How Many Years Do I Have To Be In School?
There are a ton of medical jobs that require supremely advanced schooling, however there are about a thousand ways to "serve your time" whist you are getting your education.
Most people would love to be a Doctor when they're a kid (or a fireman or a policeman) and when they get older they see how impractical it might be for them to spend 8 years in school after they graduate from high school (which is 13 years of schooling as it is from the time you're 5.) Well, if you go to college and work on a science degree with the intention of going to Medical School and you're not catching any breaks then you need to have a smart way to fulfill your dreams without getting "off track".
Take this as an example: Girl goes to school. Girl gets good grades. Girl applies to tough Med Schools and hasn't gotten into any yet. At some point she will, but not right now. What is she to do?
Well, since a lot of Doctors get into research after they are retired or are near retirement you could just go in on the front end. Perhaps with a science background you could get into medical research as a clinical laboratory technician for a "real Doctor" while you are working on getting into Med School. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that you could get a job doing medical research and tell your employer that you want to be a Doctor one day. (It would also help because they might feel compelled to mentor you, write you a letter or recommendation, or even tell someone to take you into their Medical School.) I'm just saying...)
What if you don't want to do research? You could work for a pharmaceutical company. What to Pharmaceutical Reps do all day? Talk to Doctors about drugs, drug interactions, and the like. Well, if you spend all your time talking to Doctors and you are really working them from the sales end then they're going to learn that you want to go to med school, you need some assistance and they just might be able to help you out!
If you get into work in a Hospital (on any level) you're going to be able to find at least one Doctor who may want to sponsor you, mentor you, or help you in general. This isn't bad because you'll be working in a hospital (where you'll have to do your rotations during med school AND you'll be working with influential doctors who can help you out.)
Let's say you go into the educational side of medicine and you could work for a publisher or testing firm. Once again, many of these companies have Doctors as consultants or employees and they may want to help you along in your studies. Plus, if you're working for a company that is specifically geared towards medicine then they may subsidize your tuition or offer scholarships of some kind. At the very least they would offer steady employment to help you get through school.
Look at it this way: If you want to spend them time in Med School but you're just not sure how you're going to do it or you just haven't gotten in yet then you can do a million things to fluff up your resume. ANY work in medicine is a plus when you want to spend your entire professional life as a Doctor, and you can easily build relationships that will carry you through med school, your career, and extend opportunities to you that you might not have had otherwise. Broadening your horizons is a good thing, just don't look away when you don't get what you want...something better might be right around the corner.
