Going to Med School

[PMormino]

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First off, I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. Second, if you don't wish to read the whole thing, just skip down to the "A Few Concerns of Mine" part.

My Story:
When I was in my mid-20's I decided to go back to school (essentially starting fresh). The idea was that I would study something that could work as pre-med that could also get me a job with a bachelors in case plans changed. I ended up really liking math/physics classes and decided to major in engineering. The journey through college was taking longer than I expected and I pretty much just got the idea into my head that I will graduate with an engineering degree and go into that field instead. I was very excited about this and gave up the idea of going to med school.

I am now 31 years old and have one year left to finish my bachelors in mechanical engineering.

About a month ago, my father had a heart attack and a stroke and is still in the hospital (he's had a bunch of other complications as well, which is why he isn't in physical therapy yet). Since then I have spent almost everyday, sometimes the whole day/night, at the hospital with him, interacting with the nurses and doctors. I have found that I really admire the knowledge they have and what they do and it really got me thinking of the reason I went back to school in the first place. I can go into a whole story about how I've become completely inspired to become one of the people that give sick people (and their families) hope and finds ways to fix them, but I'll just give you the short version and say that I've become completely inspired (again) to enter into medicine.

Let me just say that this isn't something I will definitely be pursuing just yet; I will let this idea wash over my mind for a while before I start looking into things, but I do feel like I've remembered why I've started this whole journey again.

A few concerns of mine:
-Starting at 32-34 years old. I know that I could personally handle it and I don't consider it to late to start but I'd like to hear some insight from others who have started med school in their 30's.

-Tuition. Med school is notorious for being expensive. In general (you don't have to give a detailed report), how did you/are you pay(ing) your tuition? Are student loans really the only way to go about pursuing a $200k+ education?

-Family life. I'm engaged. I'm not worried about being married or anything while I'd attend, but have any of you juggled having kids with all this? We don't have kids yet, but I imagine within the next 5 years probably.

-GPA. What would be a good GPA to apply with? What would be a general minimum? I've read that many med schools accept slightly lower GPAs from engineering majors, since they tend to be a bit rigorous.

-MCAT. Is it ever too early to start going over material and studying for this? What are your experiences with this in general?

I figure I'd throw in: this would not be for money; money does not really concern me as long as I can live comfortably (and pay off the loans, of course). There would also be no superficial motives for this; I am an avid learner with a personal interest in the workings of the human body and would love to work a job where I know I would be helping people.

I'd also be happy to hear any general insights from you all. Again, this is not a set decision or anything, just something I've been thinking about. Thank you all!

 

[backside_attack]

To address some of your concerns...

- Age: You are definitely not the oldest, or the youngest, on here. You're above the mean age for med school matriculation (which is hovering around 25 I believe) but you aren't a total outlier. I'm sure others on here can speak to this better than I can, as I'm in my late 20's.

- First things first: Do you have an in-state school? I chose IS vs OOS for my matriculation because $$. Additionally, I am married and my spouse has significant enough income that we're only taking out loans for tuition - all other costs (books, fees, etc.) will come out of pocket to reduce the loan burden.

- Family life: Are you the partner who will be birthing the child? If not, then you have it a bit easier. I'm the one who will be growing a human so that complicates things - especially timing wise for me - but there are plenty of people on these forums that enter school with children or reproduce while in school and manage. You need to have long talks about priorities and planning, but it can be done. Read the forums on MomMD.

- GPA: As high as you can. Average for MD is like 3.7, not sure about DO (I didn't apply DO). I don't know if there's any special consideration for engineering.

- MCAT: When do you plan on applying, if you were to apply? Start basic review whenever you'd like and then have a dedicated study period for the 4-6 months leading up to the exam. Take the exam no later than April (some say May) in the calendar year in which you want to apply.

- STUFF YOU FORGOT: You need to get in some meaningful clinical experiences. Scribing pays minimum wage, so see if you can find something alternative to that. Volunteering, training as a CNA or EMT would be cool but takes another chunk of time. But don't apply without clinical exposure (lots of it) and a variety of it. Also don't forget the things you love in life! You can't neglect your passions, as they make you unique and fulfilled outside of the classroom.

This is just my $0.02. Hope it helps a bit!

 

[Law2Doc]

First off, I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. Second, if you don't wish to read the whole thing, just skip down to the "A Few Concerns of Mine" part.

My Story:
When I was in my mid-20's I decided to go back to school (essentially starting fresh). The idea was that I would study something that could work as pre-med that could also get me a job with a bachelors in case plans changed. I ended up really liking math/physics classes and decided to major in engineering. The journey through college was taking longer than I expected and I pretty much just got the idea into my head that I will graduate with an engineering degree and go into that field instead. I was very excited about this and gave up the idea of going to med school.

I am now 31 years old and have one year left to finish my bachelors in mechanical engineering.

About a month ago, my father had a heart attack and a stroke and is still in the hospital (he's had a bunch of other complications as well, which is why he isn't in physical therapy yet). Since then I have spent almost everyday, sometimes the whole day/night, at the hospital with him, interacting with the nurses and doctors. I have found that I really admire the knowledge they have and what they do and it really got me thinking of the reason I went back to school in the first place. I can go into a whole story about how I've become completely inspired to become one of the people that give sick people (and their families) hope and finds ways to fix them, but I'll just give you the short version and say that I've become completely inspired (again) to enter into medicine.

Let me just say that this isn't something I will definitely be pursuing just yet; I will let this idea wash over my mind for a while before I start looking into things, but I do feel like I've remembered why I've started this whole journey again.

