When to throw in the towel

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

This site has, for about 3 years now, kept me hopeful and encouraged as I aimlessly navigate my way through academia. Reading the blogs of ambitious and intelligent 50 something’s, really helps this 30 something remain hopeful. However, it has now been 3 years since graduation and I still am unsure what I to do with myself. So today I have been forced to make a move—that is if I want to see myself working towards a career before this year ends. I have narrowed my options down to these three…your thought and suggestions would help me sleep at night. As of now, sleep is interrupted by strange stress-filled dreams. I am sure these dreams are a manifestation of the hamster wheel in my brain that feels broken. Too many options are not good for this indecisive person.

  1. Apply to Post-Bac program that will cost me $31,000 and will require me to take out a unsub federal loan. Keep in mind; I am still paying off my undergrad student loan. It is kind of scary to think about another loan that may or may not gain me access to med school. Deadline March 15th (next week)

  2. Apply to a Master’s program will cost $20-30,000. This can help me begin my career but I run the risk of not revisiting the idea of med school. (deadline November)

  3. Take community college classes with little structure and guidance but pay much less.

  4. Get a phlebotomy cert, so I can work in a clinic and take courses at an extension where classes are $900 each, again unstructured and self guided until I apply to med school.


    In the meantime, I have to be able to maintain a full-time job so I can make ends meet. This economy has made all of my options really difficult—financial aid is null. The idea of “fixing” people and understanding the body and illness gives me goose-bumps (I love medicine). But, I am starting to think it may not be for me. I have yet to take Chem, O Chem, Physics, and Biology—it scares me to get into debt without knowing if my brain is capable of these sciences. Especially when I found Algebra difficult…
2

What career did you have in mind for your master’s degree? Do you work right now? If so, how adequate is the pay?

3

Many of my friends have found success at formal post bacc programs, but for convenience I did a 4 year DIY post bacc for about 20K at a private university. I think most people would say that there’s no “one right way” to do it. A lot of things depends upon your individual situation. For example, what you can afford, local availability and regional accreditation. I personally called the schools I was interested in and got the low down before I ever applied. The M.D. programs seemed to frown upon community college, but D.O. schools seem to be a bit more forgiving in that regard. Although the general consensus is 4 year is better.


Another option would be to do a class or two at a CC and then transfer to take some upper levels, I’ve heard of a few people doing that. My advice would be to call the schools you’re interested in, they’re admissions people are typically pretty laid back and straight forward. (At least in my experience!)



4

For immediate action you should apply to the post-bacc as the deadline looms. The actual decision to attend or not does not have to be made until you have an acceptance letter in your hand. Until then worry and stress about possible and cost is just FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt). (As a jew from new york, I have spent a lifetime fighting neurotic guilt).


If nothing else it will give you a little more time to make your decision. Tell us a little bit more of your background, original academic record, etc and they may help on suggestions on what may be a path for you.

5

Informal/DIY post-bacc worked well for me. Yes, there was less formalized support, but I was able to make use of my school’s extant (albeit traditional-student-based ) resources, the great support at OPM, and my own connections to do what I needed to do. Anyway, worked out well for me, and was much less expensive than a formal program.

6

ihopetobeado2:


I planned to get a MPH-- master’s in public health (health policy and management). I currently work as a data analyst for a health insurance company and the pay is okay for entry-level corporate work. This work can range from 45-65k.

7

Guitardan77


Thanks, a lot for the advice. I am sending an email to a few schools today to see what they think of UC Extension vs CC. I agree everyone’s experience is unique; it’s interesting to read about the many roads taken to the same destination.


gonnif


Thank you! I needed a push to direct action. I sadly, couldn’t make the deadline bc of required transcripts—just not enough time. However, you did help me realize I am not being proactive enough. I can sit and think about options all I want but unless I am putting myself out there I really don’t have all those options.


My introduction:


I completed my bachelor’s 2 years ago at the University of California Davis. My academic history had been rocky up until recently (about 10 years of trial and error). I guess it’s attributed to lack of guidance and resources. And maybe getting this far is a huge achievement, but I don’t want to stop now. I really have a passion for helping people – I’m thinking we all do. After speaking with advisers, I realize you can help people in many ways besides having an MD. However, there is something about hands-on work and the power to diagnose and understand human biology at a higher level, excites me. I admire the work a doctor/medical scientist does…why admire and why not do it?


