Journalism school before medical school

[goldandapager]

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Well, here's the deal. I decided that I want to attend journalism school for some formal training, as it's one of my passions and want to pursue it as an avocation. I'm set to graduate undergrad in 3 years and hope to use the year I save for a masters degree.

Now, my principle goal is to attend medical school and become a practicing physician, so I don't want to hinder that in any way. I don't want admission committees thinking I'm not fully committed to medicine. Would it make more sense for me to attend journalism school after medical school?

 

[Mobius1985]

Med schools love folks with diverse backgrounds. I think it would be pretty easy to spin a connection between medicine and journalism. The potential of becoming a medical writer would be an asset. Don't worry that you would not seem fully committed to medicine. Just keep that undergrad GPA high in the meanwhile.

 

[Mattabet]

Right. You can do the journalism school, but make sure that you continue doing things that are medically related so that you'll have a lot to say about why medicine is going to be your vocation and journalism your 'avocation'. (New word of the day for me, thanks journalism people!)

Especially because you're using the masters to round out your fourth year, I think this is going to add some great intellectual diversity to your application, just so long as you can still demonstrate medical focus.

 

[Essex]

Well, here's the deal. I decided that I want to attend journalism school for some formal training, as it's one of my passions and want to pursue it as an avocation. I'm set to graduate undergrad in 3 years and hope to use the year I save for a masters degree.

Now, my principle goal is to attend medical school and become a practicing physician, so I don't want to hinder that in any way. I don't want admission committees thinking I'm not fully committed to medicine. Would it make more sense for me to attend journalism school after medical school?

Once you go down the road of journalism, it may be harder to get back toward med. It'll be harder to prep for the mcat when the last science class you took was years ago. True, med schools would value the diversity of background, but that would hardly be sufficient on its own to get an easy acceptance. If medicine is your primary, goal, I think it would be worth it to focus on that goal. Once you have your MD, you can still write, and with more credibility, if you intend to cover medical issues. Pauline Chen and Atul Gawande are good examples of MDs who write but never went to j-school. I was the only pre-med on my college's daily paper (late night editing can take a toll on the gpa) and I made the decision to aim for med school. For now, as mentioned above, just keep all your doors open by getting a high gpa. And also, I've never heard of any dual-degree programs, but I would suspect that one could "make" it possible...

 

[Revilla]

I majored in journalism. I worked in the field professionally for a few years before returning to do my pre-reqs for med school. A good chunk of one of my med school interviews this cycle was about journalism.

If that's what you're interested in, do it. It won't hurt you in the pre-med process. Just make sure to keep your grades up and study hard for the MCAT.

Good luck!

 

[witness23]

what media form of journalism are you looking at? i'd love to have been a journalist. do it!

 

[DaBlackRose]

i did journalism! it was fantastic. you could take the MCAT right after your sciences are done because the scores are good for three years.

But my advice would be to keep up with medical EC's. make sure you can get a masters done in 1 year. find a way to make some major cash, because with journalism school & med school OUCH!

however, you can rest in peace knowing (as i did) that your personal statement and secondaries were some of the best out there. I had many schools stand up and take notice. I even had a dean call and offer me the interview because he wanted to meet 'the girl behind this essay' despite my lower than average GPA. yeah i totally rocked it. 👍

(( i should mention a lot of my journalism awards were stories about medicine which kept me current and it was fun twice over, i would recommend that ))

 

[sunset823]

Go for it! As most people have stated, people with different backgrounds are definitely desired in medicine, since it has become a LOT more than just being able to diagnose diseases these days. I know for sure my degree in public policy helped me get interviews (and at least one acceptance) I otherwise would not have.

Someone above mentioned Pauline Chen and Atul Gawande - while Gawande doesn't have a journalism degree, he has a masters in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (as a Rhodes Scholar, granted), and that kind of diverse background definitely lends credence to his (excellent) writings. I myself work in a very interdisciplinary group on social science in medicine, and the physicians have a diverse range of backgrounds, with a couple of MD/PhDs in social studies/philosophy, and those that have only MDs came in with an undergrad major like philosophy, ethics, poli sci, etc.

Some may argue it is a 'waste of time', but I disagree with this completely - nothing is a waste of time if it is going to lead to your own personal fulfillment with your career.

!

 

[DrJosephKim]

Many physicians love to write (either formally or informally). I'm one of them, and I don't have a journalism degree. Medical schools like to see diversity and if they feel that you may contribute in a unique way to society and to the medical industry, then you'll stand out.

Always look for a way to differentiate yourself from the rest.