Finance -> DIY Post-Bacc at CC | How's my plan?

[grammyfamily]

Hi everyone,

I am a long-time lurker who entered undergraduate years ago with the intent of being pre-med, but life circumstances made me go down the finance path to earn money for my family situation. I ended up majoring in finance/economics at a top 10 uni (Ivy), having taken absolutely none of the pre-reqs required for medical school. After a couple years in the finance industry and my family situation becoming better throughout the past few years, I have decided to pursue my childhood dream of becoming a doctor. I recognize it's an uphill battle in this marathon as I am starting from scratch, but I wanted to gauge the community's opinion on if I have the right trajectory in mind. Thank you all for your input

My Plan:
* Work in my finance job for 1-2 years (should I just make the leap now, primarily working to save up money) before enrolling in CC courses for all my prereqs (Bio/Chem/Physics/Orgo)
* Obtain my CNA License (or EMT license) over the next year
* Rack up non-clinical hours by volunteering at (1) veteran organization (2) low socioeconomic status tutoring (3) cookie-cutter homeless shelter
* Rack up additional clinical hours by working as a substance abuse counselor at a local facility
* Continue operating my political policy advocacy non-profit (founded during undergrad, written some papers for Congressional matters)
* Shadow my local cardiologist and FM docs

I will have zero research as I was a non-stem major. Anyhow, I am pretty set on entering primary care (FM) or doing psychiatry, so I am not shooting for prestigious medical colleges - already got that experience via undergrad - so would be fine with a DO acceptance. Is my 2 year plan solid for positioning myself to be a competitive applicant (MD/DO) or should I tweak it and add additional experiences? Lastly, I am a bit nervous about doing all of my pre-reqs as I have been a Humanities / Social Studies student my entire life - any tips on building confidence in STEM or am I just over-estimating the difficulty?

Thank you all.

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[Approach]

What is your current GPA?

 

[grammyfamily]

What is your current GPA?

3.8 cumulative in my finance major. I haven't taken any of the pre-req's yet, so a clean slate here.

 

[Approach]

You are starting from a great position with the GPA. Generally, I categorize non trads into two groups: 1) those who had good to great grades in undergrad with X major and then chose to pursue the path to becoming a physician, and 2) those who began as premeds or faced life circumstances that led them to end up with a GPA around 2.4 or something similar. Clearly, starting with a 2 is much tougher than starting with a 1.

Don't worry about the research; this is discussed extensively in the nontrad forum. Don't underestimate the premed courses; studying for them can be very challenging at first, so approach them as if your life depends on it. The last thing you want is to begin your transcript with poor grades. Having so few sGPA classes puts a lot of weight on each individual course's performance. Don't hesitate to leverage YouTube or resources outside your post bacc classes. I often found that most of my learning was self-taught, which has remained true as I've progressed through med school.

Start building clinical experience now (i.e., prioritize the EMT training, etc.); the sooner you can begin refining your narrative, the better. One last point I want to mention is the MCAT. Do not underestimate that exam and prepare appropriately.

 

[grammyfamily]

You are starting from a great position with the GPA. Generally, I categorize non trads into two groups: 1) those who had good to great grades in undergrad with X major and then chose to pursue the path to becoming a physician, and 2) those who began as premeds or faced life circumstances that led them to end up with a GPA around 2.4 or something similar. Clearly, starting with a 2 is much tougher than starting with a 1.

Don't worry about the research; this is discussed extensively in the nontrad forum. Don't underestimate the premed courses; studying for them can be very challenging at first, so approach them as if your life depends on it. The last thing you want is to begin your transcript with poor grades. Having so few sGPA classes puts a lot of weight on each individual course's performance. Don't hesitate to leverage YouTube or resources outside your post bacc classes. I often found that most of my learning was self-taught, which has remained true as I've progressed through med school.

Start building clinical experience now (i.e., prioritize the EMT training, etc.); the sooner you can begin refining your narrative, the better. One last point I want to mention is the MCAT. Do not underestimate that exam and prepare appropriately.

Thanks so much for the insight and helpful tips!


I wanted to ask a follow-up on the narrative point you made. My transition to medicine is a result of 3 unique events that happened in the past year:
(1) Mom was diagnosed with a genetic neurological condition that will leave her paralyzed - I likely have it too - and I am taking care of her as her feet wear out
(2) Dad had a heart attack on the only day anyone (me) was home the week it happened, which could have easily gone South if I had been away from home
(3) While working at my previous company in the finance field, I faced a moral dilemma of a supervisor falsifying company documents to secure a business transaction with the very same public school district I was educated at... I decided to stand up for the underfunded district (for the truth) and report the fraud... this was a moral dilemma of money or morals, and it made me take a step back and question my positive contributions to society and realize I was not doing much for society

Some of the longer-term rationale:
(1) Dad is a low level nurse 25 yrs+ ... I've been exposed to the medical field through him
(2) Older sibling battled a drug addiction and overdosed multiple times when I was a teenager ... I have vivid memories of visiting him in the hospital, riding with my dad dropping him off at substance abuse recovery programs... I want to work with this demographic

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What would you say the narrative here is based on all these "why medicine" reasons? I'm thinking of orienting myself as a person who has been affected second-hand by the not-so-pleasant but brutally real parts of medicine who wants to better understand these things and also help others (service oriented heavy ECs as of now). Plus the more practical answer of not wanting to chase money in finance and do a net-positive job in society.

Thanks again.