Medical School Advice

[mil ford]

I am looking for advice about med school. Currently I'm a teacher and I absolutely can't do it anymore. I am basically looking for your experiences with the med school work load. How is it with raising a family at the same time? Is it possible to work at the same time? What are possible ways to pay for it and the rest of the "grown up bills" a 32 year old has accumulated?

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I had a chat with my physician about Med school.
He told me that getting was hard but staying in was easy. That they bend over backwards to make sure you succeed.

I went to law school as an adult. If I had not been accepted in the only school to which I applied (Rutgers Newark) I wouldn't have gone 'cause I could not just pull up stakes and go live at a school elsewhere. I had to commute.
I went full time.


As a young father I attended undergrad full time plying my trade as a machinist during summers and part time. It was rough and I borrowed everything.

I have a feeling you are not going to find a part time Med school. Have you considered selling everything and moving to one of the island schools or Mexico where there are USA accepted programs real cheap with low cost of living?

It's not like attending a big name school with all the ego but, you can open a family practice in yahoo nowhere and be very happy.

[Andrew Rogove]

I would think long and hard about medicine in general before you make the time/investment into med school. The current climate for doctors in many places is not very good. Malpractice insurance rates are high, practice costs/overhead increase constantly while reimbursement rates decrease. That said, I would do it all over again, I am just a glutton for punishment.

As far as your original question, at 32, assuming that you do not need additional "pre-med" courses and can start med school next year, you'd have 4 years of med school plus 3-7 years of residency plus additional years of fellowship if desired and you are looking 40 before practicing and earning a paycheck. You can work during med school, at least the first two years. The clinical responsibilities of 3rd and 4th year will make working difficult. Raising a family is not hard during med school, but can be very stressful during residency as your time outside of the hospital is limited to say the least. The cost of private med schools can be as high as 60,000/yr with state schools being less, but very competitive because of the cost. You can always get loans, but you may end up with as much debt post med school as a mortgage!

Sorry to sound so discouraging, but this is how it is. Many people do not realize the tough road and sacrifices a person makes to become a doctor (I spent nearly all of my 20's and my early 30's in medical school/residency/fellowship training, all of my 20's if you also count junior/senior year of college), but it is a very rewarding profession. There is little that can compare to delivering a baby, saving a life or even helping someone die with dignity.

Good luck with a difficult decision.
Andrew

[RickT Harding]

My wife is finishing her last year of residency and I met her while working at the MSU medical school Flint campus, so seen a bit if it.

1) Workload is nuts. When we were dating, we'd meet at one apt or the other, make dinner, and she'd read for the rest of the night. It was much like having a 8-5 job honestly + homework every night on top of that. This was in her 3rd/4th years so I can't say for sure on the first two.

2) This leads to the next question, I don't see how you could work in medical school. Basically you live on student loans. Most of the med students I know build up between 120k - 200k in student loans during medical school.

The support staff at the school is nuts. They do EVERYTHING to make sure you can really just concentrate on medical school. When I first started working there I felt like I was being asked to babysit adults, but in time I appreciated their time commitments more.

3) People do the family thing, but I just can't see how it works out great. Honestly, I don't know that med school is the roughest though. The first two years of residency were the killers for us. 9 out of 12 months were 'on call' months and that meant she was working 30hr shifts every 3-5th night. I don't know how families make it through that. She'sd come home and sleep the next day away so even though she was 'working' for 30 hours, she was out of it another 12 or so on top of that.

As for the way things are today, she's finishing residency at a rotten time, at least in Michigan. She's signed up to make a big chunk less than she was guided towards. By the time one finishes medical school/residency now though, it would be totally different. You're talking 7-10 years down the road.

I don't want this to come across as negative. I've seen a ton of people go through and do this. I've seen plenty wash aside. Personally, I don't know how they do it. It's what she's wanted to do though and now that residency is coming to a close, she's loving having her own patients.

Hope that helps a bit and feel free to ask any particular questions. I can shoot them over to my wife if you want it in her words.

[John Fricke]

If you are drawn to the medical field, have you considered nursing? My eldest son took an accelerated nursing program through a local community college. Start to finish was 13 months and he had his RN certifacation. He did have to take a couple of pre-reqs and be on a waiting list. since you are a teacher you may have the pre-reqs already. His schooling was quite intense....not much time for anything else, but it went pretty fast for him. He hired in at around $27/hr and he doesn't have a bachelors. With the schooling you already have and the nurse certificate, may not take you much more to have BSN in nursing. You would then have many options.

[Ken Lefkowitz]

I have been a nurse as well as currently a physician. Nursing would cause you and your family the least amount of financial and emotional distress. If I could do it all over, I would be a Nurse Anesthetist. They assist the anesthesiologist in hospitals and surgical centers. Benefits, six figure income and other perks are all included.

[Matt Meiser]

I would be a Nurse Anesthetist.

That's funny--my wife is in health care management and this is what she says all the time.

[Scott T Smith]

My wife is finishing her last year of residency and I met her while working at the MSU medical school Flint campus, so seen a bit if it.

