Non-traditional Undergraduate Junior Considering Medical School

[RoxaSora]

Hey all,

After spending a substantial amount of time on SDN everyday, I've finally decided to make an account!

Here is some background:

I'm an undergraduate junior (19 y.o.) majoring in Computer Science at a public state school. For the past 3 months, day in and day out, I've been thinking about pursing some sort of career in the healthcare world. I've researched extensively about mid-level providers, like NP and PA, but ultimately chose MD. I just wouldn't be satisfied as a nurse/PA not knowing everything there is to medicine, and feel like I would regret not going the full route to MD in the long run.

I understand completing my Bachelor's in CS would be exponentially easier than going down the doctor route, and that it would allow me to be making a good salary out of university and get my life going. My overall dissatisfaction with what I've been studying has been mounting consistently after the last two years. I understand that being a student is different from actually working in the field, but from what I could muster with my imagination, I cannot imagine myself working as a software engineer/web developer/data scientist/etc. or some other form of technology professional for the rest of my life. My decision to pursue CS initially was to initially pursue a lucrative field, that would be in touch with my introverted nature, and, after all, my stepbrother was studying the same thing. These were a dumb and insufficient reasons, and I did not look into myself enough. I'm pretty sure I don't want to continue in CS even if I haven't had an sort of internship yet. Though I have had extracurricular group activities coding and whatnot, I think that's enough for me to envision how my working life for me. To say the least, it's not enchanting, and I have a gut feeling it will not be satisfying or fulfilling for me. I would have to put on some more debt in undergrad, but knowing my destination, and the excitement of the journey, it would be worth it.

I would like to point out the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and it's timing with my mini-awakening. Sometimes I wonder if its a sign from the universe that this is what I'm meant to do. I'm not one for superstition, but so many events have been occurring all around me, it's making me believe there's some sort of higher power. Now, I am not romanticizing what it is to be a doctor, and I'm aware of the hardships, sacrifices, and paperwork they go though.

After deliberate thought for months on end (and my worst depressive/anxious episode to date), I believe I've discovered myself, AND the career path that is more in tune with my morals, personality, strengths, and values:

1. Nothing makes me happier than helping another person. I held a job as an Anatomy/Physiology tutor for almost two years, and I had a blast helping my students. I loved just knowing things, and I delighted in being an wikipedia of sorts. I found the subject material interesting at the time, however, I found mathematics more interesting at the time, which made me want to switch to CS. Now, I'm swinging more towards the more practical, concrete material of anatomy/chemistry/biology as opposed to the abstract way of thinking present in CS courses.
2. I am a very altruistic person, and I cannot stomach the thought about working for corporate America. I know just about every job out there is meeting the bottom line of some company (or hospital), but I would like to be as far away from that as possible. I like to see direct, tangible results from my work, and like to make sure I have helped somebody at least once everyday (whether it be helping with chores, giving advice, tutoring, etc.). I can only imagine how satisfying it would be to help people by improving their health or saving their lives. Ultimately, I want to make sure I left this earth doing something noble.
3. I have an excellent rote memory and I am good at taking standardized tests. Throughout my CS major, I would often struggle with the abstract way of thinking involved in coding. However, I would always be able to memorize the things that needed to be memorized perfectly. Heck, I even purchased an A&P book for fun, and I find myself being able to easily recall everything I've read from just one skim of a chapter.
4. I do like prestige, titles, respect, and leadership. This doesn't mean I won't be humble; I know the road to be a doctor is very humbling.
5. Even though I am an introvert, I very much enjoy socializing. So I guess that makes me an ambivert. Anyways, I want to be working with a team of people, being on my feet, and actively be making the shot-calling or decision-making.
6. I actually enjoy learning chemistry/anatomy/biology. I've been reading a couple of books I have laying around on these subjects. I guess I have a likening to the natural world/sciences.
7. I'm good with delayed gratification if I'm enjoying the journey. Knowing that I have a growing passion for medicine, I can see myself enjoying medical school (crucify me for this if you will).
8. Doctors have excellent job security. The software world is pretty volatile, and I very much dislike the feeling of uncertainty (much less being inactive and looking at a computer screen).
9. High salary. This is a no-brainer, but I'm absolutely not in it for just the money.

So these are the steps I have taken so far to strengthen my potential medical school application. Keep in mind some of these things might be delayed because of the pandemic.

