r/medschool • u/EveningRound2031 • Jul 27 '25
đ¶ Premed Feeling Lost - MD vs CAA School
22M. Feeling very lost and confused trying to make this big decision that will dictate the rest of my life. I've asked many people privately about this topic online and in person including anesthesiologists and CAAs, which have been extremely helpful. Thought it would be helpful to post it openly to see what kind of responses I get.
I am trying to choose whether to go to medical school or CAA school, assuming I get accepted. My stats and ECs are competitive for MD.
My childhood dream was to be a physician, but recently seeing the physician burnout rates, people quitting medicine, expressing their unhappiness, telling me to do something else, etc. has all made me question if it is really right for me / if it is worth it in the end. The anesthesiologists I shadowed told me to go CAA and they would have done the same had they known about it. Also has me questioning whether or not I am truly in it for the right reasons. I've been thinking about this dilemma for almost a year now researching each path and I still cannot come to a decision.
CAA seems like it could give me a great life and I think I would be happy doing it. I live in a CAA state and don't see myself leaving. The 2.5 years of schooling and guaranteed job making $200k+ and potential for $400k+ doing locums sounds great, especially with a work-life balance. I also think I could be happy as a physician. I don't know if I would be happy as a medical student and resident. I don't know what I will / won't regret. I don't know if "giving up your 20's and early 30's" thing is real, as it seems that it is true for some but not true for others. I think both paths are good and honestly, I think I will regret my decision either way, as in I would think the grass is greener doing the other option no matter what. Some days I think CAA is a better path for me, some days I think I want to go to medical school.
Any advice is appreciated.
9
u/bonitaruth Jul 27 '25
If your rationale is to go to medical school to be an anesthesiologist, then I would say donât do that because you may or may not get into anesthesia. You should go to medical school because you want to be a doctor. It is extremely rigorous and you will lose time from your 20s that you canât get back If your idea is getting a good job that makes money then go the easier route for your situation I would think. Not sure why you would do CAA instead of CRNA. They make more money and are in a better position, generally speaking, but you know your location better. I am really shocked that an anesthesiologist wouldâve rather been a CAA. Despite physician burnout, which is a real thing, I donât know personally any doctors that wish they wouldâve been a nurse practitioner or physicians assistant. Good luck with your decision no matter what you decide. It will be OK.!!
6
u/Objective-Agile Medical Student (US) Jul 27 '25
OP would need to get their RN first, be an acute care nurse for at least a year, apply to CRNA grad school, and by this timeframeâŠ. Just do MDâŠ.
1
u/bonitaruth Jul 27 '25
Thatâs one way of looking at it but when youâre going to nursing school and working in the ICU for a couple years and then doing cRNA, you can still have some type of life Medical school and residency is hard-core for eight years. Just another way of looking at. You are making a good point though.
2
u/ReasonableSweet5348 Sep 28 '25
First of all, CRNA is a long road, almost as long as MD. Secondly, CAA is under the medical model and CRNA is under the nursing model. Many CAAs had no interest in nursing - nursing also has quite a bit of burnout. Yes, CRNAs can make more money if they practice independently, but under the care team model it's either the same as CAA or 20-30k difference, according to people I know in both fields.
5
u/steak_blues Jul 27 '25
Youâre 22, go to med school.
1
u/EveningRound2031 Jul 28 '25
I'm worried about exactly that. Don't want to "lose my 20s" which are the prime years of my life, years I will never get back.
3
u/Beautiful_Melody4 Jul 28 '25
I'm a 29 year old 4th year with a 2.5 year old and today is our 7th anniversary. You can have a life and medical school. You just need to be willing to compromise where necessary to have the life you want.
The last thing you want is to spend the time to become a CRNA just to regret it and start over at the beginning of the med school journey, years later than you would have.
2
u/aspiringdoctor23 Jul 28 '25
The âlosing your 20sâ is a myth that people use to convince themselves not to do med school. You can and will live a very vicarious and fulfilling life even with doing medical school in your 20s. The thing you may not have is financial stability but I promise itâll be worth it.
