What do people who failed to get into med school do next? | Hacker News Reader

What do people who failed to get into med school do next?

6 pointsjohan_larson11 comments

Suppose you did everything you were supposed to do to become a doctor. You studied hard in high school, and went to a good college. You again studied hard, and majored in something life-sciency. You took the MCAT, and did fine. You applied to a bunch of med schools. But then, for whatever reason, none of them admitted you.

Now what?

EDIT: Let me just add that I myself didn't fail to get into med school. I'm just asking.

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That depends a great deal on what you want to do with your life.

Michael Chrichton, author of Jurassic Park, attended medical school but always wanted to be a writer. IIRC, he went to medical school at the behest of his family who had no faith that he could make it as a writer. His medical training helped make his writing especially good because he writes very plausible stuff, instead of hand wavy "Uh, radiation explains away my plot hole!"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton

So, what do want to do with your life? Why did you want to go to medical school? Was it family pressure? Were you after social status and a big paycheck? Or do you really want to be involved in making people healthier?

Have an honest heart-to-heart with yourself and base your next move on those answers. If you really wamt to go into medicine, nursing is an option. If you really wanted prestige and money, then maybe law is a good alternative.

The right answer here depends on a lot of factors you did not detail in your question.

Best.

Try the PA route. The schools are also very competitive, but less so than for being an MD. Fortunately it's easy to apply all over the country through CASPA.

You will end up working as a PA 2-3 years later, with a much better quality of life, less student debt, all while still making a great living.

A site to help find schools to apply to based on pre-reqs: http://paprogramsearch.com/

Things friends of mine have done:

1. Go to school in another country. I believe there are schools in The Caribbean that are popular for this.

2. Go to a DO school instead of an MD school (DOs do the same work and are doctors just the same, but I'm told MD schools are more competitive.)

3. Wall Street. :)

4. EMT, RN, NP, or PA careers.

Re-applying a year later is quite possible but I don't know anyone who has done it.

> 1. Go to school in another country. I believe there are schools in The Caribbean that are popular for this.

Yep, but it is complicated when you come back in. There's another exam to pass to practice in the U.S. if you went to school outside of the U.S.

That is a good point. I assume there is a wide disparity in passing rates between various international schools. In the case I'm familiar with, the student is now a successful resident.

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” -Prof Randy Pausch

Yep. Anecdotal but for what it's worth:

One of my friends failed to get into med school after graduating. So she worked at her school's hospital doing various things (sorry I can't elaborate further) for 3 years, re-applying and getting rejected each year. But on the 4th year, she got accepted to a quite good school, and has since crushed it.

I don't agree with that. walls are there mainly to keep people who doesn't pay...

It's the same wrong argument some successful people make that their success is some direct result of hard work, without taking into account things like luck, contacts or a wealthy enough family to be able to take "risks".

I wasn't strictly referring to Medical School. Life has challenges. Maybe the brick wall is Medical School. Or maybe not getting in will help him/her understand what their path is.

Do some "experience" that would appear good on a application (The most racist person I know did volunteer work in Africa and was admitted to a top university). Then try against next year. Unless you are unsure you want to be a doctor.

Do you like animals? How about teeth?

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