PA to DO cold feet

[PAfuture]

My childhood career goal was to become a PA, I accomplished it, got my first job in radiology, my docs make 4x what I do so it motivated me to apply to DO school.
And I was accepted into a DO program this year! I am flattered to have been accepted but I want to stay in Radiology and I am nervous about earning high enough STEP scores.
My other apprehensions:
Giving up vacation time
My position with no weekends no call no holidays
My good salary to no salary as a student
Hard hours and life as a resident
Delaying buying a house now
Delaying dating, marriage and kids - I am single now
Unknown future career, will I like it as much
Residency lectures that lengthen the 40 hour work week
Taking call at least as a resident
38 years old when I’m done (29 now)

I applied last year and did not get my acceptance so after a lot of reluctance I applied again this year. Even at my app submission I was unsure if I wanted to do this.

I love my job as a PA, I have next to no stress at work and I actually look forward waking up to work after 2 years still! What I don’t like is my second prn job in clinic at an urgent care, this makes me nervous about pursuing medicine further let alone DO school due to most DOs going into primary care.
I am a little nervous about the influx of PAs still coming into the workforce but the job outlook is still fantastic.
If I turn against DO I definitely plan on pursuing a healthcare administration masters in hopes of broadening my scope of employement opportunities away from clinic.

There is part of me that feels like I will always regret it if I walk away.

Has anyone walked away from a med school acceptance?

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[deleted480308]

If you hate the prn job, quit it

You don’t have to delay relationships

Whatever you do, decide now and not 3yrs of tuition in the hole

 

[curbsideconsult]

I think you have to try to imagine yourself as a 38-year old PA. Will you be just as satisfied with your PA job then watching 25 year old medical students start their clinical rotations knowing that in less than 2 years time they'll be doctors? Or hanging out with the chief resident knowing that as soon as they graduate their salary will, at the very least, quadruple? If you're absolutely certain you'll be just fine because you'll still have your vacation and not have to take call, then stick with PA. If not, then go with medicine.

 

[PAfuture]

I think you have to try to imagine yourself as a 38-year old PA. Will you be just as satisfied with your PA job then watching 25 year old medical students start their clinical rotations knowing that in less than 2 years time they'll be doctors?

Yes that is a very good point, I don’t think it is an ego thing for me. I don’t get sad asking my docs to help me read CXRs and CTs. My colleagues who are older PAs don’t seem to mind working with the young kids but I do need to be introspective towards how I will feel

 

[Gastrapathy]

When you say you get paid 1/4, I doubt that’s true for your take home. Then factor in that you don’t work nights and weekends. Then factor in the decade of lost income. There’s may not be much difference in lifetime compensation at all.

So, it’s really about job satisfaction. If you head to DO school for radiology or bust, I hope it works.

 

[Black Coffee 24/7]

My childhood career goal was to become a PA, I accomplished it, got my first job in radiology, my docs make 4x what I do so it motivated me to apply to DO school.
And I was accepted into a DO program this year! I am flattered to have been accepted but I want to stay in Radiology and I am nervous about earning high enough STEP scores.
My other apprehensions:
Giving up vacation time
My position with no weekends no call no holidays
My good salary to no salary as a student
Hard hours and life as a resident
Delaying buying a house now
Delaying dating, marriage and kids - I am single now
Unknown future career, will I like it as much
Residency lectures that lengthen the 40 hour work week
Taking call at least as a resident
38 years old when I’m done (29 now)

I applied last year and did not get my acceptance so after a lot of reluctance I applied again this year. Even at my app submission I was unsure if I wanted to do this.

I love my job as a PA, I have next to no stress at work and I actually look forward waking up to work after 2 years still! What I don’t like is my second prn job in clinic at an urgent care, this makes me nervous about pursuing medicine further let alone DO school due to most DOs going into primary care.
I am a little nervous about the influx of PAs still coming into the workforce but the job outlook is still fantastic.
If I turn against DO I definitely plan on pursuing a healthcare administration masters in hopes of broadening my scope of employement opportunities away from clinic.

There is part of me that feels like I will always regret it if I walk away.

Has anyone walked away from a med school acceptance?

Your chances in Radiology as a DO aren't very good, unless you are scoring above your MD peers, as in high 240s min, or at least 250s in order to have a solid chance as a DO. If I'm Radiology or bust, I would apply to MD schools only. Going to a DO school means that you will have a 50% of going into primary care. You have to be satisfied with being a primary care doc if things don't work out for you in a DO school in term of grades and board scores.

 

[MusicDOc124]

One of the things you mentioned that stuck out was how much money is made. Do you have an age goal for retirement? Or not planning on it? I suggest that you keep in mind if you have an idea of when you'd like to retire by, look at how much money you'd make as a PA from now until then. Then take into account the cost of attending medical school for 4 years with the compounding interest, the lost income during that period since school would be your focus (relatively few people work while in med school - only 1 of the PAs I knew worked a per diem job one weekend per month). Then factor in how much [less] you'd be making as a resident, not to mention working twice the hours with nights, call, weekends, and holidays being worked, and then finally the attending salary that you say you'll be 38 by the time you're making it. As someone else pointed out, the total compensation may very well be virtually the same - so is it worth all of the extra time and effort to put into med school and residency, not to mention the possibility of not matching into radiology? Being that you've already rotated as a PA and are working in rads, it's not like youre a pre-med who hasn't experienced the different fields, so as others mentioned, you have to be happy going into something else and not just radiology if you choose to go to med school just because you don't know what will happen, and you dont want to waste the time and money.

