"Getting out of the business" resource thread

So Rick Stain would ... take basket weaving?

Good luck!

 

I got out of the business about 5 years ago, and this fall I will be starting medical school. I left the profession to to an 8-5 with that in the back of my mind (wanted to pay off the prereqs as I went, so I took night classes at a CC), but it's obviously far from a sure thing. Turns out admissions committees at med schools like a.) people who can write and b.) people who can interact with others in a professional manner.

There are a handful of other journalists-turned-medical-students I was told about as I interviewed at different schools, though I'm not sure if any came from sports. But wild career transitions are possible. As far as resources, I transitioned very easily into tech writing (well, kind of - it made me insane how no one in software can keep to deadlines) for my interim job while I went to school in the evenings. And it wasn't nearly as hard as I'd imagined to go back to school; just treating it like an adult makes you stand out with 18-year-olds who mostly slept through class.

I probably won't ever stop writing as a hobby. But I'm so excited to be going on this new journey.

 

Good luck, smash. A former colleague of mine from my AP days also went into the medical field. She went nursing route. I forget all the variations, but she's one of the longer-studied ones.

 

Good luck, Smash. If I had better undergrad grades and weren't nearing 40, I'd give it some consideration.

Also, to the people who've gone the law school route: How difficult is it to find employment nowadays? Not really considering it, just curious because last I checked there was a glut of recent law school grads.

 

Before I decided on computer science, I talked to a lot of lawyers and they all basically screamed at me to stay away because the job market is awful.

 

Smash, I think you'll find a job.

 

Unless you could get into a top 10 school, don't even bother. If you are in your 30's, that might not even be good enough. The exception might be if you could pay for school and want to do some type of public advocacy.

 

I would think the LSAT score might carry some weight in that.

 

You still need really good grades. One or the other won't cut it.

 

Hah, I'd better or I'm going to be in a metric ton of debt for nothing. I'll be starting my residency in my late 30s, but I figure even if I subspecialize, I'll end up with 25ish years to practice, and I'm more than happy with that. I mostly wanted to throw it out there in case anyone needed encouragement to make a similarly wild career swing.

It is funny to see people freaking out about living on residents' salaries for the first 3 years after school (around $55-$65K, though for a" humane" cap of 80 hours a week) having made $24K at my first job as a reporter.

 

Journalists don't usually have to make payments on $200k in student loan debt.

 

Just my $0.02, but ... The whole of my academic career has been in departments in which the "information systems" major is housed. That major, as contrasted with computer science, is less math-centric and is, perhaps, more in line with what you want (software development). It's typically a business degree -- avoid "information science," which is the new label for library science -- but would probably get you out faster.