finally, a plan...tell me what you think....

[southpawcannon]

as some of you know already from my previous posts, i'm an athletic trainer. i've been looking for the best and realistic way to reach my goal of being a good physician, and feel like i have finally found it.

i was was offered recently my first bigtime position doing rehab on patients in a very successful orthopedic group. being almost 27, i felt bitter sweet about the job opening and taking it. i would like to get my classes out of the way and study for the MCAT, but on the flipside, i'm seeing a lot of positives out of this opportunity. getting my own patient load to work with, becoming a more efficient evaluator and rehaber(not a word, but who cares), networking with PTs, OTs, orthopedic surgeons and most imporantly, daily patient contact while making some decent cabbage. i'm on track to do what my initial goal is, to learn how to rehab patients before being the surgeon. that way i have knowledge in all the domains of orthopedics and can run a good practice.

i may end up doing a 5-year plan with work. work first to be good at rehab for a couple of years. once ive begun not so much getting comfortable, but establish a good routine and feel good about my protocols, then start on some pre-med courses at night or distance-ed where available, so im not juggling learning two major things at once. then the last couple of years work maybe 3 solid days a week while taking a couple of upper level courses each semester only available during the day for the other two days.

when most people say 'where do you want to be in a five years?' i would say it, but without a very thoughtout, realistic process(having grandpa's oracle wisdom really comes in handy with these decisions.) Maybe it's the couple of white stray hairs in my head I've been noticing lately that's given me a little wisdom as well. I see the relevance in taking several small steps towards small 'goals' versus setting up only 2 or 3 steps and having a lot of work to get to just one goal.

I just felt at ease for the first time in recent weeks so I just wanted to share my thoughts. I hope everyone else is doing well with their situation.

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[Truth_seeker]

as some of you know already from my previous posts, i'm an athletic trainer. i've been looking for the best and realistic way to reach my goal of being a good physician, and feel like i have finally found it.

i was was offered recently my first bigtime position doing rehab on patients in a very successful orthopedic group. being almost 27, i felt bitter sweet about the job opening and taking it. i would like to get my classes out of the way and study for the MCAT, but on the flipside, i'm seeing a lot of positives out of this opportunity. getting my own patient load to work with, becoming a more efficient evaluator and rehaber(not a word, but who cares), networking with PTs, OTs, orthopedic surgeons and most imporantly, daily patient contact while making some decent cabbage. i'm on track to do what my initial goal is, to learn how to rehab patients before being the surgeon. that way i have knowledge in all the domains of orthopedics and can run a good practice.

i may end up doing a 5-year plan with work. work first to be good at rehab for a couple of years. once ive begun not so much getting comfortable, but establish a good routine and feel good about my protocols, then start on some pre-med courses at night or distance-ed where available, so im not juggling learning two major things at once. then the last couple of years work maybe 3 solid days a week while taking a couple of upper level courses each semester only available during the day for the other two days.

when most people say 'where do you want to be in a five years?' i would say it, but without a very thoughtout, realistic process(having grandpa's oracle wisdom really comes in handy with these decisions.) Maybe it's the couple of white stray hairs in my head I've been noticing lately that's given me a little wisdom as well. I see the relevance in taking several small steps towards small 'goals' versus setting up only 2 or 3 steps and having a lot of work to get to just one goal.

I just felt at ease for the first time in recent weeks so I just wanted to share my thoughts. I hope everyone else is doing well with their situation.

Sounds like a good plan you have going. Just be mindful of the serious time commitment it'll take. I assume you already have a degree so you'll just need the basic pre-req's, general bio, chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics + labs for all of them. Those classes in and of themselves are pretty challenging...at least some (organic) were for me. Sounds very wise to build up your knowledgebase and experience to truly see if taking the road toward being a doctor is what you want. In the meantime, you'll be making some nice change which will help when you're not making any money. It sounds very similar to my situation in that I'm working fulltime and going to school part time. I just started preparing for the MCAT (June 15) by taking Kaplan. You'll find varying opinions on the boards. Some say you can study on your own. Some say absolutely do the review series. I decided I needed some structure and discipline in my preparation. I also figured that money isn't a hurdle for me like it is for some others. So I made the decision to go with Kaplan Online. So far, I really like it. I just started the Bio Review and thus far feel that I'm on the right track. Good luck to you. PM me if you have any further questions.