Zaoz Posted January 20, 2010 Report Share Posted January 20, 2010 Hi everyone, So, a little bit of background. I did an Honours BA at UBC, doing very well and graduating with a 3.7 GPA (83%). I know that this isn't a substantially impressive number by other departments' standards, but coming out of a traditional humanities field (comp lit) in a competitive school, it put me well above average and got me into a wide range of grad schools. Now, years later, I'm on the verge of completing a PhD in a modern languages department at UWO and I'm struggling to figure out my next step. I'm sure other people here have faced similar situations when it comes to academics and the university, but it's considerably frustrating to do well in grad school and do all the right things (publishing, research assignments, teaching experience, numerous conferences, received grants and awards) only to graduate into a job market that has, on a good year, a handful of postings across the entire country and an applicant pool of hundreds, if not thousands. Given that my job prospects are looking slim (one job offer was rescinded after the position disappeared due to budget cuts), and my only alternatives are either teaching sessional or at community colleges with no guarantees that jobs will appear in the future, I've been considering a number of different options. My question is: how feasible is med school? I'm pretty certain that I would have to take a number of undergrad courses, since I didn't take upper-year electives in sciences due to focus on humanities grad school entry, and it's been over a decade since I did the first and second year elective courses that are related to the sciences. I'd be taking these courses to prepare for the MCAT. I'm also unsure how my career so far will impact any med school's consideration of my application -- I don't have many extra-curriculars since grad school itself is a full-time commitment, and I'm not sure grad school degrees, particularly in unrelated fields, factor in (if they do at all). I've also heard from friends that many US schools offer post-bac programs designed to give you all the prerequisites for med school; how well do these translate to Canada? As far as I can tell, there is only one such program in Canada. I'm positive that I can succeed in whatever course of action I take, but if anyone has any advice/stories/tips on making such a drastic career shift, it'd be greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwh333 Posted January 20, 2010 Report Share Posted January 20, 2010 wait why do you want to do medicine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leuven Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 First of all, if you want to do it, have confidence in yourself and your abilities. Some people on this board will demand you give them a reason why you want to go to medical school. Don't feel that you need to answer to anyone here. Others might suggest you consider other career options. They might drone on about "the trials & tribulations of medicine," in grandiose terms. They might ask you, "How do you know you're ready for medicine". As a humanities scholar, learn to take amusement in this, like you were watching a classical play: "O the difficulty!" "O the humanity!", etc. Medicine is certainly not the easiest career choice, but thousands of people do it everyday without the histrionics. When in doubt: check with a real live practicing physician or resident over a pre-med. Do not ever let anyone make you feel bad for having a humanities background. Forget about that, and take pride in your training. My advice is to rock it. Med schools love applicants like you who took the road less travelled by. The path is sometimes long and challenging or frustrating. But consider your assets. Your undergrad GPA is fine (don't let anyone dismay you on this), and some schools may give you extra points/consideration for your graduate experience (e.g. mcmaster, queen's, u of t, alberta schools). People tend to have better chances in provinces where they meet the criteria for residency. However, there are some schools that do not care which province you hail from (e.g. uoft, western, queen's). Official school websites are more reliable than pre-med rumours, and in all cases, go to the source where possible. Some schools (like ubc) will require you to take lower level science courses, and some schools won't, or will be more flexible as to which ones you take. Catching up on science pre-reqs is not the biggest deal despite what some will say and plenty of people do it and do well. You may find it helps prepare you for the MCAT. I did not know that there were post-bacs in Canada, but look into that if it interests you. As for extra curriculars, pick some up if you feel you may be lacking but also consider that you may have done more than you think. Try to remember: In your PhD, did you serve on any advisory boards or committees? Did you TA? Consider your work, your cultural/religious commitments, your hobbies. A lot of stuff counts that might surprise you. It is definetly feasible. Stay positive. If you want it, it's yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrogirl Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 +1 to everything leuven said. Go for it! It may take some jumping through a few hoops for pre-reqs, depending on where you go, and it may not. But I'm pretty sure you have a lot more extracurricular stuff to put on your applications than you realize. All those things you mentioned that you did to do well in grad school are things you can put down. And having a background like yours makes you look interesting and well-rounded. I'm in sort of a similar position to you - only the Ph.D. I'm almost done with (hopefully) is in astronomy. And I'm finding I have quite a few ECs, because you don't really get to the point of almost having a Ph.D. without doing a lot of varied and interesting things along the way. Good luck to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supafield Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 Pre-Reqs are becoming quite minimal in Ontario at least. With minimal effort you could pick up most pre-requisites while getting the courses you need to write the MCAT.... You may be missing the odd biochem requirement at some schools though. As for Leuven's advice.... I would like to stress one pt brought up. Do not ever let anyone make you feel bad for having a humanities background. Forget about that, and take pride in your training. My advice is to rock it. Med schools love applicants like you who took the road less travelled by. I stress this point. Having a Ba and BHSc (which at western is health studies, not true health science).... I fell into a trap last year of trying to make my application more "pre-med"ish because I feared I wasn't going to look traditional enough. When you're surrounded by science students, it becomes easy to do. The irony inherent to this approach was that I was failing to emphasize some of my strongest and most unique characteristics that I only could have gained through my non-traditional path to the interview. I've approached this year much differently and urge you to keep this in mind as well. You'll have an amazingly unique story to tell if you do decide to apply, and will have experience that most applicants will never have access to. These are strengths and be sure to show them proudly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaoz Posted January 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it. One thing the PhD has taught me is confidence: it's definitely one of those things that either makes you or breaks you, and luckily I've mostly come out intact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopeful Med Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 Zaoz, why don't you do a post doc or two? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leuven Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrogirl Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 The job market for post-docs is just as bad as the rest of the academic job market. And some people spend a decade or more going from post-doc to post-doc before they ever get offered a tenure track position. Then it's usually 6 years before you can apply for tenure. Then you might not even get it and you're back on the job market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leuven Posted January 23, 2010 Report Share Posted January 23, 2010 The job market for post-docs is just as bad as the rest of the academic job market. And some people spend a decade or more going from post-doc to post-doc before they ever get offered a tenure track position. Then it's usually 6 years before you can apply for tenure. Then you might not even get it and you're back on the job market. Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. You'll get all kinds of questions or suggestions like that. Remember that you understand your options best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slashsev01 Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 WOW!! theres a job market after a phd!! thats news to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.