You hear talk all over CC about med school admit rates and wanting to be a doctor (MD) or how so-and-so tried to get in to med school and failed and is now in some low-paying job as some lab technician, but if these people are so interested in the health professions and helping people, why don’t they consider alternatives? Not just osteopathic medicine, but podiatry, dentistry, optometry, genetic counseling, occupational therapy, etc.?
Granted, these fields also have standards (and the work in each field is pretty different; but that’s true for medical specialties as well), but it seems to me to there must be a fair number of kids who don’t have the qualifications for med school but do for, say, podiatric medicine.
Yet judging by the stats that you need to enter a podiatry school, it seems that a good number of applicants, if they don’t get in to med school, don’t consider other health options either.
I’ve seen people pivot to other health related fields. One of my D’s friend who didn’t get into med school applied differently the following year and was accepted to a DO program. Another friend is currently working as an EMT and is pursuing grad programs to become a Physician’s Assistant. My niece did a second, accelerated BS degree in nursing and is now working and going to school part-time to become a Nurse Practitioner.
And my D who once toyed with the idea of pre-med is now studying to be a speech pathologist. I’m proud of my D for making a choice that feels right to her and she is absolutely loving the field.
Part of being successful in life is understanding how to change course when a change is either desired or required.
I suspect because as high school seniors/college freshmen they’re unaware of how many medicine-related fields there are… once they realize the options, many pursue them. My daughter started out as a pre-med, and is now getting her PhD in cancer biology, one of her friends is an RN, another has gone into occupational therapy.
And I’ll be honest: I’m a lot older than the kids on CC, and I’ve never really understood the difference between allopathic and osteopathic medicine…
If we’re talking relative to dentistry, podiatry, and other healthcare fields, the answer is obviously prestige and then they don’t end up there as backups because there’s little info out there about them. I’d literally never heard of half the healthcare professions out there until I got into the hospital for my clinical years.
If we’re talking relative to DO, it’s a mix of prestige and better training options post school.
The difference is shrinking and will soon be non-existent as both programs have been moving towards each other over time on the spectrum of “disease is fundamentally a specific molecular pathway phenomenon that can be targeted with pinpoint accuracy by specific therapeutic interventions” to “disease is an alteration in the normal health state of the human body as a whole and things do not occur within a vaccum”
I’ve never understood why anyone would want to be a dentist. Doesn’t everyone hate their dentist?
My husband had a guy working as a technician working in his lab many eons ago. He was not a very good technician. He’d originally been thinking med school, but I believe both grades and MCAT scores made that look like a dubious proposition. My husband was relieved when he went into podiatry.
My son’s former GF first wanted to be a pharmacist, then wanted to be an MD, but her MCAT wasn’t where it needed to be, then got a good enough GRE and will be graduating as a PA in Dec. I’m thrilled for her.
I know this sounds very sexist (so I’ll flame myself), but she’s very maternal and wants a family, so I do think that becoming a PA is more Mom-Friendly than becoming a MD. (Now I’ll go beat myself for writing this)
Probably many people know that dentists and optometrists exists. They might know that there are DO as well as MD physicians (since DO physicians are more common in primary care).
But wouldn’t the professional schools for those other health professions prefer people who wanted to do them in the first place, rather than as backup options after being weeded/shut out of MD medical school?
In HS I dated a guy who wanted to be an obstetrician, but he had to work VERY hard to get good grades, and byp senior year he had an ulcer! (Not sure of the link between stress and ulcers now, but back then we thought there was one. Anyway, he was very stressed.) He decided to switch to physical therapy, and built a very successful practice (before dying in a tragic accident, not realted at all to his chosen profession, a few years ago).
I know a few dentists and they seem to enjoy their work. I for one don’t hate mine, he is smart and nice and helps me feel better. Not his fault that dental problems hurt!
One of my relatives applied to Med and podiatric schools. She’s nearly done with her podiatric residency and loves her field. Her fiancé is in the midst of his pathology residency. It makes sense to me to keep an open mind and find a good “fit.”
James Carville’s quote comes to mind. But even if medicine doesn’t pay much there will be plenty of people want to be doctors still. That’s where their passion lies. Some top schools want us to believe they can spot passion in applicants while for the majority of schools Carville’s quote rules (think OO students, international students, full pay students, etc).
And prestige and respect. This is generally what draws high school students to medicine. They are smart and love science. Being a doctor is the is the first thing that comes to mind.
@ucbalumnus I think the professions you speak of want to get the strongest people into the field and would not be concerned if a person once considered a different career. From what I hear about half of the people starting college as pre-med end up going another route – some may have been weeded out and others simply decide they wanted to go another direction. For some of these people the related fields you noted, which may not have been obvious choices to younger students, are excellent options.
As a practical matter, grad schools have no way of knowing the original intent of an undergrad as much of the pre-med science coursework is required as a prerequisite for these related fields as well.
And a comment based on personal experience – my D considered pre-med early on but decided she didn’t want the long haul she would need to pursue a medical career. In her applications to speech pathology grad schools she was honest in saying that she had considered and researched a number of different careers and had shadowed professionals in areas such as such as medicine, teaching, OT etc before deciding that she wanted to pursue speech pathology. This did not seem to be a issue/problem as she had excellent success with her grad schools…
Physician here (MD). DOs have very similar educations and do the same work, more so in recent decades than many decades ago. The other professions are DIFFERENT! Students likely first think of doctors as physicians. Those who mare interested in being a physician for the work done will not want the other fields. Not all of us considered prestige/wealth as a reason to become physicians- there are so much easier ways to make money.
Physical therapy schools can be as competive as MD so don’t think allied health is easy to get in. Far fewer slots. Not saying school itself is as rigorous as med school but it’s a 3 year grad degree compared to 4 years med school plus X years of residency.
Allied health may not know med school was first choice but schools will still be looking for a stellar GPA, etc.
And not one necessarily derived from wealth, but one derived from the perception(whether true or false) of being part of an occupation which requires being keenly smart above one’s already above-average high achieving peers/professionals, but also a higher mandatory work ethic…especially in the beginning of one’s career.
Add to it some nobility from it being regarded with some merit as a helping profession and one can easily understand it’s appeal from that angle.
Incidentally, this very aspect was likely one key motivator for why two HS classmates who graduated near the very bottom of our graduating HS class were motivated to major in pre-med and excel in undergrad, apply/attend med school, and become successful practicing MDs.
While they were regarded as dunces along with the rest of us in the bottom portion of our HS graduating class…it’s certainly unlikely anyone will consider them as such now…
When my son was in high school, we went to an information session on medical careers. Among the speakers were a DO and MD. The DO was pretty funny, and talked about all the misconceptions people had about osteopaths. I personally learned a DO was not the same thing as a chiropractor.
Then he started talking about the differences between DOs and MDs, and said medical school for DOs and MDs was identical, except that students in osteopathic schools had additional classes in manipulative techniques. The MD clearly considered the DO as an equal in the medical profession. In fact, the MD seemed to regret that traditional medicine was always so quick to rely on chemistry and surgery as a solution to illness.
I’ve never had a doctor who was a DO, but I wouldn’t hesitate to use one if I had the chance.