Having a job in the med field before med school?

[Italia]

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I am going to school to be a medical assistant. My way of making a living through college and at the same time getting into the field. Is being in the medical field prior to applying to medical school a plus? Some articles I read have actually stated it being looked down on.

Something else on my mind. I reside in Arizona. Anyone have any information regarding the plans for the new downtown Phoenix Medical School that Arizona State University, University of Arizona and TGen is opening in a couple years?


By the way, Im new. I have been eyeing this board for a few months and now that I finally have an email, I joined. Hello to everyone.

 

[MedicineBird]

I am going to school to be a medical assistant. My way of making a living through college and at the same time getting into the field. Is being in the medical field prior to applying to medical school a plus? Some articles I read have actually stated it being looked down on.

Something else on my mind. I reside in Arizona. Anyone have any information regarding the plans for the new downtown Phoenix Medical School that Arizona State University, University of Arizona and TGen is opening in a couple years?


By the way, Im new. I have been eyeing this board for a few months and now that I finally have an email, I joined. Hello to everyone.

it's a very good thing -- shows adcoms you have some idea of what you are getting into.

 

[javert]

it's a very good thing -- shows adcoms you have some idea of what you are getting into.

yup. I worked for a while as an Operating Room Attendant and throughout the interview process I only had one person ask me if I felt I knew what I was getting myself into by going into medicine...if you have a medical-related job I think it's kinda implied that you know what's ahead of you, and adcoms obviously like that.

 

[Monkey12]

I am going to school to be a medical assistant. My way of making a living through college and at the same time getting into the field. Is being in the medical field prior to applying to medical school a plus? Some articles I read have actually stated it being looked down on.

Something else on my mind. I reside in Arizona. Anyone have any information regarding the plans for the new downtown Phoenix Medical School that Arizona State University, University of Arizona and TGen is opening in a couple years?


By the way, Im new. I have been eyeing this board for a few months and now that I finally have an email, I joined. Hello to everyone.

Do you need specific training to be a medical assistant? Is it competitive?

 

[PineappleGirl]

Some articles I read have actually stated it being looked down on.

Hi!
Welcome.
I was just curious, why did these articles say it would be looked down upon?
I can only see it as a positive.

 

[bmcgilligan]

Some adcoms like volunteer experience as well as job experience. I had mostly job experience (vet tech and harvesting corneas for transplant). I was asked about how I had mostly job experience (that I was paid for) and responded that my parents weren't footing the bill and I had to have money to live on. I didn't feel like taking out loans in undergrad knowing I will have them in med school.

I think volunteer experience is important to adcoms for two reasons. 1) It shows that you can give without receiving back and 2)it is an easy way to get medical experience. Finding medical related jobs as a pre-med can be difficult.

But...medical assisting should be a help to you. As you work, pay attention to what the physicians do and pay attention to your patients. I had one interviewer ask me if there were any patients/cases that stick in my memory. Be prepared to recount some.

 

[sunnyjohn]

Do you need specific training to be a medical assistant? Is it competitive?

No, becoming a medical assistant (or MA) is not very competitive. The trick is finding a good program where they won't try to gouge your eyes out with the cost... You won't believe what some of the private tech shools are charging for MA training.

Though it is NOT necessary to work as a medical assistant, you can know beome a CERTIFIED MEDICAL ASSISTANT (or CMA). Check out the website of the American Asociation of Medical Assistant for more info.

http://www.aama-ntl.org/

It is a good idea to search for a program accredited by CAAHEP or ABHES. This tends to lower your chances of getting fleeced by some for-profit tech school. (NO , I'm not bitter)

http://www.caahep.org/ and http://www.abhes.org/

If you decided Medical assistant training is not for you there are other options. EMT training is another popular choice for pre-meds loking for clinical training. It is possible to find short term EMT-B (Basic) training in many communities nationwide. Many pre-meds find working on a rig exhilirating. Some opt for work in the Emergency department.

http://www.nremt.org

Another option may be phlebotomy (or PBT). While the work can become routine, it may be ideal for someone with no medical experince looking to get their "feet wet".

http://www.aspt.org/ AND

http://www.ascp.org/bor/medlab/careers/index.asp

Choosing to pursue clinical experince is an all important step! Good luck and "Happy healing!"

[okay, enough of my infomercial.....😛 ]

Agape

 

[tigress]

Okay, so I've posted this before and I'm posting again. I need to get a job for the next year before school. I'm willing to spend a few months training if necessary, but not too long because I need to pay rent. I may have the chance to teach high school biology, but it looks like it might not work out because I can only commit one year. So I wanted to do phlebotomy, and I looked into it, but I simply can't find any information about how to do this. I even tried contacting local community colleges, but they weren't too helpful. I'm looking into EMT training also, but since I'll hopefully be having a baby during the next year, that might not be feasible.

