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Help me become a doctor [Update Page 5]
bowen
How you doin'?Registered User regular
How you doin'?Registered User regular
So a lot of soul searching has been going on lately and I've been very unhappy with the direction my life has been going and I think I want to get back on track. I originally went to school for pre-med but barely made it through a semester because I didn't think it was for me. Right now I work full time as the IT administrator for a local doctor's office. It's a great job and I love it. However I don't think it's for me for the rest of my life and I'm looking for something more. I'm more than willing to keep this job full time and go to school full time but I'm not sure how to accomplish that.
My degree was from ITT Tech and I'm sure this will be no help from me. If I graduate and become a doctor, awesome, great, I can wipe that part of my life and be done with it and be able to afford to wipe it and forget about it. And I won't hide the fact that a small, very small, part of me wants to go to school to be a doctor for the financial security it brings with it. And being able to take care of the past where I got fucked over because of my bad decisions in schooling.
Help me figure out how to do this. I live in Syracuse, NY and am willing to go to school in the local area. My degree is of no particular use so I'm assuming I need pre-med before I even bother.
My degree was from ITT Tech and I'm sure this will be no help from me. If I graduate and become a doctor, awesome, great, I can wipe that part of my life and be done with it and be able to afford to wipe it and forget about it. And I won't hide the fact that a small, very small, part of me wants to go to school to be a doctor for the financial security it brings with it. And being able to take care of the past where I got fucked over because of my bad decisions in schooling.
Help me figure out how to do this. I live in Syracuse, NY and am willing to go to school in the local area. My degree is of no particular use so I'm assuming I need pre-med before I even bother.
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
bowen on
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Very small part of it.
I enjoy the medical field from as far as I can tell, and I love learning about how to treat patients and stuff and I always ask my and my girlfriend's doctors about it. I have a feeling I could be a nephrology specialist just from that atm.
I'd start by researching programs, because doctoring certainly isn't an easy path to take. Get a copy of your transcript and compare with the requirements of programs you're considering. If you dropped out of pre-med, it may mean going back to undergrad to finish it up which can be costly and time-consuming.
Was your undergrad from ITT Tech, or was there a different school that you dropped pre-med at? Often career departments are very happy to talk to former students about "what it takes" and what your options are. Frankly, they'd probably know more than we do.
I'd also at least glance at becoming a RNA, or some other form of nursing, as it may be more feasible and it may be just as fulfilling. I'd rule out pre-med first, though.
If nothing else works, you can always just buy a lab coat:
My undergrad was a BA from College of St Rose in Albany, with a focus in Biology. At this point it'd probably be better to start from scratch.
:^: I'm checking this out atm, it seems they offer a degree for MD.
I'm not too concerned with the money, but the financial stability it brings is just great and I'd love to always be able to find work where I move. Don't take that as "YES A QUARTER OF A MILLION A YEAR TY!" I do have a genuine interest in being a doctor and always have. When I was a dumb teenager and starting my premed I was pretty stupid and made bad decisions and decided that it wasn't right for me at the time. And at the time it wasn't.
The bigger issue is actually getting in :P Your experience working in a doctor's office will help, but volunteering is always good and a good MCAT will help a lot too.
Eh, medical school really isn't as hard as people make it out to be. I love it. The first two years you need to spend time studying but you have tons of free time as well. I had more free time during my first two years in medical school than during college. Third and fourth years are intense but still enjoyable (at least to me).
My only concern is I'm not a big fan of emergency medicine and have no interest in working or doing a residency in the ER. Do I get a choice of where to do my residency?
Keep in mind that after you actually become a doctor, you would need a minimum of 1 more year of internship for a specialty, for some areas up to 7 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internship_(medicine)#United_States
In terms of ER, I just don't like the "MAKE DECISIONS RIGHT NOW OR SOMEONE DIES" part of it. Part of the reason I really liked learning about nephrology. I was originally going to be a doctor of genetics. So even then the ER type medicine didn't really interest me -- mostly surgery and the types of shit that shows up in an ER is something I don't really like or have any interest in.
I have no problem with blood, if that's what people are basing this off of, it's just one of those "meh" type feelings I get from the general idea of ER medicine. I could probably handle it though, if need be.
Even a GP would be fine for me, working towards a specialty in the future. Everyone in my family asks me for medical advice even though I'm not a doctor just because of what I pick up working here and reading so, I really do have the interest in doctoring I think.
When you apply to residency you apply to a specific medical specialty. In many residencies one of your services will be covering the ER when they call for consults in your specialty. But again, how much of that you need to do is dependent on the individual residency.
On this page (down at the bottom) is a list of all the different medical specialties that one can apply to when graduating medical school: https://services.aamc.org/eras/erasstats/par/
The rest of the aamc website will be helpful to you as well. AMCAS is on there which is the centralized medical school admission process and there is a lot of information about the MCAT as well. There are also (or used to be) some tools to help you pick a specialty.
