General Advice and Question About Prerequisites

[e_grace]

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Hi, I'm a 26 year old who is not very happy with my chosen career. I had always planned on the medical field as an occupation while growing up because the thing I like learning about the most is the human body...it's fascinating, and my original goal was Nursing school. But as that time drew near, nursing just didn't fit me personally so I decided to get my MPH in Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety. Now, the past two years I've been working as a Health and Safety Specialist and moved across the country for the opportunity to work with a great company...the only problem is that, while I love the people I work with and the area, I am so bored with my job and don't feel challenged or interested in the subject. The idea of sitting in a cube doing this for the next 35 years is frightening to me. Doing this job though has boosted my confidence in my abilities which is something I was lacking and probably why I didn't even entertain going to Med School 4 years ago. But with this new found confidence and the fact that I graduated Texas A&M top of my class with a 4.0 in both my bachelors and master's programs, I feel like I can do this and don't think I would ever forgive myself if I didn't try. I do face some challenges that I think you all can relate to, I am not a college student anymore and am nervous about trying to do med school in my 30's and I currently still have quite a bit of student debt. Any advice on dealing with his?

Also, I have to take about 4 more courses (O-chem and physics) before I can apply and take the MCAT. I know I will have to study hard, but with my grades, a master's degree in Public Health, and a hopeful good MCAT score, will taking these science courses at a community college hurt me during the application process? I simply don't think I can afford to take them at a 4 year university and I'm not in a position to take out any loans at this time.

 

[Eccesignum]

I do face some challenges that I think you all can relate to, I am not a college student anymore and am nervous about trying to do med school in my 30's and I currently still have quite a bit of student debt. Any advice on dealing with his?

Also, I have to take about 4 more courses (O-chem and physics) before I can apply and take the MCAT. I know I will have to study hard, but with my grades, a master's degree in Public Health, and a hopeful good MCAT score, will taking these science courses at a community college hurt me during the application process? I simply don't think I can afford to take them at a 4 year university and I'm not in a position to take out any loans at this time.

I'm a 36 year old M1, former RN. I had to return to school for four years in order to get to med school, and I accumulated some debt as well as costs got to be too great to come out-of-pocket. I'll have that to face as well as debt from medical school when I graduate. Unless you have the means to pay off your debt and pay for medical school yourself, you're going to have substantial debt -- it's just how this works. However, you're also going into a very well-paying field, and if you minimize other debt (I don't know whether you have a mortgage or kids or whatever else going on) and prioritize paying off what you have you'll be fine. You won't be buying a Porsche right out of residency, but whether that's important to you is up to you.

Taking pre-requisites at a community college will close some doors but not the majority. There are a handful of MD schools that don't accept community college credit. You can see which ones are which by using the MSAR, available from the AAMC website -- the MSAR has a wealth of information about all US MD schools including a handy grid for each school showing whether they accept community college and/or online credit. As I said, a handful will not accept them, but for many people that's fine. Just don't apply to those schools. DO schools tend to be more lenient with CC credits. With a 4.0 in both a bachelor's and a master's you should be golden provided you spank the MCAT appropriately.

If and when it comes time to apply I suggest making very sure that you have the application of someone going towards medicine rather than away from something else. Schools are looking for people who desire to be doctors, not people who just aren't happy with what they are now. This is a long and extremely challenging road, and I strongly suggest doing some shadowing if you haven't already. Get exposure to the everyday life of doctors in a variety of fields and make sure this is what you want and that nothing else would make you happy. There are many things out there in the world to be done and that could potentially interest you; make sure medicine is your choice for a reason.

 

[e_grace]

I'm a 36 year old M1, former RN. I had to return to school for four years in order to get to med school, and I accumulated some debt as well as costs got to be too great to come out-of-pocket. I'll have that to face as well as debt from medical school when I graduate. Unless you have the means to pay off your debt and pay for medical school yourself, you're going to have substantial debt -- it's just how this works. However, you're also going into a very well-paying field, and if you minimize other debt (I don't know whether you have a mortgage or kids or whatever else going on) and prioritize paying off what you have you'll be fine. You won't be buying a Porsche right out of residency, but whether that's important to you is up to you.

Taking pre-requisites at a community college will close some doors but not the majority. There are a handful of MD schools that don't accept community college credit. You can see which ones are which by using the MSAR, available from the AAMC website -- the MSAR has a wealth of information about all US MD schools including a handy grid for each school showing whether they accept community college and/or online credit. As I said, a handful will not accept them, but for many people that's fine. Just don't apply to those schools. DO schools tend to be more lenient with CC credits. With a 4.0 in both a bachelor's and a master's you should be golden provided you spank the MCAT appropriately.

If and when it comes time to apply I suggest making very sure that you have the application of someone going towards medicine rather than away from something else. Schools are looking for people who desire to be doctors, not people who just aren't happy with what they are now. This is a long and extremely challenging road, and I strongly suggest doing some shadowing if you haven't already. Get exposure to the everyday life of doctors in a variety of fields and make sure this is what you want and that nothing else would make you happy. There are many things out there in the world to be done and that could potentially interest you; make sure medicine is your choice for a reason.

Thank you for the advice. I definitely would have to take out loans for med school, I just am not in a place to use loans to pay for 4 courses from a university when they are offered at a community college for almost half the price. And I feel like I'm in a good place to make this transition now as I'm single and have not kids. Regarding your last comment, I 100% agree. I realize my comment may have come across as trying to escape my current job, but that's not the case at all. I just wanted to give some context to whoever is reading this. I've always wanted to be in the medical field, but felt like I'd be settling for nursing and this all occurred my senior year of college so I didn't have time to figure out a plan. I figured my master's program included "health" so it would be close. I thought it would satiate my desire to be in medicine without having to go down the long and difficult road of med school and residency, and as I mentioned, I lacked the confidence that I could actually be a Dr. However, the longer I'm here, the more I see that I'm not fulfilling my desire at all and actually, but working has boosted that confidence 100%. I know I can do it! But I agree, it is a big decision and rest assured I am not taking it lightly! If I stay in my current job, I'll be able to make a lot of money and live a nice life, but to me that's not enough, I don't really care about the money, I just want to help people in a way I am not doing now, and I feel that I will forever regret it if I don't try for med school!​