Med School or PT School?

[brocko2093]

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For some background on me: I'm 28 years old. I'm currently working as a scribe at a local community hospital. I originally went into the job looking for additional "shadowing" hours for PT school, while also collecting prerequisites for that. I've been scribing for almost a year and a half now (yes, I've worked throughout this entire pandemic), and it made me seriously consider medical school. One of my earliest memories in life was watching ER and Trauma as a child, and even reading some of my aunt's and grandma's medical books as a really little kid. I've basically always known I wanted a career in healthcare, but the big question is WHAT in healthcare? As a little kid, I said "doctor" without thinking about it. But now that I'm an adult, I struggle with that answer.

I want to be a doctor, but physical therapy is what initially made me come to this crossroads. But I also feel like I have a few factors stacked against me for medical school application:

First off, my GPA isn't that great (2.78 combined from community college and my bachelor's). Physics is definitely my Achilles heel; though I've noticed I've definitely improved in chemistry. Even though I know a few people on this forum (even a couple of the doctors I work with) stank at physics and still became doctors, I can't get out of the mindset of "You HAVE to be good at this (as in B+ or better). Otherwise, you suck and you're wasting your time!" Granted I have no interest in going into a surgical specialty, but I still can't shake that off. It's bad enough that it's even making me question if I should even be in healthcare in the first place.

Second, I'm a transgender man, and after so many years of being forced to be someone I'm not, I feel like I don't really know myself. I know there are gonna be some questions in the interview process I won't be able to know how to answer. One of the doctors I work with has asked if I'm good with my hands when I mention the possibility of medical school. Well, I don't know! I've never had any sort of exposure to know if I am good with my hands! My family always preferred to call someone else for repairs and assembling things. Again, I have no interest in surgery, but I understand every specialty has some procedures attached.

Third, and probably the least important, I feel like I'd be doing the same thing regardless of if I choose PT school or medical school. The specialty that's on the top of my list if I choose the medical school route is PM&R. I've literally had people tell me, "Why go through medical school and residency when you can do physical therapy in half the time and at a quarter of the cost?" They both have similar requirements (though I don't know if Anatomy and Physiology will count as a "higher level" biology for medical school; it's a requirement for a lot of PT schools). And since some prerequisites of mine are over five years old this year, some ten years old (General Psych, Statistics, English, etc), I know I'll have to retake those anyway since a lot of medical and PT schools won't accept credits older than a certain age. I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but I have taken the GRE which could've yielded a better result. I did pretty well in Biology, and I've improved in Chemistry since high school. I haven't taken Organic Chemistry yet, but plan on it in the spring.

I have my bachelor's in Anthropology (with a focus on Physical Anthropology), and even though it technically was a BS as opposed to a BA, this idiot didn't listen to his mom when she said to take the "hard" sciences, which is why I'm having to take them now.

Knowing all this, should I still go all the way with med school? Or stick to the original plan and go to PT school?

 

[deleted367183]

I’ll write a longer reply later, but I think user familyaerospace on here is trans??? Maybe look them up.

 

[deleted1102547]

For some background on me: I'm 28 years old. I'm currently working as a scribe at a local community hospital. I originally went into the job looking for additional "shadowing" hours for PT school, while also collecting prerequisites for that. I've been scribing for almost a year and a half now (yes, I've worked throughout this entire pandemic), and it made me seriously consider medical school. One of my earliest memories in life was watching ER and Trauma as a child, and even reading some of my aunt's and grandma's medical books as a really little kid. I've basically always known I wanted a career in healthcare, but the big question is WHAT in healthcare? As a little kid, I said "doctor" without thinking about it. But now that I'm an adult, I struggle with that answer.

I want to be a doctor, but physical therapy is what initially made me come to this crossroads. But I also feel like I have a few factors stacked against me for medical school application:

First off, my GPA isn't that great (2.78 combined from community college and my bachelor's). Physics is definitely my Achilles heel; though I've noticed I've definitely improved in chemistry. Even though I know a few people on this forum (even a couple of the doctors I work with) stank at physics and still became doctors, I can't get out of the mindset of "You HAVE to be good at this (as in B+ or better). Otherwise, you suck and you're wasting your time!" Granted I have no interest in going into a surgical specialty, but I still can't shake that off. It's bad enough that it's even making me question if I should even be in healthcare in the first place.

