Becoming a doctor

[LuxeMulvari 65764]

Hi everyone,

 

I was wondering if anyone in the medical profession could help me on this one. I'm about to finish my degree in business, this coming school year i will be finished. I come from a family where nursing is quite prevalant, my grandmother was a nurse since 14 and a have 3 cousins in nursing.

 

In my hometown Windsor, a border city, i have alot of American friend with no insurance, and have done stitches and popped arms back into sockets before. Now i know it's not the same, but i really like to help people, and i really like school. I like to fix people. Blood doesnt scare me either, and I think with my degree being over, i would like to continue my education in the medical field. I realize you you have to go to school for a very long time, but I'm willing to make the effort. I've been looking into schools, asking around. Ultimately, I'd like to work in emergency, i work best under pressure with a time frame. My science marks are good, math is ok, but not above average( i understand algebra and the like, but math isn't my favourite). My highest marks are in languages. I would really like to hear some opinions, to help guide me to the right people. Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts? thank you for your time :)

[Athos 108589]

Here's a link to the steps as posted on the University of Athabasca website

 

http://lss.athabascau.ca/counselling/physician.php

 

Most medical schools require a fair number of prerequisites from your undergrad degree, so given you have a business degree you may be lacking some of those. I do believe, though, that different schools have different practices on this, so best to check the requirements for each medical school you are interested in. I think McMaster, not too far from where you live, has one of the more liberal admission requirements (but someone please correct me on that if I'm wrong).

 

Athabasca is a complete distance education university, where you do courses online. You can also start courses at any time, and take as long as you need to finish them. They offer almost all of the prerequisites required by Canadian medical schools.

 

A big decision ... but good luck. There certainly is a demand for more doctors, both in Canada and elsewhere.

 

Porthos

[etasman2000 15994]

The usual route into med school is by taking your MCAT (wikipedia link). If you have concerns about how prepared you are for med school at least do a practise MCAT test. It would give you a good baseline to start with. Also look into either volunteering or working at a hospital.

[Athos 108589]

The MCAT is only one element of the admission requirements. Some Universities don't require it, while others do.

 

This booklet is from the Ontario Medical Schools Application Service, which coordinates applications to all Ontario Med Schools. It has a handy chart listing all the varying requirements for Ontario Med schools, as well as prerequisite undergrad courses where applicable. There is also a more elaborated textual description of the requirements for each school in Ontario.

 

http://www.ouac.on.ca/docs/omsas/b_omsas_e.pdf

[poolasaurus 5877]

All good advice but at the end of the day the way to get into meds is to have all your prerequisite courses, an outstanding mcat score, great letters of recommendation from respected people in the field or related fields and a minimum gpa of 3.7 and higher.

 

Getting into meds is a long term commitment and will require dedication and ability to go on no matter the obstacle. The system are set up to weed out the unqualified and non committed applicants (ie. if you are applying because dad says you have to, or you like the money --they will know). The path to the degree even once you are in is a long painful journey, and they won't accept people they think will not make it.

 

It's nice to apply to schools with non-traditional requirements etc but to maximize your chances you will need to cast the biggest net possible which will mean you really have no choice but to take all the traditional prerequisites etc. There's no easy way. If it was as easy as saying "I wanna be a doctor" there should be no shortage of doctors out there today.

[Guest LittleWingnut]

I have no words of advice for you Luxe in this regard, however you have my best wishes in whatever you decide to do. Good luck and I hope you find your way.

[DukeSSk 3430]

I'm not sure if the MCAT is required by all Canadian universities, like others said, check their requirements.

 

For medicine, not only do your marks have to be outstanding (not average), you'll need some great references and active extracurricular involvement.

[Luckyme 41401]

I would like to commend you for considering the medical field in order to help and to fix people. Like everyone says here - it takes a lot of time, effort, perserverence, resources and commitment. You will normally need 4 years to get the MD degree ( assuming you have an undergrad degree), 2 or more years for residency, and 4-6 years for specialization.

 

For entrance, most Med. Schools require good MCAT scores, high GPA, relevent prerequisite courses, letters of recommendations, voluntary work etc. Although a few such as UofO does not require MCAT scores, but at the same time, they put more emphasis on GPA.

 

Instead of becoming a doctor, a suggestion for an alternative may be a career in the nursing field which does not require as much commitment, resources and so on. At the same time, it is also a rewarding career and you'll have ample opportunity to help and fix people as well. Just a suggestion.

 

I wish you the best of luck whatever you endeavour to do.

[antlerman 17064]

Look up pca professional care assistant. They are the inbetween doctors and nurses and patients and are part coordinator.

[LuxeMulvari 65764]

I would like to commend you for considering the medical field in order to help and to fix people. Like everyone says here - it takes a lot of time, effort, perserverence, resources and commitment. You will normally need 4 years to get the MD degree ( assuming you have an undergrad degree), 2 or more years for residency, and 4-6 years for specialization.

