MSW changing fields, any advisement?

[MSW2MD]

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Hi. I'm a licensed clinical social worker who is considering a change in fields for personal reasons. I think I only went this route because my family is pretty unstable so I had a knack for working with the populations involved in my placements/jobs.

I love social work but I'm finally realizing I don't want to spend the rest of my life making $45k a year while working 60 hours a week and living daily situations that remind me of the worst parts of my life.

Some things I want to change:

• I want money.
• I want to be challenged intellectually.
• I do not want to work with people like my family anymore... at least not on a daily basis.

Some things I'd like to keep the same:

• I love to teach and would like to work as an adjunct in my new field.
• I like clinical work and diagnostics.
• I like the interaction with people.
• I loved all of my experiences within hospital/clinical settings.
• The opportunity to be my own boss.
• I love collaboration as a part of an interdisciplinary team

So, I've thought and thought and pondered and wondered and I reverted back to the area I said I wanted to be at 12 years old. Pediatric medicine. Maybe. That seems sort of scary-risky. I don't know that I want to be solely responsible for the life/death of a baby human.

Still, it got me thinking that maybe medicine is a great fit. It would allow me to do all of the things I enjoy and definitely would challenge me. The amount of work seems overwhelming. I'm not young. I'm 30... but I have a lot of clients in worse situations so I know if they can make it through, so can I if I'm willing to put in the effort.

I was just wondering if anyone else was in a similar situation. Any career change... not necessarily just toward medicine. My social worker friends are very happy and stable in their little niche areas and I could probably do this for the rest of my life and be ok... but I want to be more than just ok. If that makes any sense at all...

I'll read around and look forward to getting to know you. Be well.

 

[Ecomaster]

Well it sounds like from the "title" of your name that you are thinking about the MD path which is fine, however do think about the potentiality of putting yourself in 160k+ worth of debt. That is a alot of money. It takes years post-residency for a physician to recoperate that cost, unless you have that money lying around in a family safe 😀.

On the other hand, I think you said it yourself that it seems that you like alot of the aspects of of Social Work that is present now: Clinical work, interaction with people, etc; so if you feel "burned out" with the population you are working with right now, why not change who you work with. It may also help to disclose the type of population you work with. The beauty of the MSW is the ability to work in so many different populations/types of work. If one does not like working with homeless youths, one can try working with adult seniors. The possibilities are endless and nobody said you have to stay within a certain field.

I have alot professors who were in private therapy practice and was teaching as an lecturer with an LCSW. I also knew people who taught and did medical social work, these combination seem to be right up your alley. So really am I missing something?

 

[NYCTherapist]

I'm a social worker going back for my doctorate in psychology....I'm married to an MD and med school and residency was brutal....if you want to be intellectually challenged, make money, have respect and the title "doctor" as well as be able to expand your career options....get a doctorate in psychology either a psyd (from a university based school like rutgers not a professional school/diploma mill like argosy) or a phd.....go for it and dont look back....especially given the direction of US Healthcare, reimbursement rates for social workers will only become worse esp if we get nationalized health care

 

[pingouin]

Ecomaster, what I think the OP is trying to say is that as much as she enjoys SW, there is a pull to do something that challenges her in a different way. (Sorry if you're male, OP- feminizing for the sake of ease in typing.) You are correct in that the MSW does provide a range of fantastic options. However, there are times when that's just not enough, and it's still too limiting to do what you really want to do. I feel the OP's struggle, as I also- at 30, even- had to make the same choice. Yes, medical social work is always an option. However after 3 years of working 2 part-time med SW jobs I can tell you first-hand that it's great experience but very difficult to think every day "I want THAT job!" as you watch the physicians do their thing.

OP, it can and has been done and I certainly wasn't the first one to do it. I'd strongly recommend looking at the Non-Traditional Student forum on SDN, as you'll find a lot of people who had to make choices to leave their current careers. Many of us were successful at what we were doing before we took the medical school plunge, so it is really a scary endeavor to go into something that you hope/think you'll like, hope/think you can be good at, and with the knowledge that you're going to accumulate quite a bit of debt in the process.

Although there are days where I ask myself (repeatedly) what the &$@* I was thinking, in the end I find that it feels right to be doing what I'm doing, and I have no major regrets- not even a regret that I didn't do it sooner.

 

[Ecomaster]

Ecomaster, what I think the OP is trying to say is that as much as she enjoys SW, there is a pull to do something that challenges her in a different way. (Sorry if you're male, OP- feminizing for the sake of ease in typing.) You are correct in that the MSW does provide a range of fantastic options. However, there are times when that's just not enough, and it's still too limiting to do what you really want to do. I feel the OP's struggle, as I also- at 30, even- had to make the same choice. Yes, medical social work is always an option. However after 3 years of working 2 part-time med SW jobs I can tell you first-hand that it's great experience but very difficult to think every day "I want THAT job!" as you watch the physicians do their thing.

OP, it can and has been done and I certainly wasn't the first one to do it. I'd strongly recommend looking at the Non-Traditional Student forum on SDN, as you'll find a lot of people who had to make choices to leave their current careers. Many of us were successful at what we were doing before we took the medical school plunge, so it is really a scary endeavor to go into something that you hope/think you'll like, hope/think you can be good at, and with the knowledge that you're going to accumulate quite a bit of debt in the process.

Although there are days where I ask myself (repeatedly) what the &$@* I was thinking, in the end I find that it feels right to be doing what I'm doing, and I have no major regrets- not even a regret that I didn't do it sooner.

Hi Pingouin. I been a fan of your posts for awhile, esp. your MSW Faq. Great job, very well-written.

I am not entirely convinced that the OP have tried all the options that may be more congruent with her "wants." And speaking in the context of this forum, we may never know unless we speak with "her" 1 on 1 and know what types of work that she had or have not tried. One can be surprised the amount of work available that is atypical for MSWs in terms of pay,environment, career options, etc.

For example my Jr. college counselor who obtained his MSW from Hunter College (NY) is a college counselor clearing 90k+ with state benefits. Although he may be the exception rather than the rule, even such deviations from the rules exists so as long as your have the right credential (MSW) with the right background and networking.

So has the OP explored all her options? I doubt it. Will she have to before she goes to Med-School? Of course not, there is no objective logic than the one that people follow on their own. She has free-will. But should she? Yes! I applaud her to even consider such a big step, but if it were me, I would seriously consider my options before jumping head-long into such a commitment of time, effort, money (!!!), and professional obligations.

I do admit I am quite a debt-adverse person but other than that I have no strings attached so to speak. Good Luck!

 

[silas2642]

I just want to say that you should NOT go to medicine unless you absolutely have to-- that is, unless you cannot think of yourself doing anything else. You're plunging in head first into an ocean when you're not really sure how to swim. Unless you've been there, I don't think you can really describe how med school and medicine is...