What to do?

[nyinjuly]

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In June I will begin a formal postbac. My confusion is over what I should do in the meantime. I am a career changer, and I began researching medical school about six months after graduating college and starting work in my current field (accounting- WOOHOO). I have kept this job to support myself and my husband, who is in law school and cannot work. Well, now that I know for sure that I will be heading another direction with my career, it feels like a waste of my time and effort to work at this job, which I hate. It is getting to be the busiest time of the year, and I am lacking motivation since I know I won't be doing this in the long run. However, it would nearly kill my coworkers if I left now due to the volume of work.

My postbac acceptance letter encouraged me to get more clinical exposure or volunteer experience before starting the program, which is not possible this time of year at my job. So would it make sense to take a job that will pay like 1/4th of what I make now, but would let me have the time to volunteer or shadow? I don't want to be a complete jerk to my coworkers, especially since my supervisor wrote me one of my rec letters for the postbac program. Would this make me a horrible person?

 

[Squiggy]

It might not be the best idea to snub your boss and coworkers because accounting is a good fallback career.

I think it depends on how good your post-bacc is. If you're sure you'll get into med school (BM, Scripps, Goucher type post-bacc) you could quit and start getting some ECs. I'd make the decision based on which post-bacc you're going into and without that information I really can't judge.

Are you working in public accounting? Busy season must suck.

 

[nyinjuly]

I'm going to Goucher, so I feel pretty confident that medical school will happen.

I'm a CPA, but luckily not in public accounting. I work in insurance accounting, and our busy season is due to preparing the insurance company's annual statement. It only lasts through March, which is slightly better than public accounting (tax) lasting through April 15. But it still means working weekends and evenings, all that fun.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[betterlate]

I'm going to Goucher, so I feel pretty confident that medical school will happen.

I'm a CPA, but luckily not in public accounting. I work in insurance accounting, and our busy season is due to preparing the insurance company's annual statement. It only lasts through March, which is slightly better than public accounting (tax) lasting through April 15. But it still means working weekends and evenings, all that fun.

Thanks for the feedback!

Hey, I'll be joining you in June at Goucher. 🙂 I hear you about being very excited to get that letter! (And about the downer that is the 6 months left at my old job before I can start.)

I can't speak directly to some of your concerns about whether or not to leave your job, but I can say this from the perspective of someone who has already returned to school once as a nontrad: it is incredibly stressful to go to school when you have little to no savings and are living off loans. The longer you can stand to stay at your current job, and the more you can set aside in a savings account, the easier your life is going to be. Instead of quitting now, can you quit in March after the busy season? That gives you 2 additional months at a good salary.

If $$ isn't a concern and your primary issue is w/ not screwing over your colleagues, can you talk to a supervisor about reducing your hours slightly between now and the start of the program? Can you move to 1/2 or 3/4 time? Can you do longer work days a few days a week and free up other evenings or weekends? (I have no idea how it works, I'm simply saying there may be a creative solution that isn't all or nothing.)

Good luck! I look forward to meeting you in June.

 

[Squiggy]

Wow Goucher! Congrats. Do what what you want, you're clearly going to get into med school.

 

[nyinjuly]

Hey, I'll be joining you in June at Goucher. 🙂 I hear you about being very excited to get that letter! (And about the downer that is the 6 months left at my old job before I can start.)

I can't speak directly to some of your concerns about whether or not to leave your job, but I can say this from the perspective of someone who has already returned to school once as a nontrad: it is incredibly stressful to go to school when you have little to no savings and are living off loans. The longer you can stand to stay at your current job, and the more you can set aside in a savings account, the easier your life is going to be. Instead of quitting now, can you quit in March after the busy season? That gives you 2 additional months at a good salary.

If $$ isn't a concern and your primary issue is w/ not screwing over your colleagues, can you talk to a supervisor about reducing your hours slightly between now and the start of the program? Can you move to 1/2 or 3/4 time? Can you do longer work days a few days a week and free up other evenings or weekends? (I have no idea how it works, I'm simply saying there may be a creative solution that isn't all or nothing.)

Good luck! I look forward to meeting you in June.

Thanks- those are some good suggestions that I hadn't thought about. Money is an issue, but I don't know how big of an issue. I have some savings, and I won't be living off loans once we get to Maryland, bc my husband will have graduated and he will be the working one! But it does stress me to think of my savings dwindling...

Anyway, I can't wait until June- see you there! =)

 

[nyinjuly]

Wow Goucher! Congrats. Do what what you want, you're clearly going to get into med school.

Thank you! I sure hope so!

 

[moneduloides]

My advice would be to talk to your supervisor about maybe setting aside 4-5 hours out of your schedule (Maybe this can be made up working later on other days?) to shadow close to where you work, if it's possible. But, honestly, if if you're deciding between leaving your job so you can do more shadowing vs. saving up money to make life in Towson easier, I would go with the latter. You always have Tuesdays during the school year for volunteering, right? 🙂

Look forward to seeing you this summer

 

[nyinjuly]

Yeah, you're probably right about saving up the money. I think I just want an excuse to leave this job because I don't like it, haha. Ready to move on to the new goal, you know?

See you in June =)

 

[betterlate]

Yeah, you're probably right about saving up the money. I think I just want an excuse to leave this job because I don't like it, haha. Ready to move on to the new goal, you know?

*grin* Man, I am so impatient to get started! I'm excited to finally get moving (after several years of preparing for this change), and the months of waiting are torturous. I'm sure it'll pass in the blink of an eye, though. June will roll around and it'll seem unexpected. *g*

 

[EJS1979]

I completely agree! I'm an English teacher now, and every paper I have to grade gets more torturous as I realize that in a few more months, I won't ever have to grade another Macbeth term paper. See you in June!