Is it too late? 24 y/o business (investment banking/private equity) professional looking to transition to med

[asaplee1999]

Hey all - hope you are doing well. Wanted to get some advice from the general thread. Is it too late for me to consider doing a post-bac and applying to medical school. For some context, graduated from Harvard/Stanford in 2021, with a 3.8 GPA in applied math/economics. I went into college pre-med and did a bit of health policy research before being foolishly enticed by what I thought to be a more lucrative and at the time "fulfilling" career path - finance. I spent around 1.5 years working in investment banking/private-equity out of graduation, with some overlap in healthcare investments/companies. I am starting a new job soon working on investing in senior living and healthcare infrastructure assets but have definitely had some deeply personal experiences in the last two years that have made me reconsider my passion. My close family member had some heart issues and I resigned from my prior job to care-give for him for about a year. In that same time, being unemployed and seeing my loved one struggle led me down a dark path, struggling with addiction, body image issues and more. With the help of therapy and honestly some great experiences with my primary care doctor, I am back on my feet and re-entering the workforce (if everything works out, will be the above mentioned role as an associate at an investment fund focusing on senior housing and healthcare infrastructure). If let's say I do this for a year or two, do some volunteering, would it be too late to try and do a post-bac and get back into medical school? I took basic chemistry and physics classes in college.

Thanks so much - appreciate the help.

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[AJS59]

The answer is it's never too late to make a career jump! You mentioned being on the pre-med track before; how many of the pre-med classes have you completed? This will help determine what kind of program might be best for you.

Anyways, here's what you'll need to mount a competitive application:
-Finishing up any remaining pre-reqs
-Taking and scoring well on the MCAT (ideally, once and ONLY once)
-Shadowing (at least 50 hours, with some amount of that in primary care)
-Clinical Employment/volunteering (at least 150 hours, but if you can get that to 250+, great)
-Non-clinical volunteering (specifically something where you are helping underserved populations — think soup kitchen, food pantry, transport services, etc.; you'll also need at least 150 hours of this but the more, the better).

Your plan should be to work on getting those pre-reqs done now, either in a formal or DIY post-bacc (people here can explain the differences), and also get started on the shadowing, volunteering, and clinical experience. Once you get that ball rolling/once you've finished your pre-reqs, then begin the MCAT prep so you can knock that out.

I will say 1 year is a pretty ambitious timeline to do all this; even 2 may be pushing it depending on your other commitments. Remember — run your own race!

 

[DivorceLawyer2011]

I don’t believe it’s ever too late. Frankly you’re still quite young and can have a long and fascinating medical career. I’m a 40-year-old non-trad just starting an MD this year!

My unsolicited advice? Take your time one day at a time. Like you, I am also a Harvard grad (class of 2011). There was a time in my life I wanted to achieve every professional success at the earliest opportunity. It may be cliche to say, but the journey is really what counts. Enjoy the process and congratulations on all of your success! This middle-aged man wishes you the best.

 

[asaplee1999]

I don’t believe it’s ever too late. Frankly you’re still quite young and can have a long and fascinating medical career. I’m a 40-year-old non-trad just starting an MD this year!

My unsolicited advice? Take your time one day at a time. Like you, I am also a Harvard grad (class of 2011). There was a time in my life I wanted to achieve every professional success at the earliest opportunity. It may be cliche to say, but the journey is really what counts. Enjoy the process and congratulations on all of your success! This middle-aged man wishes you the best.

Thanks very much! That is my mindset. I'm still trying to figure out day by day. Getting back on my feet with this next job and hopefully its all up from here!

 

[Czech777]

I did banking to med. Could not be more thankful.

 

[Giovanotto]

How are you paying for medical school?

 

[saltypapaya]

I'm 32 and will be 33 by the time I matriculate this fall. Like others have said, it's never too late!

 

[NBadge618]

The answer is it's never too late to make a career jump! You mentioned being on the pre-med track before; how many of the pre-med classes have you completed? This will help determine what kind of program might be best for you.

Anyways, here's what you'll need to mount a competitive application:
-Finishing up any remaining pre-reqs
-Taking and scoring well on the MCAT (ideally, once and ONLY once)
-Shadowing (at least 50 hours, with some amount of that in primary care)
-Clinical Employment/volunteering (at least 150 hours, but if you can get that to 250+, great)
-Non-clinical volunteering (specifically something where you are helping underserved populations — think soup kitchen, food pantry, transport services, etc.; you'll also need at least 150 hours of this but the more, the better).

Your plan should be to work on getting those pre-reqs done now, either in a formal or DIY post-bacc (people here can explain the differences), and also get started on the shadowing, volunteering, and clinical experience. Once you get that ball rolling/once you've finished your pre-reqs, then begin the MCAT prep so you can knock that out.

I will say 1 year is a pretty ambitious timeline to do all this; even 2 may be pushing it depending on your other commitments. Remember — run your own race!

Why do you say take the MCAT once and only once? If you score poorly and re-take does that reflect very badly on you?

 

[AJS59]

Why do you say take the MCAT once and only once? If you score poorly and re-take does that reflect very badly on you?

I think the analogy some on this forum will say is that taking the MCAT (and applying to med school) is like marriage - it gets more emotionally taxing when you do it again and it reduces interest from others.

While a retake isn't an explicit death sentence, especially if you score better, you should go into your preparation for the exam with the mindset that you're studying to take and do it once. Most schools consider all MCAT scores, and the MCAT is a function of judgement as much as it is knowledge.