I have decided to take more time to really think through my decision to pursue medicine (again). In the past 12 months, I have experienced the following: mono, injury from overtraining (I’m a cyclist), near death from a bee sting allergy, allergic reaction to medication for said beesting, infestation, throwing out 80% of what I own, breakup of a long-term relationship, death of an old friend, moving to a new apartment, IRS audit, struck by a car and hospitalized… (3 times in the ER total this year)
With all that’s happened, I feel like I’m being a taught a huge lesson: SLOWWWW down ! Now I do things I never do. Stop. Listen. Look. Living in NYC, I’ve gone from the finding the fastest super-quick path through the subway to a seat on the train, to walking twice as slow and letting people in front of me (it drives some of my still super-quick friends insane).
But then I decided to pursue medicine, and whenever I talk to anyone about it, whether it’s friends, admissions people, other pre-meds, the questions and comments are the same… so quickly can you get it done?
I figure that I’ve waited 13+ years. What’s another year, really? Another year to think through and experience what medicine is really like, before diving in? I’m short, I’m pretty sure I’ll live a long time. And, I’m still not sure about the best approach since I completed most of pre-med, albeit 13+ years ago. Do I continue working? Do I quit? Which school? What courses? Should I move to a cheaper location? etc. So I want to wait and see what doors open and close. My goal is finding the environment where I will learn best. The balance is between having just enough to live on vs just enough amount of time to study so I don’t mess up my grades Thankfully I am single (well, sort of thankfully).
At the same time, I am wondering what are the cons, as well as the pros, to just sitting and waiting, other than the obvious – applying with an extra digit or 2 to one’s age, and a couple years’ less worth of retirement income.
Thoughts?
Honestly I was going to push through this year to get my last few pre reqs done, but with three kids, none of which were healthy this year, I’m opting to slow down another year as well.
They’re only little once. My oldest will already be halfway through highschool by the time residency comes, what’s another year? The important thing for me is making the grades. Second to that, getting to med school w/ as little debt as possible, so if that means slowing down to work a bit more, so be it. I have to be fiscally responsible about this too.
I’m rambeling now. But all of my rambelings do have a point. You will get there when you’re ready. It’s not a sprint. It’s not even a race. It’s a marathon and the point to marathons is finishing. All who cross that line are winners.
I love the marathon analogy. Plus it doesn’t make sense to get into marathons without building up to it with smaller races.
I guess I am crabby today, but I hate the marathon analogy. (I’m fine with the slow & steady approach to premed, I just hate the analogy).
The point of the [running] marathon is actually to win, not just finish. Same as sprint races. Just because the suburban soccer mom running “community” (of which I am a part) has taken the “we’re all winners” view on just finishing does not mean that what the 6 hr walk/runner accomplished was equivalent to what the sub 3-hr nonprofessional marathoner accomplished.
Maybe the analogy should be that premed is like marathon TRAINING. Take however long you need training (taking courses), because you need to be race ready (apply) and competitive (high GPA, high MCAT). You don’t want to be a 6 hr marathoner (2.8 GPA) competing against 3 hr guys (3.9 GPA), because they will finish the race first (win=get accepted. . .finish=reapply next year). And when you have dedicated the proper amount of time to training, you can feel confident that you are ready for the race (why spend energy applying when you aren’t confident about getting accepted somewhere).
Sorry for the tangent. . .maybe this is my way of expressing the frustration of trading my own running time for taking chem 2 this summer! 
- In reply to:
It is this part of the analogy I was thinking about. I would rather be good and ready, then sign up for the marathon -- like many people do, I'm afraid -- before one is ready to go the full distance.
I totally agree with your breakdown of the marathon analogy- except in one aspect. You can't take too much time in pre-med, because you have to show you can perform like the 3 hour guys when you hit the start line.
I love the way AliJ broke it down! I have been feeling frustrated lately as well, and although I like the marathon idea of it all, I am a runner and a cross country runner for most of my life…although I’ve had to take a hiatus because of health issues the past few years and I have recently started running again, I am starting to train for a half marathon and my boyfriend is starting to notice as I get more involved with pre-med activities and school how highly competitive I am…and he once lived with a friend of ours who is a doctor as well so he made the statement about type A personalities and how it doesn’t quite fit with the “everyone is a winner who finishes/marathon analogy that he’s been listening to me spout off about” so I’m printing AliJ’s post for him! I couldn’t have explained it better!!!
I hope that makes sense…I was pretty rambley!
- minan Said:
I totally agree with your breakdown of the marathon analogy- except in one aspect. You can't take too much time in pre-med, because you have to show you can perform like the 3 hour guys when you hit the start line.
Ha! I was actually going to say that, too, but then I remembered this nontrad MS1 student I met last spring who worked on her undergrad degree for 11 years. I am trying to get going as soon I can myself. I couldn't stay motivated for 11 yrs!
