Engineering exit strategy

[RunShare]

I'm a structural engineer and I've recently decided to make a career change to medicine. While I certainly have reasons for the switch, I can't decide what will go over best with an adcom. I'm also worried that I'll be viewed as indecisive, since I've only been in engineering for a few years (straight out of undergrad). Do I stick with blunt honesty ("I miss human contact" and "I meant to do it all along but got sidetracked due to such-and-such") and hope they don't see me as flaky? What's the best way of getting across my sincere desire to practice medicine when I obviously veered from the usual path? What reasoning for the switch have you all used in PS's and interviews?

If there's already a thread on this topic, please direct me. Thanks!

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[RxnMan]

I'm a structural engineer and I've recently decided to make a career change to medicine...

Another frequent poster, Panda Bear, has a great blog on his experience as a structural engineer going into medicine. Google for "panda bear, md" to find it.

...I'm also worried that I'll be viewed as indecisive, since I've only been in engineering for a few years (straight out of undergrad)...

Not at all. Many posters, myself included, worked before getting into medicine. Decisiveness comes out in your essays.

Do I stick with blunt honesty ("I miss human contact"...

This is the most common reason I hear why engineers choose to become docs. It's a perfectly acceptable reason.

...and "I meant to do it all along but got sidetracked due to such-and-such")...

This one, not so much. Granted, it usually takes awhile before you know how a job/career will be. You put in two years, found out it wasn't for you, and you looked back over past interests and thought about medicine. Done.

...What's the best way of getting across my sincere desire to practice medicine when I obviously veered from the usual path? What reasoning for the switch have you all used in PS's and interviews?

You haven't strayed far from the path at all. Really. Look back over your post. The rationale for your switch, and your sincererity are all right there. Just clarify it, give some examples (stories/evidence) and you have your PS, with your reasons (and not ours, which wouldn't work for you anyways).

 

[NonTradMed]

I'm a structural engineer and I've recently decided to make a career change to medicine. While I certainly have reasons for the switch, I can't decide what will go over best with an adcom. I'm also worried that I'll be viewed as indecisive, since I've only been in engineering for a few years (straight out of undergrad). Do I stick with blunt honesty ("I miss human contact" and "I meant to do it all along but got sidetracked due to such-and-such") and hope they don't see me as flaky? What's the best way of getting across my sincere desire to practice medicine when I obviously veered from the usual path? What reasoning for the switch have you all used in PS's and interviews?

If there's already a thread on this topic, please direct me. Thanks!

Plenty of people change careers to medicine. I worked for two years as a developer and then decided to go intom medicine (well, re-decided, I was premed in college). No one questioned my sincerity. I wanted more human contact, I missed the medical sciences. I realized the reasons I wanted to be a doctor was still there despite having a job that paid well. In fact, engineers, at least from my interviewing experience, actually has an easier time convincing adcoms of our sincerity since we are giving up a good salary for medicine. This is unlike some bio majors who may be working at a lab making $8/hr. Money talks, and in this case, making more than enough to support oneself makes the adcoms (IMHO) actually sit up and take notice that, thinking, 'Hey, this guy is quitting a high paying job to take out debt to do medicine'. Just be yourself, give them the reasons you have for changing careers. Life is short, not all of us know what we want to do for 40 years at the age of 22.

 

[RunShare]

Thank you both, I needed a bit of grounding. Some of the posts on SDN really do make you feel inadequate at times... like my resolve isn't as strong as everyone else's. But your words of wisdom are much appreciated.

 

[CaptainDave]

BS/MS/Biomedical Engineering turned M1 here.

While my change wasn't as drastic as yours, I simply told the adcom that I wanted to serve, and have a direct impact on lives on a daily basis. It went over well.

FWIW, I'm now poor, sleep-deprived, and stressed out.

And I couldn't be happier.

Also, there are three or four over-30s in our class, so you made up your mind sooner than some others. Good luck!

 

[RxnMan]

...FWIW, I'm now poor, sleep-deprived, and stressed out...

With engineering ugrad as it is, that sleep-deprivation makes it feel more comfortable than anything

 

[syzygy350z]

I'm in a similar situation as RunShare. I'm currently an EE undergrad and I've decided to apply to medschool.

I'm on a co/op eduction program at college where I take some semesters off and work for companies in the engineering industry to get some experience and get a resume going. I'm working this semester and go back to school in January.

Organic chem and bio are the only requirements for med school that I haven't taken yet. I'm thinking of finishing engineering and taking those required classes along the way.

I'm confident I can do well enough on the MCATs with proper preparation, but will that be enough? Is community service / volunteer time an unwritten requirement for med school or will it simply help?

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

I'm confident I can do well enough on the MCATs with proper preparation, but will that be enough? Is community service / volunteer time an unwritten requirement for med school or will it simply help?

It's an unwritten requirement. Just suck it up, start now, and you'll be fine. Try to find medically-related volunteer activities that interest you, so that it's easier to stick with them and talk about them when you eventually have interviews.

 

[CaptainDave]

I'm in a similar situation as RunShare. I'm currently an EE undergrad and I've decided to apply to medschool.

I'm on a co/op eduction program at college where I take some semesters off and work for companies in the engineering industry to get some experience and get a resume going. I'm working this semester and go back to school in January.

I co-oped a lot too, and the adcom loved that I had been in both a work environment and grad school, and knew what I liked and didn't about each, and that is what led me to med school.

Is community service / volunteer time an unwritten requirement for med school or will it simply help?

This is usually true, but not a hard and fast rule. My community service and volunteer experience is limited, at best. But, it really helps on the getting in. I'd say medical experience is more valuable, so if you can volunteer in a clinic or something, that would be a great way to go.

 

[syzygy350z]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll look into volunteering at a local hospital one day.

What kind of work would they have me do? What is shadowing a doctor all about? Do you follow him (or her) around while he treats patients, etc?

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Volunteer experiences at hospitals vary widely but most involve doing "scutwork" for nurses (i.e. changing bedsheets, stocking supplies in rooms, etc.) The best, however, also allow you to interact with patients while doing so, and if the doctors are cool where you volunteer, they will let you watch them (with patient consent) treat patients, which is essentially shadowing. Shadowing IS basically following a doctor around and seeing what their typical day is like (as well as watching procedures.)

Talk to other premeds in your area (either here, or in any premed classes that you take) to try to get an idea of where the good places to volunteer are. My advice in the matter is that bigger isn't always better. In my city, volunteering in the best hosiptal/Level 1 trauma center actually provides few opportunities for shadowning/patient contact. I talked to people and found out that a smaller hospital on the outskirts of the city (READ: lots of premeds don't have cars, and/or access to public transportation that goes to this hospital) had better clinical opportunities, and I volunteer there. The trade off is that you see more routine stuff, and less wierd stuff.

 

[RxnMan]

I volunteered at the ED of a level one truama center (that's where they take all of the people who had been in a car accident, been stabbed, or shot), which also happens to be a teaching hospital. They were too busy working on other things to care if I stepped in to watch or assist. Also since it was a teaching hospital, everyone was there to learn and teach, so everyone was very willing to teach me about what I was seeing.