I would love to go to Medical School, but money, support and the lifestyle of a physician is holding me back.  Any suggestions on other professions I should look into?
212958
If I were you I would seriously look into PA (Physician Assistant) programs. They perform a lot of duties a physician would normally do (physical exams, minor procedures, prescribe meds). They do this under a doctor's supervision. Most programs are about 2 years after a bachelor's degree and the pay is pretty good.\nGood Luck!
436392
You want to start a medical school - as in a school that teaches people to become doctors? I think the look of your business cards will be the FARTHEST thing you need to consider.\n\n1. Do you have the funds to buy your own school building, hire professors to teach would-be doctors? \n\n2. Do you have the funds to buy all the medical equipment you need?\n\n3. You need to develop a curriculum that would give students the knowledge they need to pass the courses, be licensed and actually knows how to heal.\n\n4. You need tremendous insurance\n\n5. Do you have the funds to maintain the building, the facilities, equipment and classrooms?
255665
Many people think that becoming a doctor is difficult. Others have some sense that becoming a physician takes many years and is expensive. Most people realize that being a physician is difficult yet rewarding. All these people are correct. Becoming a physician is a long, arduous, expensive process that can only be accomplished with great dedication. \nBefore starting the process of becoming a physician (or any profession) you must do some honest soul searching. First of all you must be aware of the time commitment involved in becoming a physician. Medicine is a career that requires many years of preparation. Generally most people graduate college at age 22 and medical school at 26. Then after 3 years of internship and residency, many physicians begin their career at age 29. However, the training for some specialties can last until the physician's early to mid 30's. Obviously this can delay plans for marriage and starting a family. Some people begin their medical education after pursuing other careers, which can further delay the completion of their medical training. You must decide early on if you are willing to dedicate the time it takes to become a physician. As you can see, this is not a decision to be made lightly. \nMore importantly, you must decide if medicine is a field that is right for the kind of person you are. I believe that there are three cornerstones of a successful career in medicine: \n\nA love for learning in general \nA true intellectual curiosity about medicine in particular \nA strong desire to help others. \nBeing smart and doing well in the sciences are obviously important components of being a successful physician. However, do not fall into a medical career because you have done well in the sciences. Although this is a necessary requirement, you must also be able to relate well with people. \nAs a physician you have an opportunity to help others. Wanting to help others and enjoying helping others are necessary attributes of a good physician. This is something that cannot be taught. However, there are many other professions that can help others. Politicians, religious leaders and social workers all have the opportunity to help others, perhaps in larger numbers. \n\nMedicine is a career filled with choices. In what other career can you choose between delivering babies, taking care of children, handling emergencies, removing someone's cancer, or talking to someone who needs psychiatric help? Better yet, you can teach others any of these specialties, and while teaching have the opportunity to both practice your profession and teach it. Alternately, you can do research in whatever specialty you choose, with the potential to make a real breakthrough in preventing or treating illness. In addition medicine is a career that is honorable and is held in high esteem, allows you the ability to live just about anywhere, and provides job security (unfortunately, illness is something that will be around for the foreseeable future). \n\nHowever, all of this comes at a price. The many years of preparation, the discipline, the awesome responsibility, the worry about malpractice and the long hours can take their toll. Medicine is a unique field and it demands a unique person. \n\nOne word about money. Please don't let this be a driving factor in your decision, for the sake of your patients and yourself, because it will not sustain you. There are other careers in which you can make more money without the responsibility and the effort it takes to be a physician. \n\nIT IS VERY SATISFYING, make sure you have the grades and the personality to match it thought. GL
240400
Be ready to make sacrifices and be in school for a very very long time! Start off working in a hospital doing patient transport to see if you like the environment. Take upper level courses if you can in high school and college- try and get the best grades possible to make life easier. You need to be accepted into medical school someday!\n\nOhio State is a great public University with an amazing hospital, research teams and medical school.
278659
FIRST, you have to be admitted as a student in the School of Medicine.\nTHEN you can apply for a SCHOLARSHIP or STUDY GRANT from a Financial Aid Organization that the school recognizes.\nGOOD LUCK!
