Medical Non-trad student wondering about med school -- should I go for it? WWYD?

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TheBoneDoctah

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Looking for advice from current med students/MD's/DO's etc. about what they would do if they were me.

About me: I'm a 27 year old woman that graduated with an MPH Sept 2020. Currently working on a COVID and technology project. I've always been interested in biology, medicine, and chemistry. Did not know how to study during and post-high school, worked all throughout school, etc. resulting in an okay GPA at community college (~3.2). Went to a 4-year university as pharmaceutical/biochemistry and then switched out to animal science after disliking the chem department. Got a 3.7/honors GPA with undergrad. Thought I wanted to be a vet and gained clinical hours at a vet hospital for 2 years, but I realized that I like people medicine more than animal medicine and rejected my acceptance to vet school. Joined an accelerated MPH program in 2019 and graduated with a 4.0 in the middle of a pandemic, so I feel fairly ok with my job security right now. Considered getting a Ph.D. but, after doing research as an undergrad, did not fall in love with that life.

I'm interested in derm and OBGYN after dealing with dermatological and repro issues. However, not committed to those fields but interested in MD/DO programs overall.

Have not taken the MCAT yet.

I know I want to have a family, but I also want my family to be proud of my accomplishments. My parents and I are immigrants and I'd like to be the first doctor in my family. I also love helping people and have dealt with my own personal health stuff for a long time. I, of course, love public health as well, but would also like to have that patient interaction.

Should I go for it? WWYD? I don't have much human clinical experience except volunteering on an oncology floor from age 15-18. Potentially interested in pursuing my EMT certification as well.
What would I do has nothing to do with what should YOU do. This is your decision. I suggest you put a good amount of time into shadowing and volunteering in the clinical setting to see what medicine is all about (and not in dermatology). You should shadow in family medicine, ER, IM, or peds since this is the bread and butter of medicine. If you get this experience and still think it's right for you, then we can advise you on how you should proceed.

Have you taken medical school prereqs? What is your GPA without the MPH (your MPH GPA won't matter or factor into any GPA calculations for medical school)?

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Do you have any suggestions for getting clinical experience during COVID? I live with a high-risk family member at the moment. I'm in the process of hopefully moving out, but until then I hesitate to seek clinical experience in person. I thought maybe taking an EMT course and then doing that would help. I also work FT right now, from home.

Yes, my community college "major" (chemistry) and my animal science degree had me take psych, bio, ochem, biochem, physics and math. My UC GPA is a 3.7, but my overall GPA is about a 3.4/3.5. However, I had adverse life experiences during my college career and my last couple years of undergrad were essentially straight A's.

I heard the same before that my MPH won't count towards the GPA. Hopefully not a redundant question, but even if I took science courses (I was epi-focused for my MPH), those wouldn't count towards the science GPA?
I agree that you should probably wait and not
Put your family member at risk.

The upwards trend will definitely help!

Nope. MPH won’t help.
 
Thank you doctor. Honestly even typing this out helped. Feels good to be seen and these are not easy decisions.

Do you think my previous vet path will hinder with my human med chances? I don't want admissions to think I am wishy-washy. Really I just tried down that path and found out it wasn't for me. *shrug*
Nope. Just have an answer ready cause you likely will get asked about it. People have different pathways to medicine.
 
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