NP to MD

[zamba]

Do you have children or plan to have children?

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[PikminOC]

Sorry, I think I mispresented what I meant with that section. I don't want to say I enjoy being miserable or overwhelmed with school. I just meant that I want to continue pursuing learning but my main goal is pursuing learning related to healthcare, medicine, and such. There's clearly a huge deficit in my learning and that's a reason med school makes sense to me. Realistically even if I were a licensed physician, I would probably pursue random academic interests that served no real purpose - I'm very close to an associate's degree in Spanish and that's something that would be of some value to me because it would demonstrate some competence in a foreign language despite no family heritage to the Spanish-speaking world.

The law school reference was probably a bit of an exaggeration. The medical director at the psych hospital I work for went to law school at one point. He is not a practicing lawyer as far as I can tell but he likes to occasionally add his unnecessary degree when sending memos right next the the MD he also earned.

Medicine and healthcare is what interests me since the time I was in late elementary school (for a while in 7th grade I considered architecture but we can ignore that) so I don't think I'm going to lose interest in this notion. Obviously at my age and with my current lifestyle, there is a lot of soul-searching that I would need to do.

At this point I think I have made the decision that I should at least pursue going to medical school because the actual decision of whether or not I want to go through with all of the effort is not something that I need to make a final decision today. There is a lot of soul-searching that is still necessary but I can do that while I do MCAT prep and improve my application. If I am going to try to make this happen, the sooner I get started the better. Waiting 5 years to decide this is a good idea will only diminish the final returns. Taking some prerequisite classes and studying for the MCAT isn't really going make a huge change in my current life but it will at least give me a far better perspective as to whether this option is worth pursuing. Based on everyone's opinions so far there seems to be a plausible chance that this could work. I think that was my main reason for posting here. I half expected most people to say something along the lines of I'm too old, too stupid, and too ill-prepared so I should just stop. Not a single person has said that so that at least means something.

With the watering down of education with for profit schools and carib schools there's always a chance

 

[PikminOC]

I had a crna in my class.

 

[rdonahue87]

Do you have children or plan to have children?

No and probably not.

With the watering down of education with for profit schools and carib schools there's always a chance

I thought about going that route while I was still an undergrad. The risk was too high for me then although it was an enticing offer. At my current stage in life this seems like far too high of a risk to even consider. I know it's a feasible route for many, but I don't want to risk failing out and then having to try to beg for my old jobs back just as I don't want to risk not finding a match.

I had a crna in my class.

I don't know a ton about CRNAs and what they do compared to an anesthesiologist, but I often wonder between the CRNA, FNP, and PMHNP which one is "closest" to the equivalent physician? Again, I'm not trying to say any of them are equivalent to physicians, but it is just something I wondered about. I could be wrong, but I think the timelines of CRNAs vs anesthesiologists have similar start dates? EDIT: Looks like 1941 vs 1956 for whatever that's worth.

 

[petomed]

Sorry, I think I mispresented what I meant with that section. I don't want to say I enjoy being miserable or overwhelmed with school. I just meant that I want to continue pursuing learning but my main goal is pursuing learning related to healthcare, medicine, and such. There's clearly a huge deficit in my learning and that's a reason med school makes sense to me. Realistically even if I were a licensed physician, I would probably pursue random academic interests that served no real purpose - I'm very close to an associate's degree in Spanish and that's something that would be of some value to me because it would demonstrate some competence in a foreign language despite no family heritage to the Spanish-speaking world.

The law school reference was probably a bit of an exaggeration. The medical director at the psych hospital I work for went to law school at one point. He is not a practicing lawyer as far as I can tell but he likes to occasionally add his unnecessary degree when sending memos right next the the MD he also earned.

Medicine and healthcare is what interests me since the time I was in late elementary school (for a while in 7th grade I considered architecture but we can ignore that) so I don't think I'm going to lose interest in this notion. Obviously at my age and with my current lifestyle, there is a lot of soul-searching that I would need to do.

At this point I think I have made the decision that I should at least pursue going to medical school because the actual decision of whether or not I want to go through with all of the effort is not something that I need to make a final decision today. There is a lot of soul-searching that is still necessary but I can do that while I do MCAT prep and improve my application. If I am going to try to make this happen, the sooner I get started the better. Waiting 5 years to decide this is a good idea will only diminish the final returns. Taking some prerequisite classes and studying for the MCAT isn't really going make a huge change in my current life but it will at least give me a far better perspective as to whether this option is worth pursuing. Based on everyone's opinions so far there seems to be a plausible chance that this could work. I think that was my main reason for posting here. I half expected most people to say something along the lines of I'm too old, too stupid, and too ill-prepared so I should just stop. Not a single person has said that so that at least means something.

Sure thing, there's probably no better time to begin prepping for the MCAT than yesterday. So no harm done whatsoever by cracking those books while you hash out 'why do I need to be a doctor'. Just remember, it isn't us you need to convince. It's the admissions committees. And with already having so much autonomy, you'll need to make a good case for why you need those letters after your name.