Career Changer 8 months after grad

[lostwhale]

Hi everyone, after doing some soul searching I decided to do a career change into medicine. I know this will take a lot of time and hard work, but I’m willing to put in the effort. I just wanted to post here for any advice/ a sanity check.



Undergrad: Cornell U, studied CS and engineering.

GPA: 3.67, lower sGPA Bc I got a C in calc3 freshman year

State: CA

Race: URM/ORM mix, speak Spanish fluently. However my name is very ORM sounding so idk if it will count.

Research: did research in human computer interaction while in undergrad, but idk if it will count for anything

Non clinical volunteering: does HS stuff count? Otherwise, none



Currently work as a SWE at FAANG, have worked here since graduation 8 months ago. I find the work uninspiring and boring.



I am considering doing a DIY postbacc and prereqs at a CC Bc of price considerations. My closest state school is pretty expensive and I don’t think I can really afford it Bc I’m paying off student loans and sending money home. However idk how it will look to med schools, especially T20s.



Concerns: low GPA/sGPA, lack of clinical and non clinical volunteering, research.



I want to match into a pretty competitive specialty so I also want to aim for T20s. Would this be possible w/ my profile/taking prereqs at CC?



Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

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[Rapsidy]

I would start by not focusing on T20’s and focusing on getting into any MD school. Residency is a very far off goal and your interests can completely change many times while in school and doing rotations. What you do in school will matter more for your residency, but you have to get in first.

Most schools are fine with community college classes for nontraditional students because they are aware of the costs and many of us not being able to get loans due to having a degree already.

You’ll need shadowing, and clinical/non clinical volunteering if you can get it. Also harder to judge where you are because you haven’t done anything regarding MCAT yet (don’t take any practice AAMC exams until you are ready as they are vital resources you’ll want to save closer to exam date).

Also have to consider that California itself is a very competitive state, so the likelihood of getting accepted outside of California is a very real possibility, make sure that you are in a position where you are okay being able/willing to move possibly away from family and friends.

 

[BritainKittenMittens]

Hi everyone, after doing some soul searching I decided to do a career change into medicine. I know this will take a lot of time and hard work, but I’m willing to put in the effort. I just wanted to post here for any advice/ a sanity check.



Undergrad: Cornell U, studied CS and engineering.

GPA: 3.67, lower sGPA Bc I got a C in calc3 freshman year

State: CA

Race: URM/ORM mix, speak Spanish fluently. However my name is very ORM sounding so idk if it will count.

Research: did research in human computer interaction while in undergrad, but idk if it will count for anything

Non clinical volunteering: does HS stuff count? Otherwise, none



Currently work as a SWE at FAANG, have worked here since graduation 8 months ago. I find the work uninspiring and boring.



I am considering doing a DIY postbacc and prereqs at a CC Bc of price considerations. My closest state school is pretty expensive and I don’t think I can really afford it Bc I’m paying off student loans and sending money home. However idk how it will look to med schools, especially T20s.



Concerns: low GPA/sGPA, lack of clinical and non clinical volunteering, research.



I want to match into a pretty competitive specialty so I also want to aim for T20s. Would this be possible w/ my profile/taking prereqs at CC?



Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

I don't want to dish out financial advice, but if you're helping out your fam wouldn't it make sense t work long enough to make sure they (and you) are in a good enough position before taking on more debt?

 

[LindaAccepted]

Hi everyone, after doing some soul searching I decided to do a career change into medicine. I know this will take a lot of time and hard work, but I’m willing to put in the effort. I just wanted to post here for any advice/ a sanity check.



Undergrad: Cornell U, studied CS and engineering.

GPA: 3.67, lower sGPA Bc I got a C in calc3 freshman year

State: CA

Race: URM/ORM mix, speak Spanish fluently. However my name is very ORM sounding so idk if it will count.

Research: did research in human computer interaction while in undergrad, but idk if it will count for anything

Non clinical volunteering: does HS stuff count? Otherwise, none



Currently work as a SWE at FAANG, have worked here since graduation 8 months ago. I find the work uninspiring and boring.



I am considering doing a DIY postbacc and prereqs at a CC Bc of price considerations. My closest state school is pretty expensive and I don’t think I can really afford it Bc I’m paying off student loans and sending money home. However idk how it will look to med schools, especially T20s.



Concerns: low GPA/sGPA, lack of clinical and non clinical volunteering, research.



I want to match into a pretty competitive specialty so I also want to aim for T20s. Would this be possible w/ my profile/taking prereqs at CC?



Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

if you get As in your post-bac, schools will pay far more attend to those grades than to your C in your freshman year.

