How do I decide if I want med school?

[mangoliebe]

Hello everyone,

I'm currently a Computer Sciences track undergraduate (graduation est. 2020), but I've been considering med school. I don't know if this is an adolescent career phase or genuine interest, since I turn 16 tomorrow (yay). Without bogging this post down with the details, I essentially skipped high school and am currently enrolled at UMCP, and would graduate right after turning 18 (old enough to start collecting hours?).
As such, even if I wanted to become a physician, I worry that I'd have to wait quite a while before being a competitive applicant for my goal med schools, with clinical hours and age restrictions (? still not sure about these).

My plan was to graduate as a Computer Science major with a Philosophy minor for now (my major requires upper-level courses in another discipline and I don't have the course hours left for much but Philosophy). Due to financial situations, I need to graduate by 2020, so I can't really switch CS (or Philosophy) to Biology or something that would prep me for med school pre-reqs. Thus, if I AM serious about med school, then I would have to do a post-bacc.

However, I don't know what I would do during the post-bacc. Should I be looking for clinical hours part-time to get extracurriculars? Is that wasting my CS major and the current fulfillments I've been doing towards that major?



My two questions are basically:
How do I know if I'm serious about med school and the following commitment to a career as a physician?
If so, how do I make myself competitive while not feeling like I'm wasting three years of my life doing a CS major?



PS: about the financial situation, if I do choose med school, I am planning on HPSP but not because of the debt-freeness (definitely helps though)

Thank you very much for reading and offering your advice!

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[curbsideconsult]

This thread belongs more in the pre-med area, but anyway...

I think the best thing you can do right now is to shadow a couple of doctors to see if it's something you want to do. You might even be able to take part in a college intern program where they expose you to the various facets of medicine.

You can also get certification as a CNA, LPN, phlebotomist, etc. and try to get a job working at a hospital once you turn 18. Then you can see all the behind the scenes stuff and see if being a doctor is right for you.

"Wasting" your CS major shouldn't be a concern if you're looking to discover a passion for medicine. But if you're really that concerned, you can get a job in the tech industry while also getting clinical hours part-time or vice versa.

 

[mk04447]

Are you for real? What does daddy do, is he a worthless senator? At 16 you don't know if you prefer vanilla or chocolate. Wasting 3 years of your life? Several of us wasted 20, and then it took another 5 to tackle the prerequisites and the MCAT. I can comfortably say you don't want to be a doctor.

 

[star.buck]

You need exposure to the medical field, especially the various roles within the med field. I'd start with volunteering at your local community hospital or nursing home, and then build up to shadowing physicians. You're not wasting your time with CS, as there is a TON of computer work in the medical field... maybe you can invent the next better electronic health record system and save us all from this torture

Good luck!!

 

[milesofsmiles4]

I would definitely suggest shadowing a physician. Even after a few years of heading in the pre-med direction, it wasn't until I shadowed a physician that I felt "OMG YES! This is it." If you don't feel that way after your shadowing experience, then it may not be for you. You need to love it enough to go through with the long, hard journey or you're going to be miserable. At this point, I would continue with a degree that interests you most. If you follow your interests then your ideal career will become more clear. Trust me, you have PLENTY of time to figure it all out, so don't stress! Good luck to you!

 

[Durty-Trixxx]

Shadowing docs and getting a good feel for what the medical profession is like should be at the top of your list.

Also, med schools prefer students who are emotionally mature and can handle the enormous stress of the curriculum --- do you think you will be that at only 18 yrs. of age? Most people at that age are getting drunk every Friday night and sleeping all the next day. You will not be allowed to have that lifestyle in med school.

Lastly, don't ever feel like you are "wasting" years as a CS major. Your field of study is important and will only get more important as we transition to a complete digital society. CS skills are becoming more and more essential to the healthcare field as well.

 

[Dares Dareson]

You don't have to do a post-bacc per se. You just need to get the required courses. I did a DIY post-bacc by enrolling as a second bachelor degree student at a local university and taking courses. I didn't have to complete the degree, I just enrolled so I was able to get priority to pick classes. I ended up finishing the degree anyway. But if a post bacc works better for you, do it by all means.

Other things that help: research, volunteering, experience in medicine (volunteer, shadowing, working as a scribe, CNA, whatever). And just generally be interesting. I don't think the age thing is a problem. I started med school with students who had just turned 21. You prove your maturity by doing all the things I just talked about.

Also, you have so much time. You're so young. I'm old enough to be your dad and I'm in med school. Don't sweat it. But yeah, don't wait until your 30s. It does start to suck after awhile.

Also also, try to shadow a bunch of different doctors. Primary care, surgery, emergency, whatever you can do so you have a general idea of what you want to go into. You don't really have to decide until tail end of third year, but it's so much easier if you have a good idea of what you want to do going in.

Best of luck.

 

[curbsideconsult]

do you think you will be that at only 18 yrs. of age? Most people at that age are getting drunk every Friday night and sleeping all the next day

To be fair, this is true of many, many people even through their 20's (and still some throughout life, but then that's something else and not just youthful indiscretions).

