management consulting to medical school questions

[tiredrat]

hi everyone,

quick stats:

age: 23
graduated may of 2017 from a state school with a degree in business management
cum undergraduate gpa: 3.56 (got a "D" in an accounting class, not sure how bad that hurts)
cum science gpa: 3.75 (only taken general chem + general bio, 2 semesters each)
ACT: 34

ended up working for a big 4 consulting firm (think Deloitte/EY/ Pwc/KPMG) in San Francisco (relatively prestigious high paying job out of college). my clients are related to the life sciences / health fields (i.e. payers like Kaiser or diagnostics companies like Roche) and realized i hated being in the corporate world.

i was a pre-med student for the first two-ish years of college and so have some exposure to the field (was an ED scribe for around 1000 hours and did research for a neuro-oncology lab for ~8 months).

without going to why i want to leave consulting for medicine (the list of grievances is long), i was wondering what the most prudent actions would be to maximize my chances of getting into medical school.

obviously i need to finish o-chem, physics, anatomy/physiology, MCAT, etc. but i was wondering how 1-2 years of business consulting experience looks for medical schools, whether my 3.56 GPA in a business degree matters (especially if i can maintain a ~3.8 science GPA + good MCAT score), and how competitive of an applicant overall i sound like.

Would looking at post-bac programs make the most sense? masters in something? just finish up the science classes at the same state school i went to? Any advice is welcome.

Thanks!!!

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[Trollest]

Wait, you just graduated! so what pushed you away from medicine? Nice ACT score btw.

 

[tiredrat]

Wait, you just graduated! so what pushed you away from medicine? Nice ACT score btw.

thanks hah, uh its a long story but basically i was initially interested in medicine for the money / job security --> realized if i wanted money consulting was more lucrative --> got into consulting --> hate it and don't care as much about money --> realized medicine was for me

 

[Goro]

without going to why i want to leave consulting for medicine (the list of grievances is long), i was wondering what the most prudent actions would be to maximize my chances of getting into medical school.

For starters, you need to articulate why you're running TO Meidcine and not merely running away from mgt. The "grass is greener" seems to be at play from this sentence.

obviously i need to finish o-chem, physics, anatomy/physiology, MCAT, etc. but i was wondering how 1-2 years of business consulting experience looks for medical schools, whether my 3.56 GPA in a business degree matters (especially if i can maintain a ~3.8 science GPA + good MCAT score), and how competitive of an applicant overall i sound like.

Employment is a good thing, but being a consultant doesn't add anything beyond that. You could just as easily have been in car sales or a tech at Apple. IF you can maintain stats like the above in the pre-reqs and do well on MCAT, that will be good.

Would looking at post-bac programs make the most sense? masters in something? just finish up the science classes at the same state school i went to? Any advice is welcome.

I do recommend a post-bac program for career changers. There are tons of them out there.

You also need ot shadow clincians, start volunteering with patients, and engage in non-clinical service to other less fortunate than yourself.

Read everything in this forum by the wise @DrMidlife

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

How do I leave medicine to go to consulting?

 

[post-bacc]

Hey tiredrat, I did something very similar to you. I was in consulting for a bit longer than you and only studied business undergrad. I did a "post-bacc" program at night while I was still working and I also volunteered in a hospital during that time (four hours per week), and now I've transitioned into a full time Masters program.

The key thing about determining if you want to make the jump to medicine is to get experience- whether that is in patient volunteering or physician shadowing, you really need to make sure that you have been exposed to medicine enough to want to commit to it. From there, the academics are straight forward, though gaining exposure to patients should be your first goal, and then you can plan from there.

Many hospitals have volunteer coordinators whom you can contact, and they can keep you up to date with opportunities. Also, you could look at a more structured program such as the HELP program (Hospital Elder Life Program) that is available in a number of hospitals. Start with things like these, and that will help determine where your interests lie before you totally change your career path.

 

[arcus]

How do I leave medicine to go to consulting?

How attractive are you? Yeah, that plays into the equation.

Exceptional Mediocrity: Why Are Drug Reps Hot?

 

[arcus]

OP it'll get a lot of questions in the interview, something something I want to be in medicine because science and idealism



It plays into the equation pretty much everywhere in business.

I never took fitness seriously until I realized its the highest ROI activity you can do..

there's always nip/tuck and botox. joking but certain geographic locations like NYC and Miami, these are taken seriously