Think medical school is for you? You’re probably wrong

[deleted480308]

there is no ideal reason...it's a job just like other jobs, harder than most and with more to risk than most, but a job...and people pick it for their own reasons

the reason that med school committees want to hear is that you want cure orphan cancer in the Appalachians and you don't want to get paid

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[FutureOncologist]

This thread implies a lot of things.

1. Pre-meds are in it for the money, prestige, and security. The money is nice, but paying back loans with interest rates? That reality is made clear whenever a pre-med takes a tour at any medical school. If a pre-med hasn't toured a medical school, then why the hell are they applying? Oh yeah, the prestige and security. Lets be honest, why do people go to graduate school (such as an NP or PA program [because I am pretty sure that has been brought up in this thread already])? It's for the money and job security. Why do people excel for an advanced degree in economics, business administration, finance, etc.? Because they have a better chance at finding and keeping a job--security. Why do people want to become a CEO? For money, prestige, and security. See where I'm going with this? It's a very fallacious two-sided argument.
2. "Medical students are not like other students. They are used to being the best, to being treated as if they are gifted (of course, many of them are gifted.) The thing with medical students is that most of them have never experienced failure." Go to the non-trad board and honestly read this without giving an example of pre-meds never going through failure or struggles. I was blessed enough to have a trust fund pay for my undergrad years started by my rich family. Most people took that I was rich and never experienced any hardships. Very far off. Throughout my life before college we lived paycheck to paycheck. I learned what it's like to be in financial problems. During high school I had to work full time to help pay for bills. I had to learn how to budget money for bills and food when I was in 9th grade. Meanwhile, my immediate family flaunted how rich they were and pretty much pitied my brother, mother and I. The only reason I got to go to college was because of my trust fund. And the only reason I have no debt in medical school was because I fought hard for the Naval HSPS scholarship. My GPA? It was far from competitive because I was conflicted with family issues, social life, and taking on 18 hours/semester. I used these experiences to get into medical school.
3. "Once they graduate, their ‘merit’ will no longer be judged according to familiar metrics. Their 4.0 averages will mean very little in the real world. In fact, students with poorer grades might actually outperform them. They might be better networkers, better coffee-getters, better elevator-pitchers. More importantly, they might have the real-world experience that medical students spend a lifetime in school avoiding." Lol okay, sure. Aside from GPA meaning the difference between getting a residency at Harvard and a residency in a hospital that will make you work even harder for that fellowship that you've always wanted since M1. Being a physician also opens you up to experiences that few others will EVER get to experience. Getting to tell a family that the surgery their son needed so he could walk again was a huge success. Telling a patient that the drug is working. Serving people (soon) that otherwise couldn't pay for a doctor normally now can because that dreaded ACA will allow everyone the right to health care. I can go on, but you get the idea.
   
4. This poster never went to medical school. And judging by the tone of this article, OP was one of those premeds that "never failed". Because, if she was in a different light, she wouldn't have posted this.

 

[lnvictus]

Well helllllllllllllo Pre-Allo drama, it has been so long since we have met

 

[Lawgiver]

How much real world exp can a traditional 22 yo possibly have? I'm older but I think coming in fresh without having lots of "real world" exp can have its advantages. There must be a reason the highest level of medical practice requires far less "real world exp" than say pa or np for admission. Physicians perform a specific role and putting too much weight on rwe I think is misguided, however well intended.

 

[Mad Jack]

I understand this, and agree with it.

But then that says that DermViser developed in such a way in medical school that he realized that money wasn't all that important to what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, which is usually the opposite of what he promotes in pre-allo (i.e. pre-meds don't know how important money is and it should be a shaping factor in your career pursuits). I was just trying to gain more insight into how he thinks, and admittedly the discussion has taken a different path from the article.

I do however still stand by my original assertion that pre-meds are not actually blissfully unaware of the benefits of money/security and sometimes prestige that the medical profession offers, but it has become a taboo subject to talk about and discuss in interviews. The original author sort of criticizes pre-meds for this, but it isn't entirely their fault.




Lol can you get over this already, it wasn't exactly in complete seriousness that I said that. It isn't a stretch to believe that you support the ideas in your signature. If not, then oh well, my mistake. No need to take it as a personal attack.

Dermviser has always been big on lifestyle, i.e. minimal call, minimal hours, minimal weekends and holidays, not income. All the money in the world can't make up for what medicine can take from you if you let it.

 

[What's Up Doc]

I haven't read every post on this thread, but what I have yet to see is someone entertain the idea that perhaps going into medicine for the money and security (and to a much, much lesser extent, prestige) might not be such a repulsive, treasonous motive. Everyone is so concerned with defending their noble motivations for entering the medical field that they seem to overlook the fact that wanting to essentially guarantee the ability to support a family, send your children to college, and retire at a reasonable age aren't devastatingly evil goals.

