Should I still try applying? or move quick and study something else?

[guri1121]

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I am 27, Peace Corps Volunteer working as a community health educator.
I have always had passion about becoming a physician to provide service to those in need.
Here living in a developing country and as a pub health volunteer I am completely satisfied with what I do for now. I know I will be happy working in this field. However, I want the power and flexibility of providing care for the need so that I can be more influential both for human rights and medical help. But the reality is I have had history of struggling academically.
I tend to get crushed by the stress and just let go of everything from being burnt out from studying and work. It is hard to admit but it is who I am. I am very scared that this tendency would be detrimental to my life if I get into med school. Or, even the process of applying to med school... But I can't get over with my desire and what I want for the life.
My GPA is 2.9 undergrad and I haven't taken the MCAT yet.
It just scares the **** out of me that I won't make it... looking at it objectively.
Should I at least try applying? or save time and money and look into other profession?
Would studying International public health/Human rights along with some clinical skills (PA?) be a great alternative?
Thanks for your time.

 

[wholeheartedly]

I tend to get crushed by the stress and just let go of everything from being burnt out from studying and work. It is hard to admit but it is who I am. I am very scared that this tendency would be detrimental to my life if I get into med school. Or, even the process of applying to med school... But I can't get over with my desire and what I want for the life.
.

A few questions first.

How long ago was that tendency? People grow out of that sometimes.

What is your academic background in?

It's a big decision, but you don't have to rush into it. If you do decide to go the medicine route you'll have several points to check or test yourself at. Pre reqs if you haven't taken all of them, some courses to boost your gpa a bit, and the mcat. At each of those points you can take a step back and assess things. There's a financial cost to those steps that needs to be considered, but you have something you already love to do if you do decide to go for it and it doesnt work out. Once in med school people do struggle, but very few US med students fail out, I think it's at about 5% last I read.

What is your exposure to the medical field?

Make sure you aren't glamorizing it based on your peace corps exposure. Some people on here might tell you to keep on with what you're already happy doing. Working in medicine and healthcare can really suck sometimes. People die despite your best efforts, they get frustrated or act ungrateful even when someone tries to help them, you have administrators and insurance companies trying to influence how you care for your patients. You'll have to train in that system for awhile before you get to do the kind of work you hope to do when you're done. The challenges in medicine in resource poor settings are completely different than the challenges here. Make sure you've had some exposure to that and are comfortable with those aspects of medicine before committing to it.

Good luck, it's not an easy decision, but having other fields you're passionate about is a good position to be in.

PAs have varying restrictions in international settings. There's a guy around here who works as an emergency medicine PA who has done quite a bit of global health work, so he'd be a good one to message for info on that if he doesn't drop by, EMEDPA is his screen name.