plan B?

Hello! I was wondering, did any of you had a backup plan if you did not get into med school (1st time or after many attempts). Maybe I should not have a backup plan, right? For me its PA school. Thoughts please! :O

Marcy,
A back-up plan is never a bad idea – the only difference is that for each of us it may vary greatly. For myself, not getting admitted this year is discouraging, but not unexpected. There are many, many students who become med students after more than one try. So, for me, the back-up plan is to continue working in my research job (which, by the way, I truly do enjoy.) :p And, while I keep working, planning on being published later this year, I also plan on taking a few courses over the next year - like pharmacology and molecular biology.
If, heaven forbid, I don’t get in the second time around, I am lucky in having a future in research. But, I would apply a third time, if necessary. Until the time comes when I can see absolutely nothing else I feel I can do to improve my application, or until I get so old and decrepit that I just can’t see myself making it through med school and practicing medicine (hmm, maybe by the age of 70!), I will continue striving to achieve my goal.
Best of luck to you as you endeavor to fulfill your aspirations!

I know some might not agree with this … but I don’t have a back up plan. Not becoming a doctor is not an option for me.
That doesn’t mean to say I will definitely get in on my first try,
but you know the saying:
IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED, TRY TRY AGAIN!
I am in Canada,Ontario specifically. I am keeping my fingers crossed for an Ontario school, I am specifically hoping for Mac or UofT, but any Ontario school really, because I have read in many places you usually have the best chance of getting in to a school in your home state or province.
But I will move to another province if I can get into a med school there- and if I don’t get into a Canadian school on the first round I will reapply and reapply and reapply. And in the meantime I will also start applying to the American schools and I will keep applying until someone breaks down and lets me in!
I read a book a couple of years ago about a doctor’s experiences in his residency( both the book title and author’s name escape me at the moment), he applied to thirty schools before he was accepted. He applied to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ireland as a last resort, was accepted, and a couple of months later he was invited by his first choice in New York to come back for a second interview( he had applied in the years previous) and he was accepted. Just think of what would have happened if this guy had’ve given up- and decided after getting a few rejections that"some things just weren’t meant to be".
I believe that if you really want medicine badly enough, you will get in eventually.Even if it means applying, improving your application, reapplying, applying to schools you didn’t previously consider, etc. On that point, some people have their hearts set on going to a particular school. While it’s fine to keep your fingers crossed if you have a favourite, or one that is the closest to where you live, I think to give up if you don’t get into that school, or to give up after applying to a few schools,then maybe you didn’t want it as badly as you thought you did. And maybe, you subconsciously conveyed that to the admissions committees.
I say, if you really want it, then keep charging forward, even if the going gets rough, and the whole process gets tiring and discouraging at times. So you got rejected by Schools A B and C. You will get accepted eventually, either by reapplying at those same schools, or by applying at others.
So there you have it folks- my rationale for the absence of a Plan B. I will keep plugging, and eventually I will get in, even if it takes me a littile longer, I will get in, and I will be a doctor eventually( or die tryin’ :p )

This was a worry of my husband’s, because I didn’t have a Plan B. What I told him was that if I had a fairly palatable Plan B, why the he11 would I be pursuing the arduous Plan A of medical school, residency, and private practice!
But everyone’s different. Last year I was a student interviewer at my medical school, and one of many things we were asked to assess was an applicant’s grip on reality as evidenced by alternative planning. Someone who couldn’t think of anything else to do was not regarded highly. (Made me glad that the question didn’t come up in my interview there!) Note this wasn’t like a required question with an expected particular answer - more a gauge of someone’s thoughtful adult thinking processes. Obviously if I hadn’t gotten in, I would’ve first, tried again, and second, come up with an alternative. I did set a time limit - for me it was two application cycles and then I’d look elsewhere. Fortunately I got in on the first try! :laugh:
But I couldn’t really seriously think of an attractive alternate career when I was focusing all my efforts onto getting into medicine. I personally think it’s OK not to have a Plan B but do be prepared for a question about it on interviews - I’ve spoken with others who’ve gotten this query.

