DR. Mom's, Med-School Moms

[cdmommie]

Is (or has) anyone here going to medical school with young children?  I am getting ready to apply to medical school.  I got my degree last year and decided to go ahead and take pre-req's for Medical School.  I had given up on it when I had DD1 because the transition into motherhood was anything but graceful.  Now that the girls are walking and talking and able to do a bit more for themselves I feel like I can do this.  However, the closer it gets the more scared I get.  This is what I have always wanted to do, it is my passion, I just didn't expect to do it with kids 

So if you have done it or are doing it:

How difficult was the admissions process?

Were you able to get into a school nearby or did you have to move?

How did your kids take it, if you were staying home before?

How much time do you spend with your kids?

Is it realistic to think I can make it successfully through Medical School and remain "AP" ?

[mom2clairenlily]

I can't answer your question, really, but I am a nurse and decided to go to apply to med school (before I had kids) and I even took the MCAT prep course.  When it came down to it, though, I decided not to do it because I realized I did not want to spend my LO's young years doing 36 hour shifts and sleeping the remaining few I would have off.  For me it was the right decision and I have not regretted it as my job is just a job but my kids are my life!

Not to say that this is not the absolute right choice for you, but those were my considerations.  Have you taken the MCAT yet?  That is a good place to start, and your score will give you a good idea how competitive you will be in the admissions process. Most of the docs I work with had to move out of state to do med school and a fair amount of those had to move to a different state to do their residency.  What area of specialty are you looking at?  Have you considered a D.O. program?

Best of luck to you in this venture.  What an exciting time!

[pregnant@40]

cdmommie, I have searched through old posts & found many docs on these boards. However, I would be surprised if any are still around, since the overall sentiment towards medicine & physicians in general in most posts are highly, highly negative. Most here detest mainstream medicine.

However, just wanted to say that I'm also a nurse & have had a great opportunity to observe the medical profession. Of course I've worked w/ a lof of docs, and now I'm back in school & take classes w/ a lot of med students and physicians. Have to say that it is really an awesome profession. I can't imagine a more flexible degree/license than a Doctor of Medicine/MD. They can do ANYTHING, and most have their hands in many pies: clinical practice, regulatory, public health, teaching, writing/publishing, research... It's an amazing profession, and obviously well-compensated.

If I could do it all over again & choose another career, without a doubt I would go to medical school. I hope that you are able to manage this w/ kids. Best wishes to you!

[cdmommie]

Thanks for the replies. I absolutely want to go D.O.! That is my first choice. As for speciality, I would like to be an allergist. I honestly don't think I will ever feel good about myself if don't at least try, so I'm going to give it my all and trust God to help me juggle family and school/work. My kids won't be kids forever so I am hesitant to build my entire identity and career around them. I hope that doesn't come off as cold.

[mom2clairenlily]

Tabitha: That does not come across as cold, and I guess I should clarify that my kids are my life right now. I don't consider them my identity but I do consider them my priority.  Where I was at in my process, I realized that my kids are only going to be little once, I can always go back to school, but I am only going to have littles around the house for a little while.  I will probably go back to school once they are in school, either do a nurse practitioner program or med school. 

With that being said, everyone's choices are their own, and each persons life requires a little something different to be fulfilled.  There is no right or wrong, you do what you think is best for you.

Best wishes to you as your pursue a new career!  You will find D.O. programs admissions process to be easier than M.D. programs, hopefully this will give you more options as you move toward that stage.  I took the Kaplan MCAT review, it was every weekend for 3 months and cost about $1200 (this was about 8 years ago) but it was worth it.  You might look and see if there is one in your area.

[*MamaJen*]

I would disagree with that statement. I would say that many women here believe (very accurately, I feel) that the way that maternity care is handled in hospitals is frequently not evidence-based. However, I don't think you can extrapolate from that that they "detest mainstream medicine." Truth be told, that statement is pretty offensive.

