Senior Computer Science Major, no pre reqs

[cs2med]

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Hi everyone. Wall of text incoming.

I am a senior at a top 20 Computer Science school. When I entered college, I was undecided between CS and Pre Med. For some reason, I got enchanted with all my ambitious peers who were shooting to work for top companies in the Silicon Valley, and so I just decided to go with CS and join in the crowd. Whenever doubts would surface about not doing pre med, I would just take my mind off of it by doing normal college kid stuff (drugs, girls, etc) and saying it will all be fine. I am absolutely horrible about ignoring my gut/warning signs.

Now, I am halfway through my senior year, and have a job lined up with one of those "top companies". Mission accomplished! But in my gut, I am realizing that this is not what I want out of my life. I stuck through this major because I am very good at programming and was able to achieve a great uGPA (3.77) very naturally. However, I no longer feel that I want to be a software engineer, I don't want to code day in and day out, only to have my past experiences and skills become outdated in 10-20 years at which point I am unemployable (look up ageism in Silicon Valley). I am kicking myself daily for not choosing pre med over CS (hindsight 20/20). Now, what are my options?

Option 1:
I looked at my school's maximum unit count, and I would not be able to complete all the pre reqs and earn a degree (they would kick me out for the unit cap). Perhaps I could take as many of the pre reqs as they allow, then take the rest of them at a CC or something?

Option 2:
Or, I am considering graduating, going to work for the "top company", while all the while racking up volunteering and shadowing hours. Then, in about 1 or 2 years' time, I will have a good chunk of hours, solid work experience at a very prestigious tech company, and a decent chunk of saved cash. I am thinking that at that point, I can apply widely to all kinds of "career-changer" postbac programs, and throw myself at getting A's.

I got a 2300+ on the SAT, and was ranked in the top 10 students at my high school, so I am confident that I could pull off the grades and MCATs in a post bac program. The only reason my 3.77 isn't higher is that throughout college, I have not been thinking about grad school. My (stupid, stupid) plan was just to earn a BS in CS and go work in the Silicon Valley. (I hate that we have to choose our futures at 18, especially being a "late bloomer" myself).

Some questions:

1. Which of these seems like the better idea, or do you see some good alternatives?
2. What are some of the postbacs I might consider? I am in California and would be willing to relocate for one of those highly selective ones (think Goucher, Scripps) but otherwise, I'd like to stay in the state.
3. Do you guys feel like I'm missing something/information?
4. Understand that I am actually relatively accomplished in the CS world; the company I'm going to work for is one of the "dream jobs" of many CS students. Therefore, I would be risking a lot to take the plunge into a post bac. I know that there is a very real possibility that I will not get into a med school from the post bac, so at that point, what might my options be? Would dental, optometry, podiatry, PA, PT etc. schools accept a career changer med school reject who just did a post bac?

 

[Meridian32]

Option 2 is absolutely the better option. Working for a couple or more years in the tech industry will make your application to med school stronger, not just because tech work experience will make your application stand out but also because it will give you time to shadow, volunteer, do research and really decide if medicine is a good career fit for you. In addition, you do not know yet that you will not like working in the tech industry - working full time is very different than internships and there are many roles in tech - product/program management, biz dev, etc. - that are much more people/strategy oriented, do not involve coding day in and day out and are open to you with a software engineering background. Finally, medicine is a long, hard road and if you go down that road I guarantee that there will be many moments when you wonder whether you made the right decision or should have stayed in tech - only by actually giving the tech industry a fair shot will you have the ability to answer that question.

 

[cs2med]

Thank you. I also feel it is the much less risky/stressful option.

 

[esob]

After you start working I would suggest spending those couple years building good EC's, as they will likely bolster your application more than simply the fact you worked for Google. Working for a top company is not an accomplishment in and of itself. Conversely, starting your own software company and building it into a multi-million dollar corporation with dozens of employees would speak volumes about an ability to be self directed and successful in an ultra competitive field. The latter is more likely the type of non-trad you will be competing against for a seat.

 

[GreenDuck12]

Definitely option 2. If nothing else, it give you time to explore medicine before jumping in head first.

2. Post-bac programs come in the formal and informal variety. Formal programs like Goucher and Scripps are very structured and will have you completing most of the pre-reqs in 12 months. Admission to these programs are tough as they like to accept applicants that they feel WILL be accepted to medical school. They also come at a significant price. Informal post-bacs can be completed at almost any university by signing up as a second degree / continuing ed students and taking the required classes as necessary. Informal programs are much less structured which means you have to be proactive in finding answers to questions. Informal programs are significantly less expensive than formal programs (unless you are at a private university).

