Teaching before med school

[nontradguy84]

So, my dream is to go to med school someday, but I would also love to teach chemistry or physics in either high school or maybe college. I've always enjoyed teaching, so I wouldn't cry if med school didn't work out, but life is too short to give up on your dream. 😀

I'm doing all of my med school pre-reqs right now, but I've had some hard times in the past and injuries that set my GPA back to 2.5, so I've got some work to do to get it back up. My ec's are pretty good. I've been shadowing doctors every other week for the past year and I do lots of volunteering. I'm still looking for a research gig, but we'll see what happens with that.

Aaaanyway, I was wondering what the experiences were for people who became teachers before they went to med school or teachers who are still trying. Also, I was wondering how tough it was to do something post-bacc while you're teaching.

Thanks ahead of time, guys!!

John

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[hopefuldoc97239]

As the son of two public school teachers, I'd say you can kiss your extra curricular's goodbye once you start teaching.

Therefore: It's almost impossible to have any recent experiences relevant to medicine by the time you get around to applying.

If you really think med school is your final goal, then I think you should put it first BEFORE teaching.


Think of it this way: You'd probably have an easier chance being a physician for 30 years, retiring, and teaching science part time for 5 years... than teaching science for five years, then becoming a physician and working for 30 years. So leave the teaching until the end is my recommendation.

 

[Isoprop]

I've done a bit of classroom teaching (not high school) and tutoring and I can tell you that I have gotten quite a few favorable comments on it from adcoms/interviews.

If you have some teaching experience, you could apply and work at a charter school (after you get your bachelor's) for a few years but like the above poster said, HS teaching requires a lot of time (but not so much that you couldn't do other things). If you want to teach public, you'd need a education degree plus certification.

You could work part time for test prep companies (eg kaplan), private tutoring/teaching companies, as you work on your degree. There are A TON of volunteer teaching opportunities as well. There are also programs like teach for america and americorps that could scratch your "itch to teach" as well.

Also, realize that physicians can do a lot of teaching as well. All from traditional lectures to training med students, residents, and fellows. So you can teach as a doctor too.

Do you have any specific questions?

 

[phltz]

If you're not in a hurry, you should look into the Peace Corps. They have a lot of math and science teachers, mostly in Africa.

I worked as a math and physics teacher with the Peace Corps for several years. I also got to work on some medically related projects. I had a grand adventure. I learned another language. I met a lot of people and saw a lot of things I probably never would have otherwise. And I certainly didn't have to worry about studying physics for my MCAT after. As a bonus, med school adcoms seemed pretty impressed by the whole business.

 

[eablackwell]

I teach AP Chemistry, and I can tell you it is highly dependent on the school district, the subject you teach, and most importantly the administration you teach under. Many people don't realize this, but when interviewing for a teaching position you should really be keeping your own little interview log of the principal in the back of your mind. Ask around and see what people think of them. Teachers are not shy when it comes to talking about their administrators. 😉

I actually think teaching chemistry is very conducive to taking classes outside of work. I managed to take 12 credits of science a semester over the past 2 years, but I had 0 time for anything but work, school, and volunteering. It was very stressful, and I had no time for myself or my husband.

Also, now that I am just teaching and done with classes, I have no idea what to do with myself. I get home at 3pm instead of 11pm, and as awesome as that sounds it actually causes anxiety if you've been running crazy for a long time. I always feel like there's something important I need to be doing.

My suggestion is to shadow a teacher (yes, you can actually do this, but you have to get a background check cleared first with the district). See if you REALLY want to teach high school, or if you are just idealizing it. Then take it slow if you do start teaching. Maybe only 1 class the first semester?

Another thing to think about is certification. If you're thinking about next school year, you need to start getting your certification squared away.

Sorry this is so long, hope it helps.

