If you won the lottery would you still go to med school?

[skougess]

Don't worry guys, adcoms aren't secretly grading you on your response. The real answer for 99.9% of people is absolutely not. Medicine is a job. It's the best one out there IMO, but it's still a job. That means 85% of the time it sucks and 15% of the time you are doing the things you set out to do in the first place. If I won the lotto I could easily find a way to help my fellow man in a clinical setting through a path that didn't involve me going through the hell of medical school/residency/9-5 work.

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[Womb Raider]

Depends on the size. I've won a scratch off or two in my day.

 

[jl lin]

Don't worry guys, adcoms aren't secretly grading you on your response. The real answer for 99.9% of people is absolutely not. Medicine is a job. It's the best one out there IMO, but it's still a job. That means 85% of the time it sucks and 15% of the time you are doing the things you set out to do in the first place. If I won the lotto I could easily find a way to help my fellow man in a clinical setting through a path that didn't involve me going through the hell of medical school/residency/9-5 work.

I see your points and those of others that tend to agree with you. I actually appreciate your candor. At the same time, don't be hating on those that do NOT feel the same way. It's unfair to trivialize their level of commitment to this area of work. In fact, some people actually like work. Not saying you don't, just making a general statement. Of course it must be balanced with other fulfilling aspects of life. And I think this is what snags a lot of people that pursue medicine. They begin to resent the lacking of balance with regard to other areas of their life. It can get frustrating. But as @QofQuimica has pointed out, she used to work lots of extra hours and realized that she actually needed more balance in her life. It doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy what she does--I don't know if she does or not--or at least to what degree she enjoys it. But people have to find a way to forge out a life that gives them the right balance. I mean if you have 100's of millions or even billions, you still need a balanced life--ask Bill Gates.

So, again, I appreciate the candor. I just think you have to accept that there are those that actually like if not love what they do in medicine or healthcare. They might not like a lot of stupid admin and other stuff, but they put up with it, b/c they actually do really feel fulfilled and feel committed to dong what they are doing.

The trouble is, for many if not most in medicine, it's not a simple thing to say "Well, if you like it/love it, then you like/love it; and if you don't, you don't. If you don't just exist stage right." It's not like many can just walk away from it after committing so much time, money, and energy. And that's the tricky thing.
That's why people poo poo the idea of getting hoards of clinical exposure, but I say it is quintessential.

Also realize that you may find even after MS and 1st years of residency, that actually do enjoy a lot of what you do. It's just that right now, the pressure is on and it's hard to see the forrest for the trees.

 

[QofQuimica]

I basically did win the lotto from a premed perspective: full COA scholarship. I estimate my med school scholarship was worth about $300,000 (and this was a decade ago; now it would probably be worth a lot more). I did all my degrees by a combo of scholarship and part time work and have never even filled out an educational loan app. And since using the scholarship for other purposes was a non option, the decision between med school for free or post doc for minimum wage was a no brainer: I went to med school. Given the same circumstances, I would have made the same decision.

That being said, money is of huge importance to physicians, especially after a decade or more of delayed gratification during training that most of your non-physician professional friends don't have to endure, and (for most people) astronomical loans even if you are very frugal. My advice is to live well below your means, read the Mr. Money Mustache blog, and become financially independent ASAP. Then you can live the rest of your life as if you didn't have to work, while doing the work you actually wish to do, even if it doesn't pay well.

To answer jl lin's implicit question, no, I don't love my job. I don't hate it either, and I am able to appreciate the benefits it gives me, including financial benefits like paying for my niece's college prepaid plan without it causing any financial hardship for me. (That's partly because of my frugality as well.) But twenty years of this (or even ten years) is not going to be a sustainable life model, and I'm already considering how to best move on. Right now my top choices are to either go back and do a fellowship (my original plan when I took this job) or possibly to change careers out of medicine altogether.

Not that I ever thought it would be, but I can guaran-darn-tee it to myself now that making more and more money isn't what I want out of life.

 

[resiroth]

Don't worry guys, adcoms aren't secretly grading you on your response. The real answer for 99.9% of people is absolutely not. Medicine is a job. It's the best one out there IMO, but it's still a job. That means 85% of the time it sucks and 15% of the time you are doing the things you set out to do in the first place. If I won the lotto I could easily find a way to help my fellow man in a clinical setting through a path that didn't involve me going through the hell of medical school/residency/9-5 work.

Plenty of independently wealthy people continue to pursue a career because to be honest without any sense of industry/contribution to the world you kind of become a bit depressed. Not clinically, but you feel a bit worthless, because to society you kind of are.

Work is also a social thing. You're working together with other humans and that's enjoyable. You commiserate over how some things suck.

The main advantage is that if it's a toxic work environment you can just leave, you don't have to work overtime to pay the bills etc. That's huge.

Have you noticed how you LOVE breaks when you're working hard, and cherish the week long vacation? But after 3 months of summer vacation your last week is kind of boring or "played out?". Imagine that last week of summer, but even worse, forever.

I honestly think humans aren't psychologically meant to handle 0 stress and 0 work. We need that feeling of industry/contribution to society (beyond writing a check).

@QofQuimica while your response is interesting, that's more of a lack of debt (which due to MDPhD/merit/army/rich parents isn't that uncommon). It's not like by not going to medical school you could live independently off the scholarship (and you'd need at least a million to independent imo). In all honesty someone that went into say spine surgery will have made a ton more money and be in the situation of "well I saved up a few million dollars, do I continue practicing?"

If you did get an MDPhD you could have paid back those loans and then some (and lived on a higher salary than you did during the MDPhD period) if you were interested in most specialties.

FWIW my experience is that even when doctors make millions they still continue practicing because they enjoy the challenge or satisfaction it brings.

 

[QofQuimica]

Interestingly, most of my colleagues aren't millionaires; instead, they live paycheck to paycheck just like nearly everyone else. Anecdotally, many docs that I know would like to work less, but can't "afford" to work less. I want to work less too, and happily, I *can* afford it. Again though, that's more because of frugality than because of salary level.

Thomas Stanley of the Millionaire book series found the same result: physicians are poor accumulators of wealth as a group. Too much trying to be the Joneses. Stanley's work just confirms the anecdotal evidence that if you don't control your spending, you'll never be wealthy no matter how high your salary is. His point holds true for physicians just like for everyone else.

And it turns out that people who can cut their spending enough can be financially independent on much less than a million dollars. Check out the ERE blog or book if you want to see an extreme example. Most people wouldn't want to live that kind of lifestyle, but it's possible to do it.

 

[baxt1412]

hell yes. i'd walk in and negotiate (lol if that is even possible) for all four years with cash. CASH.

 

[Nija2021]

YES! Even more reason because I wouldn't be in debt from medical school and undergrad. It's not all about the mulah!