan you have outlined.

As an example, during my surgery rotation I stayed in an old dorm (away surgery site), asleep at 10pm (if I was lucky), up at 4am to start my day. This was 6/7 days per week for those few weeks. That's not what may happen to everyone, but it's just an example.

You'll need clinical and non-clinical volunteering as well. Nontrads usually don't have to check off the research box though as I understand it.

Thank you so much for your insight! The sacrifices will definitely be monumental, especially for my husband. 4 years of schooling and then residency, living on one income, putting things on hold for 7-10 years minimum, it’s quite the cost. We’ve talked over many plans and potential trajectories and ultimately, I will give it a try. There is actually a resident at my hospital (I met with her yesterday) who did the DPT to MD transition and she is my inspiration. She says it’s one of the best decisions she ever made. AND she had a baby during med school! She’s incredible. I definitely agree that doing some meaningful shadowing will be so helpful. I’ll definitely need to reap some more volunteer hours! Good to know about the importance of non-clinical volunteer hours too. If you have any other tips, let me know! I’m all ears. Thank you!

 

[Dral]

For the non-clinical volunteering, do what you can to work with those less fortunate. I guess I'll put it this way: Ad coms apparently look more favorably on volunteering, for example, at homeless shelters than volunteering to tutor white suburban high school kids.

 

[Bonga]

Go for it. Or you will always regret that you didn't. I'm a 42 year old PA with 15 years of experience making the leap. The feeling will never go away

Yes! You totally got this! I am curious where you are in your process. I need to start taking some ochem and biochem. Hoping to take it online asynchronously so I can maintain my full time job. I wish I started this process years ago, but there’s no going back now. The time to start is NOW.

You’re so right when you say the feeling really doesn’t go away.

 

[Bonga]

For the non-clinical volunteering, do what you can to work with those less fortunate. I guess I'll put it this way: Ad coms apparently look more favorably on volunteering, for example, at homeless shelters than volunteering to tutor white suburban high school kids.

That makes sense! I’ll put feelers out for a volunteering opportunity that targets the disadvantaged and vulnerable population in our community. Can I ask, how long do they typically look in terms of longevity and continuity in a volunteering role to be favorable? Obviously, the longer the better but is there like a minimum?

 

[SWR1913]

Yes! You totally got this! I am curious where you are in your process. I need to start taking some ochem and biochem. Hoping to take it online asynchronously so I can maintain my full time job. I wish I started this process years ago, but there’s no going back now. The time to start is NOW.

You’re so right when you say the feeling really doesn’t go away.

Doane University online for Ochem 1 and Ochem 2

 

[Dral]

I'd say shoot for about 150 minimum hours of non-clinical. About the same for clinical (could be volunteer or whatever exposure you get). Try to get about 50 hours of shadowing. Several specialties is better, optimally with at least some of it being with primary care.

For example, even though I'm a dermatologist, if I was on an ad com, I'd personally prefer to see someone who did 20 hours in family practice, 20 hours with surgery, and 20 hours with PMR opposed to someone with 60 hours in derm.

 

[Bonga]

I'd say shoot for about 150 minimum hours of non-clinical. About the same for clinical (could be volunteer or whatever exposure you get). Try to get about 50 hours of shadowing. Several specialties is better, optimally with at least some of it being with primary care.

For example, even though I'm a dermatologist, if I was on an ad com, I'd personally prefer to see someone who did 20 hours in family practice, 20 hours with surgery, and 20 hours with PMR opposed to someone with 60 hours in derm.

Wow, this is so helpful! Thank you so much for this breakdown. I genuinely appreciate your insight!

 

[VelmaBoots]

Go for it. Or you will always regret that you didn't. I'm a 42 year old PA with 15 years of experience making the leap. The feeling will never go away

I second this. I'm a 43 YO NP with 15 years of RN/NP experience. The longer I worked, the more I wanted to be an MD. The desire for a different (in my case, a better) education never left. Starting med school July 2024!!!

I'll share what I learned during my particular journey which is likely different from the journey that others have experienced. I didn't learn about SDN until after I had applied an gotten an II. There are a lot of good resources on here when you take the time to navigate the website!

- I don't know if you're hoping to stay in-state or if you have the option of moving for school. Figure out what school(s) you would want to go to and research their SOM websites. Schools have different requirements ... i.e. required vs recommended classes, # of LOR you need & from whom, MCAT & GPA average for accepted students, school mission ('mission fit'), etc. You need to know what you're shooting for ... i.e. what you need to accomplish to meet/exceed the threshold your preferred school(s) are looking for.

- Call or email the SOM admissions team / retention specialists at the school(s) you want to attend and see how they can help. I contacted my school of choice a full year before I applied to discuss my upcoming application cycle. My school offered formal zoom meetings and they were very helpful in answering all my questions. Until you officially apply to a school, there may be resources available to help discuss your application and proof-read your personal statement and secondaries (prompts for secondaries are posted on SDN).

- The school I wanted to attend (and ultimately got accepted to), had recommended classes, no required classes. This was fortunate for me because I was working full time, and my local CC didn't offer ochem at a time I could work it into my work schedule. I took math x3 classes, ethics, and some psych online (not sure what adcoms thought about this but I definitely needed it for MCAT studies). I absolutely went on campus for chem x2 with lab, biochem with lab, biology x1 semester with lab, and physics x1 semester with lab (went to class/lab in the a.m., weekends, summers, and evenings around my full-time work schedule - it was hard but necessary). My DIY post-bacc took 5 semesters, would have taken 2 more semesters if I'd taken ochem. While working full-time, I took 1-2 classes per semester during the fall, spring, & summer semesters.