Haha. It’s good. I’m keeping my original thought process though b/c it does indeed keep ME going. With the year I’ve had with kids in the doctors office every other week, perhaps I’m still just in training mode, but I will get there. Just not as fast as I hoped, so I’m trudging along. Slow and steady is my motto. Perhaps it really is a tortois/hare thing for me LOL.
- RAdamson Said:
I hope that makes sense...I was pretty rambley!
Thanks! And good luck with the half marathon. The last half marathon I did was in 2006, and I miss it. 2007 was injury-plagued. I actually trained in 2008 but ended up traveling too much in October to do the race. A few weeks ago, I told the local running club president to take me off the mailing list, and I would catch up with them in June 2010.
- In reply to:
11 years?! That's a long time. She must have had a compelling story.
I'm all for taking my time getting around to taking pre-med, but once I start my coursework, I plan to take off like a rabbit. At the same time, I'd like to be those zen 3 hour runners who seem very relaxed mentally... who can easily get in the zone. I figure that pre-med will be good practice.
I wonder if there are any performance / sports psychologists who've studied successful, high-performing med students and physicians.
- LC2Doc Said:
Hey if it works for you, then by all means, use it!
- minan Said:
11 years?! That's a long time. She must have had a compelling story.
She did. . .was a 17 y.o. mom, abusive previous relationship, Native American, four kids. But, all that aside, she was an awesome person on her own merit.
Yeah, Ali, I can see your point. But I’m thinking that when people on this site use the term marathon, that is actually what they are talking about…the training. It’s the training that you don’t want to rush through…because if you aren’t prepared, it doesn’t matter how fast or long the actual race, you won’t be able to finish it.
I guess that is the idea…do not try to rush your training. While I haven’t yet run a marathon myself (maybe one day), I have looked at various training plans and to train right, it takes time and a building up process. That is what I think they mean by the analogy of the marathon.
Well, yes and no. According to what I’ve heard, you generally don’t want to take TOO long completing your pre-med. Another way of stating it is, adcoms prefer to see you do the coursework in less than 3 years, because it looks more like the volume of work you’ll see in med school.
Obviously, it’s easier to get high marks when it’s one class at a time, and a lot harder if it’s more than one class. At least from what I’ve heard, adcoms are pretty unimpressed if you did your premed over 3 years (obviously there are exceptions). Although it’s probably also not smart to try to do it all in a year… unless you can truly handle it.
I would appreciate someone confirming what I’ve said, who actually knows what they’re talking about (e.g. has been on an adcom)
Yup, you are right, it is obviously easier to do well with fewer classes, and hence getting things done with more classes per semester is more impressive IF you do well 
BTW it’s funny how 4 years sounds like an eternity when you’re younger, and like a blink of an eye when you’re older. That’s why I can’t be moved to rush things. I’ve waited 15 years; what’s another year?!
Wow! What a lot of questions!
I quess it depends on what you want to do. It sounds like you want to take this slow. I am not sure if this is because you are still unsure of your true quest, fear of the unknown/change…You are the only one that can answer those questions. If you think the goal is to take the MCAT in the future, you will need to decide what you need to prepare for the MCAT and what you will need as pre-req’s for medical school. (I for example had taken all of my bio classes 10 years before the MCAT, and felt strong enough that I did not need to repeat them. I did need to retake all my chemistry classes and needed to take physics). You also need to decide where you want to go to school. It might be best to do your pre-reqs in the same state that you live to avoid high out-of-state tuition. You also have to decide if you are going to continue to work. This will depend on what you do, can you work part-time, are class times while you are working or are evening classes available(will have to look at schools)…
You can do this as fast or as slow as you need…however, medical schools do want to see that you can handle a full course load. One reason for the admissions people to take a slower approach is that you need to work to pay for school.
You have a lot of soul searching and research to do
There are other forums that talk about courses and our recommendations.
Good luck,
Rachel, DO
Emergency Medicine
- RWankum Said:
You can do this as fast or as slow as you need...however, medical schools do want to see that you can handle a full course load. One reason for the admissions people to take a slower approach is that you need to work to pay for school.
You have a lot of soul searching and research to do
I've gotten some really good advice from admission people I met at the conference. I am only missing one course, organic chemistry, and my MCAT is old so I need to retake it.
I keep hearing different perspectives on whether or not to retake courses; at the conference, both Judy Colwell and the admissions person from PCOM were very strongly against it! This goes against the advice I've been hearing, although I have only spoken with people from DO and foreign med schools.
Rule 3: It depends
if your course work is old but good, putting your energy into MCAT, and etc may be a better route, One thing you miss by not taking classes is seeing how good a student you still are. You may want to take a few advance bio courses to supplement. Actually retaking freshman bio which changes so much and has good review for MCAT may not be a bad thing
Right. And thus, my plan right now is to take orgo, re-take MCAT, apply to 10-15 DO schools, 2-3 foreign MD, and if I don’t get in, get advice from rejectors, do an SMP program, and try again. That seems to be the most reasonable approach.