What can one do with only an MD and no residency?

[usermike8500]

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Just out of curiosity, what potential career paths are open to someone who finishes 4 years of medical school but does not complete a residency? Hence, never becomes board-certified nor even licensed to practice medicine.

Some ideas that I can think of are:

-College Professor (maybe teaching the intro bio series)

-Big Pharma Research

-Hospital or Clinic Administration

-Politics (helping design the socialist healthcare plans that are all the rage these days)

Personally, I'm planning on staying in school for a decade, completeing whatever residencies or fellowships that interest me... but it's always nice to know one's options 🙂

 

[dw2158]

you could probably get a job at banana republic. or starbucks. 😎

 

[PandaBrewMaster]

Apparently some MD graduates go work for consulting firms

Though I never understood what that really entails anyway

 

[shindotp]

you could probably get a job at banana republic. or starbucks. 😎

^Like that guy from Scrubs.

You could definitely work for a pharmaceutical company.

 

[Mattabet]

Actor in Dr. Pepper commercial.

 

[kia ora]

Michael Crichton. MD from Harvard, never did residency. he did fairly well for himself...wrote a bunch of books that were turned into movies (Jurassic Park, for one), came up with the idea for a tv show or two (ER).

 

[mvenus929]

Michael Crichton. MD from Harvard, never did residency. he did fairly well for himself...wrote a bunch of books that were turned into movies (Jurassic Park, for one), came up with the idea for a tv show or two (ER).

F Paul Wilson, a lesser known horror writer, did much of the same thing. He went to med school, but I'm not sure whether he finished his residency or not before deciding that writing is what he wanted to do.

His medical thriller, The Select, is pretty good if anyone's interested.

 

[AtheGre]

Dinosaur hunter


AtG

 

[Longshanks]

You can pull a Howard Dean arrrgghhh

Though he might've done residency though after AECOM, he was an FP I think?

 

[medstar21]

hmmm, the one that I know goes to do medical missions in third world countries, like the dominican republic and helps out at clinics. He also likes to talk very obscenely in english about his spanish speaking patients, lol.

Lady complained of knee pain, he turns to us and says, "So do you think its just because she's too D*** fat?"

Oh good times...

 

[witness23]

there's actually been a few md (and med school drop out) to hedge fund billionaires

 

[Law2Doc]

Just out of curiosity, what potential career paths are open to someone who finishes 4 years of medical school but does not complete a residency? Hence, never becomes board-certified nor even licensed to practice medicine.

Some ideas that I can think of are:

-College Professor (maybe teaching the intro bio series)

-Big Pharma Research

-Hospital or Clinic Administration

-Politics (helping design the socialist healthcare plans that are all the rage these days)

Personally, I'm planning on staying in school for a decade, completeing whatever residencies or fellowships that interest me... but it's always nice to know one's options 🙂

Even in these paths you will have an easier time selling yourself if you were a practicing physician (or at least a resident) rather than someone with a degree but no real world experience. Most advisors recommend that if you are going to not practice, you at least complete the internship year, because that gets you licensed and leaves the door open for you if you change your mind.

And FWIW, I wouldn't recommend going to med school if you don't want to be a clinician. These offramps are low yield, not something that should be part of the game plan. If you are just trying to kill a few years in grad school while the economy picks up and then shoot for business or politics, then go into law. That's a form of education that better lends itself to other things because they don't teach you knowledge, they teach you a method of thinking.

 

[metalgearHMN]

And FWIW, I wouldn't recommend going to med school if you don't want to be a clinician. These offramps are low yield, not something that should be part of the game plan. If you are just trying to kill a few years in grad school while the economy picks up and then shoot for business or politics, then go into law. That's a form of education that better lends itself to other things because they don't teach you knowledge, they teach you a method of thinking.

Woah...that's deep...😛

Anyway, maybe you could just open up a bunch of clinics and start prescribing medical marijuana? I swear there is some lady in California, and that's all she does.

 

[DeadCactus]

You can join a comedy group a la "Monty Python". (Graham Chapman)

You can do a lot, but most of it is irrelevant to the medical degree. Your knowledge is useless outside of medicine (the education is to specific) and inside medicine you don't know enough to be useful (No residency, no real experience).

I can't speak from experience, but I find it hard to believe that medicine doesn't teach you a way to think. Though I could still see Law having a higher benefit because in medicine it doesn't happen until after medical school or that law comes with the added benefit of a more widely practical set of knowledge...

 

[usermike8500]

go into law. That's a form of education that better lends itself to other things because they don't teach you knowledge, they teach you a method of thinking.

If you don't mind my asking, what exactly is that "method" of thinking? I don't want to be a bother, but if you could jot down a paragraph or so expanding on this statement, I would be really interested in it. Maybe I'll even change my screen name to Doc2Law.


