Life advice for a fatigued student

[community project]

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By posting this I am hoping to get some advice and find direction in my life. I do not know if it is in my best interests to pursue more education, even though medicine has been a dream of mine for a long time. There has been much talk on these forums about the debt/income ratio, and whether or not it is worth all the sacrifice. I have been financially independent since I was 17, so I have worked my way through college. I am currently a senior with $40,000 of educational debt.


I am a senior sociology student with a sub-par GPA of 3.3. I have C’s in a few prerequisites, which are due to the period of time when my father had a stroke and became incapacitated. During that time, I became his legal conservator and caregiver, and it affected my academic performance.


As far as ECs go I have tutored/mentored, coached baseball, and volunteered at a variety of places. I am currently working at CVS as a pharmacy technician. I also have an EMT license but I could not find a job. I have not taken any entrance exams yet, but I believe I could do well on them.


I am struggling trying to keep my head above water, and I would like to have a career ASAP. I would like your honest opinions. Should I keep working until I am accepted, or do I pursue other avenues? Do I really have a shot at getting into a professional school (MD, DO, PA, or PharmD.)? Would it require taking more classes to repair my GPA? For those of you who know what the field is like, is it worth it? Would it be worth it for you, if you were in my shoes?


I really appreciate any feedback!!

 

[midnight0il]

Take a year off, maybe two, maybe more. C's in pre-reqs and a 3.3 GPA makes you not very competitive in this medical school market. More importantly, you don't sound mentally/financially ready to take on the challenges of applying AND THEN attending medical school, nor do you sound committed. Take it from me, a year out of school will give you a better perspective on life that'll allow you to make better decisions than laboring on with what you thought you were suppose to do (i.e., apply to medical school).

 

[cabinbuilder]

Take a break, travel, get some sleep. Stop worrying about the med school thing for while. If you keep fighting, you keep failing. Been there. Do something different and go back to it when you are fresh and then if won't seem so hard.

 

[QofQuimica]

Take a break, travel, get some sleep. Stop worrying about the med school thing for while. If you keep fighting, you keep failing. Been there. Do something different and go back to it when you are fresh and then if won't seem so hard.

Agree.

OP, you're not focused right now, as evidenced by you thinking about going off in multiple directions with no ultimate goal in mind besides being a "professional." Take some time to get your financial and emotional houses in order, and start shadowing some MD/DOs, PharmDs, and PAs to help you get a better sense of which (if any) of these career options appeals most to you.

 

[ruralsurg4now]

Here's my advice:

a) If you want to go into medicine, ignore your debt as a decision maker. We all have lots of debt. It's just a fact of life. The only good thing is you'll make enough that you can pay it back, but, yeah, it sort of sucks.
b) Don't ask people whether something is "worth it," as that is a purely personal decision. If I told you what I had to go through, you'd probably have thrown in the towel halfway in, so what's the point of me asking you if it is worth it to me?
c) Don't ask people if you'll make it in. Nobody knows. Especially if you haven't even taken any tests. But even with all of your numbers and ECs, nobody will know. Right now, based on your GPA, it doesn't look too great for upper- and mid-tier allopathic schools, is all I can tell you.
d) In general, if you're starting out wondering if you want to do this, don't do it. Even if you definitely want to do it, many people experience some amount of burn-out or question their decision. If you're basically flipping a coin at the start, you're screwed.

 

[Goro]

First, decide what you want to do. have you done any volunteering at a hospital, or shadowed a physician?

Your GPA is not competitive for MD schools, but still OK for DO programs. I recommend that you re-take any F/D/C grades in the sciences. It's OK to take some time off. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

By posting this I am hoping to get some advice and find direction in my life. I do not know if it is in my best interests to pursue more education, even though medicine has been a dream of mine for a long time. There has been much talk on these forums about the debt/income ratio, and whether or not it is worth all the sacrifice. I have been financially independent since I was 17, so I have worked my way through college. I am currently a senior with $40,000 of educational debt.


I am a senior sociology student with a sub-par GPA of 3.3. I have C’s in a few prerequisites, which are due to the period of time when my father had a stroke and became incapacitated. During that time, I became his legal conservator and caregiver, and it affected my academic performance.


As far as ECs go I have tutored/mentored, coached baseball, and volunteered at a variety of places. I am currently working at CVS as a pharmacy technician. I also have an EMT license but I could not find a job. I have not taken any entrance exams yet, but I believe I could do well on them.


I am struggling trying to keep my head above water, and I would like to have a career ASAP. I would like your honest opinions. Should I keep working until I am accepted, or do I pursue other avenues? Do I really have a shot at getting into a professional school (MD, DO, PA, or PharmD.)? Would it require taking more classes to repair my GPA? For those of you who know what the field is like, is it worth it? Would it be worth it for you, if you were in my shoes?


I really appreciate any feedback!!

 

[starstarie]

I would disagree with the comment about "if you're not sure, don't do it." That's what people (lots of people!) told me and I am Soooo glad I decided on med school... couldn't think of anything else I'd rather do! And I doubted it a lot all through undergrad and the time I took off before coming back.

Id say that you should consider going the nursing or PA route. These will get you to a point where you can be working a lot faster than medicine. To become and NP you can work your way up as you are working and stop at any point in between. PA school is a lot shorter before you can work. Obviously the earning capacity is quite a bit lower but if making money ASAP is imp than you could do that. Remember, though, it's an investment.

 

[community project]

Thank you all for your input! I really appreciate it! I think that do indeed need a break from things, and a chance to save some money. In addition, I do not want to give up on my dream of practicing medicine. Maybe you could help me with a course of action.. I would like to be an MD, DO, or PA. There are advantages to all of these to me. Would you recommend taking these classes over, going to an SMP, or focusing on getting a higher than average exam score?

here are my faulty classes. I have A's and B's in classes other than these:

Calculus C+
Bio I C
Bio II C
OChem I C

 

[Escape_Goat]

At the very least, you'll want to retake your Bio I and II and Organic.

Why do you want to be in a career as soon as possible? I used to tell myself something similar, but then realized that being a student was my career. Do you feel that way due to financial concerns? $40,000 is a drop in the bucket and debt shouldn't be a deciding factor in this. Stop looking at it as debt and see it as an investment in yourself.

If you want to do medicine, you still have a shot. Just retake those classes, do well on the MCAT, and maybe take some time off before or after you do those other things to regroup.

If it makes you feel better, I got into my first choice DO school with a 3.44 sGPA and 3.06 cGPA, though I did quite well on the MCAT. I also have close to three times your student loan debt; I'll just pay that and my med school loans off later. You'll get there if you want it, OP.