Would you do it over again?

[BLADEMDA]

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Answers: http://www.beanactuary.org/exams/preliminary/exams/syllabi/exampsamplesolutions.pdf

Welcome to the Gas Forum. Are you premed now? From your recent posts I assume you are changing career paths and are trying to get into medical school. How many yeas have you been working in your current job? Can you elaborate on your background?

By the way, I enjoyed those questions from "Part 1" of the Actuarial exam series. However, I don't have the inclination, the time or the aptitude at this point in my career to research those questions.

My day job is much more than 40 hours per week so I keep my focus on Medical studies relevant to my field. For example, my latest personal improvement project is the PECS1 vs. PECS 2 Block for patients needing breast or chest wall surgery.

Good luck in your career path and keep posting your opinions.

 

[UnicornDemon]

So depressing, as expected though. Granted I'm just starting residency, but thus far, yes I would do it again. Only thing I would change is matching/rank list (happy where I matched, I simply would have cut out advanced spots and just ranked categorical). And I left a well paying, extremely secure job to pursue med school.

Just wondering, what career did you leave and what prompted your desire to go into medicine? I'm somewhat of a career changer myself and I like to hear the stories of others.

 

[Dwindlin]

Just wondering, what career did you leave and what prompted your desire to go into medicine? I'm somewhat of a career changer myself and I like to hear the stories of others.

Career Firefighter/Medic. My gig was 24/48 with a Kelly day (essentially 9-10 shifts/month), paid 60k+ (this was as a rookie firefighter, officers made >100K) with EXCELLENT benefits and retirement.

 

[UnicornDemon]

Career Firefighter/Medic. My gig was 24/48 with a Kelly day (essentially 9-10 shifts/month), paid 60k+ (this was as a rookie firefighter, officers made >100K) with EXCELLENT benefits and retirement.

Sounds like an interesting and rewarding career. Why'd you leave it to go into medicine? Was it just a life-long dream of yours to become a doctor? Or was the decision made more rationally?

 

[Dwindlin]

Sounds like an interesting and rewarding career? Why'd you leave it to go into medicine? Was it just a life-long dream of yours to become a doctor? Or was the decision made more rationally?

Neither? I liked being on the medic much more than the truck. I became veru good friends with my medical director. We were out having some drinks one evening and I started telling him I was thinking about going to school to get a BSN so I could qualify as a flight medic (in this region our flight teams are all dual RN/EMT-P's). He said "**** that. Why not just go to med school?" So, long story short I did.

 

[johncunningham]

I’m responding to my own post. Earlier in the thread. I realize it’s 12 years later. I’m closing in on 50. Same job. It’s changed a little. More corporate. Worse payor mix. Still a great job for the area. I’m still planning on dropping nights when my youngest leaves for college.

Oldest a year away from colllege. Wife is an attorney. Oldest thinks they will be doc or a JD. Home influence for sure. Admittedly my wife is a part time lawyer and I am definitely a full time anesthesiologist. But some how both of those options seem rewarding and lucrative to my oldest.

Would I do it again? I would. And I’m hoping to continue to do it into my early sixties. I like what I do. Also, once I’m off the “partner” model I’m looking forward to some locums near my young adult kids.

John

 

[amyl]

If I were still stuck in my old job - 100% no. i probably would have gone into another area of medicine or business - new job- yes. I can do this job for another ten years I think.
I know people are geographically restricted - I was- and took a leap of faith anyways and it was a great idea for me. All of us need to stop settling for less…. That will fix the market even where there are local monopolies. Dont condemn aneftp for his working of the market… learn from it. PP and AMCs models are dead. Sorry but they are. There will be exceptions like sevos group but for the most part PP is dead anyway. That model of partnership tracks etc no longer works.

 

[FiremedicMike]

Don't over think it. Do what you want in life. Being a Physician is rewarding in and of itself. I would not choose CRNA/NP over MD if I had to do it again. But, I was young when my journey began. You are much older and that makes the decision harder.

Holy crap, someone necrobumped this thread and I saw my own post.

I'm even older now.. Life kept getting in the way and then I got stuck into the pension system, a ball and chain that's finally lifted in January 2026 when I become fully vested..

Wrapped up my RN 3 years ago, BSN last year (all while working FD) and planning out my twilight years. I'm obviously too old now for medical school (well technically not but I'm a realist).. Probably leaning towards ACNP working in an inpatient team model (no desire for "independent practice"), just want to move up to the next level from where I'm at..

 

[BLADEMDA]

I’m responding to my own post. Earlier in the thread. I realize it’s 12 years later. I’m closing in on 50. Same job. It’s changed a little. More corporate. Worse payor mix. Still a great job for the area. I’m still planning on dropping nights when my youngest leaves for college.

Oldest a year away from colllege. Wife is an attorney. Oldest thinks they will be doc or a JD. Home influence for sure. Admittedly my wife is a part time lawyer and I am definitely a full time anesthesiologist. But some how both of those options seem rewarding and lucrative to my oldest.

Would I do it again? I would. And I’m hoping to continue to do it into my early sixties. I like what I do. Also, once I’m off the “partner” model I’m looking forward to some locums near my young adult kids.

