Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should pursue it if nothing else will do but i recommend thinking long and hard if something else could be as rewarding. I'm a dr and have a niece who is a premed student-its painful for me to contemplate the long, exhausting, demoralizing, expensive slog she has ahead and she is a bright eyed 19 year old.

And it's not just me! Female Med school/residency friends that I've spoken to about niece's premed plan have said-every single one of them-something along the lines of "you've got to talk her out of it!"

Can I ask if it was her particular path or the entire field of medicine that everyone was trying to talk your niece out of?

I admit it's a pet peeve of mine when physicians do the whole affected "it was so hard, it's so awful, I mean WE did it, but you really shouldn't" thing to younger students. It reeks of narcissism and a bad humblebrag.

It's more like it feels negligent not to warn friends or family considering medicine about the nitty gritty of the downsides, as there's so much in the culture at large glamorizing the field. It doesn't seem different than lawyers warning people off law school to me.

What specialty to you want to go into that you can't fully do as an NP/PA? I

Op, you don't answer the only thing that really matters - - do you have tons of money to do this?

Your kid, is there education/college already paid for? retirement? mortgage?
You can blah blah blah about what-you-want and self-fulfillment but it's a waste of everyone's time unless ...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should pursue it if nothing else will do but i recommend thinking long and hard if something else could be as rewarding. I'm a dr and have a niece who is a premed student-its painful for me to contemplate the long, exhausting, demoralizing, expensive slog she has ahead and she is a bright eyed 19 year old.

And it's not just me! Female Med school/residency friends that I've spoken to about niece's premed plan have said-every single one of them-something along the lines of "you've got to talk her out of it!"

Can I ask if it was her particular path or the entire field of medicine that everyone was trying to talk your niece out of?

I admit it's a pet peeve of mine when physicians do the whole affected "it was so hard, it's so awful, I mean WE did it, but you really shouldn't" thing to younger students. It reeks of narcissism and a bad humblebrag.

the world needs physicians, yes. And certainly going to med school residency is not impossible. You may be hearing from practitioners caught in the vice between declining reimbursements, their own student loans and upcoming college tuition for their own kids. I know a physician couple who graduated med school in 1988 who are just THIS year finished with paying off their student loans, and have one child who is a junior in HS, and 2 more behind that...Perhaps a sense that the effort doesn't match the rewards these days

Anonymous wrote:You should pursue it if nothing else will do but i recommend thinking long and hard if something else could be as rewarding. I'm a dr and have a niece who is a premed student-its painful for me to contemplate the long, exhausting, demoralizing, expensive slog she has ahead and she is a bright eyed 19 year old.

And it's not just me! Female Med school/residency friends that I've spoken to about niece's premed plan have said-every single one of them-something along the lines of "you've got to talk her out of it!"

Can I ask if it was her particular path or the entire field of medicine that everyone was trying to talk your niece out of?

I admit it's a pet peeve of mine when physicians do the whole affected "it was so hard, it's so awful, I mean WE did it, but you really shouldn't" thing to younger students. It reeks of narcissism and a bad humblebrag.

A friend of mine did this years ago. I'm not in touch with her anymore so I can't give you any advice -- just that I know it can be done! Good luck!

Go for it. I have two pharmacist friends who were already in debt from pharmacy school who did this. One is an OB and another is a family practice physician. Both were "older" students with kids. They already squire time management skills and hard studying skills in pharmacy school so med school was not as challenging for them, however both say that residency years were brutal. Both had kids and it was hard on the kids but in the need it worked out for everyone.

I am a sub-specialty MD and I have a good friend who is an RN who just completed med school and is starting a surgical residency this summer. What helped her was that she is very young: got married right out of nursing school and has a big kid now (I think he was 7/8 when she started med school, so old enough to understand what she was doing and old enough to do some basic stuff for himself) and had a super supportive husband. They are not wealthy, by any means, but she was driven, as it sounds like you are. Best of luck.

My husband is mid-thirties and in residency. He really misses out on a lot with our kids because of his demanding schedule. Our kids miss him, I miss him and I know he would rather have a "normal" schedule these days. I am a supportive spouse and I have to bend over backwards for him and his schedule, giving up work opportunities, rarely seeing friends, etc. I try REALLY hard to be supportive but I still feel resentment that he's chosen a path that forces him to be away from us so much.

I just don't think it's reasonable to miss that much time with your family.