opioids and your future

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I have a friend that is currently doing his pre med with his sight in medical school. Apparently, he was "sleeping" in his car which called the attention, at the parking of his dorm. The police was called, and searched him and found heroine pills on him. He was arrested for 24 hours, pending the laboratory results on the pills he had. His questions to me was how this would affect his future. He said he has been snorting this pills for about a year, so cleaning him is not so much the issue, but I told him to forget about medical school, to look for another degree,such veterinary school since there is no way in earth he will be able to find residency, or ever be licensed as a physician, but of course I don't know anything of the legal system, but what is you guys oppinion? He believes that somehow, a lawyer can erase anything if he get charged, I told him no way.

 

[digitlnoize]

I've heard of people still getting into med school after a conviction of this nature, but I think it would take some serious work. He'll need better test scores than everyone else, better GPA, etc. He'll also need to show that he's really, really, really cleaned up his act, which may just take time. Possibly some volunteering for an addiction organization like NA or something, for years. Even still, you're right, he might be screwed. Physicians are at much higher risk for substance abuse, simply because of our access, and med schools, etc. may be reluctant to add to the growing numbers of druggie doctors.

If his lawyer can get the charges dropped, that be even better. Although, chances are that he'll get caught again at some point.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

"Cleaning him" is very much the issue. Anything else is putting the cart before the horse.

Since he's not yet in medical school, this doesn't apply to him, but it seems a good time to mention your local Health Professional Service Program.
Google it for your state--here's Washington's as an example.

 

[nitemagi]

This has also been discussed several times in the general residency forum - as to licensing and disclosure on residency and medical licensing applications.

It doesn't mean med school and everything is impossible, just more difficult.

 

[whopper]

I hate saying it, and I've seen it. When there's many many many more applicants for a the available spots, what pretty much always happens is there's too many applicants who are too similar, so the admissions board starts tossing people out based on arbitrary and often unimportant sounding data because they have nothing else to go on. E.g. the way a sentence was worded "I like that guy's opening sentence better." Don't believe me? I've seen it. There was a special on NPR last week where they talked about it and the admissions boards for several schools said they all encountered the same problem. Data from industrial/Consult-Liason psychology studies show that the usual methods (grades, LOR, personal statement) leave so much information unanswered.

Unfortunately, the best indicator of a future good student was the person's performance on a standardized exam designed for the particular field of study, but as we all know, that too is a very poor indicator. I'm sure we'd all agree that one should not be defined solely on their SAT or MCAT examination score.

Someone with a prior crime is certanly something an admissions board would not find arbitrary or unimportant, especially given that there are often hundreds of candidates for 1 spot for medical school with squeeky clean records. In such a case the person would likely not even make it to the "let's toss this guy out based on the arbitrary" level.

The person could not mention his criminal past, but if anything showed up that he was not accurate in his application, this could haunt the person later. I don't know how much medical schools are keeping tabs on this since times have changes and things have become more computerized. I also cannot recommend a person lie on an application. It's illegal.

The best thing for a person in this situation, IMHO, is to see what they can do to get the charge expunged or the charges dropped.

As a friend, I'd tell him to worry about getting off the drugs first. If he can't even do that....

to look for another degree,such veterinary school

From what I understand, its even harder to get into vet school.

 

[digitlnoize]

From what I understand, its even harder to get into vet school.

This appears true from the experience some of my friends from UG have had. There are simply much fewer vet schools for the number of applicants.

 

[sunlioness]

but I told him to forget about medical school, to look for another degree,such veterinary school

For the record, vet school is harder to get into than medical school. There are far fewer of them.

Edit: That will teach me not to read the entire thread before posting. Sorry for reiterating a point already made. 🙂

 

[Fermata]

For the record, vet school is harder to get into than medical school. There are far fewer of them.

Edit: That will teach me not to read the entire thread before posting. Sorry for reiterating a point already made. 🙂

It is truly a calling. Very competitive to get into with the required GPA and hours(small animal, large animal), etc. Fairly long schooling with associated debt to come out and not make that much money commensurate with multi-species knowledge.

 

[notdeadyet]

It is truly a calling. Very competitive to get into with the required GPA and hours(small animal, large animal), etc. Fairly long schooling with associated debt to come out and not make that much money commensurate with multi-species knowledge.

Agree with all the above points about vet school not being a "fallback."

Also, vet schools would have the same reservations that med schools will have if they worry about the applicant having addictive tendencies. Veterinarians have access to pretty potent drugs as well (and probably with less oversight, I'd imagine).

 

[masterofmonkeys]

Agree with all the above points about vet school not being a "fallback."

Also, vet schools would have the same reservations that med schools will have if they worry about the applicant having addictive tendencies. Veterinarians have access to pretty potent drugs as well (and probably with less oversight, I'd imagine).

I'd say so. Even outpatient vets keep things like ketamine laying around.