Hi. This is my first post here, although I have been reading many of the threads. I am a 39 y.o. married mom of a 7 and 10 y.o. I am currently finishing my PhD in public health, hoping to conclude my dissertation by Dec. My passion has always been medicine, but I needed to work, so that I could get my permanent residency (greencard)since I am not a US citizen. Since my employer, would pay for it, I started the PhD classes while I waited for the green card. I got the greencard last fall, so now I am able to apply to medical school. However, I am struggling with my medical school desicion:
1)My udergraduate was in a non-US country, which uses a weighted average mean (WAM)instead of GPA. I have a WAM of 66 (upper second class honors). My masters (nutrition) and PhD were done in the US, with an average of 3.7 GPA - will medical school just use these GPAs?
2) Time- I will need to do a postbac to get my prereqs since my bachelors was over 10 years ago. I anticipate 2 years of this, then 4 of medical school, then 3 residency. I will be 48 when I am done!
3)Finances - I will not work for the 2 postbac and 4 medical school years which will definately put a strain on my family - perharps have to give up our house. How have others survived?
4)Time away from family - I will not spend much time with my kids in their pre and adolescent periods - critical time. I feel like I am being selfish. How have others managed to jugle family and difficult medical school and residency programs?
So, I guess my thoughts right now are: is it worth it? Others have adviced me to settle for a physician assistant (PA)career which is shorter, and cheaper. They argue that with my PhD and PA, I will do clinical work and also have lots of opportunities and flexiblity. What do you all think?
Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Welcome to the site! I know you will enjoy the community, everyone is beyond helpful and polite. I am sorry I cannot qualify to help answer your questions, but I am sure someone who is will be by to help. But otherwise, enjoy the site and hope your active here!!
Welcome to the site…some of those questions no one can answer but you…I think alot of us have weighed the PA versus Doctor question at one point for many various reasons and it’s really something you have to figure out for yourself. As far as the family thing, and the financial thing that is something that you and your family have to sit down and make a plan regarding if it’s feasible how you will do it and what it will take to get you there. But at any rate welcome to the board and maybe some of the others can answer some of the more technical questions regarding GPA!
On the question of how your original undergraduate work will be viewed, you will have to consult with admissions officers at medical schools for the answer. Any of us here can give you an opinion but we are not well-informed in this area and so our opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it. 
You simply MUST go to the source. Good luck!
Mary
Dr. Renard, your profile seems very similar to mine. Do you mind sharing some of your experiences on my other questions/concerns? Let me know if you would rather email me directly. Thanks
It certainly can be done. we had a couple of moms with kids in my UNECOM class and they got through ok.
I agree with the others- there is a lot of consideration to be done as to the best path for you. My own experience was thus:
I did it with 3 daughters at home - all in teens when I started - I was away 90 % of the time, for 6 of 7 years. Did I miss stuff? yea - Did they survive? yea… they have all done very well so far, and perhaps a bit more independent then they might have been otherwise, and also perhaps a it more willing to risk for a bigger goal because they saw dad do that.
Time? It is a big commitment to be sure - you are at the higher end of the bell curve, but both Mary and I have you beat by a bit, (Med school at 45 - finished residency at 52)
Finances? sort of deep in debt - but we did not loose the house. The state of NH is helping with the loans because I work in an underserved area.
PA vs MD/DO (did you think about DO?) job responsibilities are similar - pay and options a bit better for the top dog position. I think it partly comes down to this: if you don’t go for the top will you really wish you had?
I can’t tell you what you should do. only that it can be done. you will be 48 in ten years whether you go for the PA, the PhD, or what.
For me it was absolutely worth it. If for no other reason then looking back and saying “I still am not sure how or even why… but I succeeded at something that relatively few even have the nerve to try… and that is really really cool”
- plot10 Said:
This is the part that I think I answered already - you are going to need to talk to admissions officers at med schools to get a sense of how this will work. I don't think there is anyone on our forums who'll be able to answer this question.
- In reply to:
First of all, doing some postbacc work to complete your prerequisites (whether in a formal post-bacc program or just taking the prereqs a la carte) will provide you with additional grades to submit with your application, so that's a *part* of the answer to your first question.
Your timeline is probably actually too compressed because you need to allow a full year for the application process: you apply in June of one year for admission to the class that will start the *following* August or September (14 months later). So if you have two years' worth of prerequisites to do, and you apply as you complete that work, it'll be another year before you start med school.
You will be 48 in 9 years regardless of what you do. I found it .... unproductive is the best word, I guess, to think of the med school pursuit as "OMG I will be old as Methuselah when I am done." Since I was very sure it was the right career path for me, it was easy to shrug off the age.
- In reply to:
Ask lots of questions here to find out how people are doing this. I am the fortunate exception in that my income prior to med school was insignificant compared with my husband's more substantial income. Depending on how you design your post-bacc program, you may be able to work part-time during that portion of your studies.
- In reply to:
My oldest left for college as I began my post-bacc; I brought books with me to my middle child's football practices and my youngest child's skating practices. I really pared back on other commitments so that school and family were it. I was obsessive about being able to visualize my schedule well in advance so that I knew how I would get my studying done AND watch out for my kids too.
Med school was not as awful as I expected. During the first two years, I had some free time that I could schedule around. Again, I planned obsessively to make sure that I worked ahead if one of my kids had something big going on.
In some ways I think it was good to have kids around - kept me from becoming a self-absorbed neurotic medical student. I actually grew to like the distraction of family, kids, etc. It meant that I was not top in my class but I did well enough to accomplish what I wanted to.
By residency, my youngest was starting college and so the minute-to-minute kid stuff wasn't there, but there was certainly still plenty to worry about. We have a cellular family plan with unlimited texting and minutes
and that usually gets us through most things.That is not to say that there aren't challenges and crises. I often felt stretched waaaaay too thin and to this day am not sure how I kept my head above water at times. Even though moms are the ultimate multi-taskers, it was still a lot of juggling sometimes. But we managed.
I do have to say that I feel extraordinarily fortunate. My husband was totally supportive and had flexibility in his job such that we could still devote lots of time to our family. My parents lived nearby and could be helpful. And my kids -- well, they're just great kids, and I had the foundation of a really good relationship with them to help us get through it all.
- In reply to:
For me, it was worth it. There is no way to tell anyone else whether it's worth it for them, though. You kind of have to do your best projections of what you think you and your family can handle, and then decide whether you are going to take the big leap of faith that it will turn out OK. Good luck!
Mary