I'm very grateful that mainstream medicine exists, because it saves lives. However, I find it distressing that about one-quarter of women are still being mutilated with episiotomies, a procedure that rarely has any evidence to back it up. I find it distressing that one-third of births in America are now C-sections and that number has been rising consistently for three decades. I find it distressing that Pitocin is used in something like 60 percent of births. Do I detest mainstream medicine? No. Do I believe that modern obstetrics needs to align itself with evidence-based best practices? Yes.

Originally Posted by pregnant@40 

cdmommie, I have searched through old posts & found many docs on these boards. However, I would be surprised if any are still around, since the overall sentiment towards medicine & physicians in general in most posts are highly, highly negative. Most here detest mainstream medicine.

[cdmommie]

Originally Posted by *MamaJen* 

I would disagree with that statement. I would say that many women here believe (very accurately, I feel) that the way that maternity care is handled in hospitals is frequently not evidence-based. However, I don't think you can extrapolate from that that they "detest mainstream medicine." Truth be told, that statement is pretty offensive.

I'm very grateful that mainstream medicine exists, because it saves lives. However, I find it distressing that about one-quarter of women are still being mutilated with episiotomies, a procedure that rarely has any evidence to back it up. I find it distressing that one-third of births in America are now C-sections and that number has been rising consistently for three decades. I find it distressing that Pitocin is used in something like 60 percent of births. Do I detest mainstream medicine? No. Do I believe that modern obstetrics needs to align itself with evidence-based best practices? Yes.

Agree, agree, agree! Very well put.

[lunarlady]

I applied to med school, but did not end up going. So I can speak a little about the app process. First off, it is pretty time consuming. In addition to filling out the standard app, most want an essay or two on a specific topic. It is also expensive. Each app gets mailed out with $100 or so application fee, then you get letters for the secondary application that wants more $$ and sometimes more info. I still remember getting a letter from a well known school that stated "further processing of your application requires $100.". That's it! What was the first $100 for, eh? What are you going to do, not send it?

Although I went to interviews and everything, I didn't end up going because I relized that I am not competitive enough to want to fight for a MD degree, nor passionate enough about medicine to sacrifice years of my life to it. I still find it fascinating, and might consider becoming a ND in the future, but I think MD is out of the picture for me. With malpractice insurance premiums, being a MD is not as lucrative as it used to be either, so the rich doctor thing isn't as true these days.

That said, if it calls to you go for it! Good MCAT scores are essential, so make sure you're prepared. The world needs more docs who visit MDC and practice AP!

[mambera]

Originally Posted by cdmommie 

So if you have done it or are doing it:

How difficult was the admissions process?

Were you able to get into a school nearby or did you have to move?

How did your kids take it, if you were staying home before?

How much time do you spend with your kids?

Is it realistic to think I can make it successfully through Medical School and remain "AP" ?

I got my MD before I had my kid.  Honestly it is not so much med school (except maybe third year) as residency that seems like it would be really tough on a mother with small children.  It varies a lot depending on the specialty you choose but even the cushiest residencies have at least two years of frequent overnight call (like every 3 or 4 days).  That seems like it would be really hard on children.  It's hard on single people actually: q3 call means you spend 30 h in the hospital, then go home and crash, get up the next morning and work a normal day, and then the next day you have another 30-hour shift.  I've heard of two moms splitting a residency slot so they each do half the time (like 40 h/week instead of 80) for twice the years but I don't know how common that is.

Of course the ACGME is continually beefing up the work hour rules so it's conceivable this could be less of a problem by the time you hit residency.

Re your question on admissions: From what I recall (years ago) the benchmarks were a 3.5 GPA and a 30 on the MCAT.  If you had those you had a good shot at getting into allopathic programs.  Not sure what the osteopathic numbers look like but as others have said I've heard they are somewhat less competitive.

Try mommd.com for more information.  Also there is a Physician Moms tribe somewhere around here - might be this forum, or possibly Finding Your Tribe.

