Busines Student wants to become a Doctor, Advice needed.?

Question

Hi, I am a 23 year old college student. I am currently a business student but have decided that I really enjoy the medicial field better. I have 118 credit hours after this semester and only need 128 to graduate with a business degree. What steps should I take if I want to change majors and become a gastrologist. I am very interested in the stomach since I have a family member who was diagnosed with colitis. How many years would it take to complete, and what steps should I take next?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Don't listen to all of the naysayers. The path to medicine is difficult; as you progress along it, you will discover whether or not your interest in medicine is worth the effort you have to put in. Just because your interest in it is newfound does not mean that it cannot be long-lasting. Therefore, I suggest you not worry about what other people have said ("you've only become interested in science X months ago", etc.).

In order to become a doctor (MD), you must complete the pre-requisites for medical school, which include each of the following at the college level:
Physics (1 year)
General Chemistry (1 year)
Organic Chemistry (1 year)
Math (1 semester to 1 year+, depending on which school and program)
Biology (1 year to 2 years, depending on the program)
Biochemistry (0 years to 1 year, depending on the program)
English or Literature (1 year)

In general, US medical schools will not accept AP credits towards their prerequisites.

In addition to the required courses, you must also successfully complete the MCAT, which has sections on biological science, physical science, and 'verbal' / critical thinking. Each section is scored 1-15, with a perfect score of 45 overall (which has not been achieved in the modern version of the exam).

The average score on the MCAT for all applicants is now around 28, and the average score for successful medical school matriculants is around 30.

In addition to the MCAT and the prereqs, most successful medical school applicants, by spending time volunteering at a hospital or in some other way, engage in some patient contact before applying to medical school.

Once you have gotten into medical school, your training will take you 4 years unless you choose to pursue an additional advanced degree (MD/MBA, MD/PhD, etc). After medical school, you must go into residency training if you want to practice a subtype of medicine. Gastroenterology, the field of medicine which typically deals with colitis, is a subspecialty of Internal Medicine. The total training after medical school to become a gastroenterologist probably averages 5-6 years.

Therefore, if you were to enter medical school immediately after college, you could be a fully trained gastroenterologist by age 33. Make it 34 or 35 if you need to take a year or two off to complete your prereqs. There are programs called 'postbacs' or 'postbaccalaureates' at various universities that allow you to take (in your case) premed requirements after graduation from university. Those could be helpful in your case.

Answer 2

I understand Matt's viewpoint but he's wrong on a couple of things -- for instance, you don't have to be well-off (there are plenty of loans available to cover everybody), you don't have to have a 3.5 (it helps tremendously but people have gotten in 3.0 - 3.4 before -- it's a combination of factors besides GPA), etc etc

It's pretty common for students to change majors. I'm about your same age and I only seriously considered medicine about three years ago... after I had already started college! Sure, there are people who have been thinking about it since middle school, but they're usually being pushed into it by their doctor parents or they're just competitive academic nutbags that drive all the sane premeds crazy.

I do think you need to spend some serious time on this and be positive about your motivation. I would also begin shadowing doctors and volunteering at a hospital. If you leave there being happy that it was over, this is not the profession for you. If you're coming into this thinking business is uncertain and doctors make a lot of money... well, let's just say that surprises lay ahead.

Anyway, It's going to take you at least a year, if not a year and a half to switch over. You're going to need to do a year in biology, a year in chemistry, etc etc. Your premedical advisor can explain it all to you and draw up a plan. I would say that it will be at least two years before you can apply to medical school.

Good luck!

Answer 3

I think this is a pretty bad idea. All your life you didnt care about science and now all of sudden you love science and want to spend the next few years taking the hardest science courses and competing against the best science students in the university? That makes sense?

This does not seem like a well thought out plan. It's not that it is impossible, but it seems pretty unlikely that you would have never thought of this until you were 23. Most of the kids who are premed have been thinking about it since they were in middle school.

You need to take calculus, a year of chemistry, biochemistry, a year of organic chemistry, probably physics and misc other science courses. If you do very well in them (you need about a 3.6 - 3.8 in your science courses) and the MCATs (like SATs only harder) - then you can try to apply for med school. The best 10 or 15% of applicants get in from among the kids who have good science GPAs.

MEd school will take four years. You have to take a series of tests similar to the SATs only much harder. If you pass you are allowed to go on.

THere are very few loans for med school, so unless your family is well-off, plan on owing about $250,000 or so when you finish your degree and start your residency.

Answer 4

If you have a pre-med program in your school I would go talk to the coordinator. You might have to stay in school for an extra year to fullfill all the science requirments to get into medical school.