John

Age 50-60 is when you stare retirement in the face in terms of getting prepared for it. That decade is critical to getting everything arranged so you could retire by age 60-65. The key word "Could" means you have the option of full or part time work from 60-70. Unless something really happens in your life everyone should be able to retire by age 70. This means reviewing your savings and investment plan for age 60+, getting the kids off the payroll (Mostly) and looking at the 4% rule to see if the numbers allow you to enjoy life more. FYI, I spent about $400,000 on my kids college and post graduate educations and that was well worth the money IMHO.

 

[johncunningham]

Age 50-60 is when you stare retirement in the face in terms of getting prepared for it. That decade is critical to getting everything arranged so you could retire by age 60-65. The key word "Could" means you have the option of full or part time work from 60-70. Unless something really happens in your life everyone should be able to retire by age 70. This means reviewing your savings and investment plan for age 60+, getting the kids off the payroll (Mostly) and looking at the 4% rule to see if the numbers allow you to enjoy life more. FYI, I spent about $400,000 on my kids college and post graduate educations and that was well worth the money IMHO.

Agree wholeheartedly. Life has been pretty good to me. One wife. One house. Health has been with us. One job… we have been able to live well but still save. I could easily be retired now (later 40’s) If I were willing to live the way I grew up (and the way my siblings and parents still live) which is to say solidly middle class in a moderate cost of living situation. However, and this is where I’m going with the theme on the thread, I still mostly like it. And I’m seeing the value in spending on my kids now (as college approaches and into their fledgling years) to set them up with a solid start. As long as the job is still pretty good, and it is, I’m gonna work a while yet. First big change for me will be to get out of the call pool. Probably 5 years from now.

 

[T-burglar]

I would go into medicine again … but if I could go back to college I would have studied computer science, software engineering, and mathematics as an undergrad then trained in heart surgery instead of CT anesthesia.

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

I met my spouse in medical school so I probably wouldn’t take a do-over.

But if I were solely picking my career I would take a hard look at dental school.

 

[Iso4ane]

Different undergrad degree, probably biomedical engineering. But would’ve still ended up in anesthesiology or surgery.

 

[NSB2288]

Different undergrad degree, probably biomedical engineering. But would’ve still ended up in anesthesiology or surgery.

What would a different undergrad degree change?

 

[pgg]

What would a different undergrad degree change?

It would've made college more fun.

Taking upper division biochem courses (with only tangential relevance to med school coursework) with 500 gunning premeds, 450 of which don't have a prayer of admission but insist on scratching their fingernails on the chalkboard of your soul ...

... vs something in the humanities, or a useful secondary skill set (e.g. comp sci, immersion in a foreign language), a semester abroad, or even an extra inner tube water polo elective ...

If I had it to do over again I sure as **** wouldn't torture myself in honors chemistry again.

 

[T-burglar]

What would a different undergrad degree change?

Different skillset and background. That’s all. I was a biochemistry and philosophy major and the chemistry is near useless to me currently.

On the other hand I am obsessed with machine learning and software development now as an over 40 year old man and my ability is still amateur and hobbyist level. I wish I had studied these instead in undergrad.

 

[T-burglar]

I realize that the central question of this thread is would you do medicine again and my answer is very likely yes.

I guess what I’m saying is , in hindsight, a different undergrad degree would have been better prep for me personally and what direction I would like to take my career in.

 

[nimbus]

Different skillset and background. That’s all. I was a biochemistry and philosophy major and the chemistry is near useless to me currently.

On the other hand I am obsessed with machine learning and software development now as an over 40 year old man and my ability is still amateur and hobbyist level. I wish I had studied these instead in undergrad.

BME was the most rigorous and demanding major at my undergrad with the most required courses and the least amount of time for electives. Me and many of my premed cohort started out in the major but many of us including me switched out of it in order preserve our GPA. For example we had 2 physics sections, an easy one for premeds and natural science majors and a harder one with harder grading for engineers. One of my friends in med school was a computer science major who worked as a software engineer at IBM for 2 years before medical school. He had a hell of a time during the preclinical years because much of the material was not review for him as it was for the rest of us with more typical premed backgrounds. It’s a shame because branching out and challenging oneself is not rewarded in med school admissions. One of my nephews sees the light and is very excited to join a highly regarded visual learning lab at his undergrad. He has no interest in medical school.

 

[Potatoman1800]

It would've made college more fun.

Taking upper division biochem courses (with only tangential relevance to med school coursework) with 500 gunning premeds, 450 of which don't have a prayer of admission but insist on scratching their fingernails on the chalkboard of your soul ...

... vs something in the humanities, or a useful secondary skill set (e.g. comp sci, immersion in a foreign language), a semester abroad, or even an extra inner tube water polo elective ...

If I had it to do over again I sure as **** wouldn't torture myself in honors chemistry again.

I dropped honors chemistry three classes into the term. One of the best decisions I made in college 😆

 

[deleted1130227]

I dropped honors chemistry three classes into the term. One of the best decisions I made in college 😆

Sissy.

 

[NSB2288]

It would've made college more fun.

Taking upper division biochem courses (with only tangential relevance to med school coursework) with 500 gunning premeds, 450 of which don't have a prayer of admission but insist on scratching their fingernails on the chalkboard of your soul ...

... vs something in the humanities, or a useful secondary skill set (e.g. comp sci, immersion in a foreign language), a semester abroad, or even an extra inner tube water polo elective ...

If I had it to do over again I sure as **** wouldn't torture myself in honors chemistry again.

Comp sci is torture