320370
Spend a couple of days shadowing people in medical field areas that you are interested in.  Ask them lots of questions and be very observant.  There are plenty of other ares in the medical field that you may want to consider, such as therapy disciplines (occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech language pathology).\n\nIf you are just starting college, take a wide variety of general ed. credits and this may help you to figure out what you really want to study.  And don't feel like you have to pick a major during your first or second year of school.  Take your time to figure out a field you truly have passion for and that you are willing to spend the time working to attain.\n\nBe aware that many medical field majors require a tremendous load of biology, science, and anatomy classes.  If you don't feel like this is an area that you come by naturally, really think about it.  Also, many medical majors require that you complete clinical practicums, internships, and externships- these take a lot of time and students do not typically get paid for these.
388036
You can go into as much debt as you want to.  Seriously, if you barge straight through at expensive schools, you'll be paying off your  debts just about the time your kids hit college.\n\nMy advice is this:\n\nUndergraduate:  Find a subject you love, and major in that.  You will still need to take all the pre-med courses (anatomy/physiology, chemistry, organic chem, physics, and I'd recommend biochem and genetics as well).  I have friends who are great doctors, and majored in engineering, art, math and other non-medical things.  Get good grades.  You are better off getting good grades at an average school than mediocre grades at a tough school.  You'll get out of college what you put into it.  If you work part time, get grants or scholarships, and pick a school that doesn't cost too much, you don't have to have a huge debt load.\n\nMCAT:  Study like hell.  Learn what needs to be learned for the MCAT and kick butt on that test.\n\nMed School:  If you want to reduce your debt, consider the military (they'll pay your way through med school for 8 years of service) or other government programs - there are some that pay your debt if you work in underserved areas, or in public health jobs.  You'll have to research that, and you have at least 4 years to do so.\n\nAfter medical school, you are qualified to do nothing.  You have to do a residency.  You get paid as a resident, but not much.  The hours are long, but it's better now than it used to be.  Residency is a minimum of 3 years, and can go 7 or more, depending on what you want to do.  YOU HAVE TO START PAYING BACK YOUR LOANS AS A RESIDENT, even if you're not making much.  Keep that in mind as you accumulate debt.\n\nHope that helps.
662988
From your moniker, I'm guessing that you are premed and getting a little worried about the options.  Assuming you've had the basic coursework, A&P, biology, chemisty, biochemistry, etc, you can get into either one.  Nursing is definitely easier to get into than medical school.  You can be out and earning money in about 2 years, though it you decide to wander on into being a practicioner, a nurse first assistant (to a surgeon), or another specialty, then you are going to earn a bit more (ok, sometimes a huge bit more).  \n\nIf you decide to be a doctor and are lucky enough to get in, then you'll take about 3 years to go through school, then you have residency, and probably a little extra training.  Oh, yes.  and tuition bills out the wazoo.  \n\nDoctors tend to earn more, but have less stress than nurses.  They have a different level of responsibility.   \n\nNurses have to go under the guidance of a doctor.  A nurse practitioner can write a prescription, but the doctor has to review it or sign off on it.  Nurses need to work to orders.  Doctors write the orders.\n\nDoctors are one of two medical positions which are permitted to prescribe drugs without getting authorization.  Nurses are not.\n\nFollow your heart, and your luck.  Some people in nursing absolutely love it.  Others hate it or grow to hate it.  .  Some doctors love what they do, others don't.
63148
You'll get a lot of people who tell you that going to med school was a mistake because they work too many hours for too few pay. Of course, they went to the wrong field and should have been a lawyer or gone into business (that's what they all tell me). They went into medicine for the wrong reason. If you like medicine and like treating people and don't care about money, it's great. \n\nOf course, if you're really smart and play your cards right, you can make lots of money and not necessarily with patient care. You have to work hard, make connections and look for these opportunities and they won't just pop up. It will take a while for things to develop. Don't expect people to hand you things in life or medicine.\n\nOf course, the education that comes with being a doctor can only open doors for you and not close them. You can also work in research, consulation, pharm companies, administration, teach, etc. The possibilities are endless. But you have to know you really want to be a doctor. I've talked to a lot of doctors who tell me of associates who quit and went to law school or business school in their 40's.
