UO > Feature > Doctor Come-Lately

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While finances may be a disadvantage of starting medical school as a career changer, it doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker. “I will be a member of the camp of diminishing returns, especially after my decision to enter a general surgery residency for five to seven additional years after graduation,” says Hagen. “But, I also must acknowledge that since my husband is a physician, the financial aspect of three to five additional years at low pay will not be as important for us.”

Brott entered medical school at 31 years old, right after marrying. She worked during medical school as a lab assistant and tutor, received a large scholarship in her fourth year of medical school, and her husband worked while she attended medical school. She finished residency at age 38. “Now, in my third year of practice, I’m paying off an $80,000 student loan debt. Hopefully, I’ll pay it off by the time I retire!”

Clements also graduated with considerable debt. “By the time I finished medical school, I was about $100,000 in debt and behind another $150,000 in lost earnings,” she says. “Certainly, I thought about this before I made the decision to make the commitment to medicine, but if the choice to work in medicine is about money for anyone, it’s the wrong choice.”

Krol also has loans, but “I didn’t really worry too much about paying them back, because I knew that eventually I would. It didn’t factor at all into my decision to enter med school.”

He used his baseball signing bonus to cover part of his first year of medical school. “I didn’t think I’d be at Yale, so I though it would cover my whole first year. It didn’t. Minor league baseball isn’t much of a money-maker, so I really didn’t save much for my education. It was lots of loans for me.”

The emotional and financial support of family members goes a long way in helping career changers ease the way into their new career. “My choice has not been without cost. I remarried just before medical school and divorced a few years after I finished residency,” Clements says. “This passion is difficult for many to understand. On the surface, my husband was very supportive, although I don’t think he ever understood the commitment he was making.”

Brott says spousal support was crucial to her success. “My husband was completely supportive of my decision to enter medicine,” she says. “We met while I was teaching high school. He knew from the beginning that my goal was to become a doctor and he helped every step of the way. He quizzed me in some subjects, kept the household going, participated in the medical school social life, and essentially allowed me to pursue my studies.”

While career changers may have to “catch up” with the science and share many of the financial hurdles of traditional students, they also bring special abilities and transferable skills. “The most transferable skill I brought to medicine,” says Krol, “was the ability to work as part of a team. In baseball, the team is most successful when each member is performing their individual tasks with a shared goal of winning as a team.”

Hagen majored in Spanish acknowledging that language barrier is an important aspect of medicine and says her clinical performance reflects this experience. “I excel on the wards at the hospital with the ability to communicate with a variety of patients,” she says.

Clements agrees and says the experience from her “first life” helps her as a physician. She says her human resource background helps her know how to approach patients and her business experience “has helped me to recognize the parts of medicine that need to be treated like a business in order to remain successful and to make effective career decisions.”

Brott says transferable skills were a boon to her career change. “There are many skills I developed during my first career as a teacher which help me now. The interpersonal skills involved in a teacher-student relationship carry over into medicine. As doctors, we’re constantly teaching and we need varying skills to address the learning needs of our patients. Understanding how a school runs (the hierarchy, the paperwork) definitely helps in navigating medical school, residency, and in running a practice,” she says.

What qualities do career changers need to make it through medical training? “People who change careers must have diligence, determination, and focus,” says Hagen.

Clements says anyone going into medicine as a second career must be resilient and keep their eye on the prize. Brott agrees that changing careers takes a big commitment. “The maturity we’ve developed helps ensure that the commitment is appropriate. Flexibility is a must, as things don’t always go as planned. You certainly can’t expect things to be the same as they were—life is always changing along with career changes,” Brott says.

A strong work ethic and ability to focus are also qualities that career changers share. “I treated medical school like a job—I went to class every day and studied before I played,” says Brott.

Krol agrees. “Through baseball and other athletic experiences, I developed a work ethic that has helped me in my medical, advocacy, and policy efforts. Having played pro ball also gives me a great way to connect with many different types of people and help them feel at ease because I can talk about something other than medicine. I think my work ethic took me further than my talent would have taken me alone. I promised myself that I would never look back and say, ‘If only I would have worked harder.’ And I never have.”

Are these docs happier than before they went into medicine? “I’m not sure I can say I am happier, because playing baseball was and is so much fun. It’s hard to beat being on a ball field,” says Krol. “I’d have to say I am equally happy because I am passionate about what I do. One passion—children and child advocacy—has replaced another—baseball.” His advice for career changers? “Be passionate about what you do.”

Clements puts the rigors of medical school education and the challenges of practicing into perspective. “I recognize that this thing I do every day is not hard work,” she says. “Hard work is having three jobs, all of which you hate, to pay the rent and buy the groceries. I am blessed to be able to do what I love every single day.”

Brott agrees. “I’m very satisfied with my career change. It’s taken a lot of work, time and money, but if I hadn’t done it, I would probably be bored and restless, as well as older anyway!”

For Clements, the choice was about passion. “I’ll probably die with a stethoscope in my hand and student loans yet to be paid, but I will have had the career of my dreams. Not many people ever really get to do that, at any cost.” g