Advice on responding to lay off notice while working towards medical school

[Derrian]

Well, it finally happened. After four years in urban education I finally received a layoff notice in response to recent budget cuts and my status as a non-tenured teacher. By the end of the academic year, I will have roughly 140-150k in 403b/457/IRA/taxable accounts and 9 months of living expenses in an emergency fund. While I am confident I could get another position in the district (one verbal offer after two weeks of looking with several interviews coming up) I am contemplating taking time away to focus on getting into medical school.

A little background on me: I am 26 (turning 27 this summer) and for the last two years I have been taking night classes to complete the prerequisite courses for medical school and volunteering in two hospitals. After numerous volunteer hours, time spent shadowing physicians, and learning about the field, I have decided to pursue a career in medicine (yes, I understand the long term financial consequences of this). My general plan had been to finish up my remaining classes over the next academic year ('17-'18) , take the MCAT in August/September ('18)  and apply for admission starting June 2019 with a (hopeful) start date of September 2020. The reason for the extra year is that due to working full time and the amount of prep I would need to do for the MCAT, I would not be able to take it in time to make the 2019 admissions cycle. Previously, the plan to wait an extra year seemed fine as I have been able to save roughly 50k each year and would be able to have additional savings before starting school.

However, with the recent layoff notice, I started to think about moving my plans up a year. If I am not working full time, I would be able to take the necessary classes and study for the MCAT at the same time. This would mean that I could apply in June '18 for a hopeful start date of September '19. The downside of this plan is that I would need to take roughly 6-8 months off from work, which would significantly decrease the amount I am able to save both for retirement and for medical school. Since I am being laid off, I would be able to collect unemployment which would more than cover my living expenses, health insurance etc, for the next 30 weeks.

Essentially, my choices boil down to:
Option A: Find another job, continue saving for retirement and medical school, and apply for a hopeful state date of September '20. My estimated investment accounts would have roughly $150k in new investment income but I would lose one year of practicing as a physician.
Option B: Take unemployment for 6-8 months, focus on preparing for medical school, and apply for a hopeful state date of September '19. My investment accounts would receive roughly $70-90k in new investment income but I would gain one year of practicing as a physician.

Anyone have any advice with regards to how to weigh these two choices?

[MarioMario]

The sooner you apply to medical school the quicker you can apply again if your don't want to cast a wide net.  If you don't get in the first time you can work in the year between.

My advice,

-Get prerequisites done as soon as possible
-Apply as soon as possible

It shouldn't take you more than a year at most to finish prerequisites. 

[Abe]

Move forward with applications and studying for MCAT. It's a full time job in itself, even though it's the easiest of the standardized tests you'll be taking during your medical career. There's no benefit in delaying a year to save money that's frankly a small piece of cracked grout in the leaking bathtub that will be your finances for the next half-decade or so.

Best of luck to you, feel free to message me if you have questions about anything medicine related!

[former player]

What do you think are your chances of getting into med school?  Are you on the Student Doctor Network forums? -

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/what-are-my-chances.418/

You need a cGPA and sGPA as much over 3.0 as you can manage, and you should take the MCAT once and once only, as med schools tend to average the scores of those who take it more than once.

If you succeed at getting into medschool, your chances are high of being a board certified doctor with an income way over what you would lose by not working for half a year.  If you don't succeed at getting into med school, losing half a year is still not disastrous if you can continue as a teacher or find another reasonably paid profession.

[gaja]

Is there a reason you need to get this degree in the US? If you have good grades and are willing to learn other languages, there are plenty of good Universities in the world where you can get a medical degree for free. If you want/need to study in English, you normally have to pay a fee, but from what I can see, it is easy to find cheaper options than the US. For instance Latvia or Poland, where the tuition fees are around 12000 Euros a year, and the cost of living is very low.

[former player]

Is there a reason you need to get this degree in the US? If you have good grades and are willing to learn other languages, there are plenty of good Universities in the world where you can get a medical degree for free. If you want/need to study in English, you normally have to pay a fee, but from what I can see, it is easy to find cheaper options than the US. For instance Latvia or Poland, where the tuition fees are around 12000 Euros a year, and the cost of living is very low.

Chances of being able to complete training and practice in the USA after getting a medical degree abroad are slim and getting worse - there are limits on the number of post med-school training places and they go first to USA graduates, particularly the better paid specialties.  This may be a cheap option in the short run but is likely to be very costly in the longer run

[makinbutter]

Move forward with applications and studying for MCAT. It's a full time job in itself, even though it's the easiest of the standardized tests you'll be taking during your medical career. There's no benefit in delaying a year to save money that's frankly a small piece of cracked grout in the leaking bathtub that will be your finances for the next half-decade or so.

Best of luck to you, feel free to message me if you have questions about anything medicine related!

Just wanted to say this was hilarious.  Well played.

OP, have you considered not doing med school and doing a mid-level provider (NP, RN, PA, etc.) instead?  If you're DEAD SET ON MEDICAL SCHOOL OR BUST, then yes, do it, but damn, that's a big commitment.

[Mgmny]

Apply and take the MCAT this June in 2 months. I took the MCAT after "studying" for maybe 20 hours total (3 practice tests though), and walked away with a 31O (not sure if the new MCAT is scored on a different scale, but in 2012, that was an acceptable score).

Why are you waiting to embark on the longest most expensive thing in your life? If you wait 2 years and you don't get in the first cycle, you might not get out of residency or fellowship until you're 40. The rest of us on this board will be retired by then, and you'll be worth about $-50k (based on your info).

Take the MCAT as soon as possible, apply this June for fall 2018. If you do not as well on the MCAT, just apply to DO school. By the time you graduate, the ACGME will have 1 match anyways, so there are no downsides.

For the record, I agree with the poster above - go be a mid level provider (PA is probably the best). Also for the record, I advocate no medical school at all. I withdrew after my first year because it's a terrible deal.