3. Yes, you are missing things. There is a strong tendency for those considering switching to medicine to go "all in" before doing the necessary research and spending time in clinical settings / shadowing physicians to really have an idea what practicing medicine in the US entails. The idea that most of us have from mass media is incredibly different from what it is in practice. Research. Read. Shadow. Interview doctors and ask them hard questions like what is most challenging about your job, what parts of your job are most time consuming, what parts of being a doctor have surprised you and how has/is medicine changing.

4. With your GPA you have a strong shot at medical school provided you: 1. do well in post bac 2. score well on the MCAT and 3. put in the time necessary to put together a strong application. Dental, podiatry, PA etc should not be a "last resort" as this may lead to you entering a career you are not truly passionate about (dentistry has the highest rate of suicide in health professions).

Long story short, you are young and will be employed with what sounds like a great starting position. Explore it and see if you can figure out what drew you to CS in the first place. Also explore medicine and see if it is still interesting what you get up close and personal with it.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

My brother is an M2 at a top ten med school, and works part-time for a genomics startup doing hard core coding for publication scraping (I have no clue what exactly that means though). He did his med school prereqs fresh/soph year, but graduated with a CS degree in 4.5 years. He combined both in his med application, bridging the clinical/digital divide. Worked well for him.

He recommends you work for awhile, as patient contact is so much different than coding culture. He decided he doesn't really like patient contact, and will be pursuing either Pathology/Radiology or Ophthalmology for residency (depends on his step 1). Good luck to you.

 

[muirite]

I think both are reasonable options. Is there another possibility? I ask bc with option 2 will you have the time while you are in the big tech company?

 

[futuremdforme]

Option 2. It will be a really cool experience and will give you a lot more to talk about when you're at interviews. Being able to convey that you gave up a high potential career for medicine after doing your research is much more compelling than seeming like you could not get a job so you went for the "safety" of medicine. (You know that's not the case but that's not how it will seem.)

There are a lot of jobs in Silicon Valley beyond programming day-in day-out and you may find that you enjoy those, and it is a great opportunity to explore that. You could also end up doing some really cool work combining your CS skills with medicine either in school or down the line. (analytics, EMR, apps, or medical devices)

 

[ghostman]

I'm an MS4 with a bachelors in CS and a few years of IT experience. It stands out not only for med school applications, but also residency applications. In fact, I would say it's more helpful during my residency interviews. In med school, you won't have a whole lot of time to utilize your CS/programming knowledge. Perhaps a bit of research, but the priority is to keep afloat on the routine medical material. Residency is more focused and some programs have high hopes for technology integration (either to be cutting edge or to catch up to the fast-evolving tech that's already out there).

Finish CS because you're almost done, work in the computer industry for a bit, get involved with medicine to get an idea of it's really for you. Real medicine, not bioinformatics. You need to know how medicine really functions, because you may decide that medicine is not for you. It's not for everyone. I know people who feel like they are trapped in medicine, but don't have other experiences to compare it to and don't have other skillsets to build a different career. If you ultimately feel medicine is still right for you, do a postbacc.

Do not do dentistry, optometry, etc. unless you WANT to do it. I find dentistry to be a great field and would happily have done that. But if you're "settling" for it, you doing both the field and yourself a disservice.

 

[Shjanzey]

Oh man I really feel for you. I skimmed your options and then noped out. As a former CS guy who had a career and who is now in Med School maybe I can give you some perspective. If you are convinced that medicine is the way to go, then do it now. Don't wait. I saw you write something about "prestigious tech company blah blah" and my eyes glazed over. In all reality people in medicine don't appreciate or even understand what that is or could be. To make it even worse, they are not impressed with what we can do and unfortunately do not realize what a powerful tool they have at their disposal in a well-trained CS graduate (but I digress).

If I could do it again, I would immediately transition into getting my pre-requisites done for Medical School. Study during the day, volunteer/shadow in the evenings. MCAT prep on the weekends. Medical school is a long road, but has been a great journey for me. My only regret that hounds me from day to day is why didn't I get around to it sooner?

 

[ghostman]

If you are convinced that medicine is the way to go, then do it now. Don't wait

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with Shjanzey here. Without a doubt, his experience and perspective is important and you should take it into consideration, but his experience does not guarantee your experience and his perspective may not be your perspective. He speaks with hindsight and a degree under his belt, something you don't have at this moment.

You're less than half a semester away from getting a degree from a strong college. That is valuable, despite how much or how little you'll use it. First, it represents what you did for the past 4 years. If you change majors now and graduate in another 2 years or so, you'll have to explain that to the adcom. It's a lot easier to explain graduating with a degree and going back for a postbacc than it is to explain a 6 years in college with only a pre-med major. Second, it gives you some level of a safety net. If you don't like medicine or you screw up the prereqs, you have your CS degree to fall back on. Third, you don't know if you like medicine yet. You might think you do, but unless you've shadowed/volunteered/etc. and seen the life of a doctor (good and bad), you don't know yet. To give up a CS degree that only requires a few more months for something you THINK you might enjoy is risky. Fourth, you could use the money if you do plan to go to med school. You've got a job lined up at a top company. Assuming a decent starting salary, you can bank about $20,000 (after taxes) in just six months of work. That goes a long way to supporting yourself through whatever you may do next (postbacc, med school, life). Fifth, real world work experience looks good on paper.