- If the school you want to attend doesn't require pre-reqs, you always have the option of self-studying the courses you're missing (I doubt that this is a recommended course of action but as a non-trad it's what I had to do). I bought college textbooks for ochem and self-studied. Also self-studied my 2nd semesters of biology & physics from the textbooks I'd already purchased.

- I spent a decent amt of money (~$3K) on study aids (Kaplan books, BluePrint online course/books, AAMC FL exams & Qbanks, textbooks) and also used Khan academy (free) to help me with ochem and physics. Studied on/off during my last year of post-bacc and then studied non-stop around work for the 3 months prior to my MCAT. Don't take MCAT until you're ready! That $100 rescheduling fee is worth it if it means your first MCAT score is up to par!!

- Prior to applying to med school, I had ~1000 hours total of required clinical hours (spread across multiple specialties, hospitalist, & ICU) during NP school, 15 years of patient care experience, and 2 years of teaching (1 year paid for local CC & 1 year volunteer at the hospital I work at) ... for these reasons, I didn't do any other formal shadowing or volunteering. I'll be honest, I have no idea what all your schooling entailed, but you might not need much add'l clinical experiences outside of your schooling/current work? This would be a question that adcoms here or at a SOM you wish to attend could probably field for you.

- Given my non-trad journey and past medical experiences, I had plenty to talk about for PS & most meaningful experiences and I think that you probably do too! I hope that you also find a school that appreciates your past/current medical & leadership experiences!

 

[jhmmd]

I second this. I'm a 43 YO NP with 15 years of RN/NP experience. The longer I worked, the more I wanted to be an MD. The desire for a different (in my case, a better) education never left. Starting med school July 2024!!!

I'll share what I learned during my particular journey which is likely different from the journey that others have experienced. I didn't learn about SDN until after I had applied an gotten an II. There are a lot of good resources on here when you take the time to navigate the website!

- I don't know if you're hoping to stay in-state or if you have the option of moving for school. Figure out what school(s) you would want to go to and research their SOM websites. Schools have different requirements ... i.e. required vs recommended classes, # of LOR you need & from whom, MCAT & GPA average for accepted students, school mission ('mission fit'), etc. You need to know what you're shooting for ... i.e. what you need to accomplish to meet/exceed the threshold your preferred school(s) are looking for.

- Call or email the SOM admissions team / retention specialists at the school(s) you want to attend and see how they can help. I contacted my school of choice a full year before I applied to discuss my upcoming application cycle. My school offered formal zoom meetings and they were very helpful in answering all my questions. Until you officially apply to a school, there may be resources available to help discuss your application and proof-read your personal statement and secondaries (prompts for secondaries are posted on SDN).

- The school I wanted to attend (and ultimately got accepted to), had recommended classes, no required classes. This was fortunate for me because I was working full time, and my local CC didn't offer ochem at a time I could work it into my work schedule. I took math x3 classes, ethics, and some psych online (not sure what adcoms thought about this but I definitely needed it for MCAT studies). I absolutely went on campus for chem x2 with lab, biochem with lab, biology x1 semester with lab, and physics x1 semester with lab (went to class/lab in the a.m., weekends, summers, and evenings around my full-time work schedule - it was hard but necessary). My DIY post-bacc took 5 semesters, would have taken 2 more semesters if I'd taken ochem. While working full-time, I took 1-2 classes per semester during the fall, spring, & summer semesters.

- If the school you want to attend doesn't require pre-reqs, you always have the option of self-studying the courses you're missing (I doubt that this is a recommended course of action but as a non-trad it's what I had to do). I bought college textbooks for ochem and self-studied. Also self-studied my 2nd semesters of biology & physics from the textbooks I'd already purchased.

- I spent a decent amt of money (~$3K) on study aids (Kaplan books, BluePrint online course/books, AAMC FL exams & Qbanks, textbooks) and also used Khan academy (free) to help me with ochem and physics. Studied on/off during my last year of post-bacc and then studied non-stop around work for the 3 months prior to my MCAT. Don't take MCAT until you're ready! That $100 rescheduling fee is worth it if it means your first MCAT score is up to par!!

- Prior to applying to med school, I had ~1000 hours total of required clinical hours (spread across multiple specialties, hospitalist, & ICU) during NP school, 15 years of patient care experience, and 2 years of teaching (1 year paid for local CC & 1 year volunteer at the hospital I work at) ... for these reasons, I didn't do any other formal shadowing or volunteering. I'll be honest, I have no idea what all your schooling entailed, but you might not need much add'l clinical experiences outside of your schooling/current work? This would be a question that adcoms here or at a SOM you wish to attend could probably field for you.

- Given my non-trad journey and past medical experiences, I had plenty to talk about for PS & most meaningful experiences and I think that you probably do too! I hope that you also find a school that appreciates your past/current medical & leadership experiences!

I had a similar trajectory to yours and my only advice (as I'm sure you already know) is to NOT work while going to school full-time. Best of luck to you, OP.

Also, make getting into medical school a full-time job. It is not something to take lightly. There are a lot of t's and i's to cross and you want to be sure to jump through every hoop. If it starts to feel like a chore, then it's not for you.