<p>Hi everyone!
So I'm going to be a senior in the fall so of course I'm currently going through my 'mid-college-life crisis'
I'm applying to med schools this summer and my MCAT score was less than I expected which made me do a lot of thinking, 'Is being a doctor for me?' I was getting really anxious about how stressful it is to even try to get into med school, then med school itself and the hellish hours that residents work. And I was getting tired of female doctors telling me that being a doctor and having a family don't mesh.
So then I started looking into Pharm schools because I thought to myself, 'Hey! PharmDs are pretty clinical now. That should be good!' And I was pretty excited about it... until I did some research and saw how saturated the market for pharmacists are and how scary the job outlook is. </p>
<p>So now my real question, Are there any health/medical science fields with regular hours (as in not the crazy 40 hours that some doctors work), reasonable vacation time, patient contact and good pay? Or am I just chasing a unicorn? I really want to be in medicine and/or patient care but I'm having a really hard time finding a profession that's right for me.</p>
<p>Thanks for listening to my little sob story, any hints, pointers or reality checks are greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Visit some doctors in more rural areas where they have trouble attracting doctors. Often in those areas the clinics will give options for better hours, etc. We have several friends that are doctors in rural areas with very flexible schedules, limited on-call duty and great vacation plans. One friend specifically, mother of 3, works from 8-3 four days/week, is on call once every 3 weeks and has no weekend on call duties (the hospital hires out dr’s on contract for the weekends). She has a lot of maternity patients so she does get called in to deliver babies because she likes to deliver her own patients babies.</p>
<p>You could look into being a Physician’s Assistant. They have set clinic hours and depending on where, that might be something like 10-7 each day but they typically don’t put in the hospital time like an MD.</p>
<p>Just an FYI, 40 hours/week is pretty much standard for any job…</p>
<p>Look into dentistry. I work 4 days/wk school year, 3 days in the summer. Lots of time to raise my 4 kids.</p>
<p>I own my practice and love what I do!</p>
<p>Other medical fields: PA, nurse practitioner, public health, PT, OT, speech therapy. I was on the pre-med track, but changed my mind September of my senior year in college.</p>
<p>lol i wish my H only worked 40 hours per week!! try solo practice no coverage… leaves for work at 6 am…full day in office, followed by rounds at 2 hospitals… usually gets home about 10 pm…then weekends too.</p>
<p>My DH is a psychiatrist. He works for the VA from 8 am to 4:30 pm. On call about one weekend every 6-8 weeks. They also have half time physicians. Working 80 hrs a week isn’t always the case.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input!
One question about PA, I know that to get in requires A LOT of clinical experience beforehand. Does the experience have to be a paid job? Because my immigration status (student visa) prevents me from getting those kind of hours.</p>
<p>PA schools are extremely difficult to get into. There were over 800 applicants for 25 positions at the school my daughter attends. The only reason there were that many open positions is that the school expanded the department; usually there are only a handful due to undergrad students failing out.</p>
<p>The 500 clinical hours for those entering as grad students are paid hours. Most of the students who came in were EMT’s, therapists, and the like.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to work more than 40 hours, you may not like the PA program. During the first year they are in classes 40-45 hours a week, and then there is all of the study time on top of that. Now that she’s entering the clinical year, she will work every hour the training doctors work. Many PA’s work similar hours, and are on call, depending upon their chosen specialty.</p>
<p>I once asked a friend in medical school which specialty she was planning on, and the answer was emergency medicine, which, perhaps paradoxically, has very regular hours. Although you may have to work some odd shifts, when you are done at the end, you are totally done. No emergencies for you in the middle of the night. That’s someone else’s job. For a woman–or man–who wants to balance career and family, it’s a good choice.</p>
<p>PAs have a nice niche and good hours, but yes, it’s harder and harder to get into programs. Nurse practitioners also have a nice role in many medical fields. </p>
