Wife wants to go back to Med School...having troubles with the math on this.

[Muse]

Since she's facing difficult conditions, I have to think the bottom line is that MD's are top dog in a hospital environment. She's going to be glad she did it, you will too, so will the kids. You don't want her to regret not doing it.

"It's better to regret something you did do than something you didn't do."

 

[hcm11]

Hi -
I am a wife (currently expecting our 5th child) and *I* want to go to med school. I am 34. My husband is 40.
You all made such great suggestions that I'd like your advice too.

Our circumstances are different from a previous post. My current income potential is only about 30K. I already have a B.S. (but not premed).

I'm looking at 1 or 2 pre-reqs. Then:
2 year Post-Bacc, Pre-Med Certificate
3.7 years Med school
4 years Residency (for my intended specialty)

Daunting? Sure. But right now our total family income hovers around 100K. Putting the school loans on hold for 9 years in order to double or triple our income is actually a financial improvement.

Not to mention, I am very passionate about the particular field and already do lay-work in it.
Like I said, we do have small children. I'm very very concerned at being separated from them. However, if we keep up our status quo - we won't have anything to offer them when they are older. We'll spend our life "just scraping by".

Very hard decision but I would appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Ns1]

^^

sounds like a recipe for disaster. @ 5 kids you must be 30/35, at least....

you already have school loans? and you want MORE?

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Hi -
I am a wife (currently expecting our 5th child) and *I* want to go to med school. I am 34. My husband is 40.
You all made such great suggestions that I'd like your advice too.

Our circumstances are different from a previous post. My current income potential is only about 30K. I already have a B.S. (but not premed).

I'm looking at 1 or 2 pre-reqs. Then:
2 year Post-Bacc, Pre-Med Certificate
3.7 years Med school
4 years Residency (for my intended specialty)

Daunting? Sure. But right now our total family income hovers around 100K. Putting the school loans on hold for 9 years in order to double or triple our income is actually a financial improvement.

Not to mention, I am very passionate about the particular field and already do lay-work in it.
Like I said, we do have small children. I'm very very concerned at being separated from them. However, if we keep up our status quo - we won't have anything to offer them when they are older. We'll spend our life "just scraping by".

Very hard decision but I would appreciate your thoughts.

4+1 young kids, already have student loan debt..??

You say separated, would you need to move away?

Just scraping by is getting by, and that's something you need to be happy with. Constantly chasing $$ will not making you a happier person, from a psychology standpoint.


Based on these few details, I would say it's absolutely not what's best for your family.

It will take you 10 years to reach your goal, and these are the absolutely most important part of your children's life for which you will not be there emotionally. You will be stressed both emotionally and financially rather than just financially.

This developmental support while they're young is FAR more important to their long-term health than being able to afford to buy them a mercedes when they turn 15.

You will be 45 by the time all of this is done.

I'm honestly surprised you're even considering this.

What is your degree that only pays $30k? Go work at costco or home depot and make more money, if that's what you're concerned about.

I strongly suggest finding a career that is fulfilling but doesn't require 10 years and $100k investment.

 

[Blackjack200]

I'm not even so sure that in 9-10 years doctors will be making the same kind of scratch they are now.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Hammer meet nail. Thread.

:/

Except for the kids she's going to toss under the bus.

I would like nothing more than to get out of pharmacy, and I had a chance to do another post doc at Wood's Hole years many years back to catch up with my grad degree and probably remain associated and have a successful research career. All I had to do was abandon my family. Nope.

I hate my job more than ever but I did the right thing and am glad of it.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Hi -
I am a wife (currently expecting our 5th child) and *I* want to go to med school. I am 34. My husband is 40.
You all made such great suggestions that I'd like your advice too.

Our circumstances are different from a previous post. My current income potential is only about 30K. I already have a B.S. (but not premed).

