I Need Advise For Career Path: Medicine or Research?

[teo752]

Hello, I'm a 19 years old college student that really needs your help. So to begin with, in my country you enter college through a nationwide exam, like in India or China, where the higher your score the more options you have to choose your major. I managed to have such a score that enabled me to enter any major I wanted. The problem was that I didn't know what I wanted. I knew since I was little that I liked science and growing older I was considering a career in research to be the best option for me. I was especially interested in diseases mechanisms, their cures and new drugs so I was leaning towards medicine, biology or pharmacy. Unlike the US, medicine and pharmacy are considered majors, 6 and 5 years respectively. Also programs like MD/PhD do not exist. And everything you study here is 100% free

So after much self reflection and a one-day doctor shadowing, I realized I don't like patient interaction at all even though I like the diagnosis part. What I think will make me happier is researching potential cures or new drugs or anything that has to do with general human life improvement. I may sound a little too optimistic but I think I would have higher impact if I help discover a new cure than helping single patients and also it sounds more interesting to me. There is still the possibility though that the diagnosis part will make me equally happy since it seems like solving a detective's case.

In the slightly more probable scenario that I choose to follow my research passion I still don't know how to get there. My concern is salary and job opportunities if I choose the biology major->PhD path compared to MD(->PhD?) path. Will there be any preference and different salary if I'm a researcher and have an MD background? Also are there medical specialties that allow me to do research with minimum clinical duties? I know e.g. pathology has no patient interaction but I don't know if it will fascinate me. Also I have spent maybe hundreds of hours researching online about that dilemma but can't formulate a clear answer.

Last thing is that I really want to have an economically comfortable life, will research allow me to have it?

So dear students, scientists, physicians and physician-scientists according to your experience or plain judgement what would you advise that confused 19 year old kid to do?

Any advice will be hugely appreciated
Thank you for your time

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[gbwillner]

If you are a scientist you will be lucky in being able to do a job you truly enjoy. Most people can't say that.

Regarding salary, a scientist salary is highly dependent on what you are doing. You will be poor during training, but once you are out of your post-doc, you will have a comfortable lifestyle or maybe even by in the higher tax brackets. If you are doing govt funded research, your salary will be a lot less than if you work for pharma or industry, or if you do professional work after board certification.

 

[Doctor-S]

If you are a scientist you will be lucky in being able to do a job you truly enjoy. Most people can't say that.

Regarding salary, a scientist salary is highly dependent on what you are doing. You will be poor during training, but once you are out of your post-doc, you will have a comfortable lifestyle or maybe even by in the higher tax brackets. If you are doing govt funded research, your salary will be a lot less than if you work for pharma or industry, or if you do professional work after board certification.

This ... and same idea for different medical specialties (e.g., neurosurgery vs. general pediatrics ).

 

[popzilla]

Hello, I'm a 19 years old college student that really needs your help. So to begin with, in my country you enter college through a nationwide exam, like in India or China, where the higher your score the more options you have to choose your major. I managed to have such a score that enabled me to enter any major I wanted. The problem was that I didn't know what I wanted. I knew since I was little that I liked science and growing older I was considering a career in research to be the best option for me. I was especially interested in diseases mechanisms, their cures and new drugs so I was leaning towards medicine, biology or pharmacy. Unlike the US, medicine and pharmacy are considered majors, 6 and 5 years respectively. Also programs like MD/PhD do not exist. And everything you study here is 100% free

So after much self reflection and a one-day doctor shadowing, I realized I don't like patient interaction at all even though I like the diagnosis part. What I think will make me happier is researching potential cures or new drugs or anything that has to do with general human life improvement. I may sound a little too optimistic but I think I would have higher impact if I help discover a new cure than helping single patients and also it sounds more interesting to me. There is still the possibility though that the diagnosis part will make me equally happy since it seems like solving a detective's case.