Second, I'm a transgender man, and after so many years of being forced to be someone I'm not, I feel like I don't really know myself. I know there are gonna be some questions in the interview process I won't be able to know how to answer. One of the doctors I work with has asked if I'm good with my hands when I mention the possibility of medical school. Well, I don't know! I've never had any sort of exposure to know if I am good with my hands! My family always preferred to call someone else for repairs and assembling things. Again, I have no interest in surgery, but I understand every specialty has some procedures attached.

Third, and probably the least important, I feel like I'd be doing the same thing regardless of if I choose PT school or medical school. The specialty that's on the top of my list if I choose the medical school route is PM&R. I've literally had people tell me, "Why go through medical school and residency when you can do physical therapy in half the time and at a quarter of the cost?" They both have similar requirements (though I don't know if Anatomy and Physiology will count as a "higher level" biology for medical school; it's a requirement for a lot of PT schools). And since some prerequisites of mine are over five years old this year, some ten years old (General Psych, Statistics, English, etc), I know I'll have to retake those anyway since a lot of medical and PT schools won't accept credits older than a certain age. I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but I have taken the GRE which could've yielded a better result. I did pretty well in Biology, and I've improved in Chemistry since high school. I haven't taken Organic Chemistry yet, but plan on it in the spring.

I have my bachelor's in Anthropology (with a focus on Physical Anthropology), and even though it technically was a BS as opposed to a BA, this idiot didn't listen to his mom when she said to take the "hard" sciences, which is why I'm having to take them now.

Knowing all this, should I still go all the way with med school? Or stick to the original plan and go to PT school?

If you genuinely think you could be equally happy as a PT or an MD/DO, you should hands down do PT. As you mentioned, it is a significantly shorter and cheaper training path, so the value in becoming a PT would be better for you. (Think of this value as the ratio between the effort you have to put into it compared to the happiness/fulfillment you will get out of it. If PT will give you the same output, pick the path with the easier input.) However, that advice assumes you'll be equally happy as PT and an MD/DO, which it doesn't sound like you would be.

You have to really dig down and decide for yourself whether you go to medical school. I would try to talk to some physicians in your interested specialty as well as some physical therapists. Tell them that you're not sure if you want to go to PT or medical school, and ask them how they decided. Ask them if they were happy with that decision. They will likely be able to tell you specific reasons they made the choices they did and provide a lot of perspectives that are hard to convey in a forum like this. Based on those perspectives, you need to weigh each of the pros/cons of each path and decide for yourself.

If you can't see yourself anything other than medicine, then do medicine. If you can be just as happy in PT, do that!

A 2.78 GPA isn't great, but it can be worked with. With a post-bacc or an SMP, you can still get into medical school or PT school. Both medical school and PT school will require interviews, so I wouldn't lean one way or the other based on your gender identity and the perceived "questions in the interview process I won't be able to know how to answer." No school will ask you to explain much of the intricacies of your gender identity, but they may ask you what you identify as. (Remember that anything you put in your application is fair game to discuss during an interview.) Trans-people are underrepresented in medicine are needed in medicine and PT. Your identity is valid and you can absolutely provide meaningful care in whatever field you decide to work in.

One final note: I don't know much about PT school pre-requisites, but the vast majority of medical schools don't care about the age of the pre-requisite classes. You just have to have taken the MCAT within the past 3 years for most schools (5 for a lot of TX schools). If you could do a post-bacc or SMP and crush the MCAT, you can still get into medical school without having to retake all of your pre-requisites.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

For some background on me: I'm 28 years old. I'm currently working as a scribe at a local community hospital. I originally went into the job looking for additional "shadowing" hours for PT school, while also collecting prerequisites for that. I've been scribing for almost a year and a half now (yes, I've worked throughout this entire pandemic), and it made me seriously consider medical school. One of my earliest memories in life was watching ER and Trauma as a child, and even reading some of my aunt's and grandma's medical books as a really little kid. I've basically always known I wanted a career in healthcare, but the big question is WHAT in healthcare? As a little kid, I said "doctor" without thinking about it. But now that I'm an adult, I struggle with that answer.

I want to be a doctor, but physical therapy is what initially made me come to this crossroads. But I also feel like I have a few factors stacked against me for medical school application:

First off, my GPA isn't that great (2.78 combined from community college and my bachelor's). Physics is definitely my Achilles heel; though I've noticed I've definitely improved in chemistry. Even though I know a few people on this forum (even a couple of the doctors I work with) stank at physics and still became doctors, I can't get out of the mindset of "You HAVE to be good at this (as in B+ or better). Otherwise, you suck and you're wasting your time!" Granted I have no interest in going into a surgical specialty, but I still can't shake that off. It's bad enough that it's even making me question if I should even be in healthcare in the first place.

