In need of advice on non traditional path!

[Hazelnut3491]

Hi there. First of all, thank you! This forum has helped me gain insight into everyone's different journey in medicine. I am struggling myself with the decision to go back to school and pursue the long and costly path towards becoming a doctor. However, when I envision myself in the future I see myself there. I don't have any family members or anyone close to me that are physicians, so I don't have anyone to gain real advice or perspective from. If anyone here has any advice, that would be greatly appreciated!

Here is my situation: I am soon to be 28 years old. I have my BS in psych (GPA 3.23) - started pre med sciences but did not have the right mentality or maturity to dedicate enough time to succeed and ultimately shifted directions. I also have my MPH degree (GPA 3.64) and experience working in various healthcare settings (scheduling department for large hospital, fromt desk/office coordinator for private practice, non profit and campus wellness center). I moved to Denver after my masters degree and have had a successful career in software sales for the past two years. I would have preferred to have found a job in PH but there were factors working against me during my relocation and I didn't want to jump around from job to job at the time. Ultimately I don't find sales rewarding and I want to help people with their health issues and be an innovator and advocate for preventative health in healthcare. Health is something I am determined to make a career out of and I know my PH perspective would help me be a great doctor. I also know that if I went back to school at this point in my life, I'd be able to excel at my sciences courses, and I truly envision myself as a doctor.

However, it would be a long and costly road as you all know - I currently have ~45000 in debt, and I was accepted to a 2 year intensive post bacc program for next fall (~35000). I need to get direct patient experience which I can do during the post bacc program, but then that puts me at age 30 applying for med school for the first time. Assuming I get in, I'd be dedicating the next 7-8 years and ~200000 to school if I don't specialize. I have thought about going the PA route which would be much shorter, less costly, more flexible schedule, ability to work sooner and juggle a family but with my personality I'd like to have the final say in decisions and would potentially open my own practice. I'm not sure if I'd work well under someone that always makes the final call. I think where I am struggling most is with the financial implications as well as ability to manage having a family during school. I have a serious boyfriend and we plan to be engaged in the next year or two which puts me having kids right in the middle of all of this. He is understanding about this but you can never really plan for everything or understand what it's really going to be like until you're in it, so I'm trying to make the best decision for me before starting down this road as a non traditional student.

Has anyone been in a similar situation before or can anyone offer advice? Thank you!

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[precisiongraphic]

Two questions:

Why would you do another degree at $35,000? Why not just do the pre-requisites starting in January 2019 at a local college for much less cost? Unless the post-bacc has 100% linkage potential...

Second: PAs don't always work under someone who is making the final call. In many instances they are very autonomous as a matter of course and consult when they have questions. Have you shadowed 2-3 PAs in different areas? I'm not trying to change your mind - just making sure that you have a full picture of options.

Hi there. First of all, thank you! This forum has helped me gain insight into everyone's different journey in medicine. I am struggling myself with the decision to go back to school and pursue the long and costly path towards becoming a doctor. However, when I envision myself in the future I see myself there. I don't have any family members or anyone close to me that are physicians, so I don't have anyone to gain real advice or perspective from. If anyone here has any advice, that would be greatly appreciated!

Here is my situation: I am soon to be 28 years old. I have my BS in psych (GPA 3.23) - started pre med sciences but did not have the right mentality or maturity to dedicate enough time to succeed and ultimately shifted directions. I also have my MPH degree (GPA 3.64) and experience working in various healthcare settings (scheduling department for large hospital, fromt desk/office coordinator for private practice, non profit and campus wellness center). I moved to Denver after my masters degree and have had a successful career in software sales for the past two years. I would have preferred to have found a job in PH but there were factors working against me during my relocation and I didn't want to jump around from job to job at the time. Ultimately I don't find sales rewarding and I want to help people with their health issues and be an innovator and advocate for preventative health in healthcare. Health is something I am determined to make a career out of and I know my PH perspective would help me be a great doctor. I also know that if I went back to school at this point in my life, I'd be able to excel at my sciences courses, and I truly envision myself as a doctor.

However, it would be a long and costly road as you all know - I currently have ~45000 in debt, and I was accepted to a 2 year intensive post bacc program for next fall (~35000). I need to get direct patient experience which I can do during the post bacc program, but then that puts me at age 30 applying for med school for the first time. Assuming I get in, I'd be dedicating the next 7-8 years and ~200000 to school if I don't specialize. I have thought about going the PA route which would be much shorter, less costly, more flexible schedule, ability to work sooner and juggle a family but with my personality I'd like to have the final say in decisions and would potentially open my own practice. I'm not sure if I'd work well under someone that always makes the final call. I think where I am struggling most is with the financial implications as well as ability to manage having a family during school. I have a serious boyfriend and we plan to be engaged in the next year or two which puts me having kids right in the middle of all of this. He is understanding about this but you can never really plan for everything or understand what it's really going to be like until you're in it, so I'm trying to make the best decision for me before starting down this road as a non traditional student.

Has anyone been in a similar situation before or can anyone offer advice? Thank you!

 

[Hazelnut3491]

Two questions:

Why would you do another degree at $35,000? Why not just do the pre-requisites starting in January 2019 at a local college for much less cost? Unless the post-bacc has 100% linkage potential...

Second: PAs don't always work under someone who is making the final call. In many instances they are very autonomous as a matter of course and consult when they have questions. Have you shadowed 2-3 PAs in different areas? I'm not trying to change your mind - just making sure that you have a full picture of options.

Thanks for your reply.

I've read that it looks better if you do a structured post bacc program over DIY at a college because it shows you can handle the courseload. I also see the advising of a structured post bacc program as a huge benefit. But you're right, it would be much less expensive to do classes while working full time... But it would also take longer. I don't think there is 100% linkage but I would imagine there is some at all post bacc programs considering you're building relationships with the professors. Or is that not always the case? There is also a one year program closer to where I currently live that would potentially have linkage to CU Denver which is where I want to go for med school. That would be less expensive (~16000) and would get everything done in a year. The application for that opens on Oct 1st so I haven't been accepted yet. If I don't, I think the best decision would be to do a DIY program.

It's been very hard for me to find PAs to talk to or shadow in Denver. I've interviewed one and interviewed 2-3 physicians. I'm also set up to shadow a physician in Oct. I've reached out to tons of PAs on LinkedIn and either they can't have students shadow or they don't answer. Are there any other shadowing resources that you'd suggest? I do think shadowing will really help solidify my decision.