So basically, I'm just begging anybody who reads this -- please, if you have any info about how to go about getting clinical jobs in the Philadelphia area, help me. It's not like I haven't been trying. I called up hospitals, which told me to work as a CNA (not gonna happen). If I don't find something I will just get a job as a paralegal, since I have legal experience and could almost definitely find employment (and would actually get payed nicely). I even applied to pharm tech positions, but nobody in the area is hiring currently (I'm going to keep trying).

Am I missing something simple here?

 

[MollyMalone]

Okay, so I've posted this before and I'm posting again. I need to get a job for the next year before school. I'm willing to spend a few months training if necessary, but not too long because I need to pay rent. I may have the chance to teach high school biology, but it looks like it might not work out because I can only commit one year. So I wanted to do phlebotomy, and I looked into it, but I simply can't find any information about how to do this. I even tried contacting local community colleges, but they weren't too helpful. I'm looking into EMT training also, but since I'll hopefully be having a baby during the next year, that might not be feasible.

So basically, I'm just begging anybody who reads this -- please, if you have any info about how to go about getting clinical jobs in the Philadelphia area, help me. It's not like I haven't been trying. I called up hospitals, which told me to work as a CNA (not gonna happen). If I don't find something I will just get a job as a paralegal, since I have legal experience and could almost definitely find employment (and would actually get payed nicely). I even applied to pharm tech positions, but nobody in the area is hiring currently (I'm going to keep trying).

Am I missing something simple here?

Just out of curiosity, why don't you want to work as a CNA?

 

[Erasmus]

Okay, so I've posted this before and I'm posting again. I need to get a job for the next year before school. I'm willing to spend a few months training if necessary, but not too long because I need to pay rent. I may have the chance to teach high school biology, but it looks like it might not work out because I can only commit one year. So I wanted to do phlebotomy, and I looked into it, but I simply can't find any information about how to do this. I even tried contacting local community colleges, but they weren't too helpful. I'm looking into EMT training also, but since I'll hopefully be having a baby during the next year, that might not be feasible.

So basically, I'm just begging anybody who reads this -- please, if you have any info about how to go about getting clinical jobs in the Philadelphia area, help me. It's not like I haven't been trying. I called up hospitals, which told me to work as a CNA (not gonna happen). If I don't find something I will just get a job as a paralegal, since I have legal experience and could almost definitely find employment (and would actually get payed nicely). I even applied to pharm tech positions, but nobody in the area is hiring currently (I'm going to keep trying).

Am I missing something simple here?

I'm glad to know it's not just me having this same problem in the Philly-ish region. I've put up with dead end after dead end in my quest to obtain a medically related position. It seems I should have just gone to technical school or community college because a science degree in and of itself isn't carrying much weight these days.

Have you checked out any of the uni's in your area? They may have something either in a research lab or medical offices.

Good luck with the job search and the baby.

 

[tigress]

Just out of curiosity, why don't you want to work as a CNA?

Because after reading a lot of stories on SDN about spending entire days cleaning up dirty diapers and being bossed around by nurses in not such a nice way, I realized I would be miserable doing it. I like caring for people, but I think I would really hate being at the bottom of the totem pole. And for the amount of hard work involved, the pay is absolutely horrid.

 

[tigress]

I'm glad to know it's not just me having this same problem in the Philly-ish region. I've put up with dead end after dead end in my quest to obtain a medically related position. It seems I should have just gone to technical school or community college because a science degree in and of itself isn't carrying much weight these days.

Have you checked out any of the uni's in your area? They may have something either in a research lab or medical offices.

Good luck with the job search and the baby.

Thanks 🙂

I don't want to work in a research lab. I quit grad school because I really disliked the lab, so there's no way I'm going to go back for another year. I'm going to start trying medical offices next. At least in 2.5 weeks the MCAT will be over and I can think about other things 👍

 

[Italia]

Hi!
Welcome.
I was just curious, why did these articles say it would be looked down upon?
I can only see it as a positive.

They said it was like wasting a perfectly good job in the field. It was always written in "Getting into Medical School" by Sanford J. Brown MD.


Thanks everyone for the feedback.

 

[tigress]

They said it was like wasting a perfectly good job in the field. It was always written in "Getting into Medical School" by Sanford J. Brown MD.


Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Hey Italia, welcome and good luck. I think working as a medical assistant would be a really great idea. If anybody asks you about it you can just say truthfully that you needed the money and wanted patient interaction!

Sorry I hijacked your thread 😳