Second, I'm a transgender man, and after so many years of being forced to be someone I'm not, I feel like I don't really know myself. I know there are gonna be some questions in the interview process I won't be able to know how to answer. One of the doctors I work with has asked if I'm good with my hands when I mention the possibility of medical school. Well, I don't know! I've never had any sort of exposure to know if I am good with my hands! My family always preferred to call someone else for repairs and assembling things. Again, I have no interest in surgery, but I understand every specialty has some procedures attached.

Third, and probably the least important, I feel like I'd be doing the same thing regardless of if I choose PT school or medical school. The specialty that's on the top of my list if I choose the medical school route is PM&R. I've literally had people tell me, "Why go through medical school and residency when you can do physical therapy in half the time and at a quarter of the cost?" They both have similar requirements (though I don't know if Anatomy and Physiology will count as a "higher level" biology for medical school; it's a requirement for a lot of PT schools). And since some prerequisites of mine are over five years old this year, some ten years old (General Psych, Statistics, English, etc), I know I'll have to retake those anyway since a lot of medical and PT schools won't accept credits older than a certain age. I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but I have taken the GRE which could've yielded a better result. I did pretty well in Biology, and I've improved in Chemistry since high school. I haven't taken Organic Chemistry yet, but plan on it in the spring.

I have my bachelor's in Anthropology (with a focus on Physical Anthropology), and even though it technically was a BS as opposed to a BA, this idiot didn't listen to his mom when she said to take the "hard" sciences, which is why I'm having to take them now.

Knowing all this, should I still go all the way with med school? Or stick to the original plan and go to PT school?

To be competitive for medical school, you will need 4.0s for every class from here on out. You need to bring your GPA up as much as possible. Depending on how many courses you have left to take, you may need to further repair your GPA with a Special Masters Program (SMP) - but these are expensive and can be very risky (i.e., there’s no coming back from a bad SMP).

You have plenty of clinical experience for medical school and your transgender status is likely to be viewed neutrally-to-positively at all but the most religiously conservative med schools (basically just Loma Linda and Liberty). Many schools consider LGBTQ+ as “underrepresented in medicine” and actively recruit candidates from your community, so I have no concerns for you there.

The last remaining puzzle pieces for you are non-clinical community service hours and your MCAT score. We know you won’t be taking the MCAT for awhile, but we haven’t talked about what, if any, nonclinical volunteering you’ve done so far. Have you done any community service, and if so what and for how many hours (roughly)?

The biggest thing that jumps out at me is that, after a long time scribing, you still haven’t talked about what you like about medicine vs. PT. I don’t know anything about the field of PT, but after 1.5 years of hospital scribing, you should have a good sense of what the day-to-day professional life of a doctor is like. Given this exposure, your pull to medicine vs. PT should be more than “I liked ER as a kid” and I just didn’t get the sense that there was anything in particular about real-life medicine that calls you to this field. So, what do you like about what you’ve seen so far, or do you even like it at all?

Have you shadowed or otherwise worked with PTs?

 

[Crayola227]

You also need some clinical experience besides scribing, where you are the one providing care. I did elderly in home care. This will answer some questions about "working with your hands" and if you're really into direct patient care. It's definitely a different angle watching vs doing. I suggest you do some doing.

 

[Dral]

If you can't see yourself anything other than medicine, then do medicine. If you can be just as happy in PT, do that!

Quite honestly, this pretty much sums it up.

If you decide the former, you have some work to do, but I believe it would be attainable if you work hard enough.

As Crayola mentioned, I would recommend getting some shadowing/more hands on time with physicians which should hopefully help you make a decision. When you shadow, try to pay attention to all the daily things we deal with as physicians the best you can. There is a lot that goes on in the profession other than being in a room with a patient. That other stuff can break you if you're not ready for it (patient call backs, Prior auths, insurance issues, unhappy patients who write unfavorable reviews, documentation, admins dictating what you do or having to deal with hiring/training/firing staff, etc.)

I don't currently interview for our med school, but if I did and a candidate came in and explained how they feel they truly understand the profession and could convincingly articulate how and that they understand the ins and outs of daily work as a physician not just pertaining to direct patient care...well, I'd be impressed. I'm not saying that to insinuate that doesn't happen, but more to say that it would show me the candidate truly got a lot out of the shadowing experience and wasn't just jumping through a hoop.