I'm looking at 1 or 2 pre-reqs. Then:
2 year Post-Bacc, Pre-Med Certificate
3.7 years Med school
4 years Residency (for my intended specialty)

Daunting? Sure. But right now our total family income hovers around 100K. Putting the school loans on hold for 9 years in order to double or triple our income is actually a financial improvement.

Not to mention, I am very passionate about the particular field and already do lay-work in it.
Like I said, we do have small children. I'm very very concerned at being separated from them. However, if we keep up our status quo - we won't have anything to offer them when they are older. We'll spend our life "just scraping by".

Very hard decision but I would appreciate your thoughts.

Assuming we're not being trolled -- IMO, it would be a terrible decision for you to go back at this stage. No disrespect, but you should've thought about that before having 5 kids.

 

[KK]

4+1 young kids, already have student loan debt..??

You say separated, would you need to move away?

Just scraping by is getting by, and that's something you need to be happy with. Constantly chasing $$ will not making you a happier person, from a psychology standpoint.


Based on these few details, I would say it's absolutely not what's best for your family.

It will take you 10 years to reach your goal, and these are the absolutely most important part of your children's life for which you will not be there emotionally. You will be stressed both emotionally and financially rather than just financially.

This developmental support while they're young is FAR more important to their long-term health than being able to afford to buy them a mercedes when they turn 15.

You will be 45 by the time all of this is done.

I'm honestly surprised you're even considering this.

What is your degree that only pays $30k? Go work at costco or home depot and make more money, if that's what you're concerned about.

I strongly suggest finding a career that is fulfilling but doesn't require 10 years and $100k investment.

isn't 100k cheap for med school?

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Hi -
I am a wife (currently expecting our 5th child) and *I* want to go to med school. I am 34. My husband is 40.
You all made such great suggestions that I'd like your advice too.

Our circumstances are different from a previous post. My current income potential is only about 30K. I already have a B.S. (but not premed).

I'm looking at 1 or 2 pre-reqs. Then:
2 year Post-Bacc, Pre-Med Certificate
3.7 years Med school
4 years Residency (for my intended specialty)

Daunting? Sure. But right now our total family income hovers around 100K. Putting the school loans on hold for 9 years in order to double or triple our income is actually a financial improvement.

Not to mention, I am very passionate about the particular field and already do lay-work in it.
Like I said, we do have small children. I'm very very concerned at being separated from them. However, if we keep up our status quo - we won't have anything to offer them when they are older. We'll spend our life "just scraping by".

Very hard decision but I would appreciate your thoughts.

Just scraping by is better than having 5 kids without a mother around. Your Facing 10yrs of more than full time studies.

You should have done this prior to popping out 5-kids by the age of 35 or at least only had a few kids.

30K for 10yrs is $300K. So you must factor in the $300K in lost wages, 401K growth, and the extra expense of day-care.

Sorry honey but this is a pipe dream, you are a stay at home Mom for the rest of your life. If you must do this, go get a RN and then a BSN in a few years.

 

[Ns1]

Sorry honey but this is a pipe dream, you are a stay at home Mom for the rest of your life.

Fmr12B dropping the hammer.

 

[Slew Foot]

Going to med school right now is a terrible idea for anyone in any situation. Even worse when you already have kids and are mid 30s

 

[mizzou]

happy wife, happy life.

 

[tortillasoup]

Well one thing she should do is save up/wait until the kids are significantly older before doing this sort of thing. My mom went back to school in her 50s to not only get her masters degree but also PHD. I can't imagine what it would have been like had she done that when we were very young. She didn't start work on her masters until nearly all of her kids were out of the house/able to take care of themselves entirely. Also our financial situation was very comfortable yet she still got grey hair on half of her head after the whole ordeal (she dyes her hair now). Working towards that PHD, she basically had to scrounge for all the time she could get, I can only imagine what med school would be like.

