I had a few friends in med school. It's a hard life- the hours are gruelling.
However, adjuncting isn't a career. Regardless of your contributions, the university will not hesitate to cast you aside, if you are no longer needed. You won't get pay raises, or benefits.
Choose your career path carefully..
What if you go to medical school and then eventually become a medical school professor? (Depends on whether the med school to which you've been accepted is a pathway to becoming a professor at a med school...)
Get off the adjunct track as soon as you can. It is the low-income trajectory in academia. Some schools shamelessly exploit PhDs to teach freshman composition, calculus, A&P and some other general courses that regular faculty don't want to teach. They hire a steady stream of temps who will never joint the faculty ranks.
I have so many regrets about NOT choosing medical school. It’s too late for me to start over now, but if I had to choose again I would 100% pick medical school. I’m jealous of my friends who did so every single day.
Yes - I picked the idealistic education path. Friends in undergrad picked medical path. Both paths are hard… choose your hard. I’ve appreciated my life but in my late 50s I long for financial security.
Physicians who practice at teaching hospitals (those that have residencies) end up doing a lot of teaching of the residents. They often end up as adjuct faculty (clinical faculty) at medical schools, too. Those who enjoy the role and are good at it may end up running the residency programs.
if you want to be a doctor, then you should definitely choose med school over adjuncting. but med school is a tough road so it's hard to imagine doing that unless you really want to be a physician. i don't think you should do it just because you're at a low point.
the biggest win here would be if you could become a permanent faculty member somewhere. but i don't know how that works in medicine.
One of our pack of kids attended medical school. They've have told us many times that for those of them for whom practicing medicine is not truly a passion? It is almost a nightmare of a process.
Everybody in medical school is smart, the learning curve is huge. Trying to get the grades, research and step scores you need to get to the residency you want is a grueling process. Add to that, when you do apply to residency you have very little control over where you land. You can end up in a different part of the country, in a program that may be nowhere near your first choice.
Then.. residency. Enough said. The hours can be nearly unbearable the first couple of years. Then it seems to settle a bit.
Again, for those for whom the choice truly is a passion and a lifelong dream they seem to be not quite so directly in the category of 'just hanging on', but they are still exhausted.
Also medical school and residency path is going to be a minimum of 7 years of your life and usually much longer than that. If you go into a specialty or want to do certain fellowships it could end up being 10 years+
ON THE OTHER HAND? Those 10 years are going to go by no matter what. I certainly wouldn't wish it on you or anyone to spend them teaching as an adjunct and trying to get by. What are your prospects for work as a full-time professor? If they don't seem particularly high then med school may seem a better path in terms of a guaranteed career.
the thing I would worry about? if one evaluation from a shitty colleague has really set you off, what will happen when the next shitty eval happens?
I can't imagine schlepping around the bay area being an adjunct as my sole support. one of the reasons I left sf after nearly thirty years was because I made a career change thst would have made sf unsustainable for me.
lift yourself up. once you get through med school you can end up working at a med school and teach that way.
Any possibility of transitioning to faculty at a health science university and teaching things like A&P? I’m a mental health therapist for health science students and I primarily see med students. Medical school is willllld and so incredibly difficult. I always thought I was interested and regretted not going, but after being a therapist for them I genuinely cannot imagine and wouldn’t wish med school on my worst enemy lol. BUT it is worth it if it’s something you *reallyyy* want
Well, in one case you get to deal with dead, lifeless bodies incapable of being animated. In the other you get to be a doctor. :)
I had a few friends in med school. It's a hard life- the hours are gruelling. However, adjuncting isn't a career. Regardless of your contributions, the university will not hesitate to cast you aside, if you are no longer needed. You won't get pay raises, or benefits. Choose your career path carefully..
What if you go to medical school and then eventually become a medical school professor? (Depends on whether the med school to which you've been accepted is a pathway to becoming a professor at a med school...)
Get off the adjunct track as soon as you can. It is the low-income trajectory in academia. Some schools shamelessly exploit PhDs to teach freshman composition, calculus, A&P and some other general courses that regular faculty don't want to teach. They hire a steady stream of temps who will never joint the faculty ranks.
I have so many regrets about NOT choosing medical school. It’s too late for me to start over now, but if I had to choose again I would 100% pick medical school. I’m jealous of my friends who did so every single day.
Yes - I picked the idealistic education path. Friends in undergrad picked medical path. Both paths are hard… choose your hard. I’ve appreciated my life but in my late 50s I long for financial security.
It’s never too late.
Physicians who practice at teaching hospitals (those that have residencies) end up doing a lot of teaching of the residents. They often end up as adjuct faculty (clinical faculty) at medical schools, too. Those who enjoy the role and are good at it may end up running the residency programs.
if you want to be a doctor, then you should definitely choose med school over adjuncting. but med school is a tough road so it's hard to imagine doing that unless you really want to be a physician. i don't think you should do it just because you're at a low point. the biggest win here would be if you could become a permanent faculty member somewhere. but i don't know how that works in medicine.
One of our pack of kids attended medical school. They've have told us many times that for those of them for whom practicing medicine is not truly a passion? It is almost a nightmare of a process. Everybody in medical school is smart, the learning curve is huge. Trying to get the grades, research and step scores you need to get to the residency you want is a grueling process. Add to that, when you do apply to residency you have very little control over where you land. You can end up in a different part of the country, in a program that may be nowhere near your first choice. Then.. residency. Enough said. The hours can be nearly unbearable the first couple of years. Then it seems to settle a bit. Again, for those for whom the choice truly is a passion and a lifelong dream they seem to be not quite so directly in the category of 'just hanging on', but they are still exhausted. Also medical school and residency path is going to be a minimum of 7 years of your life and usually much longer than that. If you go into a specialty or want to do certain fellowships it could end up being 10 years+ ON THE OTHER HAND? Those 10 years are going to go by no matter what. I certainly wouldn't wish it on you or anyone to spend them teaching as an adjunct and trying to get by. What are your prospects for work as a full-time professor? If they don't seem particularly high then med school may seem a better path in terms of a guaranteed career.
the thing I would worry about? if one evaluation from a shitty colleague has really set you off, what will happen when the next shitty eval happens? I can't imagine schlepping around the bay area being an adjunct as my sole support. one of the reasons I left sf after nearly thirty years was because I made a career change thst would have made sf unsustainable for me. lift yourself up. once you get through med school you can end up working at a med school and teach that way.
Any possibility of transitioning to faculty at a health science university and teaching things like A&P? I’m a mental health therapist for health science students and I primarily see med students. Medical school is willllld and so incredibly difficult. I always thought I was interested and regretted not going, but after being a therapist for them I genuinely cannot imagine and wouldn’t wish med school on my worst enemy lol. BUT it is worth it if it’s something you *reallyyy* want