Medical school - 4 years
generally ~ 2 years of mostly lecture with slowly increasing patient contact
generally ~ 2 years of primarily patient contact with weekly lectures and lots of informal teaching during rounds
you take the first two parts of your licensing exam after 2nd year and after 3rd year
Residency - 3-5 years depending on the specialty
you apply to about 10 programs and then a computer "Matches" you (hopefully) with one of those programs
generally you apply to all of those programs in a single medical specialty, so you get to make a list of places you are willing to go, but you don't have a choice as to which of those places you go, the Match is a legally binding contract, but starting next year the residency programs actually have to show you the contract you are agreeing to before you rank their program
during this time you are a doctor, but with some oversight. You get paid ~50k a year and subsidized grants don't start accruing interest
you take the third part of your general licensing exam after the first year of residency and you take your specialty licensing exam at the end of your residency
Fellowship - 1-3 years
optional, but hard to get a job in some medical sub specialties without one
you are a doctor at this point, but have the time and are in a program to do an indepth study of a medical subspecialty. you are paid and your loans are accruing interest, some of them you have to start paying back and some of them you don't.
Edit: Also I'm getting huge ranges on loan amounts, what is the average cost of medical school?
It looks like being a state resident for my whole life is going to work out in my favor for attending SUNY for a medical degree if I can basically get in for $10,000 a semester, as opposed to $25,000. (Again, don't misread that, I made a mistake of not knowing my school loans before going into ITT and that bit me in the ass so fast).
A doctor is a doctor, and doctors do have to go down to the dirt, no matter if they like it or not. Most doctors I know have two jobs, and the things they have to do for a living sometimes sound surreal to me, of course, you have to use gloves and protective clothing, specially if you are in the area of surgery removing part of a colon (which must be washed during the procedure).
Sorry for the colourful details.
The future Olympian begins their career at a young age by being above average or exceptional in their sport. They cultivate this by training with great coaches and/or excellent facilities. Typically, they must be the best in their region which takes a great deal of time, money, and perserverance. Being an Olympian is not for everyone; in fact only a few actually make it. After the Olympics, many do not go pro in their sport and are still in financial limbo, even if they attain prestige with an Olympic medal.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
That is not at all a concern for me, I believe that this is what I'm interested in doing. Thankfully, in this case, medicine is one of the few fields where loan forgiveness is practiced. So while financial limbo is an utmost concern for Olympians or doctors, it's not really that big of a deal. I just highlighted my concern with my past experiences and looked for guidance. Yes, yes, I know, being a doctor is not about the money and it's not, but you'd have to be a silly goose to not consider financial ramifications of attending school again and with my experience with schools it's something I need to pay attention with.
I have nothing to back this up with, but I would assume that you're not even allowed to work through medical school at most universities.
I mean, I'm working full-time through law school and I want to kill myself.
My advice would be to quit your job and go to school full-time so you can focus your attention on your studies.
My girlfriend is getting ready to take a long exam to apply and become a Surgeon, if she is accepted, she is required to quit her current job and devote 4 years of her life to an internship.
I would assume I could get medical school loans to cover my apartment, electric, food, gas, car payments, outstanding debt? I can't dorm.
You can use loans to pay for anything you want while you're in school - that's the entire point of taking out loans. Having said that, taking out a loan to make car payments (a loan) and debt (a loan) is not a good idea, IMO.
And yes, I'm going to take my own advice starting in the fall. Working full-time through professional school is just about the worst experience in the world. I'm going to take out loans and go in to significant debt, but the plus side is that I'll finish school faster and hopefully get a job to pay off said debt.
You recently made a post about how to consolidate a large amount of debt, and this isn't your first topic on the subject either and now you want to tack on medical school expenses as well? You're already in a hole, and if you don't follow through with years of hard work the hole is going to be even bigger than what it is now. And if you do follow through, it will be even more years still until everything (including your existing debt) is paid off.
I understand the urge to change directions, but I really think it is something you should keep as a goal once your current fiscal situation has resolved itself, and if the urge is still there when that is done you can move forward.
What do you mean by assigned? Do you mean during your medical school rotations? Or do you mean for residency?
You are going to have to rotate through OB-gyn and surgery during your third year of medical school. If learning about medical things that aren't what you want to do for the rest of your life is a blow to your ego, don't go to medical school. As a 3rd year medical student you will be doing scut work and holding retractors and being ordered out of patients rooms and have patients refuse to let you touch them. If you can't handle that with humility you are going to have a hard time.
