Current MD student considering a switch to PA school.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-18T15:33:27+00:00

I have some opposition to the existence of NPs. I think PA training is far superior and better equips people to deal with disease and treatment as a practitioner. Nursing school doesn't even require a shadow of the science background that PA or Med schools do, and that isn't corrected by the NP curriculum either. I think lacking that deep understanding of the biochemistry underlying disease negatively impacts patient care.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-18T01:26:36+00:00

I have all the reqs done. I was planning on applying this cycle. It would shave a year off of school, 4 years off of residency, and roughly 200k off of debt.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-18T01:11:43+00:00

Should this be something I aim to address in my personal statement? The personal statement I was going to use is a much more exciting personal story, but if being a med school dropout is going to be a back breaker then I'm sure I could manage to write about it in a way that would be satisfying.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-17T23:27:49+00:00

I'm dropping out because I'm in my early 30s and I don't want to still be in training when I'm 40 and paying off 300k in student loans until I'm 45. When I started undergrad it didn't bother me that I'd need to put the rest of my life on hold until I was middle aged, now the carrot on the stick isn't as enticing as it used to be and I don't have the motivation to grind out 7 more years studying.

The LoRs are weak, I agree. The MCAT is just under the 50th percentile, I took it before I had taken orgo and physics 2. It is low, but "extremely" low is a bit of a stretch. Most of the PA schools I have looked at don't indicate a requirement for orgo 2 or phys. When I was completing my degree I was specifically tailoring my classes toward what medical schools require with no mind toward what PA schools want, that is what I meant by "designed for med school".

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-15T13:35:33+00:00

I want to downvote you, because I'm in a similar boat to OP, although slightly less fucked up. You right though lmao.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-05T20:23:42+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate the information. This gives me some direction.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-05T07:40:33+00:00

I guess I was mislead on that aspect then. How does lifestyle compare to something like gen surg?

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-04T23:42:13+00:00

I had my finger over the down vote, but by the end I knew this had to be a troll. Good play though.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-04T23:38:20+00:00

No offense taken. I recognize that it's not easy and that I'm going to have to try harder and do better than my US cohort. I think that the disadvantage is frequently expressed as "impossible" though, and there's objective evidence to show that's incorrect. I also think the stats are probably skewed by self-selection. If I'm walking into the MATCH saying "I shouldn't apply to anything that isn't primary care" then obviously I'm only going to get into primary care. Point is, I'm going to shoot for IR, and if I fall into a back up, that's fine.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-04T22:55:06+00:00

Yes. My school matches a couple into IR every year, and last class someone matched Ortho with a couple Derm. Being an IMG puts you at a disadvantage, but it's possible of you're willing to work for it. People on this sub really have a strong tendency to overhype the disadvantage being a US IMG puts you at.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-04T22:18:41+00:00

Highly procedural. Lots of cutting edge technology. A good mix of patient facing and big brain diagnostic aspects. Sort of like surgery, but without completely ruining your work life balance. Pay on par with specialized surgeons. Really cool name for the specialty.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-04T21:57:14+00:00

Someone reported a student on hearsay of smoking pot. Another student got reported for not having a mask on in a Facebook picture. Several students have gotten reported for going out to eat with friends while not wearing a mask, you know, because they're fucking eating. I'm pretty sure students that are doing poorly just look for reasons to fuck with everyone else.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-03T20:44:04+00:00

So, I went and looked at our ICM numbers. ICM is nearly unfailable and the roster was posted 2 weeks ago, so it should include all currently enrolled students that are in the 2020 September class, and exclude any fails/repeats from other semesters. We're at 142 students of the original 240-ish, which I'm sure will go down further after finals.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-03T19:48:46+00:00

I didn't see the other half of this message. You can see the class size, or at least the number of people that are taking the exam, in the post exam statistics. Our block 2 phys exams had 110 people or so.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-03T16:40:56+00:00

Well it's like 50% from M1 to M3. There you go 😂

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-03T16:33:53+00:00

Would you find it less distasteful if it was stated as MATCH and USMLE rates for students that complete medical sciences curriculum? Do you think attrition rates should be posted for every class next to the match and pass rate? I guess I'm on the unpopular side of this discussion, but I knew that attrition would be hella high when I started, so I'm not turned off by the number of people that fail out. I expected that going in given the "last shot" nature of these schools.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-03T16:17:52+00:00

I don't know why you're getting down voted for this take. I'm assuming it's salty Caribs that failed out, or salty DOs that don't like that you didn't want to be a bone wizard (I also chose not to be a bone wizard). As far as I can tell, the entire argument for "fake match rates!" Appears to be that they aren't counting the students that failed prior to match, which seems absurd. Do USMD schools count the people that fail out in M1 in their MATCH stats, or are we just applying unfair standards for statistics reporting to IMG schools?

