What made you make the switch?

[xiphosm3]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I've always wondered what others thought caused them to make the switch to medicine after being in a different career field for years.

So what caused you all to decide to completely change your life? Did you always want to do medicine but never took the initiative? Or maybe your passion for helping people and learning about the human body changed over the years and you found a new passion?

For me, after being in business for years, starting two companies, I got burned out. I knew I was becoming more fascinated with how the body works, I love diagnosing issues and helping my family heal. And I also wanted make a difference in people's lives. My oldest son struggles with bad food allergies. Drs still don't know what's going on after tons of tests. I want to help people who are in similar situations. They don't know what's causing their issues and they need help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[750335]

Regret. Always wanted to be a doctor but like you, I also started two businesses - one in college, and one the year after and they kept me busy. I was on my way to OK when I saw a billboard of a medical school in Texas with a picture of its students in lab coats... I still don't know what happened but it hit me that I wasn't over the whole med school thing, and maybe it wasn't going to go away no matter how successful I was at any other thing. Came back that evening and registered for the mcat. Worked out for me, starting this fall 😀

 

[backside_attack]

Regret. Always wanted to be a doctor but like you, I also started two businesses - one in college, and one the year after and they kept me busy. I was on my way to OK when I saw a billboard of a medical school in Texas with a pictures of its students in lab coats... I still don't know what happened but I hit me that I wasn't over the whole med school thing, and maybe it wasn't going to go away no matter how successful I was at any other thing. Came back that evening and registered for the mcat. Worked out for me, starting this fall 😀

I actually had a really similar moment. I took a few pre-med classes in college and then went another direction. A few years later I was on a roadtrip with my now-spouse and I kept seeing billboards with docs at local hospitals being advertised. I must have gotten too quiet and introspective and was finally asked "What are you thinking about?" ... a few hundred miles down the road, I had decided to figure out a post-bacc plan.

 

[750335]

I actually had a really similar moment. I took a few pre-med classes in college and then went another direction. A few years later I was on a roadtrip with my now-spouse and I kept seeing billboards with docs at local hospitals being advertised. I must have gotten too quiet and introspective and was finally asked "What are you thinking about?" ... a few hundred miles down the road, I had decided to figure out a post-bacc plan.

omg wow. Do you tell people the real story? I always felt like they would think I was making it up and it was improbable so it is really great to meet someone who had a similar experience!

 

[holdthemayo]

I spent a decade trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life since I couldn't be a doctor due to a terrible freshman year. I worked a series of jobs I hated. One night I reached a point where I couldn't take it anymore and started researching medical school with low gpa. I found SDN and spent most of the night reading threads here. By the time my spouse woke the next morning, I had a basic plan for a post-bac laid out. I assumed she would shoot it down and that would be that. To my surprise she was instantly supportive and excited having privately wished I would have the courage to make a big move to get out of my rut. I quit my job at the end of that summer. I'm sending my old boss a thank you note just to thank her for hiring me. Without that job I never would have gotten into medical school. Of course I won't tell her that it was because I was so miserable there.

 

[backside_attack]

omg wow. Do you tell people the real story? I always felt like they would think I was making it up and it was improbable so it is really great to meet someone who had a similar experience!

Yeah I tell some people who I'm closer with. Others I leave out the billboard details and say we just started talking about my career.

 

[esob]

Switching to medicine because you dislike what you currently do / are burned out is a bad reason to switch. I love what I do, make piles of fluffy cash doing it and will sorely miss when I finally shutter the company once I start medical school but I desire to practice medicine MORE than I desire what I'm doing currently, even though I'm not unhappy (most of the time anyway, lol). I'm switching because A) I can afford to now and B) because the timing of my two oldest children graduating will leave me in a position where I have the freedom to finally go to medical school.

 

[Socrates' Shoes]

I am considering medicine because I witness the the workings of health care management on a daily basis. I find it shocking that the main priorities are saving money and bolstering individual careers at the expense and welfare of others. I wish to pursue a career that helps and enhances others despite the personal expense studying medicine will inevitably entail.