In the slightly more probable scenario that I choose to follow my research passion I still don't know how to get there. My concern is salary and job opportunities if I choose the biology major->PhD path compared to MD(->PhD?) path. Will there be any preference and different salary if I'm a researcher and have an MD background? Also are there medical specialties that allow me to do research with minimum clinical duties? I know e.g. pathology has no patient interaction but I don't know if it will fascinate me. Also I have spent maybe hundreds of hours researching online about that dilemma but can't formulate a clear answer.

Last thing is that I really want to have an economically comfortable life, will research allow me to have it?

So dear students, scientists, physicians and physician-scientists according to your experience or plain judgement what would you advise that confused 19 year old kid to do?

Any advice will be hugely appreciated
Thank you for your time

I recently finished a PhD in veterinary science but I’m now applying to vet school to be a DVM. I have to say that in my experience with research, be prepared to love writing, or at least not mind it. Your job as a researcher will be as much about ‘doing science’ as writing about it and selling it to the world. I would suggest doing a Masters after your undergraduate, and/or getting as much real research experience as you can. Unless you’re exceptionally lucky, experiments fail time and again, and your contribution to helping the world is abstract and minimal, although important. Also, if you do go down the PhD route, I would recommend making links with industry early if you think you may want to leave academia, as secure academic jobs (in the US at least) are increasingly competitive and hard to come by, meaning you could end up having to take on multiple relatively poorly-paid postdoctoral positions.

If you get an MD first, you’ll always have a professional, well-paid career to fall back on. I’m sure there will be lots of patient time to deal with though, especially during residency, but for me I think having the guaranteed career and good paycheck after would be worth it. You can always go on to do a PhD after the MD and may have a clearer idea on clinically relevant research at that point.

Just my opinion! Good luck!

 

[mszzeta]

Hello, I'm a 19 years old college student that really needs your help. So to begin with, in my country you enter college through a nationwide exam, like in India or China, where the higher your score the more options you have to choose your major. I managed to have such a score that enabled me to enter any major I wanted. The problem was that I didn't know what I wanted. I knew since I was little that I liked science and growing older I was considering a career in research to be the best option for me. I was especially interested in diseases mechanisms, their cures and new drugs so I was leaning towards medicine, biology or pharmacy. Unlike the US, medicine and pharmacy are considered majors, 6 and 5 years respectively. Also programs like MD/PhD do not exist. And everything you study here is 100% free

So after much self reflection and a one-day doctor shadowing, I realized I don't like patient interaction at all even though I like the diagnosis part. What I think will make me happier is researching potential cures or new drugs or anything that has to do with general human life improvement. I may sound a little too optimistic but I think I would have higher impact if I help discover a new cure than helping single patients and also it sounds more interesting to me. There is still the possibility though that the diagnosis part will make me equally happy since it seems like solving a detective's case.

In the slightly more probable scenario that I choose to follow my research passion I still don't know how to get there. My concern is salary and job opportunities if I choose the biology major->PhD path compared to MD(->PhD?) path. Will there be any preference and different salary if I'm a researcher and have an MD background? Also are there medical specialties that allow me to do research with minimum clinical duties? I know e.g. pathology has no patient interaction but I don't know if it will fascinate me. Also I have spent maybe hundreds of hours researching online about that dilemma but can't formulate a clear answer.

Last thing is that I really want to have an economically comfortable life, will research allow me to have it?

So dear students, scientists, physicians and physician-scientists according to your experience or plain judgement what would you advise that confused 19 year old kid to do?

Any advice will be hugely appreciated
Thank you for your time

I would say in general, a private practice clinician (can be pathologist or radiologist or anesthesiologist if you don't like patient interactions) makes much more money than a researcher, either PhD researcher or MD-PhD researcher.

Research can be intellectually rewarding but also tough (easy to have a "bad" result that is not expected from the original research hypothesis) and competitive. Far majority PhD don't advance to PI level.

I would advice to you have more exposures of research before deciding. And these experience will help no matter if you apply for med school or grad school.