Is this realistic?

[BrianEarlSpilner]

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Hi everyone,

I've done a lot of browsing on these forums and I am considering going back to school to become a doctor. Here is my story:

I graduated from a decent private school on Long Island in 2012. I graduated magna cum laude with a 3.78 overall GPA. I went to community college first and unfortunately when I take those classes into account, my overall GPA falls to 3.62. (I got straight A's my last 3 years of college and brought my GPA up). I calculated my science/math GPA and came up with 3.43, but I only have 19 science/math credits. I did an extended program to be CPA eligible so I ended up graduating with 179 total credits. I subsequently passed the CPA exam and have been working at a large public accounting firm for 3.5 years.

I ended up injuring a disc in my back, had to have surgery, and I can no longer comfortably sit. I currently use a sit/stand desk, but the long hours sitting/standing in one spot are not good for me and I suffer from extreme discomfort. I'm working on rehab to the best of my ability, but there's no guarantee I will ever be free from pain. I don't feel fulfilled in my current line of work and I know I won't be able to do this forever. I always had an interest in health and fitness and now that I've been dealing with this issue and everything that comes with it, I've considered going into medicine.

I would have to do a full post bacc program in order to satisfy the requirements to take the MCAT and apply to medical school. I believe my employer would let me work part time and pursue this. I have never really struggled academically and I believe I could handle the work. My concerns are that I would probably need to apply for some sort of accommodation where I could stand up in class due to the pain I deal with. I also don't know how physically demanding this might be on my body.

My plan is to try to register for a pre req course at a state school nearby just to get my feet wet and take it one step at a time before ultimately making a decision to go all in.

I know this would set me back financially, however I have been able to save enough money working the last few years where I'm not so worried about the cost. I'm single and have no kids.

Is this a realistic plan or is this just wishful thinking? I would appreciate any thoughts or advice that anyone has to offer.

 

[darmalee]

Doctors do a lot of sitting and standing in one place. Sitting in front of a computer especially, in this day and age where the EHR rules all. The standing varies specialty to specialty, but I can't think of one off the top of my head that doesn't involve lots of sitting in front of a computer.

I'm pretty sure that the preclinical years of medical school wouldn't be an issue. So many schools are moving to formats where little or no lecture is required and you could work out whatever system you wanted at home for the majority of your studying. The clinical years of medical school and residency tend to be pretty physically taxing. The required surgery rotation in particular sounds like it would be super problematic for you. I know people who got "chill" surgery rotations, but even those required scrubbing in and standing pretty still for varying chunks of time. Rounding on almost all rotations sounds like it could also be difficult for someone who doesn't do well with standing in one place for very long. That's probably something that you could get some sort of accommodation for - when I was super pregnant on an ICU rotation I got to roll a chair around during our three to four hour rounding sessions. I think that the third and fourth year of medical school would probably be the most frustrating in this regards because you move around so much and every single time you get a new attending or start a new rotation you'd have to explain all over again. Once you got to residency, you'd have a bit more consistency and hopefully you'd end up in a specialty that didn't rely so heavily on being still.

I'm pretty sure it's possible for you to do it. It sounds like the academics part is well within your capabilities, it'll just be a matter of figuring out how much of the physical stuff you can handle. I think that your plan of starting out tentatively at a community college is a great way to get a feel for what you might be up against. Some good, old fashioned shadowing is probably also a good idea. The more up close and personal you can get with seeing what exactly you'd be putting yourself through, the more you'll be able to see if your body is up for it.

I guess my point is that you're the only one who will be able to decide if you're up for it. It sounds like it will be tough, but if it's worth it, it's worth it. Maybe it won't be. But it sounds like you're unsatisfied in what you're doing and think that this might provide you with the intangibles that your current career. And if that's the case, it's definitely worth investigating.

 

[BrianEarlSpilner]

Thank you for your thoughts darmalee. My intention would be to specialize in a field where I would be comfortable, however as you said, my biggest concern is certainly the surgery rotations. I wasn't aware that schools are moving to formats where I could do a majority of the studying at home, which is great news.

 

[darmalee]

Thank you for your thoughts darmalee. My intention would be to specialize in a field where I would be comfortable, however as you said, my biggest concern is certainly the surgery rotations. I wasn't aware that schools are moving to formats where I could do a majority of the studying at home, which is great news.

Yeah I'll be honest that my expertise is in Texas schools, but almost every single school here has moved to a format where everything is recorded and available online and required classes is usually significantly less than half of the total. On top of that, there has been a big push towards self-directed learning in general so half days of lecture are the norm as opposed to the 8-5 wall of information. So getting your pre-reqs conquered may be rougher on you physically than the preclinical years of medical school.

 

[GreenDuck12]

Hi everyone,

I've done a lot of browsing on these forums and I am considering going back to school to become a doctor. Here is my story:

I graduated from a decent private school on Long Island in 2012. I graduated magna cum laude with a 3.78 overall GPA. I went to community college first and unfortunately when I take those classes into account, my overall GPA falls to 3.62. (I got straight A's my last 3 years of college and brought my GPA up). I calculated my science/math GPA and came up with 3.43, but I only have 19 science/math credits. I did an extended program to be CPA eligible so I ended up graduating with 179 total credits. I subsequently passed the CPA exam and have been working at a large public accounting firm for 3.5 years.

I ended up injuring a disc in my back, had to have surgery, and I can no longer comfortably sit. I currently use a sit/stand desk, but the long hours sitting/standing in one spot are not good for me and I suffer from extreme discomfort. I'm working on rehab to the best of my ability, but there's no guarantee I will ever be free from pain. I don't feel fulfilled in my current line of work and I know I won't be able to do this forever. I always had an interest in health and fitness and now that I've been dealing with this issue and everything that comes with it, I've considered going into medicine.

I would have to do a full post bacc program in order to satisfy the requirements to take the MCAT and apply to medical school. I believe my employer would let me work part time and pursue this. I have never really struggled academically and I believe I could handle the work. My concerns are that I would probably need to apply for some sort of accommodation where I could stand up in class due to the pain I deal with. I also don't know how physically demanding this might be on my body.

My plan is to try to register for a pre req course at a state school nearby just to get my feet wet and take it one step at a time before ultimately making a decision to go all in.

I know this would set me back financially, however I have been able to save enough money working the last few years where I'm not so worried about the cost. I'm single and have no kids.

Is this a realistic plan or is this just wishful thinking? I would appreciate any thoughts or advice that anyone has to offer.

Based on what you wrote, I would encourage you to start by volunteering at a local hospital, clinic, nursing/hospice care center. Also, take some time to shadow physicians in different fields. It would be really valuable and eye opening for you to see the kind of work that doctors do and the types of individuals they encounter. Taking a pre-req course is not really going to give you an idea about what being a doctor is like.

Additionally, it could be really valuable for you to talk to current and former residents about what their experiences have been like. Medical school itself is challenging but residency is more physically demanding with long hours, tons of paperwork, and very little time off.

In the event you decide to go back to school to take pre-reqs, it is possible to take classes part time and work full or part time depending on the class schedule and your goals. You have plenty of time to figure things out.

Best of luck to you.