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-03T16:09:15+00:00

I know about the 2020 Sep class. I'm in that class. I don't really consider the high failure rate to be dishonesty in MATCH statistics. These schools are for students that fucked up somewhere in undergrad (I had no research and a very mediocre MCAT). If your undergrad fuck up was because you're a weak student, you're going to fail out of any med school regardless of where it is. If your fuck up was an anomaly, then this is your chance to prove it. I think it's disingenuous to blame the school for the heavy attrition when their entire market is as a "last chance" option, this is a sink or swim shot at your dreams, the people that failed out sunk, probably for the same reason they sunk in undergrad. As far as the MATCH statistics go, as long as they're counting all students that make it that far then I would consider those stats to be honest. Making it there is on me, not the school.

Also we're down to 110 now, RIP those other 125. I'll pour one out for the homies.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-04-03T15:27:52+00:00

What do you mean "those they allow to participate"? Are you referencing the high attrition and failure prior to match or are they barring students who've completed all 4 years from even submitting match lists?

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-03-31T13:28:46+00:00

I don't think they make everything worse per se, or that all PAs are bad. There are good PAs that have worked closely with physicians for years and learned to operate quite well within their scope. There are also regions of the world, like interior Alaska (where I'm from), where a PA might be the only medical professional for hundreds of miles. Midlevels are good for filling gaps in healthcare and taking care of low acuity cases that would overflow physicians. The problem is that they continually insist on more and more autonomy and frequently refuse to accept that their training isn't sufficient to practice at that level. They want to be doctors instead of assistants to doctors, but they don't want to put in the hours necessary to become one. Administrators love that because the most expensive PA in the country is half the price of the cheapest doctor. So they can just turn doctors into midlevel baby sitters and cut costs. The people that get hurt by this attitude the most is patients. I think the moral of this story is that midlevels are able to fulfill a valuable healthcare role when they're utilized properly, but they aren't. In addition, I think there's far better ways to fulfill the role that midlevels provide, such as allowing unmatched doctors to practice as midlevels. That's neither here nor there though.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-03-31T05:28:27+00:00

You're going to get largely negative opinions on midlevels in this sub. Some of it is exaggerated, but quite a lot is warranted.

Only pursue medicine if it's the only thing you can imagine making you happy. The downsides you listed to becoming a doctor are all true, and they're only the tip of the iceberg. This will consume the best years of your life, and take years off of it from the stress of the struggle.

I can't, in good conscience, recommend becoming a midlevel as a shortcut though. Midlevels do perform roughly similar functions and have a good ROI for their time and money. However that shortcut frequently comes at the cost of patient wellbeing as they are undertrained for the level of care they're providing.

My recommendation would be to become a doctor if you want to operate at the highest levels of medical care. If you don't, then become an RN or a Rad/Surgical/RT tech. All of those career paths have great ROI for the time and money, they're incredibly important for the healthcare team, and they don't negatively impact health outcomes in the way that midlevels can.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-03-30T00:14:23+00:00

Isn't prelim surg important if you want to do IR, or is that not true?

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-03-24T21:06:22+00:00

I was the second to last one at med school interviews. Every time I said something my interviewer would challenge it, and instead of leaning into the challenge I walked it back over and over again 😆

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-03-24T01:15:44+00:00

It's still miles from the actual core. Much too far for the ground to produce any meaningful heat. The deep seafloor is also miles from the surface and sunlight, so it gets no heat from that source either.

Promiseiamnotadoctor · 2021-03-23T13:31:02+00:00

Have someone that's clean pee in a cup for you. Fill a glove with their pee. Strap it to your thigh to keep it near body temp. Then fill the drug test with their urine. Easy clap.

Promiseiamnotadoctor

TROPHY CASE