Leaving medicine, what are the options?

[benignjay]

I'm a Cardio intern, I completed med school in June. Though I still want to be involved in science, I've decided clin practice isn't for me. My plan is to do a Master's program in Biomedical engineering. After being rejected from a program bcus of my non-engineering background, I did some research, & it seems it's not the easiest pathway to follow. My questions are:

1. Which universities are more likely to accept a MD graduate for their Master's Bme program?

2. What other Master's programs can I do that are accustomed to accepting Medical school graduates?

I have great passion to be a biomed engineer but I'll like to know my other options as well.

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[MadisonJacket]

I think some schools have engineering grad programs for those without an engineering background (U of Chicago if I remember correctly), so you could check those out. But, speaking as someone who graduated with a BME degree, good luck getting into any engineering grad program without an engineering background regardless of med school experience. BME grad programs aren't for learning about biomedical engineering. It's for building upon your already-existing BME knowledge in order to specialize in a field, so I'd be surprised if there are reputable BME programs that accept those without an engineering or heavy-quantitative background.

You could always get a masters in public policy or healthcare administration. You're in the right forum for questions about that.

 

[MadisonJacket]

It was Boston University not University of Chicago that has the LEAP program that I had in mind:

http://www.bu.edu/eng/academics/special-programs/leap/overview/

 

[hughesn2]

The first paragraph sounds similar to what I wanted my path to be except for the part that you have gotten your MD. I was planning on going to med school, got a couple interview invites and realized medicine wasn't really for me. I then thought about biomedical engineering masters programs, but then found out that even with a Physiology degree it would be very hard to get accepted into a Master's of Biomedical Engineering.
That is why after researching Master's programs I was told by some people that you would almost have a better chance at completing a biomedical engineering BACHELOR'S degree at your undergraduate university by going back than to wait a year or two in the application process and probably having to take a couple extra intro to engineering and Calc 3 to 4 courses over time.

When I was researching just going back to Michigan State and completing a second major in Chemical Engineering with a concentration in Biomedical Engineering they showed me how many credits I would need to graduate with that B.S. degree and it was at around 75 credits, so about 5 semesters vs. the Masters program would be 45 credits and 4 semesters. The thing they told me was that if I took just the Spring semester off, since I graduated this December, and came back for the Fall 2014 I would be able to get a B.S. in Chemical Engineering by December 2016. They told me that even though a Masters program is just 4yrs, the chances of a NON-engineer degree holder applicant would have a long shot to get in to most to any Master's programs.

Next thing is that this forum may not be able to provide many answers for this question since this is a Masters of PUBLIC HEALTH forum. But still may give you people like myself who at one point thought of the Biomedical Engineering route.

 

[Solara]

One thing I would do is see if you can find a really good researcher, and work in their lab for a bit. Getting the right mentorship from a good researcher won't substitute for a Masters degree, but it'll give you some good training to go off of in the meantime. With an MD degree, you can also look into a variety of Masters degrees, such as MPH, MBA, MHA, etc. With an MBA or MPH, you can look into hospital administration. There is a huge demand for people in hospital administration.

Also, have you thought about how this will all work out financially? I'm not saying to stay in medicine so that you can get doctor's salary and pay off your debts quicker, but if you have a huge debt and aren't careful with it, it can spiral out of control.