Is podiatry right for me?

[anonymouse]

I’ve always been premed, but I’ve recently discovered podiatry and I find it really attractive as a career for these reasons:

- making a difference, and relieving pain
- ability to do surgery and clinic
- becoming an expert in one area
- a bit more stability in terms of residency
- less critical patients and emergencies
- and better work life balance (are these correct assumptions?)

But I’m also have some things holding me back. One is that I’m not really interested in opening my own practice/ business (and I’ve read that’s where the money is at).

The other thing is that I have the stats for med school (4.0 gpa and 518 MCAT) and I’m not sure if it’s a smart choice to forgo that opportunity.

Am I a right fit for podiatry or should I just continue with premed? Hope I can gain more perspectives about the field of podiatry (since there’s not a lot out there). Pros and cons of the career?

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[OblivionDPM]

I’ve always been premed, but I’ve recently discovered podiatry and I find it really attractive as a career for these reasons:

- making a difference, and relieving pain
- ability to do surgery and clinic
- becoming an expert in one area
- a bit more stability in terms of residency
- less critical patients and emergencies
- and better work life balance (are these correct assumptions?)

But I’m also have some things holding me back. One is that I’m not really interested in opening my own practice/ business (and I’ve read that’s where the money is at).

The other thing is that I have the stats for med school (4.0 gpa and 518 MCAT) and I’m not sure if it’s a smart choice to forgo that opportunity.

Am I a right fit for podiatry or should I just continue with premed? Hope I can gain more perspectives about the field of podiatry (since there’s not a lot out there). Pros and cons of the career?

Best thing for you to do is to shadow podiatrists in your area. Keep in mind that there are differences in how podiatrists practice depending on their job (PP is mainly a clinic thing 4/5 days vs. an ortho-group podiatrist/ hospital employed podiatrist will likely be doing more surgeries than clinic).

You should NOT let the opinions of a few people on a forum shape your opinion of a profession as a whole. Some people love what they do and are making good money, others are not enjoying it and not having a good time. It's their perspective on their lives.

Use facts and objective measures to guide your decision, not subjective ones.

With that in mind, your comments on what your assumed preceptive is (in my opinion) are correct.

If we are talking degree wise here, MD/DO is better than DPM by far. Less restrictions on potential employment opportunities, more uniform pay scale, etc. Keep in mind that around 10% of MD/DO students do not match so there is a risk and it is something that you should consider.

As a DPM, your future is more certain yes. Residency match is nearly 100%, and ability to do surgery is guaranteed, you will get a better work-life balance initially. I say initially because if you were a cardiologist or dermatologist 15 years down the line, that life is kush as hell lol. Keep in mind that our degree is less versatile in other opportunities that could be pursued when compared to an MD/DO. You'll find there are wider ranges of pay due to many factors that I will not get into, there are more restrictions on finding jobs simply because the desirable ones (usually) are ones that are earned and not just handed over on a golden platter (like a typical indeed.com application for a job).

I'm touching on a few subjects briefly right now, but understand that THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, is to do what you love. I cannot emphasis this enough.

I'll end with this: Being able to have patients walk in with pain, and next week or day of their visit, be pain free and seeing their satisfaction and happiness for your work is priceless. It makes me feel happy I pursued this career every time I see this happen. I never liked the concept of managing medicine to "slow things down" or "get them by" personally. Not every podiatry patient is like this, but I found this happens more often in podiatry than other specialties and THATS what I love about this field.

 

[FutureDPM123]

With an MCAT that high, you will probably do really well in MD school and be able to choose the specialty you want. If I had those stats, I would do MD no doubt, not DO or DPM.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

I’ve always been premed, but I’ve recently discovered podiatry and I find it really attractive as a career for these reasons:

- making a difference, and relieving pain
- ability to do surgery and clinic
- becoming an expert in one area
- a bit more stability in terms of residency
- less critical patients and emergencies
- and better work life balance (are these correct assumptions?)

But I’m also have some things holding me back. One is that I’m not really interested in opening my own practice/ business (and I’ve read that’s where the money is at).

The other thing is that I have the stats for med school (4.0 gpa and 518 MCAT) and I’m not sure if it’s a smart choice to forgo that opportunity.

Am I a right fit for podiatry or should I just continue with premed? Hope I can gain more perspectives about the field of podiatry (since there’s not a lot out there). Pros and cons of the career?

There are many threads about the Pros and Cons of this field. Search and read them up.

As stated above, you need to shadow professionals in every field you are interested in (DPM, MD/DO). That's the only way to know if it's the right field for you or not. Also, shadow more than 1 person in different settings to get a better understanding of the field. The premed courses are required to apply to a Podiatric medical school, just like an MD or DO program. Good luck!