Halp: PhD or MD/DO? Neuro, cognition, pri+second language acquisition

[astrostellar]

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Hi all! I've been a longtime member over at the pre-med forums, so uh, interesting to be over on this side for once, haha.

I am a DoD (military) language analyst turned bonafide Translator/Interpreter. I'm 30, have about 9 years in the military, and am looking at eventually commissioning into healthcare and finishing out my government service with the military or the Health Corps or some other organization that will take my years worked for retirement credit. T/I work is very cool, but it has, more than anything, sparked my interest in what goes on behind the scenes with language and cognition.

My entire life I have been pushing with the end goal of DO/MD. I am somehow neck-deep in 220+ undergrad credits across three programs (one by default specialized in a foreign language through the DoD, and two through my current school, in biochem and forensic psychology.) Obviously, my interests are all over the place, but due to my recent career opportunities, I think I'm zeroing in on exactly what I am passionate about. The problem is, I'm not sure exactly how to word it, or where this job exists, or what education path is best for it. I've been trying to smush together biology and biochemistry, psychology, cognitive science, linguistics and applied linguistics, SLP, neuroscience, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics for years and have been unable to, leading me to study a zillion different things with no end result. It's impossible to get into these things at the undergrad level. Cognitive neuroscience and language is maybe how I can summarize it.

My endless Googling has led me to this question: does a field exist that examines the neuro and cognitive aspects of both/either primary or secondary language acquisition and language loss (not only aphasia due to strokes; I'm also interested in autism-related speech delay/loss), and if it does exist, how do I get there, and if I go MD/DO, am I able to make a place for myself doing this? FWIW, if anyone knows what CASL at the University of Maryland was, that's a very interesting area of research to me, as well as language studies using fMRI. I'm also constantly wracked with thoughts about the physical/neuro and cognitive factors that go into bi/trilingualism.

Can anyone help point me toward, uh, anything? It's been a long road and I feel like this is very specific. Thanks in advance!

 

[borne_before]

You need to see a career counselor and stop saying "halp" (personal peeve).

 

[nessa34]

sounds like psycho(neuro)linguistics, speech-language pathology, neurology? do you need to do a health-related degree? Once you get into second language acquisition and the like, you start moving away from clinical fields. I would also recommend some research experience and other job shadowing/internships (guessing current career circumstances may have been making that difficult). A lot of things seem interesting until you do them every day, and some things seem boring until you apply them (for me, statistics).

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I agree that one of the questions you should be asking yourself is whether or not you want to work with patients in treating difficulties/disorders (e.g., of speech, language acquisition, etc.). If not, then you're looking at a research (or perhaps industry?) career, which is likely going to be either PhD or MD/PhD. Broadly, this might straddle the line between a sub-area of cognitive psychology/applied neuroscience and speech language pathology.

Or maybe more generally, what is it you actually see yourself doing day-to-day? Is there a job or person out there who does what you'd like to do?

 

[summerbabe]

A lot of things seem interesting until you do them every day, and some things seem boring until you apply them (for me, statistics).

This is such a great point! My favorite undergrad courses were in philosophy and I still think philosophy is more intellectually stimulating than psychology. But I would absolutely not trade my current 100% clinical job to be a philosophy professor because it is a better fit on so many other dimensions.

I can't add much to the educational path you should pursue but I'd encourage you to think about work context factors that would be important for you, such as:
- What type of work autonomy is most important for you?
- Do you prefer to work independently or as part of a team?
- How much socialization is ideal in a job? (This would speak to how much you might enjoy direct patient care)
- Would you ideally want a salaried W2 type of job with a regular schedule or something more varied/variable?

You seem to have a lot of interests, which is great! But interests only contribute partly to determining your ultimate satisfaction with any specific job or career so don't ignore those components as you continue your process. Good luck!

 

[clausewitz2]

Hi all! I've been a longtime member over at the pre-med forums, so uh, interesting to be over on this side for once, haha.

I am a DoD (military) language analyst turned bonafide Translator/Interpreter. I'm 30, have about 9 years in the military, and am looking at eventually commissioning into healthcare and finishing out my government service with the military or the Health Corps or some other organization that will take my years worked for retirement credit. T/I work is very cool, but it has, more than anything, sparked my interest in what goes on behind the scenes with language and cognition.

My entire life I have been pushing with the end goal of DO/MD. I am somehow neck-deep in 220+ undergrad credits across three programs (one by default specialized in a foreign language through the DoD, and two through my current school, in biochem and forensic psychology.) Obviously, my interests are all over the place, but due to my recent career opportunities, I think I'm zeroing in on exactly what I am passionate about. The problem is, I'm not sure exactly how to word it, or where this job exists, or what education path is best for it. I've been trying to smush together biology and biochemistry, psychology, cognitive science, linguistics and applied linguistics, SLP, neuroscience, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics for years and have been unable to, leading me to study a zillion different things with no end result. It's impossible to get into these things at the undergrad level. Cognitive neuroscience and language is maybe how I can summarize it.

My endless Googling has led me to this question: does a field exist that examines the neuro and cognitive aspects of both/either primary or secondary language acquisition and language loss (not only aphasia due to strokes; I'm also interested in autism-related speech delay/loss), and if it does exist, how do I get there, and if I go MD/DO, am I able to make a place for myself doing this? FWIW, if anyone knows what CASL at the University of Maryland was, that's a very interesting area of research to me, as well as language studies using fMRI. I'm also constantly wracked with thoughts about the physical/neuro and cognitive factors that go into bi/trilingualism.

Can anyone help point me toward, uh, anything? It's been a long road and I feel like this is very specific. Thanks in advance!

As it happens I was CASL-adjacent for several years so have a pretty good idea of what you mean. Honestly it sounds like an academic cognitive neuroscience program is most likely to capture your admittedly catholic interests. I've been out of this world for a while but the UMD NACS program would offer you a chance to integrate a lot of these interests:

NACS Home | NACS l Neuroscience and Cognitive Science l University of Maryland (umd.edu)