 

[What's Up Doc]

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[Amar2014]

Alright after reading the article and what followed it, I was itching to write something here. First of all, I am from the Middle Eat (meaning I grew up with all the crap from the apartheid to dictatorship and injustice) I couldn't get into med school there because I am a refugee and I didn't have a hookup at schools to boost my grades then came to the States and had to learn English before I was even allowed to take college courses. I graduated with a BS in Engineering and have been doing various volunteering (medical and non-medical), shadowing, interpreting (medical and non-medical) and research (published). Most importantly, I have been an emergency room scribe for a year and I work all types of shifts (6:30am-3:30pm, 5pm-3:30am, 7am-7pm, 11-11 etc...). and I am still working hard to get into medical school as I see this profession as the only one that makes us understand humanity (you cannot judge people, you treat them regardless of who they are and you see how humans behave when they are at their worst and desperate for medical attention) I don't see other professions showing the real human in us. Perhaps the author realized that it wasn't meant for her late in the game but you can't stereotype and cast judgment on all premed students as I consider myself well rounded and I have an idea of what medicine is like and the crazy hours, effort and energy we put in. I don't mean to brag but I thought there was misunderstanding and misjudgment from the author and some of those who replied. Please forgive my rambling. thx

 

[maxilofacial]

This article just described 98% of the pre-meds in my school.

Btw, 2 much drama here for something obvious.

 

[North meets South]

I haven't read every post on this thread, but what I have yet to see is someone entertain the idea that perhaps going into medicine for the money and security (and to a much, much lesser extent, prestige) might not be such a repulsive, treasonous motive. Everyone is so concerned with defending their noble motivations for entering the medical field that they seem to overlook the fact that wanting to essentially guarantee the ability to support a family, send your children to college, and retire at a reasonable age aren't devastatingly evil goals.

I agree with the above and in addition, job function, security, "prestige," compensation, lifestyle, etc. impacts everyone's occupation decision. To suggest all soon-to-be physicians are somehow oblivious is a little shortsighted. Everyone weighs each category differently, which hopefully results in the correct decision for each individual.

While I also haven't read every post in this thread, I did find it a bit amusing DermViser's refusal to admit those items (above) having a significant impact on his choice of specialty. Taken to the extreme, would DermViser have chosen dermatology if it entailed: all loans instantly forgiven, $35k salary a year for the rest of his life, 7am-11pm schedule 7 days a week, etc.? Doubtful or disingenuous. I assume the most obvious reason is that his colleagues are aware of his presence on SDN and he is concerned about negatively impacting his career should he admit to anything other than the love of dermatology.

 

[PreciousHamburgers]

Doctors are such hipsters some times. "Yeah, this WAS cool, when I got into it..."

 

[NickNaylor]

Dermviser has always been big on lifestyle, i.e. minimal call, minimal hours, minimal weekends and holidays, not income. All the money in the world can't make up for what medicine can take from you if you let it.

Exactly. Unfortunately most pre-meds, having spent 0 minutes in medical school, do not understand this. They will soon enough, but until then I'll just sit back and laugh at some of the posts made here.

 

[Lamel]

Dermviser has always been big on lifestyle, i.e. minimal call, minimal hours, minimal weekends and holidays, not income. All the money in the world can't make up for what medicine can take from you if you let it.

He surprisingly didn't mention that either in his reasons for derm, but I suppose it is implied.

 

[Ismet]

While I also haven't read every post in this thread, I did find it a bit amusing DermViser's refusal to admit those items (above) having a significant impact on his choice of specialty. Taken to the extreme, would DermViser have chosen dermatology if it entailed: all loans instantly forgiven, $35k salary a year for the rest of his life, 7am-11pm schedule 7 days a week, etc.? Doubtful or disingenuous. I assume the most obvious reason is that his colleagues are aware of his presence on SDN and he is concerned about negatively impacting his career should he admit to anything other than the love of dermatology.

You also missed the point and ridiculously extreme hypotheticals don't help your argument. What medical specialty do you know that makes $35/year? Absolutely none. That's actually even a lower salary than RESIDENTS make, while they're still technically in training but receiving salary. And it's no secret that DV is a proponent of taking lifestyle into consideration, so while I can't speak for him, I would assume he would have chosen differently if derm entailed mandatory 98 hour work weeks (btw, that's not seen anywhere either). That's the problem with hypothetical scenarios. You can discuss rhetoric all you want, but the majority of times someone comes up with a ridiculous scenario that would never be real, and what's the point of the hypothetical then?

It's also extremely naive to think that people in his field care about his love for dermatology, or that speaking ill of derm on SDN would negatively affect the career of an attending physician.

I get that without the exposure and experience of med school and beyond, pre-meds have a hard time understanding this stuff. I'm not proclaiming to have known all of this when I was a pre-med, because I definitely didn't. But I also didn't have med students and attendings who were attempting to explain these things to me. Maybe it's something you can't understand until you go through it. But I guarantee you'll be a different person after 4 years of med school than you are now. Again, what is guiding you now is most likely not going to be what is guiding you in 4+ years.