DS wants to go to med school. Advice please

[AnnieW625]

Has he considered a military academy/career?

If you want to be a doctor, it probably doesn't matter where you goto college as long as you get great grades while there. This is probably not true if you want to be in research or teach.

Another potential medical field mom here as well as DD1 is definitely interested in something medical related. If she can qualify for the military we definitely want her to check out this route or at least an ROTC program for undergrad as well. Dd1 has flat feet though so she may not even qualify for military service. I have a cousin who did ROTC and has been active Air Force for 18 years and is a colonel as well (she isn’t in a medical field though) but I figure it might be a good option to talk about her military service as well. I think a lot of people forget about that option.

Kindra, I have heard the same thing. I have also heard that not having a science major doesn’t mean that you won’t get into medical school. A good friend of mine who is an oncologist was an English major in college. Granted he did go to Cal so it was a good school, but he didn’t need to major in science to go to med school.


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[squimp]

As Kindra mentioned, you want to go somewhere that you will get good grades. That is really important for med school these days. I would be looking at good merit or state schools so you can save some of your money for med school which is super expensive! Of course you think MDs get paid well but it's still a lot of money.

I would also suggest doing some interviews of young doctors or research in on what it takes to become an MD. I work with a lot of college kids, and many who wanted to go into medical school became really discouraged once they learned what it would take. I have several classmates who went to med school in the 1980s and it is a very different situation now.

[mom_hanna]

Kindra, I have heard the same thing. I have also heard that not having a science major doesn’t mean that you won’t get into medical school. A good friend of mine who is an oncologist was an English major in college. Granted he did go to Cal so it was a good school, but he didn’t need to major in science to go to med school.


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My brother had an English degree - in creative writing - and my sister had a Sociology degree. Both went to Ivys for medical school. You don't have to be pre-med to get into Med School.

[JBaxter]

My brother had an English degree - in creative writing - and my sister had a Sociology degree. Both went to Ivys for medical school. You don't have to be pre-med to get into Med School.

My sister was just telling me the best ER doctor she has ever worked with has an engineering undergrad

[JBaxter]

Double post

[KpbS]

Study hard in high school and take your science and math classes seriously.

You don’t have to have a science major for undergrad, but you probably should as there are prerequisite classes for med school that are science and math classes. Take undergrad seriously and study for the MCAT.

Med school is expensive! Apply to state schools in your state to minimize your loans and come out ahead in the game. It’s a LONG haul and if you can minimize your undergrad and med school debt, the low pay of residency will be much more tolerable and you will be in a much, much better position to buy a house in residency and beyond. I’ve met mds who have hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt now in their middle age and are so trapped by this debt. They haven’t been able to save much of any money or have any college funds for their kids. But a few friends followed the path of going to an undergrad they could attend very easily (state schools on scholarship) for both undergrad and med school and now are living very comfortably, have paid off their minimal loans, save aggressively, work in settings they enjoy, etc.

[MaiseyDog]

I also want to add, that if you are looking at state funded medical schools talk with folks there about their admissions process. My state has one state supported med school and they take a certain percentage of students from each of the public universities in the states. This means that your competition to get in may be less at a smaller school than one of the major state schools. I also highly recommend considering the military. We have 3 friends that have gone that route and have had good experiences and came out with very little debt.

[Liziz]

My DH is a military MD so I just wanted to throw out a couple comments related to that. I'm using a "you" here to refer to all your DCs that are considering this:

My DH did both ROTC (in undergrad) and had the military pay for med school - he graduated medical school with $0 debt, and then was paid much better than most civilian residents (training post-med school) are paid. It's a great option for those interested in avoiding debt for medical school. BUT - be aware, it's not just a trick to get free education. The military will then "own" you, and you will NOT get the same choices a civilian will get. Sometimes it's for the better, sometimes it's for the worse!

Be aware that if you look into ROTC for undergrad, you will have a commitment to the military. You will have to apply for and be granted an educational delay (of your required service) to be allowed to go to med school. If you don't get the ed delay, you won't be allowed to go to med school, even if you get it. If you get an ed delay, but DON'T get into med school, you don't just get to take a year off and go do your own thing and try again the next year. The military will assign you a different role you'll be expected to do. You can certainly apply again for an educational delay in the future, but the choice isn't exclusively yours. If you do ROTC then also have the military pay for medical school, you will owe the military 8+ years of service. That's 8+ years of being an officer in the US military, and all that comes with it (moving every few years, deployments, assignments for things you'd rather not do, etc.).

