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What are people leaving as their fallback option in case they don't get into med school?
Fallback
- Thread starter fastboyslim
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I would think it is a very personal thing. What can you see yourself doing aside from practicing medicine? If you can't imagine anything else then maybe considering PA school or something similar. I personally would have fallen back on graduate school and probably would have gotten my PhD.
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I have no fall back option. Med school or bust, baby.
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law school
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My fallback was to work 3-4 years while volunteering(weakest part of my app). Then reapply, hopefully get in and it would have been no/low debt FTW.
Or do you mean alternative career choice? In that case, basically the same thing, except business school instead of med school.
Or do you mean alternative career choice? In that case, basically the same thing, except business school instead of med school.
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I definitely feel medicine is what I'm passionate about. And that's not to say it is impossible for me to enjoy anything else (perhaps I'd enjoy other stuff less than medicine, but still). It's that I want to get ideas from other people as far as what they consider their fallback option.
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The question is really open. Whether it's a way to boost your med school app or whether it's an alternate career, I'd like to hear about it.
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Probably go to grad school for history. Get my master's degree and teach at the community college level. Before long, I would start working on my PhD.
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If re-app wasn't a choice, I'd go to grad school in Math.
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I'm already living my backup plan. But I'm a non trad student.
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Get a phD in exercise physiology then go on to teach hopefully either an anatomy course or physiology course at some university while doing research in the field. I'd probably end up reapplying after a few years... I'm actually thinking about going this route straight instead of applying to med school first. Last I heard getting your doctorate is free...
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There is no such thing as free...
Yes, you won't pay tuition, but it's not because they like you, or because they're trying to do you a favor. They will get their money out of you one way or another. I have too many bitter friends who are in graduate school 🙂
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Agreed. Too many students think a PhD is free. Little do they know that they are actually cheap labor for the PI to do HIS research.
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One day if I ever want to get out of this health care stuff, I would like to move to Orlando, FL and work for EA Sports getting a position for some aspect of making the college football video game. I wouldn't mind working with the background (stadium animations, etc).
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cheap labor? grad school is a modern day, fully legal slave pen
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There are WAY more PhDs out there than there are jobs in every single field. That is why so many people end up having to do two post docs. Some people never end up getting a real job and leave for a different career.
PIs hire (I mean taken in a student so they can gain admissions) graduate students to do their research for many years. In some labs the PI provides zero career development guidance. In some labs, if you don't ask if I can graduate you never will.
Instead of hiring a research scientist, some PIs will hire a post doc or take in another graduate student.
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There goes my dreams...
Wait so the downside is that you get used for a couple years even though technically everything is free? I could care less if I had to get 5 hours of sleep a night... free is free, and you get a stipend. I haven't looked into it much since it's a backup so maybe I'm wrong but as long as no money has to come out of my pockets it's the best option there is.
Completely unrelated but the brother of a physician I shadowed created the Bioshock game... just thought that was pretty cool. Who would the parents be more pround of... the son that's a doctor or the son that's getting a bunch of money from creating a best-selling video game.
If that's your plan I hope you started juicing 5 years ago just in case.😀
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I would make a football video game if I had the funds to do so. Maybe in the future?
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Haha, yep.
You might not have any debt when you graduate but you will have worked more-than-full-time hours for 5-7 years and lived on less money than you would have if you worked some dull office job surfing the net for 8 hours a day.
I'd probably go to occupational therapy school, maybe later get an MPH and OTD and try to design therapy programs in developing countries. Or maybe just teach english as a foreign language in various countries until I'm old and want to stay in one place again.
I also seriously considered becoming a marine biologist or oceanographer, but I don't think the academic life is for me. That would involve just as many years of prep as med school, then possibly still being somebody's research bitch (paid or unpaid) for years postdoc before ever securing a position with reasonable hours and a living wage. And I'm not so much into the research as just exploring around the ocean in a submersible.
Interestingly, I'm considering being a psychiatrist, but think clinical psych would be an awful fit for me career-wise.
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Anyone considering 1-2 year formal programs like Teach for America or Peace Corps prior to reapplying?
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I think Teach for America is a really great option as a fallback program. A) It's a great program for a good cause, B) I've heard tons of great stories from friends who have done it, and C) there are a bunch of corporate ties to TFA that give alumni of the program a leg up in the application process.
In the absence of an acceptance, I think I'd probably go to grad school for philosophy and possibly transition from that into consulting.
I'm so conflicted on the Peace Corps issue. I was a volunteer teacher in Costa Rica through a local NGO, and I absolutely loved the work but hated the living situation of the NGO (they had us all in a house and told us we couldn't go anywhere but the beach, pulperia, and work, and took advantage of us as labor for their other projects, etc). So I love the idea of being able to do something similar in a more independent context where I could make a salary and have my own place. But, I really don't like the idea of signing away 2 years of my life with no control over where I go or what I do, or of possibly not seeing my family for 2 years (because of limited vacation time and no money for a plane ticket). If I wound up somewhere that the culture was especially sexist or my daily activities as a woman were limited, where I was unsafe on a day-to-day basis, or where I couldn't regularly use a phone or internet, I think I'd be very unhappy.
The optimal would be if there were some organization offering paid (living wage only is fine) service jobs in developing countries, like the Peace Corps, but you could pick and choose what jobs and what countries to apply to. I'd be a teacher in Costa Rica again in a second, but I don't want to go through the grueling Peace Corps application process and wind up in some country where I can't walk around alone without being raped. Or even if the Peace Corps guaranteed you a position in the region of your choice -- I'd be happy with nearly anywhere in Central or South America but I don't particularly want to go to Africa or the Middle East.
As far as Teach For America, I personally would rather just get an actual teaching certificate and apply for teaching jobs rather than go through the sped-up training of TFA. I fully support the program and all who choose to do it, but I'd rather have the full level of training myself. And Americorps pays below living wages (unless you can live at home and not pay rent) so it's not something I'm considering.
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Any other ideas that don't involve preparing and taking another big national standardized test for pharm school, law school, grad school, etc. ? I feel pretty knee deep in research,shadowing,volunteering, school work, and amcas applications already as it is.
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I am beginning to think besmart is a reincarnation of DOquestions.