You can only be matched with residencies that are on your rank list. If you don't want to do OBgyn, don't apply to OBgyn residencies...o_O The vast majority of people have all the residencies on the match list in one specialty. The few that I knew that didn't were trying to get into competitive combined residencies, so they also listed non-combined residencies in one of the specialties (ie someone trying to get into med/peds would also list a few internal med residencies or a few peds residencies).
Fellowships are extremely specialized and most people going through them end up specializing in something even smaller than the broad topic of their fellowship.
You can get loans for med school and use them for whatever you want. The cost of each medical school varies dramatically and the official reported numbers for debt for graduating students in generally combined debt from both undergrad and med school (don't ask me why, that is just what they report). I think the national average for the class graduating in 2009 was 300k.
Also, you will need to submit your parents information on your FAFSA even if you are 35, married and are in the armed forces. A large portion of the student loans for med school come from a different source than the general undergraduate loans and they require parental information no matter what.
As for my existing debt, they'll exist for some time, and if I'm going to do this I don't want to start med school when I'm 45.
PAs are also a growing field as they tend to be cheaper to keep around than doctors.
You will get much better grades though if you really are interested in every rotation. You will get bad grades on your rotation if you can't fake interest. You will likely fail your rotation if you straight up tell your attending that it would be a blow to your ego to do their job. (especially if you say that to a colon surgeon since GI fellowships are considered hard to get)
But the medical field at large interests me and I love learning the things I have been able to so far. I see no reason why I wouldn't enjoy it immensely. I guess blow to my ego was the wrong choice of words, I assumed the scramble basically said "fuck it you have to take this." But if you understand where I'm coming from it'd be mildly depressing to be stuck with pediatrics if you were studying and wanted to be a plastic surgeon or something -- not necessarily a 'blow to my ego' that was probably the wrong choice of words on my part.
My girlfriend is currently a first year at UofC (university of calgary) , she is 33 and doesnt have a science background, it took her a few attempts but she eventually got in.
UofC is an accelerated course, 3 years compared to 4 for other med schools and its rough, alot of work and a lot of studying even if it was a 4 year I dont think one could work during it. So you pretty much will have to rely on student loans etc.
You learn everything, and when you start clerkship 3rd year, you will be rotated through everything, including stuff you may never want to do. After that is your residency which depending on what you want and if you are going to go into a speciality is another few years (tho you do get paid and are a "doctor" at this point)
Not sure how old you are but it might be a good idea to clear off some debt and work on some other things to make your application to medschool look more attractive. Like I said my GF is 33 and she isnt the oldest first year by a long shot. So you have time.
I've been feeling unfulfilled by my current job. Plus I am 98% positive that I want to be a doctor.
Oh God, I am so, so sorry.
Odds are you will need 1-3 years of remedial education before the MCAT.
Also, you should really check and make sure you aren't required to have a regionally accredited bachelors. I am almost certain that is a requirement.
We do have a 30 year old in our class. I have a friend at Stanford who got in at 40 (already had his PhD though).
I recommend www.studentdoctor.net/ and starting there. You'll hear it from everyone; premeds, med students, residents, attendings, physicians, etc etc. It's not easy and it certainly is NOT pretty. Also, your current choice in specialty may change completely when you actually do clinical rotations. I've heard stories of people doing complete 180s and changing their specialty choice while doing clinical rotations. Heard about people in 5th year of residency in neurology and completely breaking down and going into pediatrics.
Also, who in their right mind would want to work while in Medical School? I'm in a masters program working full time and I regret the decision and I cannot even begin to imagine people doing it in Med School (Mind you, I'm not in a ho-dunk masters either).
More like
I already worked for the university and full-time staff get a nice break on tuition. In my eagerness to go back to school, I failed to consider that:
1. Professional school is not the same as undergrad.
2. On top of the 40 hours a week I already work, I'd be adding 9 hours of classes, plus another 18-27 hours of studying a week.
I really wish I could go back in time and punch myself in the face because working full-time and going to law school was the worst decision I could have made.
Fortunately, I'm 90-97% sure I'm going to be able to quit my job this summer and go to school full-time on loans while my wife functions as the breadwinner until I graduate.
And to relate it back to the OP, there's no way you'd be able to work full-time through medical school. Drop this idea now and start looking in to loans.
Just pull old outlines and update them periodically. Don't worry about class. I was order of the coif with ~50% attendance avg. In a weird confluence of topicality, there was an ER doctor who was also a full time law student in my section and he didn't bother doing much of anything besides go save lives and do most of the reading and he was fine.
Was this guy's name Chuck Norris?
I wish I could do the same right now
I'm just wondering because as a Biology/Chem major myself I see Pre-Med hopefuls dropping like flies once they come up on Organic II / Biochem. I mean, be sure you got the chops for the Pre-Med stuff first, right?
Again, I dunno how you feel about the undergrad stuff, but that's just my personal observation.
You talk clean and bomb hospitals, so I speak with the foulest mouth possible