Careers for a medical school drop-out?

October 3, 2010 12:58 PM

Careers for a medical school drop-out?

One of my friends is doing their medical school finals, and is worried about failing. I've tried to be supportive by telling them I think they'll do fine, but the topic of alternative careers still comes up.

Please help me make some great suggestions about what my friend could do instead of practising medicine.

I've already seen this thread but it needn't be a job in healthcare. Thanks!

posted by Mike1024 to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

Best answer: My understanding is med schools hold on pretty tightly to their students. I bet your friend won't fail. If she or he does, her background would certainly help them in nursing or PA school. PA school seems to involve less bullshit than nursing school, so maybe your friend could go that way. Phlebotomy also pays OK I think. Probably your friend would do well in academia, and could look into getting their Masters in Public Health. Another angle is working in either the pharmaceutical industry or research. I'm confident something will work out for your friend!
posted by serazin at 1:05 PM on October 3, 2010

Best answer: Paramedic, RN, medical sales, pharamceutical sales, research, teaching, etc.
posted by MsKim at 1:32 PM on October 3, 2010

Best answer: I have a friend who dropped out of med school (did not fail, left because she disliked it) and is now pursuing a PhD in Pharmacology(?)
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 1:42 PM on October 3, 2010

Best answer: Dang, you're in the UK. I was going to reassure that medical-professional schools in the US and Canada reeeeaaaally don't want to flunk students out. Reeeeeaaaaally. I'm not in human medicine, but once someone is admitted to this professional program, there is a lot of support to keep people in school or help them get through. That's true of all the programs I know.

However, I'm not as familiar with the six-year bachelor's structure.

All of the careers listed above are viable options. There may also be a way to take a year off and return to school if things really do go badly--assuming that your friend still would like to pursue medicine.
posted by Uniformitarianism Now! at 1:48 PM on October 3, 2010

Best answer: My first thought is that my girlfriend makes a really nice (high 5-figures, low 6-figures US$) living running the back office at a medical practice, and an understanding of medical terminology and procedure is a vast help (and she came from another field, so needed a mentor). If your friend has any business background or acumen, it's an option.

On the lower end of the earning scale, EMT, PA or Nursing could clearly use your friend. Higher up, pharmacy or medical sales. They should have lots of options.
posted by kjs3 at 2:00 PM on October 3, 2010

Best answer: Journalist specializing in health issues. Lawyer for malpractice cases.
posted by GaelFC at 2:11 PM on October 3, 2010

Best answer: This is a long while ago now, but I knew a student who got to their final year and flunked because of psych issues with significant amounts of blood. She ended up picking up a fantastic job as a university med school librarian (with a higher starting salary than a GP). As kjs3 says, the knowledge of medical terminology and procedures is uncommon, but absolutely necessary to some related fields.
posted by Ahab at 5:46 PM on October 3, 2010

Best answer: Medical device / drug sales rep.
posted by ghharr at 6:45 PM on October 3, 2010

Response by poster: All great answers - thanks!
posted by Mike1024 at 4:30 PM on October 4, 2010

It's the UK. She can resit if she fails. There is no need to change career paths until the retake options are exhausted. Schools pretend to be strict about who can resit but the reality is they are not because their funding is partially dependent on the proportion of students who complete the program. Just come up with enough of an excuse that the faculty don't feel like complete frauds for letting the resit happen.
posted by srboisvert at 6:51 AM on October 5, 2010

Response by poster: Follow up: She passed and is now a junior doctor.
posted by Mike1024 at 4:01 PM on March 4, 2011 [3 favorites]