Anyone have an MFA (writing) and considering applying to med school?
Edited to add: also, hello 🙂
Edited to add: also, hello 🙂
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MFA -> med school?
Started by passthepants
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I don't have it, but if you haven't come across this, Christine Montross (http://www.christinemontross.com/bio.html) is a great example of a physician who has an MFA in poetry. She wrote a great book about her experiences in the anatomy lab, Body of Proof. Maybe you could go to med school and write cool books like that too 🙂
And also, hello to you too
No, but I have a B.A. in English and a B.A. in music, so I know the world you're coming from. Go for it!
+1, I have a degree in foreign literature so I understand that whole "world" as well. For the longest time I was repulsed (yes, that is a strong word, and is accurate) from the sterility of chemistry labs and also from the type-A sometimes narrow mindset of the annoying pre-meds I knew (of which I was once, hello projection).
This sounds silly, but one of the biggest things keeping me from going back to medicine was the feeling that I just wouldn't fit in in med school "culture." So many med students I know are super pragmatic, logical, and dress really nerdy. (Vast generalization which probably isn't true.) I enjoy putting a lot of thought into how I dress, am used to academic work without creative restriction, and am whimsical to a fault.
What I discovered in the past few months, however, deciding to come back to med, is that I really craved the challenge of science and math. I was great at it all through middle school and high school and kind of let this go when I got to college. I still find chem labs sterile, but I don't mind it. The challenge of doing problems with only one right answer is kind of exciting, and probably more satisfying for me than writing a paper. And I like the uber-focused mentality of my fellow pre-meds. (PS, Emily, my pre-med classmate who is on SDN, hi!!)
I've had my artsy literature time, and I will always have the side of me that writes poetry and values aesthetics. What I realized is, I don't have to give this up to do medicine. I fell into a trap of thinking there was a "type" of person who did medicine. And that "type" wasn't me. But there is no "type." That's the beauty of it.
Good luck and go for it!
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Getting back into math and science is definitely refreshing after all that writing!
Also, even if there is a "type" of person who goes into medicine - who's to say it's not us? I, like you, was always good at math and science, I just didn't pursue it. From my undergraduate training, I learned how to communicate my ideas logically and precisely, how to empathize with others, and how to find beauty in our crazy chaotic world. Maybe I wouldn't have learned those skills as effectively as a science major - who knows?
Also, even if there is a "type" of person who goes into medicine - who's to say it's not us? I, like you, was always good at math and science, I just didn't pursue it. From my undergraduate training, I learned how to communicate my ideas logically and precisely, how to empathize with others, and how to find beauty in our crazy chaotic world. Maybe I wouldn't have learned those skills as effectively as a science major - who knows?
Great mindset. Water under the bridge, and everything does happen for a reason. I do value my humanities education, and to be fair, if I hadn't "broken up" with science, I don't think we'd have worked on our issues and gotten back together.
Good luck to you!
The type casting is only important at the premed stage. Where they want to collect a diverse group of humans to be responsive to diverse patient populations and the widely varying types of challenges in medicine.
All that becomes a relic of distant concern during your group dissection of a human corpse. Sure the scientist among you might take easier to pushing the boundaries of our conservative clinical knowledge and the nurse among you will make your medical student teammates less preeminently useless to your clinical instructors. The writers among you....well I can't think of a use, unless to narrate the whole thing.
Point is, the typeing that ends up mattering is how do you handle endless competition and how do take care of yourself and others in the face of work that is never, ever done.
An MFA couldn't possibly yield any difference to anything that matters except "looksies...a writer!, let's interview them!".
That's something. That it fades out... like white Guess jeans after the 80's is worth knowing.
All that becomes a relic of distant concern during your group dissection of a human corpse. Sure the scientist among you might take easier to pushing the boundaries of our conservative clinical knowledge and the nurse among you will make your medical student teammates less preeminently useless to your clinical instructors. The writers among you....well I can't think of a use, unless to narrate the whole thing.
Point is, the typeing that ends up mattering is how do you handle endless competition and how do take care of yourself and others in the face of work that is never, ever done.
An MFA couldn't possibly yield any difference to anything that matters except "looksies...a writer!, let's interview them!".
That's something. That it fades out... like white Guess jeans after the 80's is worth knowing.
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I'll chime in here too. I have a PhD in English, and I'd never seriously considered medicine until I started graduate school. I decided to finish up my program and work for a while before pursuing the career change. I might go so far to say that my background and experiences in the humanities led me to this path in a way that nothing else could have. I'd love to bring those two worlds together and become one of those physician/authors.