1) Workload is nuts. When we were dating, we'd meet at one apt or the other, make dinner, and she'd read for the rest of the night. It was much like having a 8-5 job honestly + homework every night on top of that. This was in her 3rd/4th years so I can't say for sure on the first two.

2) This leads to the next question, I don't see how you could work in medical school. Basically you live on student loans. Most of the med students I know build up between 120k - 200k in student loans during medical school.

The support staff at the school is nuts. They do EVERYTHING to make sure you can really just concentrate on medical school. When I first started working there I felt like I was being asked to babysit adults, but in time I appreciated their time commitments more.

3) People do the family thing, but I just can't see how it works out great. Honestly, I don't know that med school is the roughest though. The first two years of residency were the killers for us. 9 out of 12 months were 'on call' months and that meant she was working 30hr shifts every 3-5th night. I don't know how families make it through that. She'sd come home and sleep the next day away so even though she was 'working' for 30 hours, she was out of it another 12 or so on top of that.

By the time one finishes medical school/residency now though, it would be totally different. You're talking 7-10 years down the road.

+1

My wife's situation was similar, but different. In her 30's she decided to pursue her dream of becoming a veterinarian. The coursework is very similar to human medicine, except that you have to learn more species.

Her undergrad was in pre-law, so she worked full time and attended night school for three years in order to get her pre-med courses out of the way. Organic chemistry, the biology courses, etc, she took a full course load (12 hour semesters) so spare time pretty much evaporated.

After getting the prerequisites out of the way, she went off to vet med school and her work and private life basically ceased. There is NO TIME for family, relationships, work, etc while you're in vet school (and I understand that it's the same for med school) - it dominates your life. After graduating, she did a one year internship and about halfway through it she was able to start considering a private life again, and that's when we met and started dating.

And - it was prohibitedly expensive. Even with student grants and family support, not to mention investing her entire life savings, she still ran up over 150K in student loans by the time that she was finished. Debt service afterward was crushing. When we met, everything that she owned would fit into a two horse horse trailer, and that included the horse. All else had been sold to help pay for school.

If you are drawn to medicine because it's a life's dream, because you are now old enough to know that medicine was what you were meant to do and you don't want to be in your 70's looking back on life with a "gee I wish that I'd done that" view, and if the sacrifice is worth everything else that you have accumulated in life, then by all means pursue it, but know that you will make many, many sacrifices during the next several years.

If you're considering it for other reasons, than seriously consider a different career choice.

[Ryan Adame]

Before you devote the time and money to med school, I would think long and hard about medicine in general. In many regions, the present climate for doctors is not favorable. Medical insurance premiums are costly, and practice costs/overhead are always rising while reimbursement rates are falling. That said, I'd do it all over again if I could, since I'm a glutton for torture.

[Ron Citerone]

Having retired from teaching with 35 years, I have no regrets. With that said the last 2-3 years were real tough for me. My wife taught 30 years and has retired also, she did not feel burnt out like I did so it is not a foregone conclusion. If you are feeling that way at age 32, I think getting out is probably a good idea.

My daugter is an RN and it seems there is no shortage of jobs or overtime as well as signing bonuses. It is a calling though, and not for everyone. You can also later go back to be a nurse practitioner.

Med school is a long term undertaking and risk if you don't finish. I hope you consider every option before you commit. There are many medical professions that would take less time to get back to earning a paycheck. Only you can decide your path.

Good luck to you Mil!

[Prashun Patel]

Btw, this thread is 11 years old…

But I find it an ironic snapshot in time. Teaching and medicine have become even more hard than they were in 2011…

[Stan Calow]

What about being a Physician's Assistant (PA)? I understand they are in great demand.

[John K Jordan]

Btw, this thread is 11 years old…

But I find it an ironic snapshot in time. Teaching and medicine have become even more hard than they were in 2011…

I saw the date and started to ask Mil if he pursued the med school but it looks like he hasn’t checked in for years. Maybe he’s deep into school now and doesn’t have time!

I know several veterinarians who are practicing, in grad school, about to graduate, and are in pre-vet school and I know this: there is almost NO time for anything but school - I assume medical school is similar. So much to know.

[Robert Engel]

I graduated from veterinary school in 1983. I can tell you what John ^ said was true then. Occasional Friday afternoon keggers and volleyball kept us sane! When clinics started senior year it was a 24/7 type of thing with being on call.

A major difference with medical school is post graduate internships and residencies. You can immediately enter practice or even start your own practice after vet school.

The "corporatation" of medicine is to such an extent now, MD's are usually locked into health care systems, which dictate protocols and billing. Corporate ownership of private practices in vet medicine is very common now.

[Bill Dufour]

I had a doctor who joined the Air Force to become a doctor. He went to civilian med school and summers in worked in base hospitals. AFAIK the air force paid for all the schooling. After becoming a full on doctor I think he had to stay in the air force for six years? They may have some say in what specialties you can learn. But maybe that includes stuff the VA would need?
They used to require a rotation into a inner city ER. This was to make sure the new doctor learned how to treat gunshot wounds and stabbing.s
Bill D.