Finance to Med School

[bigredfred]

Hi all,

I'll start by saying I am a recent Cornell grad with a decent GPA ~3.6 in Applied Economics/Finance working in a finance leadership program at a healthcare company. I grew up wanting to be a doctor and started as a pre-med. After a terrible first semester as an immature 17 year old I was enticed by the easy classes and 6 figure bonuses the kids in the business school were getting out of college (honestly didn't even know what I-banking was before that...) and switched to finance. After interning on the street for the summer I realized that those jobs were poison and took my current job with plans to move into a healthcare group at a consulting firm. Six months in I've realized I made the biggest mistake of my life. I have a meaningless job and have to interact with teams of doctors/scientists engaged in groundbreaking innovation that I gave up for the easy buck as a dumb teenager(...money I don't even see given I decided against banking). I was wondering if you had any advice for someone like me? My biggest issue is that I did take 2 sciences classes that first semester and did poorly.(C's) I really want to become a doctor, but I don't want to lose my job and not get into a meaningful program/ultimately med school. In addition, I didn't really build an extremely strong bond with my professors in college given that I spent more time networking than working in the classroom. Are there any particular post bacc programs I should look into/ is there hope for a second chance? Thanks.

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[TexasPostBaccPreMed]

Welcome to the club. Haven't applied yet, but from what I know: yes. There are formal post-bacc programs, but if you want to keep working full time you would probably do an informal post-bacc (what most people do) at your local university. Take the pre-reqs. I'd probably retake the science classes you made C's in. Volunteer. Shadow physicians. Take the MCAT. It may take a while (especially while working) but you will slowly build a medical school application. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Don't start the process until you're focused with no distractions and ready to make A's. Just a little advice from a fellow career-changer, but there's plenty of people more knowledgeable than me on the site who can weigh in.

 

[doctorrivers]

Honestly, I do not think you should even bother. You have shown in the past that medicine isn't for you and you have a decent GPA from a decent school. Given your history it would be better to not become a 2 time quitter which is the most common trend among people I know like you. Given that you have to report science gpa when applying to most programs I do not think you have any reasonable shot at a good program. Sorry this is not what you want to hear, but hey at least you have a job to fall back on.

 

[Moko]

How do you know medicine is right for you? Have you engaged in meaningful shadowing and/or volunteering in the past few years to confirm your decision? I only ask because most of the day-to-day stuff in medicine isn't about groundbreaking innovation, so having a realistic view is crucial before switching into medicine to avoid regretting it years (and $$$) later.

Having said that, the good news is that the doors are still open if you decide that medicine is right for you. 2 C's in science classes are not going to break your sGPA for med school admissions; however, any science classes that you take from now on will need to be A's to prove that you can handle the coursework. The lack of strong connections to professors won't hurt significantly either. You will probably not get into the "top tier" post-bacc programs, but you'll get in somewhere as post-bacc admissions are relatively relaxed. Just make sure that your post-bacc professors do get to you know well, since their recommendations will be vital to having a successful application cycle to medical school.

In my opinion, the most important thing to do now is to make sure that this really is something you want to do. Now's the time to be honest with yourself. If you do choose to switch, are you okay with the uncertainty of getting into medical school? Even in the best case scenario, are you okay with being a student/trainee for another 10+ years, constantly studying and being at the bottom of the totem pole, and having little free time to pursue hobbies and relationships, etc?

Honestly, I do not think you should even bother. You have shown in the past that medicine isn't for you and you have a decent GPA from a decent school. Given your history it would be better to not become a 2 time quitter which is the most common trend among people I know like you. Given that you have to report science gpa when applying to most programs I do not think you have any reasonable shot at a good program. Sorry this is not what you want to hear, but hey at least you have a job to fall back on.

Completely disagree. Not sure if trolling.

 

[Ad2b]

Honestly, I do not think you should even bother.

IGNORE THIS. Troll alert. 1st post and this was it? + it is wrong.

I have a meaningless job and have to interact with teams of doctors/scientists engaged in groundbreaking innovation that I gave up for the easy buck ... is there hope for a second chance?

Hi, welcome to being on a premed forum with lots of really terrible information from people who are jealous or insecure (which leads to jealousy).

Learn to sift through the b.s. and learn who is giving solid advice/guidance and who is not. MOSTLY people are here to help. Especially on the non-trad forum.

Is it possible to become a doc with a finance background? Yes, I sure as heck hope so. I'm the former VP of Internal Audit of a $2B company, former partner Big 4 who left 5-figure bonuses on the corner of my desk of my fancy office on the 42nd floor of a 42 story office building in a major metro area ... to be a very poor, old premed student. I, too, was leading a pre-IPO, $4B, pharma company through their finance transformation for their auditor IPO consent, and in the middle of the meeting with the CFO, CEO, BoD and PE guys ... stared at the orphan drug posters. Apparently, they asked me a question, then laughed and asked which drug I wanted to see made.

Let's start with the pros of your situation:

• GPA is good.
• Leadership experience is decent.
• You're smart
• You're young
• You're interested

So, path:

1. shadow some docs - ask them if you can come in for some times and watch what they do, how they interact with patients, see if YOU would like this
2. make sure you are volunteering
3. AFTER shadowing a couple of docs and deciding you still want to become a doc, you can decide on DIY post-bacc (common) or do the SMP.

Your grades are possibly too good for SMP and honestly, DIY is fine. So how to DIY?

take pre-reqs, try to get A's... typically the pre-reqs are:

Gen Chem 1 & 2 with labs
Biol 1 & 2 with labs (this may be tricky as some schools do not have a 2-semester sequence for freshman bio for non-majors; just take another bio course with lab)
Organic Chem 1 with lab (possibly orgo 2 depending on schools you are interested in; many are forgoing orgo 2 in favor of biochem)
Biochem (yes, take this... no matter what)
Physics 1 & 2 with labs
Math/Stats (something - if you already have calc for the econ/finance, then take a good stats class)

Take these at the best university/college you can - preferably NOT community college

Then, I'd suggest supplementing all of the required courses with things like:

genetics
physiology
cell biology
molecular biology
medicinal biochem

For the MCAT, come back when you're ready for that As there is a whole forum dedicated to that one topic, you'll get the advice when you need it. Right now, any advice is off-kilter... things will change by the time you're ready for it.

Timeline? think 2 years before MCAT and/or applying

In the meantime, use those fancy big checks to put away. Don't buy an Escalade, or BMW 7-Series; don't buy a Theta sound system. You are really in a great spot to just do this with a limited amount of financial stress. USE that to your advantage.

You're welcome - the crone