Please Help!!

[WannabeDoc4]

Hi,

I'm in the process of considering a career in medicine and need some SERIOUS advice. I don't know any med students personally so any help you guys give will be GREATLY appreciated. Here's the deal..

I graduated last year with a Bachelor's degree in a totally unrelated field. I completely disliked what I was studying but went through with it anyway and unfortunately had a sucky GPA at the end of it all (2.7). I've got a pretty decent job in the field I went to school for, pays very well and all, but I can't stand it. I simply find it boring and I spend my entire day staring at the clock waiting for 5 o'clock. Anyway, I'm considering medicine now (all through childhood I said I would become a doctor but at the very end changed my mind because thought I couldn't bear to see stuff that would upset my stomach).

Basically my questions are:

If I decide to go this path, what are the chances I'm even going to be able to get into a medical school? I mean I get that I wouldn't be able to with what I've got, but I mean what do I need to do to improve my chances of getting into a medical school? What steps do I need to take?

How long will the entire process take? I realize it depends on what you specialize in so let's just say I want to be a pediatrician.

I live in the U.S, is it better for me to go to med school here or the Caribbean where it won't take as long?

Basically I know NOTHING about the whole process and ANYTHING anyone can tell me would be awesome.

Thank you so much in advance.

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[gal88]

Hi WannabeDoc4,

I totally hear ya! I felt that way when I first started, and to be honest right now, I'm still rethinking my decision. I work in an un-related field in business and keep coming back to the idea of being a doc. But I did do a lot of research trying to figure out how to get into medical school. There are some great pos-bac programs you might consider. But before you do that, I would strongly, strongly recommend that you start to volunteer. If I were to give you one piece of advice, it would be to get a good amount of volunteering experience under your belt before taking some major steps. One thing I did wrong was spend an entire summer taking chemistry classes before even volunteering. Once I started volunteering, I realized that I needed to give the entire medical field a lot more thought and then I took a break to do that. You definitely need a lot of exposure to the medical field before making serious commitments. Believe me, it will save you lots of time and money in the long-run. Plus, if you want to get into any kind of program, especially a post-bac for pre-meds, they will definitely need to see a good record of volunteering. I was almost accepted into a very good post-bac program at a reputable school in CA, but the admissions director contacted me directly and said, we would really like to accept you but you have absolutely no experience and we can't be sure this is what you really want.
Anyway, I hope this helps a little.
All the best,
gal88

 

[gal88]

Oh, and to answer your questions...
I believe a good post-bac program would take you about a year or two, depending on how many classes you already have. Med school is about 4 years, and then about 3 years of residency. But this should all be very worth it, if it is what you want. I think pediatrics is what I would consider to, if I decide to take this route!
All the best

 

[DeAlighieri]

WannabeDoc4,

First, and I mean this as gently as possible, locate and use the search button in these forums. They are absolutely spilling over with information and most of the basic questions you have will have been beaten to death in a thousand posts. Educating yourself, rather than looking to others to do it, will be the first step on your path.

That said, a bit of advice.

Your current GPA puts you out of the running for MD schools and very likely for most DO schools. At this point, consider a post-bac (essentially going back for a second bachelor's). DO schools practice grade-replacement, meaning that you can turn some of those old 'C' or 'D' grades into 'A' and 'B' grades. A couple of years of solid effort in which you get nothing less than A/B grades in your pre-reqs and replacement courses would likely see a big jump in your GPA. Understand that taking post-bac courses doesn't necessarily mean that you need to complete an entire second degree, but it's the status you'll need. Don't bother with Master's courses, as they won't help you.

You'll need to do well on the MCAT. Aim for a score in the 30's to be realistic. Don't take the MCAT until you're ready.

Stay in the US for medical school if at all humanly possible. The Caribbean schools should be your absolute last-resort. The worst US medical school is head and shoulders above the best Caribbean school in terms of your future prospects.

Time-wise:

Post-bac -- 2-3 years
Medical School -- 4 years
Residency -- 2-5 years for the basic ones, longer for more specialised ones.

Good luck to you.

 

[sawood]

Hi! Well, here's a semi-comprehensive summary of what you need to have over the next few years if you decide to apply (others can comment or correct it too)

1. High BCPM GPA. BCPM stands for biology, chem, physical science, math gpa. I'm assuming if your BS is unrelated, then you hopefully have very few of these classess, that way you can offset the 2.7 with a really high BCPM.

2. Classess you'll need: Gen chem, Ochem, Physics, Biology (upper and lower division), biochem, statistics, some want a year of calc?, humanities and english. You can find the pre-reqs on each schools website and it varies by school.

3. Buy the MSAR the year before you apply.

4. MCAT: 30 or above. Take it approximately 1.5 years before you would matriculate at a school.

5. Clinically related volunteering (where you can smell the patients) - should start this now. Also, try to make it a position that you can stay at for the duration before you apply, develop a good relationship with one of the doctors and line it up to ask for a letter of rec when you're ready to apply.

6. You'll need ~3-4 letters of rec. Usually 2 science profs, 1 non-science, and 1 of your choosing. I had 2 science, 1 former employer (since I'm non-trad it was appropriate), and 1 doctor. Scope these out ahead of time and strengthen the relationships over the next year or so.

6. Rundown of applying: you fill out a common primary app (AMCAS) in June, that gets verified (i.e. they check your transcripts against what you entered), that gets sent on to the schools you marked, you pay money. Then, in 1-4 months depending on the school you'll start to get secondary apps that are unique to that school. You write a lot of essays, send in letters of rec (~3), pay more money, and mail that back in. Then, approx 2 weeks to 6 months following the completion of your secondary you will either get a) an interview, b) rejected, or c) on hold. Once you interview, you'll hear back in about 1 to several months depending on the school. Basically you apply in June to matriculate over a year from then.