 

[petomed]

So I'll just step through what you mentioned as the "...few factors stacked against me...":

First off, my GPA isn't that great (2.78 combined from community college and my bachelor's). Physics is definitely my Achilles heel; though I've noticed I've definitely improved in chemistry. Even though I know a few people on this forum (even a couple of the doctors I work with) stank at physics and still became doctors, I can't get out of the mindset of "You HAVE to be good at this (as in B+ or better). Otherwise, you suck and you're wasting your time!" Granted I have no interest in going into a surgical specialty, but I still can't shake that off. It's bad enough that it's even making me question if I should even be in healthcare in the first place.

You're right, we're not all great at the same things. But you're a few years out now and that old coursework is nearly a moot point. If you're serious about medicine then you'll need to show this by acing your missing pre-requisite courses. You'll need to get over your current mindset of "I'm not great at blah so I might not do well." That's old news and doesn't fly for admissions committees. You need to believe in yourself and find out how to get better at learning and performing academically, regardless of what comes naturally to you. Or else medical school will eat you alive.

As to your GPA, I'll assume you've got roughly 140 credit hours between your community college and bachelor degree. MD schools won't give you much of a look under a cumulative GPA of 3.50 unless your MCAT is superb (> 95th percentile). Even if you did hit that kind of MCAT score, you'd have to get A's in 140*(3.50-2.78)/(4.00-3.50) = 202 additional credit hours in order to hit the 3.50 GPA. Alternatively, you'll only need 140*(3.00-2.78)/(4.00-3.00) = 31 credits of additional A's to bring your GPA up to a 3.0, which is a common threshold of acceptability for DO schools. Others may have mentioned GPA repair, as did you--however this is the numerical truth if you've already accumulated 140 credit hours. If you have more than 140 hours, the picture is worse and you'll need more repair credits. If you're at less than 140 credits, the situation improves.

Second, I'm a transgender man, and after so many years of being forced to be someone I'm not, I feel like I don't really know myself. I know there are gonna be some questions in the interview process I won't be able to know how to answer. One of the doctors I work with has asked if I'm good with my hands when I mention the possibility of medical school. Well, I don't know! I've never had any sort of exposure to know if I am good with my hands! My family always preferred to call someone else for repairs and assembling things. Again, I have no interest in surgery, but I understand every specialty has some procedures attached.

Turns out you're looking to medicine at the right time. In all of my 7 interviews, each school was drooling over diversity. Being transgender means you'll bring diversity to whichever school you apply to. Some want it more than others. Some probably don't want diversity at all but simply say they do in order to save face. I actually had an interview question that was specifically about "how would you react to a situation where a nonbinary gender peer of yours is being more or less harassed by an unruly patient?" Nonbinary is by no means the same thing as transgender, however the point here is that medical schools acknowledge that we need more physicians that reflect today's diverse patient population.

As to not knowing who you are, that's a problem but you have plenty of time to work on it. I'm sure people learn things about themselves throughout medical school. But you're going to struggle during the application process if you don't have a well defined rendition of self.

Third, and probably the least important, I feel like I'd be doing the same thing regardless of if I choose PT school or medical school. The specialty that's on the top of my list if I choose the medical school route is PM&R. I've literally had people tell me, "Why go through medical school and residency when you can do physical therapy in half the time and at a quarter of the cost?" They both have similar requirements (though I don't know if Anatomy and Physiology will count as a "higher level" biology for medical school; it's a requirement for a lot of PT schools). And since some prerequisites of mine are over five years old this year, some ten years old (General Psych, Statistics, English, etc), I know I'll have to retake those anyway since a lot of medical and PT schools won't accept credits older than a certain age. I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but I have taken the GRE which could've yielded a better result. I did pretty well in Biology, and I've improved in Chemistry since high school. I haven't taken Organic Chemistry yet, but plan on it in the spring.

Being a physician means not having to defer your medical opinion up the ladder to anyone else, provided you're operating within your specialty. Being the PT will be like having a M.S. degree while being the PM&R doc will be like having the PhD. You'll always know more and always be more confident as the doc than you would be as the PT. I'm not sure anyone will argue with that fact. But you pay dearly for this extra knowledge, both in years of your life, relationships with friends and family, and near-term finances. If this is too much, which it is for most people--then you'll be much happier as a PT. Only go the physician route if you truly believe you won't be happy settling for less. It sounds ridiculous to phrase it that way, but after 5 years as a pre-med, having begun that path at 26 years old--it's just the best way to put it.

Given your situation and the assumption of 140 credit hours currently under your belt, you have some work to do but it isn't insurmountable. You just need to figure out who you are, what you're capable of, and what your ultimate goals are in life.

Best of luck!