Indeed, there are times I wished I jumped right into medicine and not "waste" time. It was tough seeing my friends and classmates as attendings while I was still just starting out. But medicine is not all rainbows. There was a point when I questioned whether medicine was the right move for me. But I had perspective from working in the real world and realized exactly what I had given up (or postponed). You don't want to be caught 5 years later in med school thinking, "What if I had just finished my CS degree? Maybe I would have loved it. I wonder if I made the wrong decision."

 

[Shjanzey]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with Shjanzey here. Without a doubt, his experience and perspective is important and you should take it into consideration, but his experience does not guarantee your experience and his perspective may not be your perspective. He speaks with hindsight and a degree under his belt, something you don't have at this moment.

You're less than half a semester away from getting a degree from a strong college. That is valuable, despite how much or how little you'll use it. First, it represents what you did for the past 4 years. If you change majors now and graduate in another 2 years or so, you'll have to explain that to the adcom. It's a lot easier to explain graduating with a degree and going back for a postbacc than it is to explain a 6 years in college with only a pre-med major. Second, it gives you some level of a safety net. If you don't like medicine or you screw up the prereqs, you have your CS degree to fall back on. Third, you don't know if you like medicine yet. You might think you do, but unless you've shadowed/volunteered/etc. and seen the life of a doctor (good and bad), you don't know yet. To give up a CS degree that only requires a few more months for something you THINK you might enjoy is risky. Fourth, you could use the money if you do plan to go to med school. You've got a job lined up at a top company. Assuming a decent starting salary, you can bank about $20,000 (after taxes) in just six months of work. That goes a long way to supporting yourself through whatever you may do next (postbacc, med school, life). Fifth, real world work experience looks good on paper.

Indeed, there are times I wished I jumped right into medicine and not "waste" time. It was tough seeing my friends and classmates as attendings while I was still just starting out. But medicine is not all rainbows. There was a point when I questioned whether medicine was the right move for me. But I had perspective from working in the real world and realized exactly what I had given up (or postponed). You don't want to be caught 5 years later in med school thinking, "What if I had just finished my CS degree? Maybe I would have loved it. I wonder if I made the wrong decision."

I don't disagree with you but I feel like you misunderstood what I was saying. I never implied he should suddenly switch majors to become a premed, but I was trying to communicate is that if he is serious about medicine, forget about working in industry and fulfill the requirements to transition into medicine. A CS degree is a great thing to have. You will always be in demand...however my experience and perspective into the industry is definitely a big reason why I am no longer working there. Also I am not sure I agree with you about real world experience looking great on paper. I was constantly amazed when I was doing my interviews at the lack of questions on my professional experience. A huge facet of my life was basically ignored and I am still scratching my head about that one.

I do think that OP should be 100% sure that medicine is the way to go. If it isn't the only thing you can see yourself doing then there is no reason to invest such a large portion of your time and energy into it, because it will take both away in vast quantities. If you want a social life, to hang out at happy hour, to go to concerts, art galleries, or whatever then you won't have much time for that. If you think you worked hard getting that CS degree, guess again it doesn't even scratch the surface.

 

[futuremdforme]

I don't disagree with you but I feel like you misunderstood what I was saying. I never implied he should suddenly switch majors to become a premed, but I was trying to communicate is that if he is serious about medicine, forget about working in industry and fulfill the requirements to transition into medicine. A CS degree is a great thing to have. You will always be in demand...however my experience and perspective into the industry is definitely a big reason why I am no longer working there. Also I am not sure I agree with you about real world experience looking great on paper. I was constantly amazed when I was doing my interviews at the lack of questions on my professional experience. A huge facet of my life was basically ignored and I am still scratching my head about that one.

I do think that OP should be 100% sure that medicine is the way to go. If it isn't the only thing you can see yourself doing then there is no reason to invest such a large portion of your time and energy into it, because it will take both away in vast quantities. If you want a social life, to hang out at happy hour, to go to concerts, art galleries, or whatever then you won't have much time for that. If you think you worked hard getting that CS degree, guess again it doesn't even scratch the surface.

I actually think that's a good point. I still have mixed feelings on it based on my own experience. I guess my concern for the OP is that he/she decides medicine is not the right field and the next offer won't be as good. But once you're sure, people don't really see industry experience as valuable. once you'er in medicine, even if it's at a cool company.