But for the record.. I do love clinical medicine and hope to practice one day. I was just curious to see if there are any non-clinical applications for an MD. Just in case I end up disabled or develop an allergy to patients during my 4 years of med school. 😛

 

[dw2158]

as usual, Law2Doc has hit the nail on the head... don't do this if you don't want to practice medicine. seriously.

But for the record.. I do love clinical medicine and hope to practice one day. I was just curious to see if there are any non-clinical applications for an MD. Just in case I end up disabled or develop an allergy to patients during my 4 years of med school. 😛

i find this to be a detrimental way of thinking. why go into something thinking about what will happen "in case" you end up really unhappy or physically disabled? the world doesn't lock you into anything (except maybe the army 😛 don't flame me!). **** happens-- people get hit by buses, people go crazy, people lose jobs or lots of money... and life goes on. just know that, and make the full mental commitment to medicine.

 

[Kaustikos]

I know - shoot yourself in the foot!

 

[vickpick]

hmm.. i thought u don't get a MD degree until u finish some kind of residency.

 

[Kaustikos]

hmm.. i thought u don't get a MD degree until u finish some kind of residency.

Nope, because I know pharmaceuticals try winning over fresh med students with nice packages.

 

[Law2Doc]

If you don't mind my asking, what exactly is that "method" of thinking? ...

Sure. The whole point of law school is to teach you to "think like a lawyer". There is no substantive knowledge you need from law school that you won't learn better during practice. Courses are taught by using the socratic method where folks are expected to have read and analyzed cases, and a professor will put folks on the spot to have them defend a position, and then demonstrate the holes in that position -- and it doesn't really matter which position they take because a good prof can makes the person look wrong on either side. It's all about approaching every issue by trying to see all the flaws -- all the holes in your approach. And then exams tend to be issue spotting oriented -- they give you a scenario, and you need to find and discuss the legal issues. There are no hard facts involved (with the exception of the code oriented subjects, which again are better learned after law school), just the reasoning. Basically it's a 3 year set of courses on troubleshooting. You go through cases as a framework, but it's not that important that you remember any of the major cases, just be able to recreate the reasoning.

By comparison, medicine is more substantive -- there are a ton of facts to remember from med school -- you are building a foundation of facts on which to figure out problems, whereas law school is building a foundation of trouble shooting and reasoning, upon which you perhaps will learn facts when you get out to practice.

So it's kind of the opposite world. Very interesting to have gone through both, but no real overlap of approach. PBL comes closest, but I haven't seen it done well enough to be a close comparison. If done well it's a neat way to learn.

 

[Law2Doc]

hmm.. i thought u don't get a MD degree until u finish some kind of residency.

No -wrong. You are awarded your MD by your med school upon graduation. You don't get licensed until you complete step 3 and usually a year of residency.

 

[Octagonecology]

No -wrong. You are awarded your MD by your med school upon graduation. You don't get licensed until you complete step 3 and usually a year of residency.

Just out of morbid curiosity are there any states that will grant a license w/o doing a pgy-1?

 

[mvenus929]

hmm.. i thought u don't get a MD degree until u finish some kind of residency.

You get MD after your name upon graduation. You get the rest of the letters (i.e. FAAP) upon licensure.

 

[Law2Doc]

Just out of morbid curiosity are there any states that will grant a license w/o doing a pgy-1?

Not that I'm aware of. It would be absurd anyhow because you don't learn how to do enough just in med school -- that first year of residency dwarfs the prior 4 years in terms of importance. If you think you are going to come out of med school with many useful skills, I hate to break it to you but it's really just foundation on which they will give you training afterwords.

 

[Law2Doc]

You get MD after your name upon graduation. You get the rest of the letters (i.e. FAAP) upon licensure.

No -- you get no additional letters upon licensure. You might get more upon board certification, but that's different than a license. The license just means you passed the steps and completed an internship. You are still just MD.

 

[OpalOnyx]

hmmm, the one that i know goes to do medical missions in third world countries, like the dominican republic and helps out at clinics. He also likes to talk very obscenely in english about his spanish speaking patients, lol.

Lady complained of knee pain, he turns to us and says, "so do you think its just because she's too d*** fat?"

oh good times...

lol.

 

[Max Power]

You can be one of those doctors that endorse diet pills on tv..technically md's..gives the a sense of credibility without actually being credible

 

[Law2Doc]

You can be one of those doctors that endorse diet pills on tv..technically md's..gives the a sense of credibility without actually being credible

Actually they usually can get licensed residents to do this -- there are always folks happy to make some easy money, and a license gives even more credibility. No need to get someone with merely an MD and risk being discredited. Sadly, if you throw cash around, you can find someone with legit credentials to back your snake oil.