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Hi all,
I am graduating this spring with an engineering under grad degree, but now seriously contemplating making a switch to become a doctor. It has always been in the back of my mind, but now i feel is the time to make the decision for my career. My story is that i was quite a good student back in high school and was sure of getting accepted into any undergrad program (in Canada which i live), but was confused between going to university as a pre-med student or for engineering... at the time i was not much of a risk taker, and the fact that there were so many ifs in successfully making to become MD, i ended up going for the safer option of engineering. Yeah, i know i should have followed what i liked to do instead of going into something for money/ease etc... but i guess at that time i wasnt thinking that far ahead. My objective at the time was to go into something which would guarantee me a professional degree with as least amount of schooling and a decent 40hr/week job after graduation. Now having been in the field, and having had a number of (well paid) internships with some of the best companies in the industry, i dont think i will ever be happy doing a job as an engineer...
I had pretty much realized that back in my second year after i did my first internship in an engineering firm and saw first hand what life would be like after this was over... but like i said... still did not have the guts to switch out...
Due to this lack of motivation, my grades havent been very good in the program (70 % cumulative average... although mid 70s for the final 2 years)... Not sure how things play out in other programs, grades have not really been a problem for my program which has good links with the industry and has a mandatory internship program, so i have been steadily getting internship placements in all my terms, and even have an offer for fulltime job after graduation at the place where i did my last internship... so grades were not really an issue as long as u didnt fail out...
Now, i have researched the options for medicine. I know pretty much that getting into a med school here in Canada is out of question given the limited number of seats and intense competition.
Moving to the US and practising there, if at all possible, is what I can aim for at best. So I would request some guidance from you folks. What would you suggest that I do to become a doctor in the US? I have looked at the Carribean schools like Ross, SGU, AUC etc, but not sure if my marks are good enough even to get into them. I am quite confident that I am quite capable of doing well if i set my mind into it (engineering just didnt interest me much... the 70s i managed were pretty much by last night studying before exam... im sure if i knew i would be doing this at the end, i would have studied better and gotten better grades but oh well...) i am going to be 23 soon.
What is the best route to take to become a doctor in the US given my situation....? should I stay in school and take the med school pre-req courses (and say i get a good average in those courses, such as 80-85%) and take MCAT and apply for US and top carribeans schools or should I do a new BSc in pre-health? any help and guidance is much appreciated with what will probably be the biggest decision i take in my life...
I am graduating this spring with an engineering under grad degree, but now seriously contemplating making a switch to become a doctor. It has always been in the back of my mind, but now i feel is the time to make the decision for my career. My story is that i was quite a good student back in high school and was sure of getting accepted into any undergrad program (in Canada which i live), but was confused between going to university as a pre-med student or for engineering... at the time i was not much of a risk taker, and the fact that there were so many ifs in successfully making to become MD, i ended up going for the safer option of engineering. Yeah, i know i should have followed what i liked to do instead of going into something for money/ease etc... but i guess at that time i wasnt thinking that far ahead. My objective at the time was to go into something which would guarantee me a professional degree with as least amount of schooling and a decent 40hr/week job after graduation. Now having been in the field, and having had a number of (well paid) internships with some of the best companies in the industry, i dont think i will ever be happy doing a job as an engineer...
I had pretty much realized that back in my second year after i did my first internship in an engineering firm and saw first hand what life would be like after this was over... but like i said... still did not have the guts to switch out...
Due to this lack of motivation, my grades havent been very good in the program (70 % cumulative average... although mid 70s for the final 2 years)... Not sure how things play out in other programs, grades have not really been a problem for my program which has good links with the industry and has a mandatory internship program, so i have been steadily getting internship placements in all my terms, and even have an offer for fulltime job after graduation at the place where i did my last internship... so grades were not really an issue as long as u didnt fail out...
Now, i have researched the options for medicine. I know pretty much that getting into a med school here in Canada is out of question given the limited number of seats and intense competition.
Moving to the US and practising there, if at all possible, is what I can aim for at best. So I would request some guidance from you folks. What would you suggest that I do to become a doctor in the US? I have looked at the Carribean schools like Ross, SGU, AUC etc, but not sure if my marks are good enough even to get into them. I am quite confident that I am quite capable of doing well if i set my mind into it (engineering just didnt interest me much... the 70s i managed were pretty much by last night studying before exam... im sure if i knew i would be doing this at the end, i would have studied better and gotten better grades but oh well...) i am going to be 23 soon.
What is the best route to take to become a doctor in the US given my situation....? should I stay in school and take the med school pre-req courses (and say i get a good average in those courses, such as 80-85%) and take MCAT and apply for US and top carribeans schools or should I do a new BSc in pre-health? any help and guidance is much appreciated with what will probably be the biggest decision i take in my life...