I highly value age and experience, however I don't discount maturity regardless of age. Just by the facts that OP is already in college AND here asking for guidance because s/he doesn't know if wanting to go to med school is just an "adolescent career phase" shows me that maybe OP is one of those rare baby-grandmas. It's not too often a teenager admits when s/he doesn't know something and is willing to ask for help (and also seems like is taking in everyone's advice).

 

[RNtoMD87]

A good sign that I see in myself- Is that every day you eat sleep and breathe the medical field. I never get tired of learning about medicine, diseases etc. For one I had to cultivate this passion, by learning, and spending time in a medical profession.

Honestly, when I was a new nurse, I liked my job, but I was more interested in things I knew, history, gardening, weightlifting, gunsmithing, handloading, etc. But after I began to gain knowledge in the medical field, after maybe a few months, I had more questions and a bigger "thirst" for medical knowledge. Since the complexity of the human body is much more than with firearms for instance, I am much more engrossed by studying this instead, despite secondarily still having a curiosity about my previous hobbies. The more I learn, the more I want to know more. Its like a fire. as you add fuel to it, it grows and becomes stronger, and more consuming. Takes up more of a part of your life.

Give it time. Shadow, work in the medical profession, study medical topics. If your interest grows- that's a good sign. Give it time. And as others have said- maturity. At 18-20 there is no way I would've been mature enough.

 

[Magus5454]

I knew my first day in the ER as an EMT student that medicine was the right field for me. That was in 2004. It took me 6 years after that to get serious about school, and 5 more years to earn my bachelor's degree. Had to take the MCAT twice because the first one expired. I'll be matriculating this year as a medical student. I'll be 41 when I enter residency.

Medicine is a lifelong passion. Get some clinical experience and you will know if it's the right path for you.

 

[siliso]

What is attracting you to medicine? I think it’s the greatest job in the world and wouldn’t in any way discourage you if you do too. Just curious and maybe coming up with an answer will clarify things for you. I think medicine is an adolescent career crush for a lot of people who start out and even finish up as traditional premed - they made their decisions ca age 18-19, latest. I also started college at 16, even though it took me another decade to decide to go for medicine after all. If you’re succeeding in higher education now, you almost certainly have the native capacity to do medicine if you decide you want to, now or later.

Agree with all above re clinical exposure. You’ve got to be in the setting seeing how things actually are to get a feel for whether you really like it or not. And time is on your side. Shadow, ride along, volunteer in a hospital or health center or free clinic or hospice. Get a job and work in your field for a few years while doing the above - that can also help to clarify whether you’ll be satisfied doing that or still have the medicine bug.

You probably can fulfill some prereqs in the time you have left - some legit bio or chem or physics class with lab (not the physics for poets or bio for non majors that people take to satisfy their lib arts degree requirements), sociology and psychology. If you decide to go for it in the future you can enroll in any state U for a second bachelor’s in biology or whatever - there is no obligation to finish the second bachelor’s if you finish your prereqs and get into medical school before finishing. Your background in CS and philosophy will be an asset to you.

 

[siliso]

Also if you want to change your major but think you can’t, make sure you really do the accounting with the help of an academic advisor to figure out what courses you would need and what additional time it would take. It may be more feasible than you think, especially if you were changing to a major with less structured requirements than CS. It is NOT necessary to be a bio major - you could get a BA in philosophy and be prepared for med school if you could get the prereqs in.

Taking additional courses to fulfill prereqs is going to cost money whether you do it during your first degree or need to work on a second/do a postbac. The funding options for first degrees (and even second bachelors) are much more flexible than those for a formal postbac.

 

[Forever Geebs]

This post SCREAMS troll. Not even going to address.

 

[siliso]

There were people in my class who started med school at ~20. It’s not unheard of or unbelievable. The cases I have heard of where people did additional research or MD PhD to avoid starting/graduating too young were people who would have graduated college well before age 18 (also not unheard of, I went to an early college and Ronan Farrow was enrolled there at something like age 11 while I was there). It’s not the norm but there are exceptional people and more of them than you might think.

You could run into some complications with some job or clinical opportunities if you’re not yet 18, but plenty of high school age people do volunteer in responsible positions - look at the average Ivy entrant for instance.

 

[QofQuimica]

When I started medical school in 2006, I had a 17-year-old classmate, who, like you, skipped high school. It's hard for some of us Gen Xers to wrap our minds around that idea because when we were kids, only "weirdos" were home schooled. But now in the Internet age, if I were a teen today I'd totally have chosen to DIY. Way too much of HS is a total waste of time for a motivated learner. So don't listen to the nay-sayers; just because many of us from the previous generations didn't have the educational opportunities you have doesn't mean that you can't or shouldn't take full advantage of them.

That being said, the questions you asked are important ones that need to be answered before you commit to a career in medicine. As others have said, spending time around physicians (shadowing, volunteering, getting a PT or FT job in a medical field) is your first step. You may find that you love it, or you may find that you don't. Either way, you've learned something important, and that will help you decide whether to take the next step and move on to doing the prereqs.

As for major, what you major in is not important from the perspective of being competitive for medical school as long as you complete the prereqs. Presumably you really like computer science since that's what you chose to major in, and if so, by all means, keep studying computer science. You can't have too much computer knowledge and ability no matter what career you ultimately end up choosing, whether it's medine or something else entirely. Best of luck to you.