Tag Archives: medical school

Science Paths Beyond Graduate or Medical School

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Hello Scripps! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends and are ready to take on the last bit of the semester. After that, it’s a month of relaxation and rest. I was able to celebrate thanksgiving with my flatmates and a few other friends who live down the hall.

  In the spirit of thanksgiving, I’ve been reflecting on the things that I’m thankful for in regards to my education and the opportunities that a place like Scripps has to offer. As I’ve mentioned in some of my earlier posts, I have worked in a research lab at Keck since the spring of my first year and have had multiple opportunities to present my research and experience what life is like in a full blown lab. I have also mentioned my hesitation in attending graduate school after I am done at Scripps and have had some wonderful conversations with friends that have really helped make it more clear what I want to do, while simultaneously making me more uncertain and stressed about my future (quite like Schmidt in this scene).I have a friend from home who is working towards his Masters degree in Dublin and we arranged to meet for breakfast one weekend, as it has been years since we’ve really had the chance to catch up. He attended Oregon State University and was a double major in chemistry and biology. He did not go to graduate school for either subject and has since spent his time working at companies where policy making and science overlap. I was very excited to get the chance to probe him about his own experiences in deciding not to attend graduate school and where that has taken him after college. Similar to me, he mentioned that he knew he didn’t want to attend graduate school after his undergraduate education and felt overwhelmed by the seemingly low number of options he might have for a career.

It was very nice to hear about the experiences he has had since graduating and the ways in which he knew if a job was a good fit for him. The one thing he said that really stuck with me was actually a piece of advice his professor gave him when he was trying to decide whether he should go to graduate school. She told him that, because he didn’t want to go to graduate school or medical school, his path was going to be more difficult to figure out. She was not saying that his path was going to be easier per se, but in terms of figuring out the necessary steps to take, it would be a challenge, which honestly made me feel like Michael Cera below.

As she noted, and as I have noticed through my research on graduate programs and medical school, the paths are relatively straight forward. If you want to be a doctor, you get an undergraduate degree, take the MCAT, apply to medical school, do your residency, and are a doctor. For graduate school, you get your undergraduate degree, take the GRE, and then apply to different programs. Although these steps are very rigorous, time consuming, and academically challenging, there is a sense of security in knowing that your path to get there is clear.

For me, I feel pretty lost in what I am going to do after I graduate from Scripps, especially when I am asked what I hope to do with a chemistry major and an English minor. I hope that with exposure to more interdisciplinary fields and the work that I will need to do for my thesis, I will find more of what I’m passionate about. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it’s all right to not be sure of your future and can even help you be more open to new opportunities when they arise.

Best of luck in these last few weeks! I’m rooting for you all from Dublin!

Dipping My Toes in the Pool of Medical Professionalism

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This past week has been much more relaxing than the week before and I’ve started to become more content with my uncertain future. I finished up my time at both of my jobs at home and am now in Claremont visiting friends before I leave for Dublin!

Before I left, I had the chance to talk with three different medical professionals, all women, and all very excited about their work. One was a PT, and MD, and an NP. It was really interesting to hear them all talk about their schooling and their work environment, soaking up the pros and cons of each. The biggest idea I took away from the conversation was that they are never bored at work and often feel like detectives, trying to figure out what’s wrong with a patient, and developing the proper treatment plan for each individual. This felt promising, as my main concern for most potential jobs is that I will get tired of them.

Even though I could’ve guessed that their day to day work likely remained interesting, even after many years, to hear it from the source comforted me and is now a big factor in my potential decision to enter the medical field. Another distinction they made between their patients was that, even if two patients presented symptoms pointing to a particular illness or disease, they could rarely address the situation in a similar fashion. They noted that oftentimes, patients present different symptoms that reflect their living environment and that is when they really have to play detective.  

They must dive into their patient’s medical history and develop the best treatment plan for that individual. In that way, the MD noted that, talking can be the best way to figure out what’s wrong with a patient. She described an experience with a patient where she needed his family’s medical history and ruled out many potential diagnoses based on that information alone. This was also exciting news to hear and made me realize that social skills are very important in medicine, as they can help you, help your patient in a less invasive way.

I consider myself to be a social person and know that my friends feel comfortable confiding in me because I will listen openly. Based on my conversation with these medical professionals, those to qualities seem like they would help me be a more effective medical professional and help me patients more in the long run. I was also able to talk with a friend who has decided to go to nursing school, and eventually become a nurse practitioner. It was nice to have her perspective, as she is still a student in Claremont and also went through a period where she considered both nursing and medical school. She suggested that I make a list of the pros and cons for each profession and really highlight what means the most to me.

Although it’s hard to determine what might be important to me in the future, there are definitely things, like whether or not I want to have a family or travel the world, that will be big factors in the list as of right now. I think this list will allow me to figure out what is most important to me and will help me figure out if one profession will allow me more chances to accomplish those things or if it will hinder my ability to do them. Here’s to a great week, and some list making!