Finance to Medicine

[mfoti1]

Hello Everyone,

So here is my situation: I am about to graduate from a top 25 university next semester with a degree in business finance. I planned on going into investment banking for a few years and then moving to PE/VC but I did an investment banking internship this summer and hated it. It's not the right work or work environment for me.

Before I had decided to pursue finance, I was planning on pursuing medicine but the road seemed too long. Now I am back on the bandwagon, and I realize that it would be worth it to shoot for something that is more rewarding and interesting to me, and conducive to the work environment and style that I thrive in.

*So I'm wondering, since I will be graduating without having completed premed pre-requisites, what should I do/ how can I go about getting them done? I know it would be bad to take them at a community college, but what other choice would I have? My financial aid has pretty much run out and it would cost 40-50k per year at my current university. Would ad-coms maybe be lenient in seeing that I graduated with a degree but wanted to switch to medicine and maybe understand the community college route for the pre-requisites? IDK...

I'm wondering if anyone has any advice or insight or can relate to my situation.

Thanks so much for reading.

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[mfoti1]

On another note: How do you know that Medicine is actually for you? Can anyone shed light on the type of person that would excel in that sort of environment/the road to becoming a doctor/what it really takes? I ask because I thought that Finance was for me, but it was completely different once I was actually in it, rather than from the outside looking-in. It's easy to convince yourself that something is for you and hard to really know...

 

[Neighborr]

I'm also a finance-to-medical applicant. There are post-bacc programs designed for applicants in situations just like yours. If you're not sure you'll enjoy/thrive in medicine then I would recommend shadowing a physician or two in a specialty you think you would be interested in (surgery, emergency medicine, etc). See what it's like and if it's worth going to school for an additional 6+ years.

 

[Axes]

What didn't you like about IB? Adcoms are unlikely to be lenient, just because they can afford to not be, since they have like 35 million applicants who have wanted to be doctors from day one. Follow your heart and all but at this point you're looking at a lot more classwork, followed by MCAT prep, and then 6-8 years of medical education before you actually become a doctor. If you want to be in your early to mid 30s when starting your career, that's fine, but keep in mind that you could be established in IB/PE/VC by then. And I will say that I think the workload of early career finance guys is comparable to the work required to succeed in medical school and residency. Obviously you know what you want to do I'm just saying is all

 

[Banco]

1.) If you were motivated/bright enough to land an IB internship I am sure you have the chops for medicine as well.
2.) To see if it is right for you, shadow doctors, volunteer in hospitals/clinics and get some experience. Do some research as well to see another side of medicine.
3.) Do a post-bacc at a university for your pre-med courses; some med schools do have issues with courses being taken in CC. Make sure you get A's and excel. Then do well on the MCAT.
4.) I know many people at top undergrads who have switched from finance to medicine. They usually have no trouble because they are motivated enough, but you should definitely solidify your reasons for pursuing it and have a good "story" to tell.

 

[mfoti1]

Thanks very much for the replies. And with only having taken Biology, am I looking at 2 years of pre-reqs before medical school?

 

[allantois]

Thanks very much for the replies. And with only having taken Biology, am I looking at 2 years of pre-reqs before medical school?

Yes, mostly due to sequential 5 semesters of Chemistry.
Although, at my university you could knock out gen chem entirely in one summer. And at some universities, you can take Biochem after Orgo 1, thus concurrently enrolling with Orgo 2. So, it depends on the college you will be taking your prerequisites at.

 

[mfoti1]

And with the post-back situation, you all are basically saying that I'll have to pay 4-year university tuition and go that route of post-back rather than the community college. Is that right? : /

 

[mfoti1]

Geez, ok, got it.

 

[mfoti1]

Thanks.

 

[Banco]

And with the post-back situation, you all are basically saying that I'll have to pay 4-year university tuition and go that route of post-back rather than the community college. Is that right? : /

Common wisdom states that pre-reqs should be done at universities. Can't you do it at your state university to save money?

 

[md-2020]

@mfoti1 so you're graduating in the winter. Do you have an IB/consulting job lined up/offers on the table? If so, take it and run with it. It's not worth starting over to try medicine before you even work (internships don't count) in the field.

I did both econ and pre-med in undergrad, just so I would be able to choose at graduation. I actually almost went IB anyways and had several very lucrative offers to choose from, but decided against it for some very minor/personal reasons. Give finance a second shot; it's probably not as bad as you are imagining it and not so much better than being a doctor. Depending on your undergraduate institution, the job offers you might be getting are great career opportunities

 

[DokterMom]

What did you dislike about finance? Some things are pervasive throughout the industry, and others will be specific job-related. Do be sure before throwing in the towel since you do have four years invested at this point. But yeah, finance and IB/PE/VC is NOT for everyone, and there are some aspects to it that can be very corrosive.

