Engineer to Med school

[elect_17yrs_desire Med]

I am an electrical engineer with seveteen years of power sytem design experience and currently employed as an electrical engineer in USA. I am a Canadian with international education in electrical engineering. My major was power and my experience is all about working with substation design and engineering. I had a very rewarding career throughout my academics as well as through employers. I was 1st class 1st position holder (93% marks) in engineering, gold medal for presenting my final year work, several other awards. I passed my engineering in Sep-1999 and then started my engineering career in Jan-2000 and was named best employee of the year for 2001 and 2002 consecutively. I moved to Canada in 2006 and then got several awards with different engineering employers.

Now, I have decided to change my profession and want to go to med school and wish to be a doctor. I don't know how hard it is to get in my foot but need someone to advise me what should be the first step towards that. Also, someone to give me an honest opinion that would it be impossible at the age of 43 to make this transition (considering age and process of med school).

Please mention what and how should i proceed for this goal.

[Bambi]

Firstly, welcome to the Forum. You mention you have an “ international education”. If this means that your undergraduate studies were outside USA or Canada, your grades would need to be assessed by WES. Med schools these days are more and more doing awY with prerequisites, but you would have to check each Canadian med school requirements to determine what prerequisites, if any, are needed and whether any of yours are too old now and may have to be retaken. Then, there is the issue of the MCAT which most schools require ( of McGill if your undergraduate degree is from Canada) you to write. And you need time to  study, self study, for it. Google the term “CanMEDS competencies” which medical schools look for and no doubt, you have from your life experiences. For entry into medical school, to be competitive, other things being equal, you want to have a GPA of not less than 3.8, although there are exceptions. To be selected for an Interview, many med schools require you to take the CASPer, a computerized short version of the MMI (go to the Medical School Interview Forum and see Parts I & 11 of future_doc’s pinned thread on the Interview). 

Your age, life experience & maturity will be of great benefit to you and certainly, you age is not a detriment. I’m sure others will chime in with more pertinent information and advice. I wish you every success in this adventure!

https://www.google.fr/search?q=CanMEDS+competencies&rlz=1C9BKJA_enCA590CA590&oq=CanMEDS+competencies&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3.17901j0j4&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

[elect_17yrs_desire Med]

Hey @Bambi thanks for your reply; it's definitely encouraging!

Just to ask you about assesment; is  WES only one that is acceptable for assessment of the degrees or others are acceptable too? I have previous assessments from IQAS Canada and ECE USA. Are  those acceptable to Canadian med schools? I got those previously for my engineering license.

Another question is about pre-requisites; I'm working full time in USA and have family to feed. Do Canadian institutes accept pre-requisites taken online and is it advisable to take those online courses? like Chem I and II and etc. 

[indefatigable]

Except some schools in Ontario, there's a heavy preference for In-Province (IP) applicants.  Since you're working in the US, I'd try to make sure you are considered resident of some Canadian province if you want to apply to med school.  You should also check the websites and forums for the med-schools in that province since that will likely be your best chance(s).  You can also find details on schools' websites regarding pre-requisites and online classes.  

For most schools (not all), GPA is the most important criterion.  The individual schools might be able to answer your questions regarding conversion, although WES seems to be standard.  

I'd definitely say it's doable - I'm quite a bit older myself and think the work load is comparable to CS/engineering type Master’s degree I did in the US a number of years ago.  The hardest part for me has been overcoming a language barrier, but I seem to have that much more under control (I'm in a French environment).  The major question is the time tradeoff- it will take a number of years (and finances) to get to and through med school plus residency.  Thus, optimistically speaking you'd be at least 51 before you're able to work as a doctor (with probably accumulated student debt).  Only you (with your family possibly) can decide whether it's the right choice.  

[elect_17yrs_desire Med]

@calcan thank you for your detailed reply; I was exactly looking for that kind of guidance.

[indefatigable]

1 hour ago, elect_17yrs_desire Med said:

@calcan thank you for your detailed reply; I was exactly looking for that kind of guidance.

Good luck with your decision and choices!  Feel free to post or PM for further questions.

[jul059]

Concerning the MCAT, make sure to allocate a lot of preparation time. An estimate would be at least 300 hours. I graduated in mechanical engineering in 2011 and the bio and biochem stuff was definitely the hardest material to learn and remember on the test. 

I hope it all works out for you! Dedication and perseverance will get you a long way.