You will need a lot of volunteering (clinical and non-clinical) to have a competitive application. High school would count a little if it was continued in college. If you basically did no volunteering in college, high school volunteering will probably be ignored unless you did something truly amazing. Start volunteering.

Your undergrad research wlll "count," but if you are interested in research-heavy schools, you will need to do some more.
I agree with the advice to focus on getting into medical school first and secondly into a T20.

 

[holdthemayo]

Hi everyone, after doing some soul searching I decided to do a career change into medicine. I know this will take a lot of time and hard work, but I’m willing to put in the effort. I just wanted to post here for any advice/ a sanity check.



Undergrad: Cornell U, studied CS and engineering.

GPA: 3.67, lower sGPA Bc I got a C in calc3 freshman year

State: CA

Race: URM/ORM mix, speak Spanish fluently. However my name is very ORM sounding so idk if it will count.

Research: did research in human computer interaction while in undergrad, but idk if it will count for anything

Non clinical volunteering: does HS stuff count? Otherwise, none



Currently work as a SWE at FAANG, have worked here since graduation 8 months ago. I find the work uninspiring and boring.



I am considering doing a DIY postbacc and prereqs at a CC Bc of price considerations. My closest state school is pretty expensive and I don’t think I can really afford it Bc I’m paying off student loans and sending money home. However idk how it will look to med schools, especially T20s.



Concerns: low GPA/sGPA, lack of clinical and non clinical volunteering, research.



I want to match into a pretty competitive specialty so I also want to aim for T20s. Would this be possible w/ my profile/taking prereqs at CC?



Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hey friend, a few thoughts from a nontrad doc who worked in IT in a prior life.

Pro:

Your GPA of 3.6 isn't low, I wouldn't worry about that at all. Especially if you can get all A' in your post-bac.

8 months out of undergrad you aren't really a nontrad.

CC is fine as long as you get A's and do well on the MCAT.

Your UG research counts, especially if you have some publications. Speaking Spanish is a plus if you are fluent.

FAANG experience can make you unique if you can present it correctly.

Concerns:

You need to have a better reason for medicine than not enjoying your FAANG job. I think you probably have that, but it didn't come through in your post. I'm worried that it might not come through in an application. More clinical experience would go a long way in showing that.

Maybe repeating myself, but do you like sick people? Have you worked with sick people? It doesn't seem like you have the experience to show an adcom or yourself if you do yet. Get some more experience and find out. It should boost you in the eyes of admissions staff, but will also help you confirm that this really is your passion. Medicine is a harder path than you think, it takes a real passion just to get through.

Why do you need to go to a T20. This isn't law school, you don't need to be T20 to get a good paying job. You can match at top residency from most MD programs. They're all hard to get into and can set you up for whatever career you have in mind. Focus on getting in somewhere, because there isn't any guarantee that you will.

 

[Meridian32]

Hello and welcome - I also worked as a software engineer at a FAANG company in my prior career and now am a doctor. Here is my advice: Tech is a huge industry, with great variety in roles (from engineering to product management to marketing/sales and you can be an individual contributor vs. manager in each), company size (from startup to FAANG size company) and company type (FAANG products are largely consumer-facing, while other companies sell to businesses and of course there are many healthcare-oriented tech companies - e.g., I use Epic software every day). I think that instead of jumping ship this soon into an tech career, you should take a couple to a few years to explore roles outside of FAANG software engineering. If the work is boring because you are coding all day and there isn't enough interpersonal interaction, try product/program management which is a much more people-oriented role. If it's boring because the product you're working on is boring, switch product groups or join a startup whose mission inspires you. Medical training is really hard, and if you have a tech background, there will be many moments when you wonder whether leaving tech was the right decision - knowing you did your due diligence in investigating other roles and company types in the tech space will go a long way towards addressing those doubts.

My other piece of advice is to talk to doctors and doctors-in-training to learn more about their experiences - Cornell obviously has lots of alumni in medicine and several FAANG companies have employees who are doctors (I was just at a medical conference where the keynote was given by a doctor who is now in a senior role at Microsoft), so you can leverage those connections. Again, medical training is really hard, so it's critical to do your due diligence to ensure you are making the right decision.

Finally, here is something I wish I'd known earlier: If you pursue medical training all the way to the end, your personal finances will not grow much if at all over a 7-10+ year period, in contrast to many of your Cornell classmates. While I knew this abstractly before pursuing medical training and it has never really bothered me, there are certainly times when I do reflect on the fact that financially my family would be more comfortable if I had stayed in tech. Over the course of medical training, I got married and had two kids - we are doing fine, but many of my former classmates/colleagues who also got married and had kids have done very well financially, and a few have done extremely well (e.g., started companies you may have heard about). I really enjoy what I do and wouldn't trade my position for theirs, but I think this is worth being very aware of upfront.