Hello all,
I’ve been lurking for a few weeks and have tried to find a similar thread to no avail. I have been reading about a lot of OPM career-changers and their struggles to complete prereqs and study for the MCAT while working and maintaining a family life. These are great and relevant topics for me but there has been something missing that I’m curious about.
Why are you making the switch in the first place?
I’ll start.
To being with, I’m not sure I will make the switch (though I’m clearly thinking hard about it). I am a 30-year old attorney and have been practicing for almost two years. I went to a (lower) top-tier law school at a university that also has an excellent medical school. I was a Music major as an undergrad and have not taken any of the med school prereqs.
I put myself through undergrad by running a group home for children with disabilities. I did that for seven years and LOVED it. If there was any money in it I would happily work there for the rest of my life. As it was, after seven years I was earning $10/hour. I knew I wanted to get married and have a family and that would not cut it.
I started looking around for a better option. My first thought was medical school because I love helping people. My kids at the group home were very low-functioning and could not talk or take care of themselves in any way so a lot of what I did in taking care of them was at a very basic level. Sometimes things got a little bit messy (one of my girls had Crohn’s disease–use your imagination) but I know I went home every night thinking I had the best job in the world.
The only doctor I know personally is my uncle. At a family Christmas party I approached him and said, “Uncle Fred, I’m thinking about going to medical school. Can I talk–” He interrupted me, “Don’t.” I was stunned. “Really?” I asked. “Really,” he said. “Don’t.”
And so I gave it up. In hindsight, I was wrong to give it up so easily and should have sought out a second and third and twentieth opinion. But I didn’t. Instead I thought, ‘Law school is a respectable option. What about that?’ I met with an attorney in my neighborhood who practiced disability law. He told me, “I don’t make a lot of money and I don’t have a fancy car but I live in a nice neighborhood, I work thirty hours a week, and I spend tons of time with my kids.”
I went to law school and found out:
- Disability law is BORING. I wanted to stand up for the little guy but those cases just don’t exist. What the job really entails is helping people get their government benefits. Important? Sure. But boring.
- The legal job market is terrible.
So here I am working in a small general practice firm with a TON of student loan debt (completely different subject) making little money. I sometimes really hate my job and I rarely love it. Most of my clients I don’t really care about. Most of them try to stiff me on their bills and I don’t think any of them respect the work I do.
In short, I am not serving people in the way I would like and I no longer go home thinking I have the best job in the world. Most days I go home and read OPM threads because I think I made a huge mistake.
I know this has been a bit of a ramble but the reason I am thinking about making the switch is that I would like to have a job (1) where I can serve people at a very basic level (2) that is generally well-respected, and (3) that pays well.
I think medicine may be a good fit.
What about you?