If the military pays for medical school -- you will be expected to do your residency at a military hospital, unless you get an exception (which were rare when DH did it, I hear they're even more rare now). If you want to specialize (do a fellowship) after residency, again, you're expected to do it at a military hospital, unless you get an exception (again, rare). The military has very limited fellowship spaces and specific needs for their medical corps. Just because you're interested in something doesn't mean you'll be able to do it. For example, the specialty my DH wanted has *1* spot each year -- and some years they've had *0* spots. Most of the doctors we know eventually were able to do what they wanted (fellowship-wise) but many had to spend several years doing something else first. Options and training sites are just much, much more limited, especially recently, as the military has started to really focus on a few key areas they want physicians (i.e. - they want specialties that are most needed on the battlefield, and by their young, mostly healthy active duty corps) -- and farming out the areas that don't fit that. For example - you'll have a much easier time studying something like primary care, emergency medicine, general surgery, trauma surgery, etc. But if you want something like dermatology, rheumatology, pediatrics, etc. -- there are going to be less opportunities.

My DH (and our family) have had an excellent experience with the military paying for DH's school. We (so far, lol!) have zero regrets, and there are many, many positive things our family has experienced because of DH's military service. It was absolutely the right choice for DH and it is an excellent choice for lots of people. So please be clear that although I have a lot of cautions listed above, I am not trying to talk anyone out of considering the military. However, I often hear people talking about using the military to pay for med school like it's just "free money" (not saying anyone here was doing that, just in general), and I always feel the need to correct that notion. There is absolutely commitments and sacrifices much beyond civilian life if you choose that route. It's an EXCELLENT way to pay for medical school....but only if you truly want to (or trust you can handle it) be in the military!

[Liziz]

double post

[NCGrandma]

My DH is a military MD so I just wanted to throw out a couple comments related to that. I'm using a "you" here to refer to all your DCs that are considering this:

My DH did both ROTC (in undergrad) and had the military pay for med school - he graduated medical school with $0 debt, and then was paid much better than most civilian residents (training post-med school) are paid. It's a great option for those interested in avoiding debt for medical school. BUT - be aware, it's not just a trick to get free education. The military will then "own" you, and you will NOT get the same choices a civilian will get. Sometimes it's for the better, sometimes it's for the worse!

Be aware that if you look into ROTC for undergrad, you will have a commitment to the military. You will have to apply for and be granted an educational delay (of your required service) to be allowed to go to med school. If you don't get the ed delay, you won't be allowed to go to med school, even if you get it. If you get an ed delay, but DON'T get into med school, you don't just get to take a year off and go do your own thing and try again the next year. The military will assign you a different role you'll be expected to do. You can certainly apply again for an educational delay in the future, but the choice isn't exclusively yours. If you do ROTC then also have the military pay for medical school, you will owe the military 8+ years of service. That's 8+ years of being an officer in the US military, and all that comes with it (moving every few years, deployments, assignments for things you'd rather not do, etc.).

If the military pays for medical school -- you will be expected to do your residency at a military hospital, unless you get an exception (which were rare when DH did it, I hear they're even more rare now). If you want to specialize (do a fellowship) after residency, again, you're expected to do it at a military hospital, unless you get an exception (again, rare). The military has very limited fellowship spaces and specific needs for their medical corps. Just because you're interested in something doesn't mean you'll be able to do it. For example, the specialty my DH wanted has *1* spot each year -- and some years they've had *0* spots. Most of the doctors we know eventually were able to do what they wanted (fellowship-wise) but many had to spend several years doing something else first. Options and training sites are just much, much more limited, especially recently, as the military has started to really focus on a few key areas they want physicians (i.e. - they want specialties that are most needed on the battlefield, and by their young, mostly healthy active duty corps) -- and farming out the areas that don't fit that. For example - you'll have a much easier time studying something like primary care, emergency medicine, general surgery, trauma surgery, etc. But if you want something like dermatology, rheumatology, pediatrics, etc. -- there are going to be less opportunities.

My DH (and our family) have had an excellent experience with the military paying for DH's school. We (so far, lol!) have zero regrets, and there are many, many positive things our family has experienced because of DH's military service. It was absolutely the right choice for DH and it is an excellent choice for lots of people. So please be clear that although I have a lot of cautions listed above, I am not trying to talk anyone out of considering the military. However, I often hear people talking about using the military to pay for med school like it's just "free money" (not saying anyone here was doing that, just in general), and I always feel the need to correct that notion. There is absolutely commitments and sacrifices much beyond civilian life if you choose that route. It's an EXCELLENT way to pay for medical school....but only if you truly want to (or trust you can handle it) be in the military!

Excellent summary! I was unfamiliar with military medicine until I started teaching in a (civilian) academic fellowship that attracted med school faculty from all types of residency programs including all branches of the military. Our fellowship used a part-time on-campus/at-home model which appealed particularly to military faculty and leadership. Because of the obligations that Liziz spelled out, most of them planned to stay in the military until retirement since that was not that much longer.

I met many impressive young faculty members that way, who taught me a lot about the advantages and drawbacks of their lives. Yet it was clear that they were participating in our fellowship as long as it worked with their primary obligations. (We had one fellow submit his final project by email from Afghanistan.)

In any case, while the military medicine route may be worth considering for some, it's definitely important to understand the full picture.


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