535681
I spent twenty-year years working at the University of California and one thing I told students was to pick a major they enjoyed.  There is a misconception that in order to be a doctor you have to take nothing but courses related to medicine.  Not true.  There are people in medical school who have bachelor's degrees in all different fields.  For example, should you decide during you BS degree that medicine is where you want to be, you start taking the preparatory courses.  My biggest pain were parents who insisted their children take degree programs in which they sucked.  If you can't do Math, then an accounting degree is a poor choice.  You aren't likely to succeed.  *smile*.  There is no limit to what you can achieve with a BS in Liberal Arts or Communication because you can always add courses to prepare you for another avenue should you so decide.  I had students who were shocked to learn that Sociology degrees would help them in Law Enforcement.    Hope this was helpful.
242202
You should plan on majoring in some science that you will need in medical school, i.e. biology, chemistry, microbiology, etc.\n\n----\n\nDon't get your heart set on one medical school.  If one doesn't accept you, try another.  Med school competition is usually tough, and it might even take 2 or 3 tries at the same school to finally get in.  You would have a better advantage trying for a med school in the state in which you live.  State funded med schools usually have an obligation to give preference to residents of their own state before accepting out of state students.\n\nEven if you decide against med school, you can still use these degrees for other things.  You could possibly get a job working in some medical position in a hospital.  As a chemistry major, you could get a job doing chemical formulas for drug companies.  With any of the degrees, you could teach community college, or get your master's degree and teach at a university.  Depending on your state's requirements, you could possibly teach in a high school.
176716
It is possible, but remember that once you are working is going to be hard to study.\nlike u I want to go to med school, but i decided not to hurry, you can always have contact with patients if you become voluntary member of a hospital or a clinic. that way u can iteract with patitens onl when u have the time, withut feeling the pressure that is your real job, and that also u have to study.
532425
Not only is a doctor a job that is about saving people's lives but you make the world a better place.  Now if you want to look at it from a financial stand point.  Many jobs come and go like being in the oil business.  One day maybe sometime soon we will run out of oil or stop using it.  So then all of those people lose their jobs.  But being a doctor, you never lose your job.  People are always getting sick or hurt so they are always needing help from  a medical authority.  If you are a "people person" or you like making new friends and talking to people this would also be a great opportunity. You get to meet lots of new people and you get to be friends with your patients.  I think that being in the medical field is a great job and has great points or things that you can do with it.  Another point of the financial stand point is that doctors are paid generously.  If anything above interests you I highly suggest you getting into the medical field. <3
257145
you could become a doctor who doesnt deal with blood like a gp or something. tell yourself the blood can be washed away or something
310972
Even though your grades weren't high enough for medical school, there are plenty of fields you can go into that are related.  Nursing, pharmacology, physical therapy, medical research...\n\nAside from becoming a doctor, there are so many other options out there for you. Keep your chin-up, you will find your calling - or it may find you.
124501
As a parent of children with chronic health care needs, I was approached about being part of a program called "Family Faculty."  It is designed for residents, but the idea is this:  Doctors learn from people who deal with the medical world in a real-life day to day basis.  In our case, that is pretty much our life.\n\nIf you are serious about becoming a physician, you should hang out with people who can help you be the best physician you can possibly be... patients.  I would try to hook up with the Child Life Specialists at your local hospital and see if you can volunteer as part of the team.  Or, volunteer at the local Adult Day Care.  Or, try going to the Social Services Department and asking them if there is a way you could participate in improving patient life while you are pre-pre med.\n\nSeriously, you could really improve your vision and your patient understanding by being with those people you hope to one day help.\n\nGood luck.  I really hope you dig in and find something that inspires you.  I wish you the best in your educational pursuits.
342037
Balancing being a doctor with family can be difficult but it is not impossible. If it is family time that you want I would advise to wait to have children until you complete your residency. The hours for a Psychiatrist are such that you can be a doctor and have a family too. I have children myself and going through med school and residency are hard enough without adding trying to balance family time. If you want children go for it I can't imagine my life without them, and if you want to be a doctor go for it, I wouldn't be anything else. Just remember we can never have everything, just try to find a balance that will work for you and make sure you are willing to spend the time away from you family to make it happen. Good luck and you can do it.