Hello Everyone,
So here is my story, I have been working for the past 6 months at a prestigious consulting company. All throughout undergrad I had thought this is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. Given my time being spent in the real world I have realized that this isn’t for me. As I started to contemplate becoming a doctor thank god, I came across this podcast as it has turned my doubt into conviction. Now here is my dilemma, I am contemplating leaving my job because I feel like it would look better to ADCOMS working in a healthcare setting rather than a non-relevant company. Although the company is a huge resume builder, I am wondering what would look better when they evaluate me. Would working for a prestigious company be better or would it even matter to ADCOMS? Do they just look at Grades, MCAT, Clinical Experience? DO they even care about where you worked and have experience? Thank you in advance for reading my scattered questions. Any advice would help!
Healthcare experience is probably a nicety but not even close to being required to get into medical (shadowing, however, is high encouraged/mandatory). It’s not about what job you’re in, it’s about how well you do it, what you learn from it, what your boss/coworkers think of you, etc. Leadership within the company, advancement, scope of responsibility, etc, aren’t trivial things though. They will look at your work experience as just that, an experience, and why you took it, how it changed your views, etc, will be what’s more important than the actual work. What you write about it on the application is far more important than what the job actually is, in my opinion.
If you want to get into a healthcare job to see if you like the environment, go for it. But a random job in healthcare is not equivalent to being a doctor, and you probably won’t get the full picture of what it’s like to be a physician (though understanding the healthcare world is good). Personally, I stayed in my non-medical job while I was taking prereqs and studying for the MCAT. Any form of stability and income is a great thing is the crazy world of medical school applications. I’m also of the mindset that having a fallback option is NOT a bad thing if you don’t let it detract from your motivation to pursue the primary goal, though others will disagree.
Bottom line, don’t do what you THINK the ADCOMs want to see. Do what you enjoy because it’ll make you a happier person and will lead to more passionate conversation during the interview process. Med school these days is all about diversity. My class has your standard former EMT/medical scribe/research people. But it also has former non-medical military, a singer/actress, business people, philosophy majors, school teachers, etc in it. The common thread is we all worked our butts off to get to where we are despite the uncommon backgrounds.
Hi and welcome. If you haven’t already, I recommend shadowing a physician. The amount of administrative work is staggering. It doesn’t matter if you’re inpatient or in an outpatient environment. You should really get a feel for it before you leave your job and 100% commit to this path. I’m not saying that to dissuade you, rather I think it’s important that everyone have a better idea of what they’re signing themselves up for. Good luck to you on your journey, keep us posted.