I was recently accepted to TUSPM and NYCPM. I’m 28 y.o and a career changer. My 1st path was nutrition. I was initially interested in Osteopathic medicine and was conditionally accepted to PCOM through my post bac with a overall and science 3.3 gpa. However due to a 490 MCAT I was unfortunately not accepted. I studied for a year and a half took the MCAT again and got a 494(I’m never taking it again). I never applied again to DO schools as I didn’t want to waste money with low stats. After considering my other options I started shadowing a podiatrist and I actually really like the field and am interested in treating diabetic patients and integrating my nutrition knowledge one day. My only concern is the cost. I’m already in 100k of student loan debt from undergrad and will be taking on 200k more for podiatry. I actually really like the feild of podiatry I just don’t want to make a bad investment. I’m great with people and actually helped to built up a personal training business and the goal would be to do the same for podiatry. I want autonomy and to practice medicine. Is podiatry a solid choice for me? Do you think I’d be able to Iive a comfortable lifestyle one day and pay off my student loans.
What would you do if you were me?
- Thread starter Hp2018
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I'm going to be honest with you: going from Nutrition to DO and now to DPM programs is not a good trend. I do not see the reason to study 1.5yrs for the MCAT, but I'm sure you had your reasons. Anyways, you have to figure out what you want to do. You have to realize that by committing to Podiatry, you will only be treating the lower extremities' issues for the entirety of your professional career.
What are your undergrad GPAs? Have you spoken to anyone at the VCOM DO schools? With your current stats, they might give you a shot at their SMP (although doing another SMP is not the best move--but if you want to be a DO, then why not).
As far as Podiatry is concerned, you have the stats to get an acceptance and if you chose to go this route, I suggest shadowing a few more DPMs that work in various settings. For your other questions, read/search around the forum for other threads.
Good luck!
What are your undergrad GPAs? Have you spoken to anyone at the VCOM DO schools? With your current stats, they might give you a shot at their SMP (although doing another SMP is not the best move--but if you want to be a DO, then why not).
As far as Podiatry is concerned, you have the stats to get an acceptance and if you chose to go this route, I suggest shadowing a few more DPMs that work in various settings. For your other questions, read/search around the forum for other threads.
Good luck!
Thank you for responding. I studied for that long because I kept taking practice test and not getting near the score I needed for DO schools. I want to practice integrative and alternative medicine one day. ideally combining my nutrition knowledge to treat patients. I’d like to take this philosophy to DPM.
D
deleted1097413
couple things to ask yourself:
1. why did you struggle with the MCAT? Not studying correctly or putting enough time in? Not a good test taker?
2. Do you actually want to be a podiatrist or are you wanting to apply because of your low mcat?
You should shadow a podiatrist or two or three. Not every podiatrist has a similar practice or job. Some are cutting nails all day, some have 5-10 surgeries booked a week. This field has a lot of challenges, but also a lot of rewards for those who venture through the challenges and become successful. But remember the cost-opportunity. 7 years of total education including residency and tons of loans.
Do you like working with your hands? Hand dexterity gets better over time, but in this field you will be trained to be a surgeon. Remember that.
Do you like wounds? Do you like toenails? And not just any toenails do you like the crazy, funky, fungal nails? You don’t have to obviously love these things but you have to tolerate them. Medicine in general isn’t pretty, but podiatry does see a ton of wounds, nails, etc. it’s not all just glamorous surgeries.
Being 28, you’re older than I am and I’m about to graduate podiatry school. Do you have a family? School is 4 years and then another 3 for residency. While you will only be 35 by then... you will have put a ton of time in and missed a lot of family time during the process. Podiatry school isn’t easy. I obviously haven’t went through DO/MD school, but it is at the least pretty comparable in difficulty just by the fact that we take similar courses. The sad truth is a lot of people fail out of podiatry school because it’s easy to get in, but not easy to get through.
As long as you’re honest with yourself, do your own research, and reach out to actual practicing podiatrists I’m sure you’ll come up with a good decision. Good luck.
____
Edit: after reading the OP again and realizing you have $100k in undergrad loans. I would want you to go ahead and assume you will take out close to $300k for podiatry school. I say $300k because I was very frugal with cost of living and even went to a low cost of living podiatry school and still ended up near that. People never add interest in their calculations. I have $17k in interest alone and that’s with covid and the interest freezes that have been going on for nearly a year now. That’s $400k total. I’m not sure it’s worth that investment... I hope some of the actual practicing podiatrists come in and reply to you here. But your best bet is to take everyone with a grain of salt online and shadow as many as possible in real life..
1. why did you struggle with the MCAT? Not studying correctly or putting enough time in? Not a good test taker?
2. Do you actually want to be a podiatrist or are you wanting to apply because of your low mcat?
You should shadow a podiatrist or two or three. Not every podiatrist has a similar practice or job. Some are cutting nails all day, some have 5-10 surgeries booked a week. This field has a lot of challenges, but also a lot of rewards for those who venture through the challenges and become successful. But remember the cost-opportunity. 7 years of total education including residency and tons of loans.
Do you like working with your hands? Hand dexterity gets better over time, but in this field you will be trained to be a surgeon. Remember that.
Do you like wounds? Do you like toenails? And not just any toenails do you like the crazy, funky, fungal nails? You don’t have to obviously love these things but you have to tolerate them. Medicine in general isn’t pretty, but podiatry does see a ton of wounds, nails, etc. it’s not all just glamorous surgeries.
Being 28, you’re older than I am and I’m about to graduate podiatry school. Do you have a family? School is 4 years and then another 3 for residency. While you will only be 35 by then... you will have put a ton of time in and missed a lot of family time during the process. Podiatry school isn’t easy. I obviously haven’t went through DO/MD school, but it is at the least pretty comparable in difficulty just by the fact that we take similar courses. The sad truth is a lot of people fail out of podiatry school because it’s easy to get in, but not easy to get through.
As long as you’re honest with yourself, do your own research, and reach out to actual practicing podiatrists I’m sure you’ll come up with a good decision. Good luck.
____
Edit: after reading the OP again and realizing you have $100k in undergrad loans. I would want you to go ahead and assume you will take out close to $300k for podiatry school. I say $300k because I was very frugal with cost of living and even went to a low cost of living podiatry school and still ended up near that. People never add interest in their calculations. I have $17k in interest alone and that’s with covid and the interest freezes that have been going on for nearly a year now. That’s $400k total. I’m not sure it’s worth that investment... I hope some of the actual practicing podiatrists come in and reply to you here. But your best bet is to take everyone with a grain of salt online and shadow as many as possible in real life..
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I've posted my feelings on the podiatric profession several times and won't rehash it again.
What I will say is that with 100k in loans already, I wouldn't do it personally. However, if you do pursue podiatry you need to 100% commit. You will likely come out with close to 400k loans so you can't settle for most private practice jobs. You almost have to get a high paying hospital job with loan forgiveness. This means your gonna have to kill it when it comes to grades and training. Top residency and/or fellowship.
What I will say is that with 100k in loans already, I wouldn't do it personally. However, if you do pursue podiatry you need to 100% commit. You will likely come out with close to 400k loans so you can't settle for most private practice jobs. You almost have to get a high paying hospital job with loan forgiveness. This means your gonna have to kill it when it comes to grades and training. Top residency and/or fellowship.
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