Time to leave my job?

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Disclaimer: This is a bit ranty but I'd really appreciate any feedback. If I come off too whiny then tell me. Some folks seem to think I'm crazy to feel the way I do and maybe they're right...

Hello all,

A few years ago, I posted here asking how to get on track for medical school and I remember DrMidlife gave some frank but helpful advice. Well, it's been +2 years and in that time I've worked at Microsoft and (as of this July) Google as a software engineer. Despite working my butt off to reach basically every CS major's dream job, complete with all the financial and intangible benefits that entails, I'm not happy. Money stopped motivating me after I paid off my student loans and car and I'm tired of working on things with little social utility (spellcheck, android, etc.). I never did take DrMidlife's advice choosing instead to keep working and hope that I'd grow to love programming but clearly that hasn't happened. What I have done is save every cent thinking: someday I'll go back to school for something and when it does I don't want to worry about money. I think that time is now.

I presume the advice from back then is valid today; take undergrad classes for 2 years and get A's to bring the abysmal undergrad GPA as close to 3.0 as possible, then SMP. But... where do I take these classes if CC courses are a no-no? I've thought about just retaking everything and then some @ HES and pursuing a DO. I have no personal or financial commitments, I have the wherewithal to support myself for at least 2 years, and goodness knows I now have the work ethic (that honestly wasn't there in college) to see this through after 3 years of working insane hours in software.

I guess my questions are:

A) In this economy, am I an ingrate and/or insane to feel how I do?

B) Is this the right academic plan to get into medical school?

Thanks to anyone who's read this far. Again, any advice is appreciated even if it means a dose of reality.

 

[DrMidlife]

Hi, welcome back. This was easy to find: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=8267262

If you're not happy at Google, it's hard to see you happy in any software job. Seriously, the food alone... Last time I visited the Kirkland office (last summer) I was thinking "wow, do I really want to go to med school?!?!" I mean, the yoga and massage room, and how engaged everybody is, and the climbing wall, and the FOOD. I worked as a dev & pgm at big name software companies for 15 years, and there's nothing like Google, afaik.

But: in what job have you been happy and successful? In what school have you been happy and successful? I suggest that a career change won't likely work out well if you're running away from something you can't stand. Most of what you can't stand is in the new career, too. I suggest finding out what makes you happy, and what kind of work is satisfying for you, before you drop a half million on a medical education.

That said, if you're thinking about diving back in to the pursuit of med school, one thing you can do right away is start clinical volunteering. Check some hospital websites, and get to work, like 4 hrs/wk. If you can't stand it, if you can't figure out why you aren't allowed to do much with patients, if you can't figure out why you need to hose off bloody stretchers and help huge drunk old ladies find the bathroom, if you can't stand having to answer to nurses, then for the love of all that's holy don't go to med school. You'll hate it.

If you don't hate it, and you want to tackle your GPA, then put some thought into what state you want to be in. Clue: not California. You are probably 5 years from getting into a UC; you are probably 3 years from getting into a non-CA school. If you can get Google to transfer you to another state, and work for a year, boom you're a resident and you can get in-state tuition for more undergrad and for med school. If you want to know what the "good" states are, pick up an MSAR (www.aamc.org) and look at which states have multiple public med schools (or at least one), moderate numbers of applicants, and moderate acceptee stats. (Look at California for comparison. Try not to cry.) Look at Ohio, Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina. Look on SDN for threads about what state is "best" but don't take anything without a grain of salt.

I suggest that a 2nd bachelors degree will make sense for you. Not because you need another degree, but because under a degree-seeking program you get registration priority, some federal loans, and advising. Aside from a 2nd bachelors, look at programs like UT Dallas, Berkeley/Harvard Extension, or any school that offers a ton of upper div life science.

How this goes: from a 2.8, you need a couple years of 3.7 or better to get up over 3.0. Take that 3.0 and a competitive (32+) MCAT and apply to a good SMP (EVMS, Cincinnati, Georgetown, etc) that publishes its record of getting grads into good med schools. If you'd be happy as a DO, then you can potentially skip the SMP, but note that there are DO schools with 3.0 cutoffs too (ahem DMU ahem).

Accept that you might need to apply to med school more than once. Accept that your financial well being will die a painful death. Accept that nobody in medical education is going to care a great deal about what you did at msft or Google.

Best advice ever: if you'd be happy doing anything other than medicine, then for the love of all that's holy, do the other thing.

Best of luck to you.