Medicine will be a long road for you, so do be sure before you switch. As @Banco said, do some serious shadowing first. Make that your summer's top priority, then re-evaluate. If you do decide on a career switch, a post-bac (either formal or informal) seems like the way to go for someone in your situation. Yeah, it'll be two years and another 40-50K, but that's what it'll take. You can take a few of your classes at a CC, but too many, and yeah, it'll look like you took the easy way out.

 

[Grace184]

A post bacc for career changers can be done in about 2 years

https://services.aamc.org/postbac/

 

[MyNameWasUsed]

If you got an IB job lined up then just go with that. Let's say you can finish the pre-req for med school in two years, now you got another 4 years of rigorous schooling and right after that you'll have a 3-7 year residency. Spend that decade working as an IB and enjoying life instead of struggling lol.

 

[md-2020]

If you got an IB job lined up then just go with that. Let's say you can finish the pre-req for med school in two years, now you got another 4 years of rigorous schooling and right after that you'll have a 3-7 year residency. Spend that decade working as an IB and enjoying life instead of struggling lol.

You won't be enjoying life a whole lot in IB. Solid-spectacular compensation for target-school grads, though.

 

[MyNameWasUsed]

If you're gonna be sleep deprived either due to medical school or IB, then you might as well be making bank while being sleep deprived.

 

[DokterMom]

If you're gonna be sleep deprived either due to medical school or IB, then you might as well be making bank while being sleep deprived.

Spoken like someone who has not worked in that industry.
For a person who's not a good fit, IB is soul-crushing.

 

[MyNameWasUsed]

Implying that OP would be a great fit for medicine. Point is, I don't think it's worth the risk to declining an IB job (if offered) in order to pursue another career path without really knowing if said career path is even a good fit.

 

[Axes]

If you're gonna be sleep deprived either due to medical school or IB, then you might as well be making bank while being sleep deprived.

Most people won't ever make more than top doctors. And those who will make incredible sums will have barely any time outside of work to enjoy that money.

Edit: i agree with your point though

 

[mfoti1]

Thanks for the replies All!

So, let's say I graduate from my University with my Business Finance degree and then do pre-med pre-reqs at my state school. Will they give any credit to the fact that I went to a better University for my initial degree, or will I basically be applying out of the state school, which isn't amazing. And how much of a difference would it be to do my pre-reqs at the state school which isn't very good vs. community college (since they will have seen that I've taken University level courses, although not in science, during the time of my initial degree) since it would save a good amount of money.

Also, next semester is my last semester, and I could add a Chemistry class to my course-load at my top 25 University, to show that I basically started my decision at that point in time, and at least have an A in a science class from my 4-year University before taking the rest of the pre-reqs at State or CC...

Thanks so much for the input in advance; huge help...
@Axes @MyNameWasUsed @DokterMom @md-2020 @Grace184 @Banco @allantois @Neighborr

 

[md-2020]

Community college is problematic, state school is fine. School prestige only matters in a VERY limited extent.

 

[DokterMom]

Just my own personal opinion, but if I saw Top School degree, then to State for science classes - especially with your last semester including an A in a science class - my natural assumption would be exactly what you're describing: you changed your mind regarding your future career. I would see some slight advantage to taking one science class now, where you are so you can say "I tried finance in a summer internship, hated it, then switched" instead of timing your switch post-graduation.

To the quality of school -- You do get credit for being accepted at and succeeding in your Top 25 undergrad, and that degree will not be 'degraded' by future classes at your state school, particularly if it's a decent one. A CC does raise some (but not all) eyebrows, so if you can swing it financially, State will be better.

It goes without saying though, that you'll need seriously good grades at State, and a meaningful level of altruistic ECs in order to show you didn't jump from one well-known high-income career path right into the other -- which can be a risk for ex-finance guys.

 

[Banco]

State school is better than community college; don't worry about prestige at this point. Taking 1-2 science classes your last sem (and getting As) is a good idea.

 

[mfoti1]

Thank you both.

 

[Axes]

Thanks for the replies All!

