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Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

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Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#121

Post by wbl »

sct202 wrote: post #115
staticautomatic wrote: post #109

OT but does anyone have insight into why there are so few med schools in the US? There are way more prospective students than admissions slots. Are there high capital costs or something I haven't considered that make starting a med school unprofitable even with average tuition fees being so high?

There are limited residency spots for med school graduates and if you don't get one you can't become an actual licensed doctor. The MD schools try to keep their admissions in line with the number of spots because that would be a raw deal to just pump out people with degrees in $500k in debt who will never get licensed. The residency spots are not controlled by the medical associations or the schools.

The AMA lobbies very hard against expension every year.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#122

Post by zw123456 »

A Tandy Corporation. They almost went under and then they were bought out by a leather crafts business. We used to joke around about Radio Shaft but my Trash 80 was the most hacked up PoS ever ! Great memories. And good on him for living his dream.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#123

Post by jac241 »

sandfly wrote: post #90
galacticaactual wrote: post #2

I've always dreamed of leaving behind Silicon Valley and pursuing emergency medicine. I need to stay the course for a while to ensure my college approaching kids are taken care of but stories like this are inspiring reminders that age doesn't have to be a factor when I finally decide to make the move.

I tried this. I didn't get into medical school but it is doable. I enrolled in a premedical postbaccalaureate program, and over the course of two years of night classes finished all of the prerequisites required by most allopathic medical schools. I worked by butt off to finish with a 4.0 GPA and place in the 96th percentile on the MCAT (good enough to not be ruled out because of my MCAT score). I also volunteered at…

Can corroborate. Schools care about GPA too much even in the face of work experience (most doctors on admission committees have never had another job..) + MCAT score. Median GPA is 5% of the grading in the US News research rankings and that matters a ton to the schools. Went from software to med school, now in my second year (4 since software). 3.67 GPA (bioinformatics)/ 3.55 BioChemMathPhysics GPA with 100th percentile MCAT. ~140 hrs clinical experience when I applied. 20 applications, 6 interviews, 4 waitlists (to rejection), 1 immediate post-interview rejection (screw you too NYU), 1 acceptance.

If you read about this CEO and are thinking about making the switch be very realistic with your chances, particularly about your GPA like parent post said. Without a 3.7+ you're going to have a tough time, and there's no guarantee that you won't spend 2+ years and get rejected. You'll have to overperform on the MCAT. Expect bias against your work experience (only software really). Whenever I said I used to be a software engineer you could see the light leave some of the interviewers eyes... Though if you're FAANG or another name-brand company I wouldn't expect the same.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#124

Post by Retric »

filoleg wrote: post #81
Judgmentality wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than having to spend mid-five figures. It costs a lot more than that to become a doctor in the US. Typical student loan debt for doctors is well into 6 digits. https://www.bestmedicaldegrees.com/is-medical-school-worth-i...

Correct, but I don't know a single doctor in the US who actually paid it upfront instead of taking out all those loans and then easily paying them back with their newfound doctor salary later.

Many people fail to become doctors and or lose their license for various reasons. So, it’s a huge gamble in the US that can easily cause massive financial issues.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#125

Post by Retric »

cycrutchfield wrote: post #108
sndean wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the only people that I know who don't have >400000 in loans with a >5% interest rate coming out of residency have wealthy parents who paid for everything, did the military's HPSP program [1], or did a free 7-year MD/PhD program. It's an interesting process. [1] https://www.medicineandthemilitary.com/joining-and-eligibili...

Plenty of medical schools give need-based financial aid. So those folks who took out loans probably came from pretty well-off middle class families.

There is well off, and then there is paying 400+k to several schools while also supporting their other kids and retirement savings etc.

A family in the top 5% of incomes with one child and zero financial issues and can pull it off. But, that’s well past just middle class.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#126

Post by amachefe »

whoisjuan wrote: post #6

Holy Shit! Imagine being the CEO of a RadioShack, then saying "I want to become a Doctor" and actually doing it. That's amazing! Love this story.

I think Ed Roberts who built the first PC Altair 8800 and gave Bill Gates his first job also did same

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#127

Post by mikeappell »

robmiller wrote: post #85

When I was a kid, my dad sat next to a different RadioShack CEO on a plane. He mentioned that I was always in the store and Mr. Roberts gave him this, https://imgur.com/a/BolEA

That's really cool. I wonder what would have happened if you'd called that number.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#128

Post by wutbrodo »

xenocyon wrote: post #106
stronglikedan wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sufficient drive begets the requisite capital, but that's even more rare, and arguably more amazing.

That's a bit of a tautology, isn't it? Of course sufficient drive begets the requisite capital, since any amount of drive which fails to beget the requisite capital is, by definition, insufficient :)

Just to go down the pedantry-hole with you (it's fun every once in a while!): I think a reasonable interpretation of the claim is that there's no initial condition such that some amount of drive won't get you to the level of capital under discussion. This isn't tautological, as the negation would be "there are certain situations where drive alone isn't sufficient to get you to that level of capital".

That's a claim a lot of people make (I think I'd probably agree with it), and the parent comment is disagreeing.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#129

Post by iamkroot »

bavell wrote: post #113
staticautomatic wrote: post #109

OT but does anyone have insight into why there are so few med schools in the US? There are way more prospective students than admissions slots. Are there high capital costs or something I haven't considered that make starting a med school unprofitable even with average tuition fees being so high?

I don't know much about it either but AFAIK there's an industry group that artificially controls how many licensed doctors in each field there are. They reduce supply which naturally increases doctor compensation among other things.

The American Medical Association, which is a rotten cabal.

Fantastic podcast about them by freakonomics: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/nurses-to-the-rescue/

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#130

Post by shannon8122 »

jac241 wrote: post #123
sandfly wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried this. I didn't get into medical school but it is doable. I enrolled in a premedical postbaccalaureate program, and over the course of two years of night classes finished all of the prerequisites required by most allopathic medical schools. I worked by butt off to finish with a 4.0 GPA and place in the 96th percentile on the MCAT (good enough to not be ruled out because of my MCAT score). I also volunteered at…

Can corroborate. Schools care about GPA too much even in the face of work experience (most doctors on admission committees have never had another job..) + MCAT score. Median GPA is 5% of the grading in the US News research rankings and that matters a ton to the schools. Went from software to med school, now in my second year (4 since software). 3.67 GPA (bioinformatics)/ 3.55 BioChemMathPhysics GPA with 100th percent…

Why is there bias against software?
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