Navy ELT with BS looking to go into Med. School.

[807squad]

I am wondering if anyone out there has or knows someone who has gone from Navy and TESC degree to Med. School and if you have to take many additional classes to meet the Prerequisites. I am most worried about those requiring a LAB. I was an ELT but the TESC degree had no Labs. I also have an MBA, but I do not think that will matter at all. I am torn from going instant SRO or just saying screw it and do Med. School.  There is allot to consider lost salary and cost of school, but I would think the earning power would be almost double assuming a specialty like radiologist, Oncologist or Anesthesiologist.  I also am up for a new challenge.... careful what I wish for.

Just wondering if anyone one here has looked into it.

[DontGoToNPTU]

I was looking at going to medical school a while ago but family life changed in a huge way and that idea got buried. With the Thomas Edison Degree you can safely assume that the only part of the med school prereq's you'll satisfy are the general education req's. I'd say at a minimum two years because of all the chemistry (w/labs), biology (w/labs), phisiology and anatomy, etc. However, don't get discouraged. Typically a med student will take their MCAT sometime early-middle of their Junior year. If you were to go to premed right now then that would meat you'd be taking the MCAT about six months after starting premed... You probably want to give yourself more exposure to the chem/ bio prior to taking that exam.

As far as SRO, I'm not part of the commercial industry yet but I'm going to go ahead and take a guess that if the only thing you're bringing to the table is a TE degree you might want to aim more for an NLO position. I'm sure someone like BZ, Higgs or others with similar experience can offer better insight in that area. You may have more to offer (Like >2 years of EOOW or EWS) but you didn't mention it in your post.

PM me later this week. I know of two people who are actually ex-nukes that are pre med right now. I'll get in contact with them and see if they are willing to offer you some more insight on that route.

Best of Luck,

Josh

[hamsamich]

If you are torn I would take the SRO spot.  Med school and its prereqs are no picnic for someone not 100% into it, nor any phd program.  Or so my old profs told me, although it wasn't med school.

[cheme09]

There is allot to consider lost salary and cost of school, but I would think the earning power would be almost double assuming a specialty like radiologist, Oncologist or Anesthesiologist. 

My brother just graduated from med school a couple of years ago, and I make more than he does right now as an entry level engineer.  Earning power may be double, but the lost costs during med school and residency are not insignificant.  The example below will illustrate the earnings over the next 10 years.  It shows that at the end of ten years you will have made over $800k more dollars by going SRO, and total earning wouldn't be equal until 2/3 of the way through the 15th year.

Also, during the 4 year residency (and possibly during your 4 years of med school), quality of life will be better on the SRO side.  80hrs/week during residency are very common, almost normal. 90hrs/week is not uncommon.

It's very admirable if you have the passion and desire to become a doctor.  But I think making that career decision based off of the money alone is ill advised. 

Assumptions:
1) no pre-requisites needed (go straight into med school now)
2) cost of med school $40k/year for 4 years
3) radiology residency = 4yrs, paid at $53k/yr
4) median radiologist salary = $350k/yr
5) first 2 years of SRO spent in class at $85k/yr then up to $175k/yr after license

Year   MD   SRO
1      -40     85
2      -40     85
3      -40     175
4      -40     175
5      53      175
6      53      175
7      53      175
8      53      175
9      350     175
10    350     175

Total   752   1570

Delta = 818
Years until even = 4.67

[GLW]

My brother just graduated from med school a couple of years ago, and I make more than he does right now as an entry level engineer.  Earning power may be double, but the lost costs during med school and residency are not insignificant.  The example below will illustrate the earnings over the next 10 years.  It shows that at the end of ten years you will have made over $800k more dollars by going SRO, and total earning wouldn't be equal until 2/3 of the way through the 15th year.

Also, during the 4 year residency (and possibly during your 4 years of med school), quality of life will be better on the SRO side.  80hrs/week during residency are very common, almost normal. 90hrs/week is not uncommon.

It's very admirable if you have the passion and desire to become a doctor.  But I think making that career decision based off of the money alone is ill advised. 

Assumptions:
1) no pre-requisites needed (go straight into med school now)
2) cost of med school $40k/year for 4 years
3) radiology residency = 4yrs, paid at $53k/yr
4) median radiologist salary = $350k/yr
5) first 2 years of SRO spent in class at $85k/yr then up to $175k/yr after license

Year   MD   SRO
1      -40     85
2      -40     85
3      -40     175
4      -40     175
5      53      175
6      53      175
7      53      175
8      53      175
9      350     175
10    350     175

Total   752   1570

Delta = 818
Years until even = 4.67

well done,...

[Higgs]

A lot of good information above!

To find out if you're eligible for instant SRO, please list your qualifications and duration of quals.

To make a long story short, you need a minimum of 2 years of EWS to qualify for instant SRO, the TESC degree is just gravy, but not a qualification by itself.

Justin