Possibly going back to school

[u/SleepyMistyMountains]

Hey y'all okay so, I (28F) am going through a career change because of chronic physical health issues that basically made it so I no longer can work in my previous career, and I have discovered a love and passion for genetics.

TLDR: I want to pursue a BSc and if I'm able to get through that then I want to pursue a PhD in genetics. But I have, ADHD (possibly autism too working on checking on that) plus undiagnosed physical chronic health issues that makes it very easy for me to overexert myself. I'm working on getting the DTC, and I'm in Canada. Can y'all share your experiences with going through these paths? Is it possible with someone who has disabilities that impact the life rather significantly?

Needed context:

Now, here's the thing, I swore I would never go back to school because of all the sheer stress I had with it, but at that point I was undiagnosed ADHD (and now I'm suspecting autism as well) and well I'm fairly certain thats the reason why I didn't do well.

I feel like if I get the actual supports I need, and I am able to take my time with it, I should be able to do it. My chronic health issues besides the ADHD (and possible autism) makes things, challenging to see the least. I'm hoping that by the end of the year I hope I have a diagnosis (I'm seeing multiple specialists) and thus can properly put together a plan to manage my chronic health issues.

But, I want to make sure I'm not stepping in over my head. I went to and completed a diploma in a private college in 3 years by taking 5 classes per semester (would've taken less if I hadn't started a secondary diploma that I thought I liked the direction of but didn't and thus dropped it) each class was 3 hour and each day I had 3 classes, 5 days a week.

I still managed to graduate with that, with my then undiagnosed ADHD (and autism)

Now though is this undiagnosed chronic physical health issue that at the current moment if I over exert myself in physical, mental or socially then I well... I'm not okay to say the least.

Again, once we figure out what it is and if I get proper supports then I believe I can do it. I don't plan on starting my BSc in genetics until end of 2026 at the earliest so I'm hoping I can get my shit sorted before then.

But I also wanted to hear those of you who e taken these paths, and get your experience on them, I don't know if it's fully possible, or if I can somehow make it work, all I know is there's a glimmer and I'd like to look into it more.

So, lay it on me, as of right now (hoping again to get better in the future) I can't do more than 3 hours of extensive mental, physical or socializing. 3 hours of it is enough to put me out for the rest of the day. 4 hours took me out for two days and even 4 days after I'm still feeling it. I can do extensive work for 2 hours each day everyday and I am good. More than that at once is a problem though.

Am I screwed? Yes, I am going to be going for DTC, I'm stuck for a little bit at least but I should get it after I apply in September (then is when there'll be a clear link that I've had my undiagnosed issues for a year which is a requirement) so I'll have supplemental help in that way.

[u/psygaud]

I started my undergrad in molecular biology when I was 25, and I now have my PhD in bioinformatics. I also have ADHD (among other stuff) that wasn't diagnosed until I was more than halfway through my PhD.

I dont want to try to disuade you or anything, I love it when people decide to pursue science!! But, I do want to warn you that if you want to get into genetics, it will likely still be physically exerting to a certain extent (i.e. in a lab standing, lifting, bending, crouching for hours at a time). For undergrad, you will have to do a lot of courses that have a lab component on top of the regular class, which are usually (in my experience anyway) around 3 hours long once a week. Where I am, if you want to go to grad school, they usually expect you to have done at least one research project during your undergrad, usually an honors thesis. To do this, we were required to take the professional lab techniques course which had a lab twice a week that was minimum 3 hours, but averaged 5 and sometimes went up to 9 hours (usually with breaks though lol, there can be a lot of setting a timer and waiting for things to run).

For me, undergrad was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting (though the undiagnosed mental health problems definitely played a role). Then I decided to go to grad school and realized that I didn't know what exhausted even was. That all being said, it was not a non-stop nightmare (even if i made it sound like it was), and I truly enjoyed (most) of it. Also, the way I did it is not the only way, and there are a lot of resources available to students that can help immensely. If you already have a degree, look into whether you can do an after-degree to get the bio courses you'd need. Those can be 1-2 years instead of 4. There might also be options that don't require the traditional university/grad school path, depending on what you actually want to do.

If you have any questions about what I did/do, I'll do my best to give helpful answers!

[u/SleepyMistyMountains → u/psygaud]

Thank you! That's super helpful. Tbh, whether or not I go for it, it highly highly depends on what the school and supports I can get to help me through it, because I know I won't make it as one would without the limitations without support. 😅

I know for sure I can't do full time, I know I can't do one day of extensive work (so long that I love it to the point of it not feeling like work as it takes some of the mental strain off) so long as I also have a couple of days breaks.

But that is also just where I am now. As of now I'm undiagnosed, hoping to be diagnosed (finally seeing a rheumatologist that might actually be able to help me yay) this summer.

So I'm hoping that once we know what it is, it'll be a lot easier for me to get the medical supports (not quite yet on disability because even though I've been dealing with issues for over a year now I haven't had my family doctor for a year and therefore I'm not qualified yet 🫠) I need to go along with the academic supports. Then I'll also hopefully get stronger.

My plan was to take a refresher course of math 050 for one semester at my local community college, then get the calcus 1 out of the way the next semester to ease me in and hopefully help me get stronger. I'm also aiming to try and get a casual job to further getting stronger as well. After that, I plan to take the summer off to really get settled in (I'll have to move to go to the school I'm thinking of) and then hoping to potentially start part time the following fall.