7. Take what everyone says (including SDN and pre-med advising offices) skeptically. I used SDN to see if there were differences of opinion, it gave me an idea of what I needed to research more in depth. My pre-med advising office has told numerous students they don't need a certain lab, but I asked the med schools I interviewed at and they said yes, I need it. Just be wary, read a lot, ask around a lot.

8. Make friends who are going through this process as well, especially non-trads. The support is invaluable, it will make the difference. You'll get through it, don't be daunted by the amount of work ahead, just take baby steps, it gets easier as you go along, and you'll get there.

This quote was on my wall for the last several years:
"No amount of security is worth the suffering of a life lived chained to a routine that has killed your dreams."

Believe me, you're not going to ever stop staring at that clock if you stay where you're at.

 

[Law2Doc]

Residency -- 2-5 years for the basic ones, longer for more specialised ones.

Realistically you aren't going to find a field with a residency shorter than 3 years these days. You can practice with less (after a year once you are licensed) but there is difficulty getting insurance. So generally it's smart to tell folks residency is a minimum of 3 years and for most fields at least 4.

 

[Law2Doc]

Hi,

I'm in the process of considering a career in medicine and need some SERIOUS advice. I don't know any med students personally so any help you guys give will be GREATLY appreciated. Here's the deal..

I graduated last year with a Bachelor's degree in a totally unrelated field. I completely disliked what I was studying but went through with it anyway and unfortunately had a sucky GPA at the end of it all (2.7). I've got a pretty decent job in the field I went to school for, pays very well and all, but I can't stand it. I simply find it boring and I spend my entire day staring at the clock waiting for 5 o'clock. Anyway, I'm considering medicine now (all through childhood I said I would become a doctor but at the very end changed my mind because thought I couldn't bear to see stuff that would upset my stomach).

Basically my questions are:

If I decide to go this path, what are the chances I'm even going to be able to get into a medical school? I mean I get that I wouldn't be able to with what I've got, but I mean what do I need to do to improve my chances of getting into a medical school? What steps do I need to take?

How long will the entire process take? I realize it depends on what you specialize in so let's just say I want to be a pediatrician.

I live in the U.S, is it better for me to go to med school here or the Caribbean where it won't take as long?

Basically I know NOTHING about the whole process and ANYTHING anyone can tell me would be awesome.

Thank you so much in advance.

First, only go into medicine if you are running toward medicine, not if you are running away from your current position. So your first step is to get out and do some clinical exposure stuff -- shadow and volunteer and actually see what the business of medicine is all about these days.

Second, it's going to take a few years to get your credentials adequate for med school. The average GPA for med school these days is over a 3.5, so you need to get as close to that target as feasible.

Third, the academic program to get into and through med school is a hard one, so you will have to be sure you remedied whatever it was that made you a C student prior to this. Or this race will end before it starts.

Fourth, the fact that you are asking how long it's going to take is a bad sign. It's going to take a long time. A marathon of school and training. At least two years of postbac. Then 4 years of med school. Then probably 3-5 years of residency. Maybe a research year if you want to do certain specialties or a surgical field. And then some people do a fellowship on top of residency. It's not like you decide you want to be a doctor and then get instant gratification.

Fifth, if you can't bear to see things that will turn your stomach, medicine is a rough field. While most can handle it, the folks who get vaso-vagal responses and puke or pass out at the sight of certain things will probably not get through first year anatomy classes, and it's considered very bad form to pass out and fall into the sterile field during a surgery. Let alone seeing autopsies, folks with rotting limbs, folks with parasitic infestations, oozing abscesses, severed limbs/digits, etc. And it's not just the sights but the smells. If you are easilly grossed out, you'd better be able to hide it well.

Finally, if you do a search, you would see that if you want to become a US physician, the surest path is to do your medical schooling in the US, even if it takes a bit longer to get there. Offshore caribbean schools are a nice "second chance" to become a doctor for some folks who fail in several reasonable attempts to attain a seat at a US medical school. But it shouldn't be a first chance for anyone. Because while 94+% of US allo students will match or scramble into residencies a far lower percentage of offshore educated folks will match. And the real catch with these schools is the huge attrition. The vast majority of folks who get into a US school will become a doctor. But a huge percentage of folks who get into offshore schools will not make it to the point where they are taking the boards or trying to match.

 

[gman33]

A lot of solid advice above.
Make sure you really want this path before going too far.
Volunteering in a setting with a lot of patient interaction is the first step. You need to figure out if you like being around sick people.
If not, don't even bother going any further.

For the academics, you probably need 2-3 years of full time work before you can apply to MD schools. DO schools are more forgiving, so you can retake some of your previous classes to boost your GPA.
Start out slowly and make sure you are banging out all A's in your post-bacc. With your previous GPA you need to do exceptionally well to even have a shot. Meet with your prof's and use any tutoring resources available.

 

[phrygian]

You are getting good advice here, and the only thing I would add is that once you get to the application stage is to apply to many schools (MD and DO) and get it done as early as possible. The later you get your applications done (primary and secondary), the harder it is to get those few spots that remain.

 

[DeAlighieri]

Realistically you aren't going to find a field with a residency shorter than 3 years these days. You can practice with less (after a year once you are licensed) but there is difficulty getting insurance. So generally it's smart to tell folks residency is a minimum of 3 years and for most fields at least 4.

Ah, my mistake. I had thought that family med was viable after just two years. I'll adjust my thinking on that one.