Hi,
Heres some background. I applied to medical school in 2014-2018 and I did not get accepted. In the mean time, Ive been working in clinical research for 7 years and I do actually enjoy it. I have a good career and opportunity for growth and progress in it. I have some long term goals, plus a consulting business and a family biotech family that I'm running. As a researcher in pharm, I can make well over six figures, climbing the pharm ladder, and live a great life as a PM or study lead. However....
Med school was always my goal and is still a goal of mine. But as you know, life happens. Bills, etc. Those can't wait for medical school, life is fast. Anyways, i was sitting in an investigator meeting with my PI, KOL and stakeholders from the pharm company and our regulatory affairs person and I was just enamored. We were setting the parameters for the study, I was adding in suggestions based on our targeted patient population, and we were determining how we were going to assess our outcomes and which outcomes to measure.
After 4 failed attempts of getting into medical school, I realized finally WHY i want to be a doctor. I want to design clinical trials and have they run at my site or institution. I find the process of running them, and bringing innovative therapies to people to be exciting and invigorating. More so, Im thrilled by giving patients the opportunity to change their life with cutting edge medicine, and seeing the pure joy in their eyes from knowing they are participating in clinical research.
Some would say you can do that as a PhD, but I would be void of the patient interaction. The MD I work for right now sees the patients and can relay that hands on knowledge into investigator meetings. I want that to be my future. Being on a Data Safety Monitoring Board would be a dream of mine.
Now I don't know if this is the regular sort of compelling factor for a med school hopeful, but my exposure to clinical research has shown me what I was missing in prior applications. There is clinical knowledge base that I yearn for and need from a patient interaction side that only medical school can provide.
Is this an odd approach to re-apply to medical school? Would it be a red flag to ADCOMs? Would it be a red flag for me to take that degree and go right back to industry? I have countless stories of how our studies have changed peoples lives. It really moves me and drives the research I do now and the studies I investigate.
Heres some background. I applied to medical school in 2014-2018 and I did not get accepted. In the mean time, Ive been working in clinical research for 7 years and I do actually enjoy it. I have a good career and opportunity for growth and progress in it. I have some long term goals, plus a consulting business and a family biotech family that I'm running. As a researcher in pharm, I can make well over six figures, climbing the pharm ladder, and live a great life as a PM or study lead. However....
Med school was always my goal and is still a goal of mine. But as you know, life happens. Bills, etc. Those can't wait for medical school, life is fast. Anyways, i was sitting in an investigator meeting with my PI, KOL and stakeholders from the pharm company and our regulatory affairs person and I was just enamored. We were setting the parameters for the study, I was adding in suggestions based on our targeted patient population, and we were determining how we were going to assess our outcomes and which outcomes to measure.
After 4 failed attempts of getting into medical school, I realized finally WHY i want to be a doctor. I want to design clinical trials and have they run at my site or institution. I find the process of running them, and bringing innovative therapies to people to be exciting and invigorating. More so, Im thrilled by giving patients the opportunity to change their life with cutting edge medicine, and seeing the pure joy in their eyes from knowing they are participating in clinical research.
Some would say you can do that as a PhD, but I would be void of the patient interaction. The MD I work for right now sees the patients and can relay that hands on knowledge into investigator meetings. I want that to be my future. Being on a Data Safety Monitoring Board would be a dream of mine.
Now I don't know if this is the regular sort of compelling factor for a med school hopeful, but my exposure to clinical research has shown me what I was missing in prior applications. There is clinical knowledge base that I yearn for and need from a patient interaction side that only medical school can provide.
Is this an odd approach to re-apply to medical school? Would it be a red flag to ADCOMs? Would it be a red flag for me to take that degree and go right back to industry? I have countless stories of how our studies have changed peoples lives. It really moves me and drives the research I do now and the studies I investigate.