I hope I don’t get asked that question in my interviews… because it means I will have to make something up. And I am a dreadful liar. I have the type of face that if I say something that even slightly deviates from the 100% truth it will be as obvious as a neon sign.
I honestly don’t know what I would do if I didn’t get in after applying like 300 times. I know that a career in one of the allied health professions would not satisfy me. I would be eternally bitter that I did not become a doctor which is my true dream and dare I say it, calling. So I don’t know how on earth I would answer that question other than saying that I will keep applying and reapplying until I get accepted. And I will also make my application as competitive as possible to give myself a good chance.
Personally, if I were on an admissions committee, and there was an applicant who had consistently re-applied for several consecutive years, it would convey to me that they must really want it.
Hopefully I will get in on the first try like you Mary! And hopefully I will not be asked that question! :D

AD, an AdCom is not going to be swayed by seeing that someone really wants it, unless they think the person can also make it. Med schools only want to admit people who will be able to make it through, graduate, and become competent physicians. Short lesson: put your money where your mouth is, make your application as impressive as you possibly can. It’s a lot easier to say “All I want to do is be a physician” if you’ve got good recent grades, solid MCATs, and an overall impressive thoughtful application.
As to the “Plan B” question: Give this issue some more thought, because I know that mine is not the only medical school where interviewers may ask this question, and “apply again” is not the right answer - at least not all by itself. While you’re pondering, think about your answer to the question “Why do you want to be a doctor?” Hopefully you can articulate several specific things about the role of physician that particularly attract you to this profession. (This is another question you’re likely to encounter.) You could answer the “Plan B” question by saying something like, “I am so focused on becoming a physician, I haven’t wanted to consider other professions, but I know that if I did have to choose something else, it would be important for it to include these features.” Then list the things about being a doctor that are appealing to you.
I have a friend who answered “apply again” when she was posed this question. Her interviewer responded with, “No, no, I’m talking about, if this just wasn’t an option, there were NO medical schools, the profession didn’t exist. What would you focus your interests on then?”

I got this question at two different schools.
One time, the interviewer was put to rest because I just said, “Well, I already got into [School X], so, that’s only a theoretical issue for me now” and then he sang the praises of School X and then changed the subject. (That was one of the nicest moments of my interview season; may all OPMs be blessed with the opportunity to say this.) The other interviewer wasn’t ready to yield so quickly, though! He said, yeah, OK, fine, you’re in already, but what if you hadn’t got in? In other words, he wasn’t asking because he wanted to know what I was going to do if I wasn’t getting in to medical school; he wanted to know more about who I was as a person and thought this was an interesting way to find out.
My honest answer was that I’d go get an RN and a PhD, a combination which, as I’ve said elsewhere on this board, exemplifies the kind of doctor I want to be: caretaker and scholar. In fact from time to time I still think this would have been a better idea for me!
I think this is worth thinking about carefully not only because it will likely be an interview question, but because from my point of view if you must have medicine as your only destiny then every minor and major setback along the way will be totally terrifying. I find it very comforting to know that if I hate medical school or medicine for some reason I can go do something else quite nice with my time. Knowing that also made me less desperate when I got to interviews.
And this leads to the other reason to come up with a Plan B for interviews. As with dating, being less desperate makes people want you–at least if you are reasonably attractive and interested in them in a not-desperate way. An interviewer is not looking to help her interviewees as some kind of charity effort to help the people who really really want it; she’s doing it to help her medical school find good students, end of story.
But if you can’t think of any Plan B maybe another approach would be something like, “If that happened, I’d really need to go back to square one and reassess a lot of my thinking and priorities. I don’t know what my answer would be, but I know that I’m the sort of person who just takes things one thing at a time, and medicine is the thing that’s in front of me right now. If I end up needing a Plan B, I would have to rethink so many parts of my life that I’ve just decided I’ll deal with that then.” This sort of approach would indicate that you’re not so obsessive that you were unwilling to contemplate the idea, but that you thoughtfully and without desperation decided not to choose a Plan B. Doctors are used to saying to people who get scary diagnoses, “Let’s just take this one step at a time”’; it might not be so bad to approach the prospect of not being a doctor the same way.
sf/dc joe

<!–QuoteBegin–Aspiring Doctor+June 30 2002 5:36 pm–>

Quote (Aspiring Doctor @ June 30 2002 5:36 pm)
I honestly don’t know what I would do if I didn’t get in after applying like 300 times… Personally, if I were on an admissions committee, and there was an applicant who had consistently re-applied for several consecutive years, it would convey to me that they must really want it.

I sort of addressed this already, but I wanted to speak to it specifically because this is a common and good-hearted and optimistic idea among premeds, but it is not true. And, if it goes along with being unrealistic about what it takes to get into med school, it can even be self-destructive. Most schools put a strict limit on the number of times you can reapply (often this is three times). This strongly suggests that desire and persistence are not in and of themselves major factors in admissions.
The reason for this is simple: the vast majority of people who get good grades in their prereqs and good MCAT scores and good research and/or volunteer and/or work experience really strongly want to be doctors. Thus, medical school admissions committees are not overwhelmed with applications from people who dislike medicine, and therefore do not need to put special effort into finding or making allowances for people based on their desire to become physicians per se.
sf/dc joe

