Hi,
My purpose for this post is to ask how parents, especially mothers, make it work with a family before embarking on this major career switch. My husband is a lawyer, who works long hours, and we have a 2-year-old. I am also 5 months pregnant with our second. My husband is incredibly supportive and on board with this switch, but I am nervous about the sacrifices that come with becoming a physician and balancing them with being the best mom I can be. My second concern is how to formulate my why statement. My son was born premature and spent 6 weeks in the NICU. The doctors who worked with him had a significant, life-changing effect on me. I want to give back in the same way as a physician. I think SLP is a great field, but I felt limited at times in my scope of practice. I would like to use a more in-depth knowledge base of medical pathologies to make a difference in the lives of the patients I work with. As strongly as I feel internally, I can’t help but think this “significant life event” personal statement comes across as generic. Any advice on career switches as a parent and personal statements would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Hi there!
I’m taking the MCAT June 5 applying this cycle and am a mother of 3, age 48 years! I think I can understand a bit of your dilemma. I have some similar reasons for wanting to become a physician (My oldest daughter, now 18) was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 2. I’m struggling with my personal statement too. I’d like to address your concern about career switching as a parent, but I’d like to know if you’ve already taken the MCAT and when you plan to apply.
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Hi! That’s awesome that you are applying this cycle! Thank you for your response.
I actually do not plan to take the MCAT until 2021 at the earliest. In undergrad, I only took a few science courses and that was about 10 years ago. So, I am planning on doing a DIY post-bacc at a local university and taking all of the prerequisite courses starting in the Spring of next year before applying. My undergraduate science GPA was 3.6, overall 3.93, and Master’s GPA was 3.95.
If you don’t mind me asking, when and where did you complete your prerequisites? I completely understand having difficulty with the personal statement. I feel that it is very important to have a strong and clear “why” statement to drive the whole process. Have you been able to shadow doctors to get more clarity on why you want to become a doctor?
Good luck to you! Look forward to hearing back.