Congratulations, accepted student

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I'm not sure if you're for real, but I'll assume you are. For the record, if someone asks you what you're doing it wouldn't be accurate to say that you're a "medical student". You're going to be a podiatry student and the sooner you realize it the better. I'm not being negative, just defining what you'll be.

I hope that you researched podiatry beyond it being a "single tracked medical school" and "good hours, great pay". Podiatry school, dental school and optometry school don't really have any advantages like you might think. You may begin focusing on your future specialty sooner, but it will be at the expense of a complete medical education. Also, unless you REALLY know what a podiatrist is and does and you REALLY want to be a podiatrist, you may find somewhere down the line that you're not very well suited for it. I did and after several years of practice, I'm rethinking my situation.

I know that everyone reading my post will construe it as negative. It's not. I know that you're in and you're going, but I want you to realize that some of the things that you're supposing may not materialize.

I felt the same way when I got in. How cool it's going to be to tell people I'm a "medical student", studying "medicine", doing surgery, etc. Part of it's true. You will get to see and do some real medicine, but not as much as an allopathic medical student. You can tell people that you're a medical student, but when they ask where you're going and you say "podiatry school" prepare yourself for a wide variety of responses. Some will equate it with regular medical school, some will think it's more like a trade school (no kidding) and some won't even know what the Hell you're talking about. Trust me. Podiatry has been the butt of jokes for some time now (Seinfeld, 20/20 expose, newspaper articles, etc.) and people's impressions are affected by this.

You may even begin to suffer from MD/DO envy. I'm saying this because you sound exactly like I did when I entered. I wanted to be a medical student/doctor so badly I could taste it. I applied to MD and DO schools and didn't even know about podiatry until a month before my first pod interview. I got accepted to every single school and didn't even go on any MD or DO interviews. I accepted what I thought was the best offer. I based a lot of what I knew about being a doctor on books that I read, documentaries, people I spoke with, TV shows, etc. I was very disappointed when I entered podiatry school. I thought it was going to be something that it wasn't. There was a pervasive feeling of being in a quasi-medical school vs. a mainstream medical school. Everyone else felt it, too. When we would do our volunteer medical student stuff, we were always relegated to cutting toenails and calluses while the real medical students were doing absolutely everything. I can remember thinking "if only I had done better on my MCAT or got better grades..."

The "good hours, low pay" that you hear of generally applies to older, more established podiatrists. When you finish your training, you'll have to find some kind of job and there aren't as many as you might think.

But, don't let me rain on your parade. I was totally stoked when I was accepted, but became seriously disillusioned by the first month. I didn't go in with enough knowledge about what it was going to be like and I had no idea about how difficult it was going to be making a living after finishing my residency. For me, if I had known everything I know now, I would not do it again. There are, however, thousands of happy podiatrists in our country who will disagree with me. If you prepare yourself for some of these potential pitfalls, you'll be much better off.

Another piece of advice. Don't kill yourself over grades. They don't mean as much as you think. Don't get terrible grades, but don't freak out if you're not at the top of the class. In real medical school it makes a difference. In podiatry school it doesn't make as much of a difference. I graduated with an 3.75 average and it didn't do anything for me.

Good Luck and stay positive.