Med school or postdoc or both?

[Foxinsocks]

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Hi everyone, this is my first post. 🙂 I need some good advice.

I am finishing my PhD next year in a biological science field. I just rediscovered my passion for medicine and want to go to med school. My spouse is on the fence about this, because med school means more years of me making near to nothing and more time, MONEY, and effort spend in another degree. We have a 3 yr old. I told my PI about my thoughts and he thinks it is unwise.

Why do I want to go to med school:
Medicine puts existing knowledge into practice on REAL people
Research can have such a narrow scope of things and medicine paints a boarder picture (I can be wrong)
Human is still the best system for study despite the other model organisms
Being able to work with patients and making discoveries in lab are my goals.

What I have:
Determined to finish my PhD
Crappy undergrad grades (lived through domestic abuse)
Shadowed a doctor for a year prior to grad school (I also worked at the clinic)

What I have in mind:
Get a post-doc while taking some classes for grade rehabilitation
Take the MCAT


Do you regret going to med school after grad school? Can you do a postdoc and be in med school at the same time? What would you say to someone like me having done this the non-trad route?

 

[Goro]

You have such a starry-eyed view about what Medicine is like that I strongly urge you to start volunteering with patients and shadow more doctors, before you waste any time thinking about this. It also sounds like you'd rather work ON patients, than WITH them.

Alternatively, do a post-doc at NIH on some clinical research.

You can NOT be a post-doc and a med student at the same time.

 

[Foxinsocks]

Thank you so much for responding.

I have been trying to find time to volunteer at a hospital.

I really appreciate your honesty. Thank you.

 

[Goro]

Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all, but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimers or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.

Thank you so much for responding.

I have been trying to find time to volunteer at a hospital.

I really appreciate your honesty. Thank you.

 

[Foxinsocks]

I will definitely keep your input in mind when I search for volunteering opportunities!