[mambera]

Originally Posted by *MamaJen* 

However, I don't think you can extrapolate from that that they "detest mainstream medicine." Truth be told, that statement is pretty offensive.

I dunno if it's offensive or not but I would say the prevailing MDC view on vaccinations is pretty solidly anti-mainstream medicine.

[pregnant@40]

Originally Posted by *MamaJen* 

I would disagree with that statement. I would say that many women here believe (very accurately, I feel) that the way that maternity care is handled in hospitals is frequently not evidence-based. However, I don't think you can extrapolate from that that they "detest mainstream medicine." Truth be told, that statement is pretty offensive.

I'm very grateful that mainstream medicine exists, because it saves lives. However, I find it distressing that about one-quarter of women are still being mutilated with episiotomies, a procedure that rarely has any evidence to back it up. I find it distressing that one-third of births in America are now C-sections and that number has been rising consistently for three decades. I find it distressing that Pitocin is used in something like 60 percent of births. Do I detest mainstream medicine? No. Do I believe that modern obstetrics needs to align itself with evidence-based best practices? Yes.

Originally Posted by pregnant@40 

cdmommie, I have searched through old posts & found many docs on these boards. However, I would be surprised if any are still around, since the overall sentiment towards medicine & physicians in general in most posts are highly, highly negative. Most here detest mainstream medicine.

I definitely stand by my post. There are countless examples on MDC where viewpoints diverge from mainstream medicine, and a lot of expressed hostility towards hospitals and physicians of all disciplines.

Personally, I'm here for the personal stories and motherhood wisdom, not medical advice or discussion.

Edited by pregnant@40 - 12/11/10 at 1:18am

[cdmommie]

Not that it is really even relavent to my questions, but I feel I should reply. I don't think saying everyone detests medicine is a fair statement because 1. I seriously doubt anyone here believe in and supports every single idea here on mothering, and 2. I am willing to bet 90% if not more the members here have used the benefits of modern medicine to either save their life (or their children's) or improve their quality of life (or their children's) on at least one occasion.

Personally, I strongly believe in attachment parenting, breatfeeding and avoiding UNnecessary medical intervention. However, I do vaccinated my children because I believe it helps prevent unnecessary interventions that could be much more extreme in the event my children contract a severe disease with absolutely no immunity to it. I do use medication for my 3 year old to keep her from having severe allergic reactions that would likely kill her. So I do not detest medicine, but I still believe in the majority of ideas supported by MDC. And if we all completely rejected medicine our population would be a heck of a lot smaller.

[Triniity]

Hi Tabitha,

I am not a US citizen, therefor I cannot really speak for the US system. I am a Mom, working as a pediatric surgeon at the moment. Our working hours are okay thought, I am working around 45 h/week. I had my kids later in life, being a doctor already. DD is 4 and DS is 2.

At the moment I find it very hard to have to work so much (which is really not a lot compared to what you would have to do) although I really really love my job. But I miss my kids. I just saw a mom pregnant with a child with  no chance of surviving and I feel as if I do not really appreciate my kids enough and do not spend enough of my hours with them. I don´t know if I am just a bit melancholic at the moments, maybe hormonal, but I really would like to stop working at the moment, being on call and just having missed a christmas party at the kindergarten with my daughter presenting two songs.

As someone said before, I´d guess that medschool will not be the problem, working life will be. By then your kids will be a little older, and I guess they will be really proud of you. You´d present a really cool role model as well.

I would never give up my profession entirely, it is me. I just wished I could spend more time with my little ones. :(

Having said that, I´d say give it a go. If you find out that it´s not the right thing for you at your place in this journey, you can always quit. But if you never even give it a try you might regret it the rest of your life, and that might even influence the relationship that you´ll have with your girls.

Hope that helps!

Trin

(and I would be really interested into the physician moms tribe, does anyone know where it is?)

[mambera]

(and I would be really interested into the physician moms tribe, does anyone know where it is?)

It's here, I bumped it for you. :)