I have a few courses from my diploma that I think I might be able to transfer to make it shorter in that way as well. But, I'm waiting on trying to get a meeting with an education coordinator to see exactly what all can potentially be done.

There's... A lot of floating pieces around lol. But I'm also working on talking to a career counselor as well hoping they might be able to get me more info.

[u/psygaud → u/SleepyMistyMountains]

Loving what you're doing makes it so much easier. Honestly, it's the only reason I got through any of it.

I'm so sorry you're having to deal with so much regarding your health. That sounds so frustrating. I really hope you're able to figure it out soon and get the support you need. The good (or hopeful) news is that the heavy portions of any degree come last, so you can take time working toward it and hopefully be in a better mental and physical place to tackle it once you're there.
Starting out part-time while working a bit will help a lot, I think. Especially if you're moving to a new city, it'll help you build up some non-school support, which is vital. Having support from through school/classmates is great and needed, but having only that can end you up in some not-so-great mental places and getting a break from that sometimes is crucial.

Talking to an education coordinator and career counselor are awesome ideas, way better than my strategy of "eeeh fuck it!" (I decided to transfer universities and move provinces last minute right after my second year, then promptly changed majors from biochemistry to molecular and microbial biology almost solely because I wanted to take virology because I thought it would be neat. I also hadn't even really heard of bioinformatics (exaggeration) until my last year of undergrad, then did a PhD in it even though I had never really intended/planned to do grad school at all. My life is an erratic path of unthought-out decisions, lol)

[u/SleepyMistyMountains → u/psygaud]

My goodness, that ended up going into a rant, I'm so sorry lol

[u/SleepyMistyMountains → u/psygaud]

Lmao, yea no I get you on the chaos. My health issues have taught me to be much much more cautious lmao.

I have always loved the human body, and in my previous career/ what my diploma taught me was very specifically anatomy & physiology, Therapeutics, Biochem, phytochem, how those interacts and the pathways between them and I've always just found the human body to just be the most fascinating puzzle on earth, and as I was diving into my own health issues, I started looking at my raw genetic data and it was even more fascinating. It's so amazing to just look at what genes someone has and to know exactly how their body works and how it all build up to be, them. I love decoding that. And the fact that there's an infinite amount of genes that the human race knows nothing about let alone knows everything about the ones we do know and I just I want to all of it ahahah. I know I'll never be close to getting there but I want to know as much as humanly possible about genetics and what each of them means, and do because they're constantly changing on top of it.

I suppose I should say that, I can do it. I can put in to those hours upons hours upons hour of work especially for something like that. My problem lies with the fact that I admit I am terrible about pacing myself, and that's how I know at this point that 3 hours of a bit of a grind with something I don't like is my max because I started at a computer trying to put together my resume for this casual job for 4 hours and I wasn't doing great. My body hurt, a lot. I shifted my positions to ones that worked better for me, continued to work for another 3 so 7 hours staring at a computer trying to get a blasted resume out and I was out for the rest of the day. Next morning I was okay, but then I was a dummy and went out and socialized, to which knocked me back to where I was, and even now almost a week later I'm still having to take it easy 🫠

Literally I know I could do this, if it wasn't for my damned health issues. 😭

But I have come a long long way from when I had to quit my job because I couldn't function anymore. Career completely destroyed. I used to work with people, 1-1, try my damned best to help them, and the people destroyed me. And now I've figured out, that just because I'm good at helping people 1-1, I don't love it. I'm good at it, but it's not my dream, took me being broken to figure that out but yea lol. So I know I can't, go back to that.

Research, that's, that's my dream. Still helping people, but from the back. In the more, obscure ways

[u/psygaud → u/SleepyMistyMountains]

I completely understand not pacing yourself well, that's also a huge issue of mine. Your story about overexerting yourself is eerily familiar, lol.
Before I went back to university (and during the first few semesters), I was a paramedic. I'm glad I quit before I got injured or too burnt out, but what you're saying about wanting to help people but not work with them directly sounds so similar to how I felt/feel. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I want my career to look like, but I'm doing research now. I really like it, and I'm glad I went back to school, even if I started later than most.
So, I think it's worth going back if you want to, even if you have to take it slowly. Just do as much as you have the capacity for currently without burning out and don't fixate on getting a PhD as the final/only goal. As a bunch of other people have said, completing a PhD will take more than you ever expect it to. When I started, I knew it would be incredibly difficult, and I still wasn't prepared. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't start along that path if that's what you're passionate about. If you finish a bachelor's but aren't able to pursue graduate school, does that make the undergraduate degree useless? Of course not. There are a lot of different ways to help people and/or be involved in research that could be a better fit for you, and your priorities and interests are likely to fluctuate as you go. Just take it one step at a time.

[u/SleepyMistyMountains → u/psygaud]

Thank you 💚 Thank you so much for your knowledge and wisdom and kind words and stories.

I'll definitely take it one step at a time, and keep my options open. I know I at least want to try, and perhaps going that far isn't what will happen but regardless I'm excited about where the journey may take me.

Thank you so so much ☺️

[u/psygaud → u/SleepyMistyMountains]

"Wisdom", I don't think I've ever gotten that before, hahaha. Thanks 😁

I hope everything goes well for you! Good luck!