Those are some good thoughts on possible answers- I really didn’t know how I would answer a question like that, other than, like I was saying, I would keep reapplying until I got in
( oh, and when I made the comment about reapplying 300 times I didn’t mean to one school, I meant all the schools collectively :D )
I had thought my answer would show commitment to the profession, and conviction that I had made the right choice.
Up until now, the closest thing I had to a Plan B is applying to American schools, and as a plan C, Caribbean schools, such as St.George’s and Saba, since ideally, I would really like to go to school in Canada if possible. Med school will be hard enough without the time and expense of moving, if I can avoid that hassle by getting in locally, all the better.
But both yours and Mary’s posts have given me something to think about, and I do believe I will make note of your responses in case the question does come up in an interview because I like how they are worded- showing flexibility without sounding wishy-washy!
I am concerned that if I were to mention a specific alternative career, especially one that required much less schooling, etc ( as most professions do), that I would come across as flippant or cavalier, Like, If I get in great, if I don’t, whatever, I’ll just do “this”. But as you mentioned , you don’t want to come across as please oh please oh please oh please I really wanna get in you just gotta let me in oh please oh please oh please. It is great when you have some leverage, when you already have acceptances from one or more other schools, and you tell the interviewer that you really want to attend this school because of " X "!

Sorry, I also wanted to add too that I am working to make my application BRUTALLY competitive and also unique, for as you mentioned the schools are deluged with qualified applicants, all who want to study medicine as much as I do. So I am not counting on persistence alone to get me in the doors. If I am not accepted , I will ask for feedback, and will make a concerted effort to improve the aspect of my application that was mentioned, whatever it is that they said held me back.
But you are right too- a lot of premeds have illusions of grandeur, they think they will apply to their dream school and get accepted lickety split, and then they are crushed when they begin the process of applying, going for interviews, being rejected, reapplying, etc. Mmmmm, I was just thinking, those people in the performance arts professions would be able to take it all in stride, as they would be used to auditioning, getting in some cases, brutally criticized and rejected, and going right back out there and on to the next audition. All in a days’ work for them!
I will definitely not start applying until my application really stands out, because at the moment I would be told to take a flying leap and tossed out on my ear!

Quote (joewright @ July 01 2002 1:57 am)
My honest answer was that I'd go get an RN and a PhD, a combination which, as I've said elsewhere on this board, exemplifies the kind of doctor I want to be: caretaker and scholar. In fact from time to time I still think this would have been a better idea for me!
sf/dc joe

Did you ever think of doing MD/PhD? We need more nontrads in this group, but of course everybody is scared away by the time commitment (at least 7 years instead of 4)

It’s funny you know, but at an “advanced age” and with prior careers, having a Plan B just doesn’t hold the same weight for us oldies as for some of the young 'uns. I don’t feel that if I don’t get into medicine I will just have to roll over and die, or “settle” for something else.
I really want to get in, but if I don’t, I might use my past business experience (and the $$$$$ that I would have spent on Medschool ) to buy a business. Or I might go into teaching and help shape the minds of future healthcare professionals :;):. I am also considering Speech/Language Pathology and a few other health-related professions. I feel however, that staying in the health field might make me feel bitter down the road about not getting into medicine… who knows. Right now, I don’t feel alot of pressure, and I think I have several Plan Bs, but am choosing to pursue medicine as my first choice.

I’m hoping that there are some biochem Ph.D. programs out there that accept MCAT scores in lieu of GRE’s, but I haven’t looked into this too much.
Good question though.

Quote
Did you ever think of doing MD/PhD? We need more nontrads in this group, but of course everybody is scared away by the time commitment (at least 7 years instead of 4)

Yep… still thinking about it at least a little bit… maybe transferring in to a program once I get to schoool? I’ve done a little bit of homework about it, but I have some time to decide, so, we’ll see. There is another thread about this somewhere on this forum… there are a few people on OPM who are considering that path.
sf/dc joe

<!–QuoteBegin–joewright+July 15 2002 9:06 am–>

Quote (joewright @ July 15 2002 9:06 am)

Yep… still thinking about it at least a little bit… maybe transferring in to a program once I get to schoool? I’ve done a little bit of homework about it, but I have some time to decide, so, we’ll see. There is another thread about this somewhere on this forum… there are a few people on OPM who are considering that path.
sf/dc joe

Well I think that Harvard will let first year med students apply for the MD/PhD program but I’m not positive about that. I think they just revamped their curriculum to reduce the training period. I know that in previous years, some people were complaining that it took Harvard MD/PhD students on average 9-10 years to complete the program. Supposedly, the new curriculum is supposed to reduce that time to 7-8 years total.
Of course, you can still do research without the PhD and many people do that. It really depends on what kind of research you want to do and how “molecular” and/or “transitional” you want it to be.