So, let's say I graduate from my University with my Business Finance degree and then do pre-med pre-reqs at my state school. Will they give any credit to the fact that I went to a better University for my initial degree, or will I basically be applying out of the state school, which isn't amazing. And how much of a difference would it be to do my pre-reqs at the state school which isn't very good vs. community college (since they will have seen that I've taken University level courses, although not in science, during the time of my initial degree) since it would save a good amount of money.

Also, next semester is my last semester, and I could add a Chemistry class to my course-load at my top 25 University, to show that I basically started my decision at that point in time, and at least have an A in a science class from my 4-year University before taking the rest of the pre-reqs at State or CC...

Thanks so much for the input in advance; huge help...
@Axes @MyNameWasUsed @DokterMom @md-2020 @Grace184 @Banco @allantois @Neighborr

Ok but here's the thing, you keep saying top 25 university, which means it's probably in the 20-25 range, or you'd say top 20, top 15, top 10 etc. IMO, going to school #24 isn't flashy enough for an adcom to be like "wow, he went there, must be a hard worker and top %ile intelligent." Ie, it shows that you're smart for sure, but you can't use, eg, USC as a badge of repute in the same way as you could, eg, Princeton.

That said, you'll be golden taking pre reqs at state, just don't expect to get a huge boost from your previous degree.

 

[Doudline]

IB is a tiny fraction of the finance world. Many of the biggest names in finance/investing wouldn't touch banking with a ten foot pole.

Might want to explore your options more thoroughly before making such a drastic turnaround.

 

[md-2020]

Ok but here's the thing, you keep saying top 25 university, which means it's probably in the 20-25 range, or you'd say top 20, top 15, top 10 etc. IMO, going to school #24 isn't flashy enough for an adcom to be like "wow, he went there, must be a hard worker and top %ile intelligent." Ie, it shows that you're smart for sure, but you can't use, eg, USC as a badge of repute in the same way as you could, eg, Princeton.

That said, you'll be golden taking pre reqs at state, just don't expect to get a huge boost from your previous degree.

I think top-25 is a solid school. Also saying top 25 doesn't necessarily mean outside of #20...it's a personal preference thing. I mean, I say top 15 all the time so people don't narrow down my school too much. Could I say top 10? top 5? Who knows.

 

[Axes]

I think top-25 is a solid school. Also saying top 25 doesn't necessarily mean outside of #20...it's a personal preference thing. I mean, I say top 15 all the time so people don't narrow down my school too much. Could I say top 10? top 5? Who knows.

Yeah it's solid for sure, and i don't get that fear of narrowing down. So someone narrows you down to 1 out of like 8000 at Brown, who cares

 

[md-2020]

Yeah it's solid for sure, and i don't get that fear of narrowing down. So someone narrows you down to 1 out of like 8000 at Brown, who cares

Just personal preference is all. Idk about Brown, but most top privates have pretty small class sizes where given stats+school someone in your class should have no trouble figuring out your identity. So I go with a designation/cutoff of schools I consider to be of similar caliber (obviously excluding HYPS lol).

Not a huge risk by any means but just some extra "security" of sorts that makes me feel better about myself

 

[lilgal71]

I graduated with a finance degree from a school that churns out ibankers. I worked in banking for a few years, decided to do a post-bac and am starting med school this fall. Feel free to pm me if you'd like.

 

[Do Something]

It goes without saying though, that you'll need seriously good grades at State, and a meaningful level of altruistic ECs in order to show you didn't jump from one well-known high-income career path right into the other -- which can be a risk for ex-finance guys.

I'm also a finance-to-medicine career changer after 20 years in finance. I took maybe half my science pre-reqs at a CC, and I don't think that hurt me at all, but I also did go to a top school for undergrad.

My biggest hurdle applying was not having enough medicine-related activities on my app. I didn't have time to work days, take classes nights and weekends, and somehow also volunteer. I didn't realize how much that hurt me until interviews when I was asked by almost everyone: how can we know that you know what you're getting into? Make sure you get enough of those experiences so you can know for yourself that you want to go into medicine *and* prove it to the adcoms. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

 

[hk2420]

Spoken like someone who has not worked in that industry.
For a person who's not a good fit, IB is soul-crushing.

Coming from someone who just left IB I cant agree more, it is in fact soul-crushing.

 

[solitarius]

On another note: How do you know that Medicine is actually for you?

Find some volunteer gig where you can see residents in action.

 

[numbersloth]

Find some volunteer gig where you can see residents in action.

Working part time as a scribe is possibly one of the best ways to see a lot of different aspects of medicine -- both the good and the bad.

 

[gyngyn]

I'm sure he's found his way by now.