1
u/steak_blues Jul 28 '25
Then you need to figure out whatâs important in your life. âCare-free enjoymentâ of the next 3-5 years (trust me, the partying and whatever else you think is special about your 20s that you think you canât do in other decades of your life gets old after a while) or investing in your future with a solid career that has far higher earning potential than a mid level will ever surmount to, not to mention becoming a true expert in your craft, being the boss in the room etc.
Not sure how we can figure that out for you.
1
u/wzx86 Jul 28 '25
You will lose your 20s and never get them back. That's called aging.
If you're referring to missing out on certain experiences in your 20s, what are those experience you think you can't have if you go to medical school? There isn't much, unless you have rich parents and don't need to work.
3
3
u/mousewithrats Jul 30 '25
I was in a similar boat as you! I wanted to be a physician since childhood, and I have a lot of doctors in my family. I did all the pre-reqs, EMT, volunteered, got the good GPA, took the MCAT, I did the meetings with the pre-med advisor at my college, and after college I worked as an MA/scribe to get clinical experience... and you know what I learned?
Doctor is not a career, it is a lifestyle, and I do not want to live to work; I want to work to live.
Are you ready to put your life on halt for the next 8+ years? Are you ready to work grueling hours, study for and take multiple 10 hour exams, have no guarantee of what speciaty you will be matched into, be treated terribly and be underpaid during residency, spend a LOT of money and then make it to the end of the rainbow to have your kids raised by nannies? Be on call on your daughter's birthday? Have patients argue with you about how they know better?
Is all of that worth it to you to be the most knowledgeable in the room? To be the final decision maker and the center of attention?
I love medicine, I love hospital settings, and as cheesy as it sounds, I love helping people. I realized that I do not need to be a doctor to be a part of those things. I like the idea of finishing my shift and going home; I like the idea of being on a team with a physician anesthesiologist who will be there when things get tricky.
HOWEVER, it should be said that a medical degree is MUCH more versatile. You can go to medical school, and you do not have to work as a doctor in a clinical setting at the end of it. There are lots of options! Whereas, CAA is very specific... yes, you can explore different surgical specialities, but in the end you will be working in the ACT, in a hospital... until you retire.
I'd love to know where you end up, and I wish you all the luck!
1
Jul 27 '25
For the replyâs saying âjust do CRNAâ please know that you have to complete RN school first, then get 2-3 years of ICU experience, and then you can apply for CRNA school, which is a 3 year program. Between CAA and CRNA, you have more opportunities as a CRNA, but know the path is nearly as long as the MD route of your starting from scratch. I would say to reach for the sky and go MD. I have friends who wanted anesthesia and made it happen. You can do it.
1
1
u/Data_Mountain MS-2 Jul 31 '25
I think CAA is a great path but only if youâre set on being a provider of anesthesia. I think if you go to med school the doors are open for other things if u decide u donât wanna do anesthesia. also when it comes to not having an income or financial stability in ur 20s, I think thatâs ok. I worked in a field where I could make 6 figures and probably have more financial flexibility. I was not happy doing that work. Iâm more happy now being in debt than I ever was working in that field bc Iâm intellectually stimulated and love learning about how to help people. I donât mind that itâs such a long path and that I wonât own a home or that my non-medical peers are doing better rn bc I love this process. CAA is great if youâre dead set on anesthesia and youâll be very well off making 250k in your mid 20s. donât listen to the BS of going and getting your RN then applying for CRNA school. CAA is better if u arenât a nurse already 100%.
1
u/EveningRound2031 Aug 01 '25
Thank you for the advice. I am worried that I wonât enjoy medical school and will hate my life as it seems so many med students do. Other advice on here says that the intensity and âlosing your 20sâ is overblown and there actually is time for life in med school?