Just remember this, your wife likely won't be making significantly more money than she is now, will have to deal with insurance and all of that shit, not to mention the stress of the job and whatnot. I know people who work in medicine and Obamacare is going to make working in medicine extremely unappealing compared with what it is already.


Your wife being told that she is so smart and that she should work in medicine should be taken as a compliment and just that. Both my mom and I get that shit all the time but I understand that the effort to reward ratio in being a doctor is absolutely terrible and is about to get worse. I'm sure I'd be "great" at a lot of things but there are good reasons not to take those jobs.


Going through and finishing medical school is difficult enough, it will take years off of your life and once you're finished, you'll be doing a thankless job anyhow. Honestly, knowing your situation now, if she tries to dive in and go to medical school, it will likely be ruinous for your relationship, your family and her. She will probably get floaters if not a full blown detached retina in her eye(s) due to the excessive stress she'll be under, her hair will go grey, and she'll look ten years older... for what? To live up to OTHER PEOPLE'S EXPECTATIONS? It's not worth it at all and frankly it sounds like she's got a pretty good gig...

Also I think it's comical that she can be burnt out by being a pharmacist yet is considering a job path that is so much more strenuous and stressful. If she can't handle being a pharmacist, being a doctor will kill her unless she plans to go an easy route of being a GP in bumfuck middle of nowhere... (Good luck with that!!!)

 

[Blackjack200]

I would like nothing more than to get out of pharmacy...

Ugh, I hope it's not that bad; my sister's about to graduate from pharmacy school.

 

[BoberFett]

Ugh, I hope it's not that bad; my sister's about to graduate from pharmacy school.

My sister is a pharmacist. She was at Walgreens for many years and hated it, just moved to a hospital pharmacy recently. We'll see how that goes.

Her problem with working at Walgreens was that she found herself hating people more and more everyday with the human detritus that she was serving. Like the woman with 7 crying kids in the back of her cigarette smoke filled SUV who pulls up to the drive-through, hands her state-funded insurance card for her free pills, then bitches at my sister for not moving fast enough. Yeah, the real winners of society that are so important to keep healthy...

My sister is one of the nicest, most patient people I know (her daughter, my niece, has a developmental disability, so you know she can handle a lot) but when she starts hating people you know it's bad.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

That is an issue with any medical profession.. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists. You might get paid well, but you are just about always going to be dealing with the general public.

 

[DrPizza]

Suggestion to the noob who registered and posted: RN, RN to BSN degree while working as an RN. With a 2 year degree, you can be making $50k or more, depending on the area of the country you're in. Only takes a couple evenings of each week to accomplish the RN to BSN programs; mostly online; and (unlike programs such as University of Phoenix online) there are quite a few solid programs that are affordable. There are tons of scholarships/grants for going into nursing; depends on your state, area, etc.

Then, go for your master's - nurse practitioner. 2 more years of school. During which, you'll likely have to take a leave from your job to do your clinical hours (600 hours?). But, making money for those years and still having time for your children seems to be, perhaps, a bit more desirable of a solution. Nurse practitioner also seems to be an up and coming field; you can have your own practice. Not doctor's pay, but similar duties, and you're making money almost right off the bat while on track, rather than going further and further into debt. The time aspect (I think) is a hell of a lot easier to manage than becoming a doctor.

 

[Slew Foot]

That is an issue with any medical profession.. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists. You might get paid well, but you are just about always going to be dealing with the general public.

For some reason the average person has less medical issues than the typical welfare asshole. I suppose sitting around the house all day gives you time to think up some "disability" to try and get some more free cheese from the gubmint

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

That is an issue with any medical profession.. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists. You might get paid well, but you are just about always going to be dealing with the general public.