 

[Lombax]

I'm a high school chemistry teacher in my first year at a public school. I teach full time while earning my teaching credentials/masters in the evening twice a week. (No previous background in teaching - in an alternative licensing program). I have my pre-reqs completed already, but I could see it possible to replace those 2 nights a week with post-bacc courses instead of licensing coursework. This of course depends on how many credits you plan on taking per semester.

I was in a similar position as you. I wanted to teach at some point in my life. In my case, I decided since I wasn't ready yet for the commitment required for medical school I would teach before I went.

As far as my experiences, the first year is very demanding and challenging. But now in my second half of the year, I'm MUCH better at organizing, knowing what needs to be done, and into the groove of things. There's no way that this could have been my application year because it was just too demanding for me. (I know others who were able to do this without a problem).

I'm studying for the MCAT currently while teaching full time and at first it was difficult. But again, like with most challenging work, you get into the groove of things. I try to do at least 6 hours a week during the working days (~2 hr sessions 3x a week), with another few hours over the weekend.

I think you can teach before medical school or after. It just depends on what would make you happy right now. Teaching is just one example that has the potential to reflect your commitment to serve others. Bottom line is, I think you can make it work. It will be challenging at first, but ideally you would get it down.

Best of luck

(By the way... you'll never get tired of snow days where you can play on SDN... I mean... catch up on work.)

 

[nontradguy84]

I appreciate the responses, everyone. I went to talk to an advisor today about the science education program and she said that a number of her former students did get into med school after teaching or are currently teaching and prepping for med school/MCAT. Also, it's kind of convenient because they're trying to reach out to people and MOST of the certification courses will be available online.

I agree that it would be a tough road, but I'd be happy doing either career, so I'm not too worried about anything. Also, I'm 26 and engaged with no kids, so I'm not in any amazing hurry. I mean, it would be nice to go to med school really soon, but quite honestly, my worry is more with the financial aspect of staying in school even longer without a steady income to support my fiance and I. Not to say that she doesn't have a job or anything, but it would be nice to have something more than income of an hourly wage.

eablackwell, that's a great idea. I'll see if I can get in contact with one of my old science teachers to see if I can shadow them a little bit.

 

[pdeco1]

I taught for a few years out of college. Found it fulfilling but wanted to make a greater impact and began pursuing my path to become a physician.

Some things to think about. If your gpa needs repair, its going to take a few years of course work. Teachers pay is pathetic. You can make more money at a decent restaurant as a server and especially a bartender. Plus those jobs are more flexible with a post-bac schedule and a lot less stressful.

While I really enjoyed teaching elementary school, as a doctor your still able to teach.

Good luck.

 

[Silverfalcon]

As a side note, you need to meet education requirement and pass PRAXIS I & II to teach in high school. For undergrad, you will probably need at least MS, and mostly, PhD to teach unless you plan to teach as "TA" at big university.

 

[yamaraja808]

I appreciate the responses, everyone. I went to talk to an advisor today about the science education program and she said that a number of her former students did get into med school after teaching or are currently teaching and prepping for med school/MCAT. Also, it's kind of convenient because they're trying to reach out to people and MOST of the certification courses will be available online.

I agree that it would be a tough road, but I'd be happy doing either career, so I'm not too worried about anything. Also, I'm 26 and engaged with no kids, so I'm not in any amazing hurry. I mean, it would be nice to go to med school really soon, but quite honestly, my worry is more with the financial aspect of staying in school even longer without a steady income to support my fiance and I. Not to say that she doesn't have a job or anything, but it would be nice to have something more than income of an hourly wage.

eablackwell, that's a great idea. I'll see if I can get in contact with one of my old science teachers to see if I can shadow them a little bit.

Why not be a TA? I am pre-med and am currently a masters student who has been a TA for introductory microbiology and am now a TA for introductory biology. It is hard all together but I am still maintaining a 3.76 GPA and the hours are not bad being a TA. The only tough part is that you have to do a research project for your masters. My suggestion is do a masters B because it is less research intensive.