what if you don't get in?

[BlueAvenue]

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I was searching threads curious to see what a lot of pre-meds plan do to if they fail to get into a US medical school. dental school, podiatry school, optometry seem to be some common choices. what I don't understand is why? I don't want a title and a labcoat, I want to practice medicine. Id rather go to PA school than be a dentist, I dont see how you can be passionate about fields so different. no disrespect to those fields, I'd just rather not take someones seat who really wanted to be a dentist. so I'm curious as to what your guys' back up plans are. I'm an RT major and I plan on working while I apply each cycle until I get in. I've entertained the idea of PA school as a backup but I don't think it'd quench my thirst for knowledge. even if I were to go to PA school I can't see myself quitting on medical school, I guess it's all relative.

 

[TheMightySmiter]

As far as I understand it, as a PA you are ultimately responsible to your supervising physician. As a dentist/podiatrist/optometrist, you are not. Perhaps that explains it?

Of course, if I didn't get into med school, I'd go to paramedic school!

 

[ahmcadams]

Generally speaking, if you don't get in during one cycle, you re-up for round two and improve your app as much as you can along the way. Same goes for subsequent attempts.

As for those who never gain admission, some pursue alternative healthcare options - including some you mentioned - and others go with another route altogether. Still, it's not like dental sch admissions, for example, are a slam-dunk, and someone who repeatedly failed to get into med sch probably would have difficulties getting into dental sch too.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

i'd rather go into pharmacy school or dental...
then go to pa school
..
pa seems like something totally uncompetitive
in my mind

medical school > pharmacy or getting a phd in psych or dental>>pa

 

[TheMightySmiter]

I always thought PA school was fairly competitive...

 

[just one]

Gonna play devils advocate here, but how is dental any different than some medical specialties? It's just a specific focus on a part of the body, say such as opthamology or urology. While most cases are not life threatning, neither is opthamology. Eye, mouth, kidneys, it is still just a small piece of what we call health care. In my view, all of those (including podiatry and opthamology) are practicing medicine. By the way, I have no interest in dentistry, just presenting an opinion.

 

[ahmcadams]

Gonna play devils advocate here, but how is dental any different than some medical specialties? It's just a specific focus on a part of the body, say such as opthamology or urology. While most cases are not life threatning, neither is opthamology. Eye, mouth, kidneys, it is still just a small piece of what we call health care. In my view, all of those (including podiatry and opthamology) are practicing medicine. By the way, I have no interest in dentistry, just presenting an opinion.

It's really not. The training varies significantly - and thus the background knowledge of physiology, pharmacology, etc. about the rest of the body diverges dramatically between dentists and even the most specialized MDs - but in day-to-day practice what a dentist does isn't really any different than what one would hypothesize an MD specializing in oral health would do. The differences in classification are mainly historical.

 

[orthomyxo]

I always thought PA school was fairly competitive...

Me too. I think it gets a bad rap because people think it's basically the same as a nurse or something.

 

[bannie22]

find a school's list, and take down all the students who are accepted and before you on the wait list. and i mean

TAKE DOWN! 😀

 

[JoshUNCW]

Me too. I think it gets a bad rap because people think it's basically the same as a nurse or something.

Compared to med school it's really not that competitive... This is coming from my experience with people who have gone PA.

 

[sanityonleave]

Of course, if I didn't get into med school, I'd go to paramedic school!

👍 +1 -- I love my ambulance, and I'd gladly get my medic cert if I had the time. Hopefully I can challenge it during residency.

As far as the other options go though.. I'm with you in terms of the fact that I have no interest in dental/podiatry/optometry. I think some of those offer similar lifestyles as medicine (esp. dentistry, though dental school isn't much easier to get into than med school, if it is at all, afaik), but I don't see them as being terribly similar fields.

I think I'd keep trying at medical school for a looooooong time before I gave up. If I really was faced with that decision, I might end up doing my medic cert and working as a medic for a while, then doing a joint second degree nursing / NP / DNP program and become a nurse practitioner. I'm biased toward NPs, since my mother's an NP and I think she's fantastic, but I'm also very, very biased against PAs because of how awful the ones I worked with in both the ED and primary care were.

PA schools desperately need to move toward a doctoral model as NPs are slowly but surely doing... Random bio major undergrad + a semester of anatomy&physio + 2 years of post-bacc training and a year of clinicals do not equal a primary care provider -- they're undertrained, which is not the fault of the PAs but a fault of the licensing boards which have failed to distinguish them from NPs (4 years ugrad health science + 2 years postgrad health science) as primary care providers.

Whoops... soapboxed it again. Anyway, hopefully I won't lose my acceptance and I won't have to make that decision!

 

[Elpenor]

I'd just rather not take someones seat who really wanted to be a dentist

Oh sheesh, gimme a break. A job is a job, obviously some are better than others but if med school fails I seriously hope you are not concerned with "taking other people's jobs"... And who wants to be a dentist anyways amirite.