My Dilemma

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SonofanOpt

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Hello everyone,

Before I begin, I would like to ask for opinions/answers regarding the questions that I ask only...

I recently graduated in May of 2009 with a B.A. in Biology. After my junior year I took the MCAT. At this junction, I was still unsure about what career path I would want to pursue - Optometry or Medicine. I have had the luxury to work/shadow in both settings, and enjoyed both for a variety of reasons that I will not discuss for the sake of brevity. I took a Kaplan course, but did not take it as seriously as I should have and scored a 26 (10 - 8 - 8). Not only was I disappointed in my score, but I was disappointed in myself for not taking the test as seriously as I should have. I believe I can directly contribute this to my "fence straddling" problem. My GPA at a "competitive" University was a 3.38 with my science GPA around a 3.1 (both of which have increased since taking a few science classes a community college - I had to fulfill a couple more prerequisites before applying to Optometry School).
Fast Forward a few months -
With my confidence all but destroyed, I decided I should try the OAT and see how that goes and give up pursuing medical school. Again, I took the Kaplan course in preparation for the test. I busted my butt all summer and took the test at the end of July. For those who do not know, the OAT mirrors the MCAT in the concepts it covers, but without the analytical aspect of the MCAT - the questions are straight forward and you either know it or you don't. When I received my scores, I was thrilled. In Biology and General Chemistry I received perfect scores. Organic Chemistry and Physics were well above average as well and Organic Chemistry was also nearly perfect. However, in reading comprehension and quantitative reasoning (math section where they test your efficiency in concepts such as Trig, Algebra etc. It is not meant to be a difficult sections, but as I mentioned is more based on your time management skills) I received average scores, despite having near perfect results on the practice tests. Needless to say, my confidence as a test-taker was restored. :soexcited:

I am currently in the process of interviewing at Optometry Schools, and have received interviews from every school I applied to - as well as gaining acceptance to 1 after my interview (again, another huge boost of confidence). Needless to say, I will be attending Optometry School this coming year.

However, I am the kind of person who always considers the worst case scenario - what if I get to Optometry School and somehow discover that I would be happier in medicine? With this in mind and the fact that I have proven to myself that I can score well on difficult entrance exams, I sometimes consider taking the MCAT again.

I understand that most would recommend to take some time off, work, and retake the MCAT if I so choose. However, this is not what I am going to do and as I said - I will be attending Optometry School next fall.

Now to my questions:
If I do decide to take the test again in the future, end up scoring well, and deciding to apply (yes I know, a lot of ifs) - will Medical Schools look down upon me for "giving up" for a year and going into a different program? Or will it be a non-issue?
Would my grades in a different professional program play a large roll in my application, will they be "blended" with my undergraduate GPA, or will they play a much smaller roll overall?
Would my Optometry program look down upon me/remove me for applying to medical school? - I realize this might not be the best place to find this answer, but perhaps someone has gone down a similar path...

If you made it through my narrative and answer any of the questions - Thank you very much, you have no idea how much I appreciate your input. I understand that the route I am choosing is not the most efficient or recommended in anyway, but I am sure it will all turn out for the best. Again, thank you very much and good luck in all of ya'll's endeavors.
:biglove:

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From what I understand, some medical schools will not consider you if you are already enrolled in a graduate program. So, ya I believe it will impact your application.

As for your other question, your OD grades will not be blended with your undergrad, but will be considered in your graduate school GPA.
 
Most med school will not like the OD thing. I did pharm first with my med school knowing what I was up to.

You will have to defend your actions very well. It looks like you have no clue what the hell you want to do to them.

I would defer the OD for a year and take the MCAT. Then, go from there!

It is really hard to go MD after a professional health doctorate. The only exception I have seen is pharm and it is not that easy. I was upfront from the start I wanted both.

It will almost kill your chance at MD. Take a year and decide after another MCAT attempt. One year is worth the right decision.....
 
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There is an OD in my class, so I think it is possible IF you finish your program. Med schools are not going to like seeing you drop out of a graduate program to go into medical school. They will think you are indecisive and potentially a liability as you may drop out of their program to go into something else.

So, I say either delay entrance to OD and see what happens with medical school or finish the OD program before applying to medical school.
 
You should apply to a DO medical school so that you can write the intials DO OD after your name :D
 
Don't foget that MCAT scores do expire, so banking an MCAT score for the future in case you change your mind is not a practical idea
 
WNT is correct.
In addition, it looks to me like you are still straddling the fence.
You have to ask yourself, what is the point in wasting a year or two and a ton of tuition money on one professional school, only to bail out to do something else. You need to commit to optometry or not. To me, it's simple. Right now I would say your med school application sounds not very competitive, and you'd have to do significant work, maybe for a couple of years, in order to make yourself competitive. That would take a better MCAT score and raising your GPA. If you did that you could go DO or maybe MD. Maybe you just need to defer admission to optometry school while you decide what you really want. It's not very practical to do (or pay for) the number of years of professional school that you've been contemplating, in my opinion. You'll also get burned out and likely would never apply to med school after doing optometry school.

Whatever choices you make in life, you're always giving up something while gaining something else. This will be true whether you choose to become an optometrist or to spend more time trying for med school. In econ I think they call this "opportunity cost".
 
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