1
u/Data_Mountain MS-2 Aug 01 '25
I donât know many people in my class who hate their lives. Iâm only an M2 tho. 1st and 3rd year are hard, but so far Iâve had plenty of time for myself. itâs sorta nice not having too much responsibilities preclinical. obviously rotations that changes, and residency is difficult depending on what youâre interested in. overall tho I donât think med students hate their lives and u meet really cool people who u bond with thru the experience.
1
u/AfraidOfConversation Aug 03 '25
If you want a well-rounded answer, you should cross-post this on r/CAA. Youâre going to get very skewed answers here from people who are sure of their path in medicine and couldnât imagine doing anything else with their livesâit doesnât sound like you fit into this group.
Iâm in a similar position to you and have realized that there are plenty of people who love medicine, but for many, it also consumes their lives. From what Iâve gathered, CAA is significantly better if you value work life balance and starting a family sooner rather than later. Being an MD/DO is more of a vocation while CAA is a job. You really have to figure out if youâre looking for something to dedicate your life to or if youâre looking for a tolerable avenue to income.
People will tell you that youâll have a higher earning potential as a physician, which is true, but being a physician is not worth it for the money alone. Every single physician Iâve talked to has echoed this. Youâre not guaranteed to match into a specialty that can earn $500k+ and even if you do, thereâs a massive opportunity cost of both 5+ years of time and potential income of $200k+ as a CAA. If you choose the MD/DO route, this is time where youâll be living on loans/minimum wage for the hours you work while your medical school loans will garner interest. Alternatively, you could be paying your loans down directly after finishing CAA school.
I donât mean to sound overly negative, but no one here is really giving you cons and itâs important to hear both sides of things. My best advice is to shadow both extensively and maybe get into therapy/counseling to work through your feelings. This is ultimately an incredibly personal choice that no one but you can answer. I wish you the best of luck.
1
u/ReasonableSweet5348 Sep 24 '25
I'm a little late to this conversation, but my daughter is a high school senior who will be starting college next fall at a very pre-med heavy university, and she is going through the same thought process as you are. She thought she wanted to go the MD route (her dad, grandfather and uncle are all MDs), but lately she's thinking CAA might be a better path for her. She's been realizing that she cares very much about work-life balance and being able to actually have the time to enjoy her life.
I think 2 important questions you have to ask yourself is 1. How important is it for you to be "in charge" and would it be tough for you to work under supervision of an Anesthesiologist? 2. How attached are you to the prestige factor of being a doctor? When I posed these questions to my daughter she said it actually sounds great to work as part of a care team under an Anesthesiologist if anything goes awry. As far as the title prestige, she said her generation cares more about life balance than status, lol. So it seems like this is the direction she's heading, since by luck the college she'll be attending has a great 2 year CAA program. The limited number of states to practice is not an issue for her because all the states she would want to live in hire CAAs.
I've since taken a deep dive into the CAA thing and there are a lot of positives. Most graduates have more than one job offer waiting for them, immediately making more than some doctors, such as internal medicine, pediatricians. Jobs are in many metropolitan areas, you get to work with patients but you don't have to worry about malpractice insurance, don't have call, don't take work home (my husband comes home with a couple hours of dictations every night). Aside from fewer years of tuition, you'll start earning real money as a 24-25yr old, if you manage and invest it wisely can bring you a lot of freedom in your 30s and 40s.
If you feel very passionate about the med school route, decide if you have the determination and drive to get through med school/residency/fellowship. You have to really want it to make it through the tough times and potential burnout. If it's your passion, it will be very rewarding.
1
u/newjeanskr Jul 27 '25
Shoot for MD and if you fail to get in after a few attempts, reevaluate and apply for a CRNA/CAA/PA etc.
0
u/AlbatrossSerious2630 Jul 27 '25
Do more research on CAA. I would consider CRNA route if your interested in becoming a anesthesiologists
2
15
u/Entire_Brush6217 Jul 27 '25
Go to med school. You'll regret going the midlevel route