<p>I’m a pediatrician. I’ll be the minority and say that I loved med school and loved residency. It was exciting and fun and truthfully not that hard. My friends in grad school who were doing research and formulating thesis subjects were much smarter imo. Med school means cramming a lot of info into your head and then spewing it out on tests. In the last years, in the clinical setting, it’s much more interesting and problem-solving oriented, which is much more gratifying. I had a ball during training, and yes, I know not many people did. I got married during residency and then got pregnant during my extra Chief Residency year (that was not so fun!) but did not actually have little kids til after my training was done. My husband is a radiologist and he was doing his residency at the same time— having actual children in our lives at that time would have been tough. </p>
<p>Good luck to you! There are lots of jobs within medicine that you can carve out that will suit you-- you just have to put in some time in the trenches first. I was able to make myself a fabulous part time but busy practice. And some of my friends are hospitalists-- regular hours and no call. There are many possibilities.</p>
<p>In addition to PT, OT, and SLP, consider respiratory therapy, ultrasonography, or whatever the real name is for “ray tech” (the people who do x-rays).</p>
<p>The general umbrella term for these is “allied health professions.”</p>
<p>Another option is to consider registered dietitian. Not the greatest pay but a stable job with either a clinical career path that will have direct patient/client contact or an administrative path which leads to food industry/management. Full-time or part-time position. It is good career when raising a family.</p>
<p>The Bureau of Labor Statistics has an Occupational Outlook Handbook where you find info on most occupations in terms of salary, education/training requirements, and employment outlook.</p>
<p>"PA schools are extremely difficult to get into. There were over 800 applicants for 25 positions at the school my daughter attends. "</p>
<p>-800/25=32 per spot, comparable to Med. Schools. Here are couple of examples:
12,000/260=46
5000/170=29</p>
<p>“I’m a pediatrician. I’ll be the minority and say that I loved med school and loved residency. It was exciting and fun and truthfully not that hard.”
-You are a great great exceptional minority. My D. is done with her first year, and I am sure that the future is harder. She and Med. Students around her will be in great disagreement with you. The amount of material they are going thru is a pure torture. Most of her class (but not my D.) came from Ivy /Elite UGs, so I have to assume that they were prepared very well, not to mention that one has to have very superior stats just to be accepted to any American Med. School (57% of applicants do not get in at all). We are talking about very top students in whole nation.<br>
In addition to sheer amount of material, one has to posses physical endurance, as D. mentioned that her regular end of block 6 hrs tests are first and foremost are tests in indurance, then it is test of knowledge. They do not take breaks for the fear of not finishing exam. There are usually 3 of them at the end of each block, all in one week.
You must be at the level of genius to feel that Med. School was easy. Good for you! It is not by any measure for vast majority of others.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP-- Of course it was hard. It was rigorous, and the amount of material you are expected to learn is ridiculous. But it’s not impossible. It’s a matter of perspective, or organization, and esp in the last two years, of talent working with patients and synthesizing knowledge and being a very good diagnostician. But it is not impossible to enjoy. I did well on Boards and was AOA. My fellow AOA students (the honor society for medical schools) were in most part well-rounded people. I see that people who get too wrapped up in the “I’m a med student woe is me no one else has ever had this hard” (which we ALL felt like from time to time in med school!!) forget to realize that many thousands of people have done it and survived it. Being a physician is hard but not that hard-- there are thousands and thousands of doctors in the world. Many more than there are, say, Four Star Generals. Admirals. Ambassadors. Heads of academic departments. Yes, I had a good attitude. And I’m a good doctor. But it’s more important that I’m a good mom, a good spouse. There are other things in life!</p>
<p>Your daughter will get through this with flying colors. She’ll work so hard. Residency is a slog-- but never in your life are you learning so much in so exciting a way. Hopefully she can take a minute and enjoy some of that. It’s really remarkable. She can enjoy some of this time, and I hope she does.</p>
<p>KKmama’s D has it much rougher than my S. His PA school averages about 30 hours of class each week and he was told that rotations would only be 40 hours per week. I think schools really vary on admissions criteria, too. If you think being a PA sounds interesting, I’d begin by looking through web sites for the information. All the schools are listed here:</p>
<p>I’m surprised no one has mentioned nursing. I know several people who went into nursing programs after getting a BA. In my health care organization many of the top executives are former nurses, so there are lots of career paths and options.</p>
<p>In addition to dentistry, optometry is also an option.</p>