How did you leave a comfortable lifestyle to pursue medicine?

[NeuroDroid]

After college, I found a job that paid well and decided to give the corporate world a try so I could be 100% sure medicine was for me. Fast forward three years, I've had a few promotions and pay increases and I'm currently well off enough that I can live comfortably on my own. I'm not rich by any means and I cannot afford luxury but I easily pay my bills and still have leftovers for fun stuff. I don't love my job and I feel like I'm wasting away here. I miss the intellectual challenge of science. (My job is not at all science-related)

Two years ago, I saw my physics professor at the mall and we caught up and he was REALLY disappointed I didn't continue with school. He said something like: "Sometimes people get a job and they're comfortable and they forget what their initial goals and dreams were. Don't let that happen to you. You were one of my best students, at the very least continue studying something."
This has been in my mind ever since but I just don't know how to:

1. Study for the MCAT with my very busy job.
2. Give up a comfortable lifestyle where most, if not all, my needs are met.
3. Justify leaving a good salary for being a student in debt and (eventually) a low paid resident. (Residents in my state earn less than half the salary I currently make)

Of course, I'm not trying to b*tch about my life. I have it good. It's a blessing and a curse. I almost wish I'd get fired so I wouldn't have any other choice.

So how did you do it? Did you save a certain amount first? How did you continue paying your bills? (House/car/etc) How did you study for the mcat? I'm just looking for others' experiences. I should point out that I'm single and won't have the help of a partner.

Thank you

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[GreenDuck12]

Do you want to do the work of being a doctor? If so, do you want to put in the work and make the sacrifices it requires? If the answer to both of those is yes, then move forward. If not, hold off for a while. Med school isn’t going anywhere. Don’t let one prof rattle you - one of mine is disappointed I didn’t earn a doctorate in Spanish literature...

 

[Esquire]

So how did you do it? Did you save a certain amount first? How did you continue paying your bills? (House/car/etc) How did you study for the mcat? I'm just looking for others' experiences. I should point out that I'm single and won't have the help of a partner.

Thank you

I worked a lot, made a lot, saved a lot, and quit my job. My lifestyle didn't change because working a lot means I don't spend a lot.

 

[Fidelio17]

I didn't have a comfortable lifestyle to leave - made it a bit easier to make the choice I did!

I have a friend who did though - it seems like he wanted to be a doctor badly enough to be willing to turn the equity from his house into $ for a post-bacc.

So... you have to want it that much. If you don't, no point in worrying about logistics. (& if I figured those out w/out much cash on hand to start, you can certainly do so considering your comfortable lifestyle).

 

[deleted1005514]

We made a very comfortable living but in a state with zero economic future, extremely corrupt politicians who care nothing about improving education or promoting economic growth, in an area with high crime and drug rates. I couldn’t stand having my children grow up in a place with no future, so getting into medical school was an excuse to move to a better situation for all of us.

 

[deleted92121]

It’s about the future for me.

My wife and I make over 100k a year combined with a house and nice, new cars, vacations, and raising our daughter. We also have some credit card debt and more than enough student loan debt. Going to Med school is going to be tough; moving to another state, renting, living on one salary, etc. And we will certainly add to our debt. But . . .

When all is said and done, we will realistically bring home 20k a month. Even if we pay 5k a month in debt, that’s 15k left over. That’s 9-10k more per month than we bring home now. Plus, the most important thing is I’ll be happy professionally for the first time in a long time. I’ve been a medic too long, I know what I’m getting myself into. It’s the right move for myself and my family.

 

[Osminog]

Don’t go to medical school just because you want to make your former physics professor proud or because you want to achieve your full intellectual potential. If you’re going to do it, do it because it’s your passion and because you want to devote your entire professional life to it.

Shadow some physicians at a local hospital or clinic and ask yourself if you would enjoy doing what they do for decades of your life.

 

[DocJanItor]

Much like this:

 

[deleted367183]

One of my classmates worked in finance and then matched right back into anesthesiology. So his period of resident wages will be short.

 

[2020accoubt]

Really, I’ve found the debt and lower pay of residency a non-issue. As someone above said, I don’t have any time to spend the money I no longer have anyway. It helps that I’m in a region with a lower cost of living now, I’m able to save quite a bit, even on a resident’s salary.

The bigger question is why leave a life you like? Medicine really does wreck up your life. If you like your life, that’s a bad thing, and if you don’t, that’s a good thing. I was never particularly happy in my former profession, had to cash in a ton of PTO because I never took my vacation, and didn’t really enjoy having much free time. Medicine has proven to be the perfect field for me given my wiring. But if you truly enjoy your life as it is now, there are much less consuming ways to scratch the itch your professor planted—if all you have to do is study something to please them, then take up Latin. It’s just useless enough to please any academic.

If after a ton of soul searching you find you really want to be a physician, well, I had to cash in my investment portfolio, piece together a post-bac through extension courses (I couldn’t do a formal post-bac since I had already completed physics), talk my employer into letting me do a flexible schedule, and did research at a lab late into the nights. My reset took about four years, and now I’m applying for fellowship. It can be done, but it is a long road to hoe.

 

[Bloobury]

I hate being comfortable.

 

[deleted555445]

It’s about the future for me.

My wife and I make over 100k a year combined with a house and nice, new cars, vacations, and raising our daughter. We also have some credit card debt and more than enough student loan debt. Going to Med school is going to be tough; moving to another state, renting, living on one salary, etc. And we will certainly add to our debt. But . . .

When all is said and done, we will realistically bring home 20k a month. Even if we pay 5k a month in debt, that’s 15k left over. That’s 9-10k more per month than we bring home now. Plus, the most important thing is I’ll be happy professionally for the first time in a long time. I’ve been a medic too long, I know what I’m getting myself into. It’s the right move for myself and my family.

when i see someone making 100k a year and being able to afford a house i know they're not living in california! my gf and i make a combined 140k and we still have to rent a small apartment lol

but yeah i have thought about just staying with my current job, which gives me a great salary and stock options, and knowing that the best financial option for me is to just work here and maybe switch companies every now and then to keep my salary competitive. but i just dont see it, 20 years down the line still doing this, while its good work its just not what i want to be doing. so i never really entertain for a minute not going to medical school, because, and i know its trite, i cant see myself doing anything other than diagnosing and treating patients. the only other thing i can see myself doing it veterinary work, but that pay cut would be oh so much more painful, so lets hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[8YearsLate]

It's funny you mention this, because before I took my current job (making less thank 50k) and racked up debt (more than 50k) in the pursuit of getting into med school, I was offered a full-time position with a marketing firm I contracted out to. They kept me busy and I frequently had to pass up on conference calls, events etc., citing my pre-req studying as the reason, reminding them I had to put school first.

My boss came up to me one day and said, "If you drop this school bullsh*t and work for me full time, I'll groom you to 6 figs within a year." (And it was true - my 'company car' was a Lexus LS and my gigs with this firm paid more than all my others combined, to give an idea).

When I accidentally laughed out loud and said, "I'd rather put a campfire out with my face," I knew I truly wanted to be a doctor.

 

[psydoc80]

I was making a comfortable living but hated my job. I was not married. had no kids. I kept my job while doing a DYI curriculum for pre-med for four years. When I was confident of my grades, I quit my job and finished the pre-med course in a post-bac program. I was able to living in the last two years with my savings and part time work at the school. I had a roommate to split the rent. After i entered medical schools, I got loans so money was not an issue. I lived very modestly even when I had a good paying job so it was not a big adjustment for me.