A few concerns of mine:
-Starting at 32-34 years old. I know that I could personally handle it and I don't consider it to late to start but I'd like to hear some insight from others who have started med school in their 30's.

-Tuition. Med school is notorious for being expensive. In general (you don't have to give a detailed report), how did you/are you pay(ing) your tuition? Are student loans really the only way to go about pursuing a $200k+ education?

-Family life. I'm engaged. I'm not worried about being married or anything while I'd attend, but have any of you juggled having kids with all this? We don't have kids yet, but I imagine within the next 5 years probably.

-GPA. What would be a good GPA to apply with? What would be a general minimum? I've read that many med schools accept slightly lower GPAs from engineering majors, since they tend to be a bit rigorous.

-MCAT. Is it ever too early to start going over material and studying for this? What are your experiences with this in general?

I figure I'd throw in: this would not be for money; money does not really concern me as long as I can live comfortably (and pay off the loans, of course). There would also be no superficial motives for this; I am an avid learner with a personal interest in the workings of the human body and would love to work a job where I know I would be helping people.

I'd also be happy to hear any general insights from you all. Again, this is not a set decision or anything, just something I've been thinking about. Thank you all!

Agree with the above. Age is fine. Everyone does loans. Lots of med students have kids -- how easy that is depends heavily on family support structure and the non-med-student spouse. GPA should be decent -- don't count on any slack for having been an engineer. Most schools will take the dance major with a 3.6 over the engineer with a 3.2. Don't study MCAT until you've taken the prereqs. MCATs expire so don't rush to take it until you are close to ready to apply. Bear in mind that ECs matter, so you'll need to do some healthcare volunteering and shadowing to show you know what doctors actually do all day and what you are getting yourself into. Seeing doctors care for a family member doesn't really count.

A bit of caution-- there are literally a thousand iterations of the "I want to go into medicine because of my experiences when my parent was hospitalized" essays out there. Though it may be true, it's almost cliche now, so you'll need a fresh take.

Also (and this is partly my own pet peeve with nontrads) "an interest in the workings of the human body" and wanting to "help people" are regarded by doctors as very superficial nebulous statements of why someone might say they are interested in medicine. Adcoms might let this slide for wide eyed 20 year olds, but by 30+ you'd better be more thought out about your desired career and ideally have specific inspiring experiences from ECs to draw on that excited you and be more specific about the job and role. While doctors often do "help people" and we do know more about the secret workings of the human body, very few would describe these as being great reasons to go down this road. They are more like canned reasons someone might think we want them to say.

 

[lilyzoo]

I opened a 529 college saving plan for myself three and half years ago when I started taking my first pre-med course. So far I've saved up enough for one year of in-state tuition...Not too much, I know. But it's a good way to encourage saving and it has tax benefits.

 

[futuremdforme]

-Starting at 32-34 years old. I know that I could personally handle it and I don't consider it to late to start but I'd like to hear some insight from others who have started med school in their 30's.

Honestly it kind of sucks. If you have a choice, go to a school that has a lot of non-trads. Or at least a larger city so you can meet other professionals your age.

-Tuition. Med school is notorious for being expensive. In general (you don't have to give a detailed report), how did you/are you pay(ing) your tuition? Are student loans really the only way to go about pursuing a $200k+ education?

Mine's not going to be that much and my partner pays a significant portion of it.

-Family life. I'm engaged. I'm not worried about being married or anything while I'd attend, but have any of you juggled having kids with all this? We don't have kids yet, but I imagine within the next 5 years probably.

Not yet but I know a bunch of people who have. I'd say MS1 and MS2 are marginally better since you'll have more free time with the fiancee/spouse and the baby. There's no good time to have a baby and if it's important to your partner, I'd kind of go along with whatever timeline she prefers since she'll make big sacrifices for this dream of yours. (Assuming you're the guy and she's the girl?)

-GPA. What would be a good GPA to apply with? What would be a general minimum? I've read that many med schools accept slightly lower GPAs from engineering majors, since they tend to be a bit rigorous.

As high as possible... Below 3.5 is a problem.

-MCAT. Is it ever too early to start going over material and studying for this? What are your experiences with this in general?

Yeah, if you start too early, it will just waste your time. It's not fun, spend your time on better things (time with fiance!). I studied for ~4 months with a full-time job.

I'd also be happy to hear any general insights from you all. Again, this is not a set decision or anything, just something I've been thinking about. Thank you all!

One caveat: this is a very recent development for you. It strikes me from your background that you're kind of a professional student. Make sure this is a real career desire and not a way of avoiding "the real world." Personally I would not do one of the clinical jobs like scribing. I think you'd have a stronger application while working as an engineer and doing clinical volunteering on the side, so you can conclusively way why engineering is not for you, and why medicine is the right choice.

 

[DrMikeP]

A scribe job is a good way of seeing what medicine is really like, especially if you get to know the drs.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Goro]

Some of my all time best students have been in their 30s and 40s. I graduated one last year at age 50.

Start shadowing doctors and volunteering with patients to see if this is really for you.

First off, I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. Second, if you don't wish to read the whole thing, just skip down to the "A Few Concerns of Mine" part.

 

[cabinbuilder]

I personally would not advise having a child in medical school. Not everyone has an easy pregnancy or delivery. You will have to plan for that. I thought having kids before medical school worked out better for me (mine were 2 and 5 when I started) I had major complications with the second pregnancy and literally was in the hospital or in the bed recovering for almost a whole year afterwards. Once you get past that 1st year of sleepless nights life is so much better. I could not imagine trying to do medical school while pregnancy and/or with a newborn. People do it but they have lots of help from parents, etc.

FWIW, I started medical school at 32.