OP, I am going to apply to med school this year but currently work in pharma. Every single MD I work with has completed residency and is board certified. Someone mentioned this earlier, but companies require board-certified physicians to sign off on the safety of the patients in our clinical trials. You are right that you need an MD for CMO, but you also need the board certification. Most of the MDs/DOs I work with in industry are specialists and many also have years of clinical experience before transitioning into the non-clinical role.
Possible option to get into pharma without residency is going into the business side of things.. I know an MD who did not pursue residency and went into consulting and is now heading a business division of a biotech.. another famous example is the CEO of Novartis... Can it be done? Sure.. but consider that most of these MD-to-consultants graduated from the top med schools (many consulting firms are biased towards the Harvard/Stanford class of schools), had stellar academic profiles while in school, and then had to live the consultant/VC life for many years before finally getting that "comfortable" life you are talking about. Yes, residency is hard but being a management consultant at McKinsey or Bain or one of those big consulting companies (assuming you even get in) is definitely no cake walk either..
TL;DR = "Experience life, work or study other things, if you don't want to commit to medical school right now. I did this and I'm happier for it, but am now on the pre-med route. Can't wait to re-invent my non-traditional student butt & do what I got to do."
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I just want to chime in and say to OP:
Even though I've recently (in the last year) went back to pre-med after years of turning down career paths that actually would've led to a comfortable existence (i.e. working for a Danish soil company that was expanding in the states that asked me for what salary I wanted, or being an artist w/ a wealthy sponsor who would support my endeavors; I've had some interesting offers), I can genuinely be excited about my decision. That's just me. Debt scares me, trust. I have been avoiding debt for years and have done my best to just work with the money I have. Luckily, I've worked different jobs to figure out what I don't like and what I'd rather do.
In fact, I studied geography/geology before I decided it wasn't what I wanted and dropped out of school to go back to community college in California. There's a lot I've experienced that pushed me in the direction of wanting to help people a completely different way and it always came down to "I should go to medical school instead of this" not because those things were "too easy" or "too hard", but legitimately because my interests led me to: I require an MD/DO to get to do the stuff I actually want to do.
Idk... do you feel like you need more experience in other fields? It's okay to do those other things, but I highly suggest that you find out what you're more interested in first, before medical school. Go get an internship somewhere or work first, if you need to do that. 'Cause trust, I certainly denied that this path was for me for a very long time, before committing to it.
Right now? I'm what you would call a life coach/wellness consultant in California and am self-employed. Starting next year, I'll be doing taxes for it and am happy with it... for now. This is my job and I think about peoples' lives sometimes more than my own but I enjoy it. I'd enjoy it a lot more if I could have an MD/DO behind my belt to help my clients out on the medical side of things. The business industry can make you a lot of money, if you're lucky, are wise enough with your resources, and have experience that impresses people -- THE KEY BEING "EXPERIENCE". There's really no 1 path do something in life. Though, speaking as a fellow pre-med who has observed SDN for a decade and experienced life, I personally believe every experience I have had in the last decade has informed me that I need to be a doctor to maximize how effective I can be in peoples' lives. This can mean anything from being a practicing doctor for a very long while, and/or perhaps work in health policy later on, to address the issues from both a patients' perspective/physicians' perspective. WHO KNOWS. I'LL CROSS EVERY BRIDGE UNTIL I GET TO IT. BUT LIVE YOUR LIFE AND THE MOOT POINTS & OTHER [not so great] EXPERIENCES WILL LEAD YOU TO WHAT YOU REALLY WANT.
Besides, you can't just call something you haven't been invited to experience yet as a waste of time and money, and you have to realize that anything you do in your life will require some sort of sacrifice. I agree with many people who've already responded that you likely had some biased opinions and people who told you things that were unique cases. HOWEVER, you can't always prepare your life as though it were somebody else's, nor can you assume in business or in medicine, that you're going to be the exception to the rule. LIFE DOESN'T HAND OUT EXCEPTIONS, BUT IT'S A MIXTURE OF BEING AT THE RIGHT PLACE, AT THE RIGHT TIME, AND WITH THE RIGHT MOTIVATIONS. Residency or not, you'll risk anything for whatever you want in life. Sounds general, but you'd be surprised with whatever you do, and w/e may be asked of you to give, in order to have it.
Unfortunately for things like geosciences and business, I didn't want to sacrifice some of my personal values or principles to do things that would make me a comfortable woman. BUT TO EACH THEIR OWN. Know your values and stick with them. Things can change, but notice what's consistent about yourself. Because you're certainly of no help to any patient or consulting firm someday, if you don't even know what you want or know yourself better first. No one wants to hire someone who doesn't know what they want out of life.
With that said, I sincerely hope you figure it out. KNOW THYSELF and until then, THE GAME IS ON.
