Non-trads: What was your path to choosing medicine?

[Kasiunut]

I'm interested in seeing/hearing about other people's non-traditional paths to medicine, especially those who did a major career change and what led them to make the decision.

 

Personally, I have always found medicine alluring and fascinating...and was always jealous of people I knew who got in and became doctors. But when I was naive in High School, and thought that my strengths were in the humanities, I decided that the business route was the way to go. Also, no one in my family was in the healthcare industry so I also thought that maybe I was romanticizing the whole thing.

 

I went to business school, then went to work for a large public accounting firm and got my CA. In the meantime I also did a 2 year stint in Australia while my husband pursued his MBA. When we came back to Canada, I had signed a 2 year commitment contract in return for the firm paying for our relocation costs (at $30K for my family's air fare, hotels and shipping, it seemed like a good deal). I started to become very unhappy with work. I never loved it, but then was staffed on some horrible jobs and began to actively hate it. Then I had 2 miscarriages in one year, which my husband attributed to the great stress I was under.

 

Between the miscarriages and general dislike for my job I really pushed myself to start thinking about changing my life. I took a solid look at my options with a CA and none of them appealed to me. Sure, I could DO them but I wanted my job to be about more than just paying the bills. I wanted my job to be meaningful to me, something I could enjoy, something that would challenge me and something I could be proud of.

 

One day I was chatting with my sister and her friend, who asked me, if could do it all over again, what would I do. I said, almost immediately, that I'd go to med school. And then she asked, well, why don't you do it now? And that started me thinking, yeah why not?

 

So I started slow...signed up for a Bio course online to start my pre-reqs for UofT (since I live in TO), started reading a ton....talked to friends who became doctors....and realizing more and more that YES, this is what I want. After a few months, I realized I couldn't work, be a mother and a wife AND do the med school stuff, so after a heart to heart with my husband, I quit my job (which involved paying my firm almost $9K to release me from my contract) and started this full time.

 

I've had a lot of hiccups along the way, trying to balance my family and what is required of me to do to get into meds and just dealing with the realization that I'm NOT the most competitive applicant and this may never happen for me. But I'm ok with that too - because for the first time in my life I'm going for it because I want it for me and even if I fail, at least I'll always have the knowledge that I tried.

 

I'm just so glad I did what I did. And would love to hear your story!

[Birdy]

I have always planned to be a doctor. Right out of high school, I was accepted into the physics honours program at U of O and planned to apply to med schools after I completed my physics degree. I decided to move close to the university and this caused some strife in our already difficult relationship and meant that I wasn't helped to the same degree my siblings had been. I only worked part time, and didn't have enough to buy my books so I dropped out after a month of trying to use library and friends' books - I couldn't keep up. I don't even have a transcript because I was there such a short time. I never stopped studying, though. I figured that I didn't have to pay tuition to learn, so my evenings have always been spent bent over books or eyes on the screen as I read.

 

I met my husband about a month after that. We got engaged in April of the following year, and found out I was pregnant two weeks later. At that point, I was planning to go back to school and explored adoption, but eventually decided against it.

 

With a baby, while earning poverty-level wages, there was absolutely no way I could go to school. When my son was a year old, we moved to PEI (my home) and spent the next few years struggling to keep food on the table. By the time my son was diagnosed with autism, I'd pretty much given up on ever being a physician but I did keep studying because I wanted to.

 

Last year, we hit a really bad financial crisis. There was absolutely no way I could afford to go back to work after my maternity leave for my daughter. We couldn't afford daycare, rent, and food, and our car was falling apart around us. So, we borrowed money from my parents and my husband went to Alberta to work. I've been a stay at home mom since and he has only been home six times since last summer.

 

He earns about four times out there what he did here, but we know he can't continue doing it forever, so our best bet was for me to go to school. I applied to nursing (figuring four years = employable degree, and hey, at least it is a health profession!) and was accepted to science, but not nursing. My husband said "why not go to med school, then?"