With that said, if you're open to things outside of radiology, then you may very well like to go to get the autonomy, pay, etc. I know many former PAs who have become doctors and are happy they did it, and I know others (some still in PA school) who are already considering going to med school.

 

[PickleRickelus]

All the PAs I've talked to have told me just to do medicine. You may not mind running a case by a physician now but years from now, you may feel differently especially if you can look back and say you had a chance to go to medical school but didn't pursue it.


It seems like your childhood dream was to be a PA so you probably won't have the same kind of regrets as the PAs I've come across who wanted medical school first but then opted for PA due to obligation (having a family and wanting to make a decent salary in shorter amount a time, etc). Fortunately, you don't have an SO or kids so that shouldn't even factor into the decision.

As other posters have mentioned, radiology is pretty competitive so coming from a DO school means that you're really going to have to work hard to get into that residency by killing STEP 1 and pursuing research.

TLDR: If you don't feel like your "settling" for PA then just stick with PA. Otherwise, go to medical school, put in the grind and never look back.

 

[PAfuture]

Your chances in Radiology as a DO aren't very good, unless you are scoring above your MD peers, as in high 240s min, or at least 250s in order to have a solid chance as a DO.

 

[PAfuture]

Thanks for your thoughts about the step, the program I work for accepts DO students! So far the docs say they want me back, but I have to make the grades! I can’t do research, there is no time in the accelerated program. Hopefully that won’t count against my chances. I think if I scored in primary care I would just try to be a PA again

 

[PAfuture]

Thanks for the points! I have been trying to figure out what it will cost and it’s over $900k, the hard part is figuring the lost retirement.

I have wrote out pros and cons and everything is pro PA except the unknown regret factor and money. Which I think if I had an equally yolked partner I would not notice the lost salary as much.

 

[PAfuture]

True. Seems like I will have to save for retirement at a higher rate because I will have lost out on 10 years, that being said with student loans again my take home pay is probably 2.5-3x greater. But that is still a lot more!
Hard to know if I would miss it if I met someone equally yolked.
And I forgot to mention, my work week is only M-Th. 3 day weekends every week now.

 

[PAfuture]

I think you have to try to imagine yourself as a 38-year old PA. .

I think if I am still single then I will regret it but if I am married and have a family, or even one on the way I will be just fine

 

[Osminog]

Your chances in Radiology as a DO aren't very good, unless you are scoring above your MD peers, as in high 240s min, or at least 250s in order to have a solid chance as a DO.

High 240s minimum? At least 250s? Absolute rubbish.

Correcting the record: In 2018, for DO applicants trying to match to ACGME programs in Diagnostic Radiology, 84% matched. For DO applicants who matched, the mean Step 1 score was a 239 and the mean Step 2 score was 247.

Were the DO applicants who matched into ACGME DR "scoring above their MD peers"? No, this is also incorrect. MD applicants who matched into ACGME DR had a mean Step 1 score of 240 and a mean Step 2 score of 249. These scores are actually slightly higher than those of successful DO applicants.

Contrary to the claims of the quoted user, DR is a fairly DO-friendly specialty, and matching into DR is not beyond the realm of possibility for many incoming DO students.

(See: Charting Outcomes for DOs and MDs)

 

[Black Coffee 24/7]

High 240s minimum? At least 250s? Absolute rubbish.

Correcting the record: In 2018, for DO applicants trying to match to ACGME programs in Diagnostic Radiology, 84% matched. For DO applicants who matched, the mean Step 1 score was a 239 and the mean Step 2 score was 247.

Were the DO applicants who matched into ACGME DR "scoring above their MD peers"? No, this is also incorrect. MD applicants who matched into ACGME DR had a mean Step 1 score of 240 and a mean Step 2 score of 249. These scores are actually slightly higher than those of successful DO applicants.

Contrary to the claims of the quoted user, DR is a fairly DO-friendly specialty, and matching into DR is not beyond the realm of possibility for many incoming DO students.

(See: Charting Outcomes for DOs and MDs)

LOL

A first yr lecturing to me about my chances in diff specialties especially when I’m about to enter the application process.

So many know it all people who give garbage advices on this site. You’re doing people a disservice by giving advice about stuff that you know nothing about.

Let me give you the reality. A MD with average stats for x specialty will get IIs to all mid tier and possibly some high tier programs. A DO with 10+ pts above average for Step 1 and Step 2 will be lucky to get IIs to about 50-60% of mid tier programs out there. That’s the reality for most fields outside of primary care.

Leave the advice service about residency application to real adults on this site.

 

[DNC127]

LOL

A first yr lecturing to me about my chances in diff specialties especially when I’m about to enter the application process.

So many know it all people who give garbage advices on this site. You’re doing people a disservice by giving advice about stuff that you know nothing about.

Let me give you the reality. A MD with average stats for x specialty will get IIs to all mid tier and possibly some high tier programs. A DO with 10+ pts above average for Step 1 and Step 2 will be lucky to get IIs to about 50-60% of mid tier programs out there. That’s the reality for most fields outside of primary care.

Leave the advice service about residency application to real adults on this site.

Yo. read the facts that dude posted above in charting outcomes.

Rads for DOs = easy layup if you are above average.

Data proves it, anything else is just your opinion.

 

[Black Coffee 24/7]

Yo. read the facts that dude posted above in charting outcomes.

Rads for DOs = easy layup if you are above average.

Data proves it, anything else is just your opinion.

You and I are in agreement about those statements.

 

[esob]

Let's please keep things civil in here folks. Members are free to disagree in a peaceable, respectful manner. It doesn't mean you can't passionately disagree, just do it in a manner that doesn't take the form of insults. Argue the facts if you like, but don't make it personal if someone disagrees with you.