I’m 30 years old and hold a masters degree in the field of finance along with a CPA license. After having done this for almost 8 years now, with each year getting progressively worse, I’ve decided I want something different and after about a year of considering medicine via volunteer opportunities, discussion with doctors in my friend circle and extended family, I started taking classes in January.
I’m finishing up my first semester of prereqs strong and have classes slated out for summer and fall. In January I began volunteering at the hospital ICU desk. Obviously that was halted due to COVID-19. I was planning to begin shadowing this summer but that is now TBD until COVID-19 restrictions subside as well. My continued plan is to take about 9 credits each semester whilst working at my FT career (which is about 45/week), finish up classes in December 2021 (I might have one class left to take in the spring), study for and take MCATs in Spring 2022, and apply for med school during this time as well. I’m planning to keep working as long as is possible during this time; it’s easy to say “if you want it bad enough quit your job and take out loans” but I’ve been there and done that once before and I recognize the costs I’ll incur for med school alone. My undergrad GPA was 3.42, my masters was 3.56 (although I believe it’s irrelevant since it’s all finance related), and my current science GPA is 4.0 (hoping to keep it that way).
I see all these people doing formal post bacs and already working in some sort of medical field setting, I’m just trying to determine if I will be a strong enough applicant by showing that I A)can handle the pace - taking 9 credits and working full time while volunteering is no joke B) maintain solid GPA and get a good MCAT score and C) be able to express my continued desire to go down this path through shadowing experiences (assuming I’ll be able to set this up eventually!).
any advice or ideas are greatly appreciated! I’m early enough in this process that I can change things up if needed; I’ve considered that it might be more beneficial for me to see if I could pick up an actual medical field job on the side, but I feel like most areas require somewhat lengthy certifications and would just set me further back on my timeline. I also know I would have to take a substantial paycut if I left finance for a medical field position right now; while I’m okay leaving for med school, it’s sort of crucial at this point for me to keep my career position so I’m able to pay off debt and save up some funds in anticipation for med school.
I’m finishing up my first semester of prereqs strong and have classes slated out for summer and fall. In January I began volunteering at the hospital ICU desk. Obviously that was halted due to COVID-19. I was planning to begin shadowing this summer but that is now TBD until COVID-19 restrictions subside as well. My continued plan is to take about 9 credits each semester whilst working at my FT career (which is about 45/week), finish up classes in December 2021 (I might have one class left to take in the spring), study for and take MCATs in Spring 2022, and apply for med school during this time as well. I’m planning to keep working as long as is possible during this time; it’s easy to say “if you want it bad enough quit your job and take out loans” but I’ve been there and done that once before and I recognize the costs I’ll incur for med school alone. My undergrad GPA was 3.42, my masters was 3.56 (although I believe it’s irrelevant since it’s all finance related), and my current science GPA is 4.0 (hoping to keep it that way).
I see all these people doing formal post bacs and already working in some sort of medical field setting, I’m just trying to determine if I will be a strong enough applicant by showing that I A)can handle the pace - taking 9 credits and working full time while volunteering is no joke B) maintain solid GPA and get a good MCAT score and C) be able to express my continued desire to go down this path through shadowing experiences (assuming I’ll be able to set this up eventually!).
any advice or ideas are greatly appreciated! I’m early enough in this process that I can change things up if needed; I’ve considered that it might be more beneficial for me to see if I could pick up an actual medical field job on the side, but I feel like most areas require somewhat lengthy certifications and would just set me further back on my timeline. I also know I would have to take a substantial paycut if I left finance for a medical field position right now; while I’m okay leaving for med school, it’s sort of crucial at this point for me to keep my career position so I’m able to pay off debt and save up some funds in anticipation for med school.