 

It felt right. It is what I have always known I would do. I am really incredibly excited to begin the journey.

 

I know that getting into university is just the first step, and I have to be competitive right from the start to get into med school. With my husband away 90% of the time, I am managing the house and kids on my own. I will probably only see him 4-5 times per school year. But, as cliché as it sounds, failure isn't an option. We're paying for school 100% out of our own pockets, we aren't borrowing against my future earnings. After years of living hand to mouth, I refuse to go back to that, so I absolutely must do everything necessary to build this future. Not that I am going into medicine for the money, but it is undeniably a well-compensated profession.

 

I am a problem solver and a self-directed learner. It has been the one constant driving force in my life. I refuse to give up when things get hard, I just work harder. It took being a mom to a special needs kid for me to really bring out that fortitude, though. I used to give up really quickly when things got hard.

 

Also, dumb as this one sounds, I am so very excited that I will be able to be around other adults for most of the day. For the past two years, my primary conversation partners have been children and I am *dying* for peer interaction! I might actually be able to go all day without talking about Thomas the Tank Engine.

[future_doc]

The thread for you both and many other non-trads is to "live with no regrets". It is far, far better to try and not succeed than never to have tried on the first place.

 

I admire you both greatly and wish you joy and fulfillment in your present journey and through life.

[trojjanhorse]

Heart warming stories

 

Birdy, did you mean abortion? or adoption?

 

I do not think my story is as resistive but I can certainly relate. What makes the two of you different from many applicants and med students is that you have clawed your way through more than the average. This acquired skill and experience will put you so much ahead in the med field in comparison to the students who had everything spoon fed and had consultations every step of the way (from their Dr. fathers/mothers).

 

I have met students in my campus who have 4.0 cGPA, participate in pre-calculated ECs just to have that application filled out for med, and want to get into the field for monetary reasons. To top it all, the God complex these students have is bloody irritating.

 

I wish you two the very best and hope more individuals like you two will enter the field of medicine.

[Birdy]

Heart warming stories

 

Birdy, did you mean abortion? or adoption?

 

I do not think my story is as resistive but I can certainly relate. What makes the two of you different from many applicants and med students is that you have clawed your way through more than the average. This acquired skill and experience will put you so much ahead in the med field in comparison to the students who had everything spoon fed and had consultations every step of the way (from their Dr. fathers/mothers).

 

I have met students in my campus who have 4.0 cGPA, participate in pre-calculated ECs just to have that application filled out for med, and want to get into the field for monetary reasons. To top it all, the God complex these students have is bloody irritating.

 

I wish you two the very best and hope more individuals like you two will enter the field of medicine.

 

 

Adoption. For my own reasons, I would never abort my own pregnancy, but I had many gay friends and knew that adoption (or surrogacy) would be their only routes to a family, so I heavily considered it. Had my husband freaked out and left as unfortunately a lot of guys do, I probably would have placed our son with another family, but he is simply not the kind of guy to do that.

 

And thank you for your kind words. This will be an interesting journey, I'm sure, but it does seem to be causing me to encounter so many kind people.

[Der Kaiser]

Heart warming stories

 

Birdy, did you mean abortion? or adoption?

 

I do not think my story is as resistive but I can certainly relate. What makes the two of you different from many applicants and med students is that you have clawed your way through more than the average. This acquired skill and experience will put you so much ahead in the med field in comparison to the students who had everything spoon fed and had consultations every step of the way (from their Dr. fathers/mothers).

 

I have met students in my campus who have 4.0 cGPA, participate in pre-calculated ECs just to have that application filled out for med, and want to get into the field for monetary reasons. To top it all, the God complex these students have is bloody irritating.

 

I wish you two the very best and hope more individuals like you two will enter the field of medicine.