Pharmacists have the lowest life expectancy of the lot. We have no real control over our "profession", and the last statistics I saw is that we have 5 or so less years of life because of it. We had 2 die and one near fatal heart attack forcing retirement in the last 18 months. One complete nervous breakdown, and assorted maladies while on the job. As I cannot afford to leave I seriously expect to go the same way. It's not the public , we've always had difficult people but the corporations running us into the ground. My staffing is 1/4 of what it was 5 years ago.

edit- Those deaths were one small area for 1 company

 

[tortillasoup]

For some reason the average person has less medical issues than the typical welfare asshole. I suppose sitting around the house all day gives you time to think up some "disability" to try and get some more free cheese from the gubmint

There you go... It's the sitting around the house all day, doing nothing that is the problem.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Pharmacists have the lowest life expectancy of the lot. We have no real control over our "profession", and the last statistics I saw is that we have 5 or so less years of life because of it. We had 2 die and one near fatal heart attack forcing retirement in the last 18 months. One complete nervous breakdown, and assorted maladies while on the job. As I cannot afford to leave I seriously expect to go the same way. It's not the public , we've always had difficult people but the corporations running us into the ground. My staffing is 1/4 of what it was 5 years ago.

edit- Those deaths were one small area for 1 company

The more and more this country goes to socialized healthcare the less respect the profession will get.


Think about any government-mandated industry. It won't be long until some mega-company pharmacy who is owned by the bother's second cousin's uncle of whoever runs the regulation will get "the bid". At that point everyone will need to match their price.


Seriously, I hate to say it to you in particular, but anything involved with healthcare is on extremely thin ice right now.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

There you go... It's the sitting around the house all day, doing nothing that is the problem.

This OT, so I'm trying not to get political, but that's what a vote costs nowadays. A lazy dumbass who doesn't want to work, and has learned they can milk the healthcare system for $2k / month worth of pain meds. Which yes, results in sitting around the house all day complaining about degenerative disc disease and ADD, both unprovable ailments that make up the majority of gov't disability claims.

It's a sad fact, really, of where we are as a society. And anyone in the healthcare field deals with this BS on a daily basis. Shit, I couldn't handle it, not for any amount of money.

 

[BoomerD]

Hi -
I am a wife (currently expecting our 5th child) and *I* want to go to med school. I am 34. My husband is 40.
You all made such great suggestions that I'd like your advice too.

Our circumstances are different from a previous post. My current income potential is only about 30K. I already have a B.S. (but not premed).

I'm looking at 1 or 2 pre-reqs. Then:
2 year Post-Bacc, Pre-Med Certificate
3.7 years Med school
4 years Residency (for my intended specialty)

Daunting? Sure. But right now our total family income hovers around 100K. Putting the school loans on hold for 9 years in order to double or triple our income is actually a financial improvement.

Not to mention, I am very passionate about the particular field and already do lay-work in it.
Like I said, we do have small children. I'm very very concerned at being separated from them. However, if we keep up our status quo - we won't have anything to offer them when they are older. We'll spend our life "just scraping by".

Very hard decision but I would appreciate your thoughts.

You joined a tech site for this?

Obviously you're way too stupid to ever attend medical school.

Maybe you should try your hand at something simpler...like Nuk-u-lur engineering.

 

[alkemyst]

I'm not even so sure that in 9-10 years doctors will be making the same kind of scratch they are now.

That could be true for most average docs. The rich have doctors that don't even accept insurance. The best of the best will always find customers.

OP: I somehow doubt you'd even be accepted to a medical school for something that requires that much time.

Becoming a true specialist requires putting your life on hold until retirement more or less even if you are young.

What practice of medicine are you looking at?

I am thinking this is a troll post, it sort of smacks of it.

 

[alkemyst]

The more and more this country goes to socialized healthcare the less respect the profession will get.


Think about any government-mandated industry. It won't be long until some mega-company pharmacy who is owned by the bother's second cousin's uncle of whoever runs the regulation will get "the bid". At that point everyone will need to match their price.


Seriously, I hate to say it to you in particular, but anything involved with healthcare is on extremely thin ice right now.

Even with socialized medicine, doctors aren't ever dis-respected.