Anybody else have this feeling they "need" to go to Med school?

[psu228]

Sorry for the ambiguous post title. Long story short, I just graduated college with a liberal arts degree, took a lot but not all of the pre med classes I need to apply, did well, but am looking at a year of more classes and studying for the MCATS to be able to apply this time next year.

My question is this. Did any of you guys feel like you HAD to go to med school to really be who you are? I have had a lot of other options.. military, law school, that I'm still considering. But When I think about doing these other options, or begin actively working towards them, I immediately have a negative physical response, sort of a light headache and increased irritability. When I think of working to become a doc, that goes away immediately. Indeed, the times when I have told myself I'm dedicating my life to working towards getting into med school I just feel more alive. I can play music the way I used to as a kid, I'm happier, more spontaneous, more understanding, insightful.

For years I wanted to see if I could feel this way with other career options, like law or military that are easier, quicker paths for me and quite frankly "fit" my natural skill set better. But I just cant! Is this crazy? Am I crazy? can any of you relate to this feeling of aliveness when you're on the path to med school and a medical professional career? Versus the opposite when considering other options.

Please respond if so!

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[arturo09]

I volunteer as an EMT at my local fire station and found a doctor to shadow. Look into it to see if you really feel the same. It's very tough and grueling but I enjoy working with my rescue squad. And while on duty and I have down time, I review for my MCAT and when I'm not working I'm doing the same. Best of luck OP!

 

[DrSecondCareer]

Sorry for the ambiguous post title. Long story short, I just graduated college with a liberal arts degree, took a lot but not all of the pre med classes I need to apply, did well, but am looking at a year of more classes and studying for the MCATS to be able to apply this time next year.

My question is this. Did any of you guys feel like you HAD to go to med school to really be who you are? I have had a lot of other options.. military, law school, that I'm still considering. But When I think about doing these other options, or begin actively working towards them, I immediately have a negative physical response, sort of a light headache and increased irritability. When I think of working to become a doc, that goes away immediately. Indeed, the times when I have told myself I'm dedicating my life to working towards getting into med school I just feel more alive. I can play music the way I used to as a kid, I'm happier, more spontaneous, more understanding, insightful.

For years I wanted to see if I could feel this way with other career options, like law or military that are easier, quicker paths for me and quite frankly "fit" my natural skill set better. But I just cant! Is this crazy? Am I crazy? can any of you relate to this feeling of aliveness when you're on the path to med school and a medical professional career? Versus the opposite when considering other options.

Please respond if so!

Having a "negative physical response" to other options doesn't necessarily mean medicine is right for you. I would suggest that you really explore why medicine seems to make you feel more alive. Use the "5 Whys technique" if you have to. Based on what you wrote, I sense that you have a romantic view of medicine, and I worry you're going to hate it just like all those other fields you listed once the shine wears off. Think hard about this before you take the plunge.

 

[DrMikeP]

Sorry for the ambiguous post title. Long story short, I just graduated college with a liberal arts degree, took a lot but not all of the pre med classes I need to apply, did well, but am looking at a year of more classes and studying for the MCATS to be able to apply this time next year.

My question is this. Did any of you guys feel like you HAD to go to med school to really be who you are? I have had a lot of other options.. military, law school, that I'm still considering. But When I think about doing these other options, or begin actively working towards them, I immediately have a negative physical response, sort of a light headache and increased irritability. When I think of working to become a doc, that goes away immediately. Indeed, the times when I have told myself I'm dedicating my life to working towards getting into med school I just feel more alive. I can play music the way I used to as a kid, I'm happier, more spontaneous, more understanding, insightful.

For years I wanted to see if I could feel this way with other career options, like law or military that are easier, quicker paths for me and quite frankly "fit" my natural skill set better. But I just cant! Is this crazy? Am I crazy? can any of you relate to this feeling of aliveness when you're on the path to med school and a medical professional career? Versus the opposite when considering other options.

Please respond if so!

Medicine as a career should give you a positive response vs other careers giving you a negative responses. Going into medicine as a means of avoidance of a noxious stimuli is just not a good reason to go into medicine. It ranks up there with I did it because my family expected me to or I just wanted to help people. Those people are the ones who often burn out quickly and hate medicine.

Perhaps speaking with a counselor/Psychologist to figure out what you want to really be could be helpful. It doesn't mean you are crazy but you need someone in person to objectively discuss your career options and family and even physicians are often as un-objective as you can possibly find. Most physicians will start off trying to talk you out of it. Maybe your career will be medicine as a physician and maybe it will be medicine as a nurse or perhaps you'll decide to become the most awesome basket weaver ever, but you have to figure that out for you.

Get in some shadowing and volunteer work as well. All of that said, yes I do get a rush when working with patients and thinking about being a physician.

Good Luck

 

[binko]

I relate to the feeling of needing to pursue medical school in order to fulfill my purpose or whatever. It's not strictly rational but it's been with me through most of my life even when I tried to bury the dream and pursue another career. I found I felt bitter about other people having success because I wasn't pursuing the thing I truly wanted. So I started a medical school application because the alternative is being a jerk who can't be happy for other people's success.

 

[wagonwheel23]

I felt a strong, indescribable pull to medicine. I had plenty of strong, concrete reasons to go to medical school, but this sense of need pushed me over the edge.

Many successful doctors I know felt the same pull.

 

[QofQuimica]

You could go beat your head against a concrete wall nonstop for a few minutes. It's much cheaper and quicker than going through medical training, and it accomplishes the same goal of taking your mind off your other issues. :-/

All kidding aside, your warn and fuzzy gut feeling when you imagine becoming a physician is definitely not a good reason to go to medical school. As another poster suggested, you should start by getting some clinical experience of some type (shadowing, volunteering, or work) so that you have concrete reasons for answering the question "why medicine?" I would vote to reject you based on what you said in that OP no matter how good your grades/MCAT/ECs were because I am not convinced you have even the slightest idea of what a career in medicine actually entails.

 

[psu228]

Fellow posters,

Thanks for your replies.. I had forgotten about this thread and was surprised to see it had been given so much attention lately.

I do have clinical experience (100+ hours shadowing a surgical resident at Hershey Med center) and loved it. I minored in Bio in college and did well. I'm definitely stimulated by the idea of learning medicine and practicing it.

My main motivation for posting here stemmed from the fact that I also have a lot of other interests and could pursue any of them for a career, and ALL of these other interests would be easier/cheaper to me than medicine.

My issue is nothing gives me the same feeling in my gut as medicine and I wanted to cross check that on these forums to see if anyone else felt similarly. Those of you who didn't take exception to my loose usage of the word "crazy" in my first post seemed to concur that there was something about being a doctor to them and other successful physicians they know that mattered in their decision making. So thank you for validating my experience.

 

[Kastalia]

psu228

This is exactly how I feel. I have ADHD and it took me many years until I learned how to study and get good grades. I am still a horrible test taker. I always wanted to be a physician and although I now have confidence that I can indeed graduate from med school ( after I completed a phd in 4 years with 5 publications ), I still know that don't have natural ability in the sciences. However, being a good doctor involves so much more.

Regardless, being on this path makes me feel alive.