 

I have been noticing a certain sense of entitlement among some premeds. At first I thought it was a myth, but I guess when you are super successful your entire life you tend towards thinking you are better than others. For someone who has never failed before, it is difficult to accept/understand failure in others. For someone who has planned out their life perfectly (which was possible due partially to individual circumstances) it makes one feel better to think that it was because of one's own fortitude/willpower/intelligence rather than a stable family/parental and teacher encouragement/etc. On the other hand, I have met many traditional premeds who are humble and understanding of others despite their own success.

 

Great stories. It is wonderful to hear about such passion from other non-trads.

[Kasiunut]

Thanks to everyone for your kind and encouraging words! It means a lot to get that kind of support. Its really motivating.

 

And Birdy, I really take my hat off to you! Your story is amazing and I truly wish you all the best and I really think this WILL happen for you!

[Birdy]

I have been noticing a certain sense of entitlement among some premeds. At first I thought it was a myth, but I guess when you are super successful your entire life you tend towards thinking you are better than others. For someone who has never failed before, it is difficult to accept/understand failure in others. For someone who has planned out their life perfectly (which was possible due partially to individual circumstances) it makes one feel better to think that it was because of one's own fortitude/willpower/intelligence rather than a stable family/parental and teacher encouragement/etc. On the other hand, I have met many traditional premeds who are humble and understanding of others despite their own success.

 

Great stories. It is wonderful to hear about such passion from other non-trads.

 

A lot of it is just personality, I think. Some people will always believe that what they were given by circumstance was earned, while others will never feel they can earn what they have been given.

[trojjanhorse]

Der Kaiser.

 

Obviously there are exceptions, and possibly (most probably) the individuals that I spoke of could be a minority but they sure do stand out. Humbleness and genuine altruism could stem from a stable family and perfect environment, but that take on life will be challenged when faced with the real world where politics drive your decisions to a great extend.

 

I could give several examples in the medical profession where I've personally experienced the d*** moves some doctors make just to cover their own selves while jeopardizing the Pt's life. The same doctors unnecessarily manipulate the system to their advantage to make more money in the expense of the Pt's time. An example of this could be administrating MoCA's when obviously it was not necessary and revoking licenses (because the gov't issues $40 to the doctor) for a transient R hand numbness. Research topics and the need to publish is a completely different topic that I could go into.

 

The whole reason why I chose to shadow a specialist before applying was to see if it was an environment I could survive in because you never know what you're going to get yourself unless you experience it yourself first hand.

 

I feel like I'm hijacking this thread lol. I agree with you Der Kaiser, but there are always exceptions that stand out of the mix.

[Birdy]

Thanks to everyone for your kind and encouraging words! It means a lot to get that kind of support. Its really motivating.

 

And Birdy, I really take my hat off to you! Your story is amazing and I truly wish you all the best and I really think this WILL happen for you!

 

I agree - the support here really is amazing.

 

And you, wow, I didn't even address your post in my own. I wanted to tell you how awed I am that you are making such a huge change to do this. It takes a lot of guts to decide to pursue one's dreams even when it means giving up what you have known as your normal for so long. It's all too easy, I think, to keep doing what you are doing, even when you'd rather be doing something else.

 

You're brave for doing it, most definitely.

 

Also, the miscarriages. It always rips my heart out when I hear about other people having experienced them. They are so tragically common that so many women have suffered through them, but so few will openly discuss the experience. *hug* I've been there, and it really does change you.

[Birdy]

I feel it necessary to add a bit of a clarification to my post. My parents may come across as sounding horrible, but they had their reasons for their actions. I was an extremely difficult teenager, challenged them a great deal and we had a very poor relationship at that time.

 

My parents are wonderful people. They have done a great deal for us, and have really come through for my little family at very difficult times, and have helped many people in so many capacities through the years. They worked very hard to ensure my siblings and I had a very good upbringing, no matter what obstacles we faced.

 

Just thought I'd throw that out there, since I didn't speak terribly favourably of my parents in my first post and I really do adore them.