1. I recently completed an application to volunteer at the ER at a children's hospital.
2. My cousin is an IM physician. I plan to shadow her sometime in the near future.
3. I've interviewed for a medical scribe position.
4. I'm looking into potential research oppurtunities.
5. I planned out the course sequence for the medical school prereqs. I would be done with them in a little over a year, while completing my BS in Computer Science.
6. I've bought the third edition Kaplan MCAT review just to start early.

Stats:

1. 3.7 cumulative GPA
2. Anatomy/Physiology Tutor (Not sure if med schools would like this)
3. No previous clinical experience

So I pose these questions: Is it realistic for me to jump ship and start building my application right away? Should I give myself some more time on making this decision? Does it matter which medical school I go to? Is it important for matching into the residency of your choice? Would I be at an advantage to apply to in state medical schools?

Any advice on my situation or strengthening my application is appreciated. I would love to hear more about non-traditional applicants and their journeys into medicine. Thanks!

P.S. I took the SDN specialty quiz and my top matches were Derm, Anesthesiology, IM, Pediatrics, EM, and Ophthalmology.

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[Detective SnowBucket]

That's a competitive GPA for MD school. What is your science GPA (only calculate with bio, chem, physics & math) ? No way to know for sure how competitive you'd be without an MCAT, but with a sGPA >3.65, cGPA > 3.7 if you at least get a 505 (idk, roughly) you'd still be competitive for DO school.

Next step is to get some shadowing in. Find a tangential connection to your aunt's ex-husband's college roommate whose now a hospital admin because an MBA means you know all about managing healthcare providers and get him to set you up shadowing at least a family medicine specialist for a few 10's of hours and fill the rest in up to 50+ hrs with the specialty you actually want to see.

All the while, start getting your pre recs in, bio, chem, physics stuff. Look at a few med schools websites (that you're interested in, prob mostly state schools) and see their req's. If I were you and could afford it, I might even take another year of UG to get more pre req's in without having to go back after graduating. ALso, don't do these pre-req's at a community college unless you have to, some schools won't even accept them.

Being an anatomy tutor is awesome. Schools definitely like that you have teaching exp and like employment history. If you weren't, then volunteers hrs are also good, which brings me to paragraph 4. Start your volunteering now, asap. Rule of thumb that's been circulating on SDN since before I was born is that you need 2000 hrs of community service to be even competitive for a state school [/s] (no, but really, it feels like that). Get 150hrs of clinical and 150 hrs non-clinical volunteering for run-of-the mill state school. Volunteering is clinical if you can smell the patients. Non clinical volunteering is best served cold (reaching far back) and to those less fortunate than yourself.

There's no need to start reviewing for the MCAT if you've not even taken the relevant courses (or did you and I can't read?).

DELETE POINT No. 9 RIGHT NOW, the wolves of SDN will ****ing eat you for admitting that you're not mother Teresa who is only here for the altruism in your heart here to save the children and known you wanted you wanted to be a doctor since you diagnosed your uncle's heart murmur when you hugged him at age 9.

There's no reason not to start now but start slow-ish. Shadow, volunteer, a few courses. Nothing major. In light of the ****storm that is STEP 1 being changed to P/F, it is now more important than ever which med school you go to, which makes it about 2/10 important. You are always at an advantage applying to state schools. Look for a recent compilation of MSAR data, there's a spreadsheet floating around SDN by someone with a white fluffy dog profile pic (i don't remember who tho) and compare the number of in state and out of state applicants to your state school and how many were granted interviews and how many were accepted and then compare with out of state/private schools near your GPA range.

Derm is among the most competitive specialties in medicine. Anesthesiology is a great idea for an introvert (also check out radiology, but that's competitive too), IM & Pediatrics are reasonable but you'll just need a lot of time to pay off your debt, EM is not too competitive, well-paid but not a lifestyle most envy, and Ophthalmology is competitive, a long residency and the training isn't worth the salary.

 

[RoxaSora]

In light of the ****storm that is STEP 1 being changed to P/F, it is now more important than ever which med school you go to, which makes it about 2/10 important.

Thank you for all the advice. Why would they make Step 1 pass/fail? Is there no score for Step 1 at all now? I thought this was a way to place the higher achievers into the more competitive specialties. I can see how this would place more importance on the medical school you go to.

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

Thank you for all the advice. Why would they make Step 1 pass/fail? Is there no score for Step 1 at all now? I thought this was a way to place the higher achievers into the more competitive specialties. I can see how this would place more importance on the medical school you go to.

Why, who knows. There are certainly people here who know more than I. Not only that but it was a great way to balance more subjective things like clinical grades.