 

For entrance, most Med. Schools require good MCAT scores, high GPA, relevent prerequisite courses, letters of recommendations, voluntary work etc. Although a few such as UofO does not require MCAT scores, but at the same time, they put more emphasis on GPA.

 

Instead of becoming a doctor, a suggestion for an alternative may be a career in the nursing field which does not require as much commitment, resources and so on. At the same time, it is also a rewarding career and you'll have ample opportunity to help and fix people as well. Just a suggestion.

 

I wish you the best of luck whatever you endeavour to do.

 

Thank you for the wondeful suggestion of nursing. I have been in school since 2009, i have a degree in Aboriginal studies, and am going to complete my second degree in Business this year (2012-2013). I realize how serious of a commiment this is, i have spoken to many people, i realize i'm looking at 10 plus years of school. Being in my early 20's, time is on my side. I stated in my original post that i realize what a commitment this is, thats why after speaking to numerous doctors, i still want opinions to get the facts, hence this thread. I'm no stranger to education, i was in gifted classes when i was younger. The reason I didn't follow a more "traditional" road in my life is I do not like to conform to society, it bores me quite simply.Traditional 9-5 hum drum life is my idea of hell, it really never suited me, I get bored easily and i am a free spirit; I roam as I please. That's why I'm an escort. Being a doctor will allow me to work anywhere in the world, but I'd like to work with sp's as in street help and general practice, since many health care providers discriminate against us. ER would be good too, since I like working under pressure. If I'm going to pursue this, (I've been toying with the idea for about 6 months), I'm going to go all the way, because as anyone that knows me will tell you, I do nothing half asked, and when i decide I'm doing something, there's no stopping me.

 

There was a lady I was told about when i was going to shoot for Score Magazine back in 2010, Sharon Mitchell,

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Mitchell

 

a former pornstar who is now a doctor, who invented a system called AIM testing, which all porn actors/actresses have to get. I had to go to Detroit to get this testing done, it's not performed in Canada,only the U.S. and it's quite expensive. Regular testing can take up to 6 months to show HIV infection. I guess she figured out that once you have HIV, it alters your DNA, meaning its visible by testing the DNA, and she figured this out and subsequently, how to test to show infection within 10 days of the subject being infected. With AIM testing, You also get special papers where you are indentified by either your passport # or driver's license #, that way on set each actor/actress can see the papers and know they are working safe, you cannot lie, because you have to show each other the corresponding I.D. along with your AIM papers. This is now the standard in the porn industry, you cannot work if you do not have AIM testing, period. So if a former porn star can do all that, I think this SP can be an MD.

[nntsci 11076]

Dear LuxeMulvari,

 

Technically, you are interested in becoming a physician, not a doctor... Doctor technically means a teacher (e.g., professor) and was originally derived from the Latin to lead (same root ad e-duc-ation. The association with medicine was an accident of the age of enlightenment when doctors of learning also happened to know more about medicine than anyone else (and it was possible to know everything that was known)... but I digress. (Its historically true, but I'm saying it just trying to be funny -- a word means what people think it means).

 

If your marks are not well above average you would most likely not be accepted into Medical school. The typical education for pre-med is biology because a physician needs to know a lot about biology. You could take additional course in biology to upgrade your marks. I would expect you'll need at least an A average in your last 10 courses to get into a Canadian Medical School -- probably better. I will confess I'm not all that familiar with the requirements for new applicants these days, but I doubt they have gotten easier... incidently I'm an adjunct faculty in a medical school (Dammit Jim, I'm a "doctor", not a "physician"). The best person to ask is actually your undergraduate school's career advisors. He/she can tell you exactly what sort of course work you would need to take and what sort of marks you will need in order to get from where you are to where you want to be... medical school. As for math, I don't think you need steller marks in math... all the physicians / researchers I know are terrible at it (which is a good thing for me -- hence my adjunctive appointment).

 

Good luck.

 

Also consider a paramedic career which has all the emergency help that you like, but much less educational burden. But if physician is your dream, go for it.

[Nicolette Vaughn 294340]

It is not an easy road. I have 5 doctors in my family and my father was a practicing professional in another field who graduated at the top of his class and then with two degrees at two of the most prestigious universities... one in the U.S. and one in Canada. They all worked their asses off and sacrificed many things to get where they are including not seeing their family and their children. If *you* feel you have it in you, I say go for it. No one can stop you... only yourself.

[Luckyme 41401]

Your desire to become a doctor is very strong and your wish to help people in need is highly commendable.

 

I wish you the best of luck.

[poolasaurus 5877]

One more thought:

 

Whatever you decide on, please for the sake of society and my mental well being, DO NOT become a fake doctor (I won't name any particular fields).

 

I am flabbergasted that in this day and age anyone with access to the internet can get up on a pulpit and start advocating conspiracy theories, pseudo-science and quackery all at the expense of people who really need help and won't get it due to mis-information.

 

Science: It works!