I have remained hopeful and confident that with the resources available to me now and (newly developed) maturity I can attempt med school. Suffer from FUD a lot lately.


pi1304


It’s great to hear from someone who has done it. Thanks for your suggestion. I am looking at affordability. Finding that SF state costs about 600 a unit…grrr. Doing my shopping around before next semester begins.

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Since you talked about SF State, I assume you’re in the Bay Area. There is a user here - Campkel who took most of his pre-reqs at UC Berkely extension and is now at Touro-CA, I think. He wrote about his experience at UCB ext several times in reply to other posts. You should search for those.

9

Thank You THank You Thank you! That was a pressing question…what others think of this program.

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  • CalifGirl Said:
1. Apply to Post-Bac program that will cost me $31,000 and will require me to take out a unsub federal loan. Keep in mind; I am still paying off my undergrad student loan. It is kind of scary to think about another loan that may or may not gain me access to med school. Deadline March 15th (next week)

2. Apply to a Master’s program will cost $20-30,000. This can help me begin my career but I run the risk of not revisiting the idea of med school. (deadline November)

3. Take community college classes with little structure and guidance but pay much less.

4. Get a phlebotomy cert, so I can work in a clinic and take courses at an extension where classes are $900 each, again unstructured and self guided until I apply to med school.



I think it ultimately comes to two common considerations: risk and reward. How much risk is there? How comfortable are you with that risk? And after that, does the end result get you closer to medicine?

It sounds like it's not your desire to go into medicine, but how feasible it is to pursue that course of action. Personally, I've been in the same situation for about two years now. I decided in 2009 I wanted to go to medical school. Unfortunately, a GPA of 2.52 (AMCAS calculation), a bunch of W's, and incomplete prerequisites put me into precarious grounds to pursue that. My choice was ultimately to go to a traditional MS program and pursue a career somewhere in the business of medicine. Once my fiancee gets through pharmacy school, she'll help pay for all the work I need to do to get into and through a DO program.

I could have gone to a SMS-type program. But for me, the risk was too great. At the time, I had little to no job qualifications. If an SMS failed to get me into med school, I'd be stuck with no job qualifications and a ton more debt. No thanks.

For me, the MS was a good compromise. It'll put me in a career where I can keep tabs on medical careers. It'll be somewhat relevant to medicine if I have to defend why I waited so long to get my act together before pursuing med school to an ADCOM (the explanation of "had to wait till I had money" seems strangely insufficient). And if med school doesn't work out, I end up with a good career all the same. Bottom line? I found a path that had an acceptable ratio of risk to reward and would leave me with a "what if it doesn't work out?" option.

Looking at your options:

1. If you have the money, go for it. You can always decide not to go. But you don't have the option to decide for yourself unless you have an acceptance letter in hand. If money is an issue, then call up the admissions office and have a chat. Do you qualify for the program? What percentage of students in the program get accepted to medical school out of it? Get as much information as you can. Come back here with that info if you'd like. Meanwhile, have the application ready to go at a moment's notice. Don't leave the application until you decide to go for it, because you might decide to go for it the day before the deadline.

2. Dollars and sense. First, will the MS get you a job you think you'd like? And in that vein, is it somehow relevant to a career in medicine? Next, money. Assuming you earn a reasonable amount more with that MS, how long will it take you to pay back the loan? If you say 30 years, this could be a major financial roadblock. If the answer is five, then perhaps this isn't a concern.

3. Community college classes are looked down on by ADCOMS. Perhaps that's unfair, but it is what it is. The only way I'd do this is if there's REALLY no other choice, or if you get a conditional med school acceptance (Congrats Mr./Ms. So-and-so, we'd like to accept you. Please just finish this one pre-requisite before classes begin on XX/YY/ZZZZ). I know pharmacy schools will do this (my fiancee has one such acceptance), but I can't swear about med schools. Anyway, this is water under the bridge as you seem to have other options after all, and no one's sent you a conditional acceptance.

4. Disclaimer: I'm not you. That said, if I was, this is the kind of thing I would go for. This career could well be a step in the right direction to medical school compared to whatever corporate job you're now at. You don't need to spend an inordinate amount of money to take this path, meaning little risk if med school flops. And you have opportunity to take some courses along the way.

That's my take, at least. Important to note- a lot of these assessments of risk and such are very much based on personal values. If you disagree with anything I said, please, take what you think. I can only tell you what I think- you need to make the judgements for yourself.

Cheers!

-Fedaykin