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[JawlessPiano]

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[DOCOC15]

medicine seems like a huge waste of time with all of the school and training required.

For many, learning more and becoming an expert in their craft in not viewed as a waste of time, or something to simply "get through"

 

[Goro]

For what reason should one actually do medicine? Doing it for the money is repeatedly said to be a bad idea. If you want to save lives, there are many other fields for this, like rescue squads or hazardous water treatment. With an interest in research, one can get a PhD in something science or medical related. If you want to work directly with patients, you have the option of nursing or physicians assistant programs. As far as I am concerned, these groups all make enough money.

With this being considered, medicine seems like a huge waste of time with all of the school and training required. If this question ever came up to you, how would you answer it and avoid all of the arguments above?

There is no single correct answer. There are many wrong answers, though.

For many of my students, Medicine is a calling.

 

[Round786]

I don’t have a good formal answer, but the reason I want to be a physician is because it’s the only healthcare career where you can be apart of both the conceptual (research) and practical parts of medicine.

(I’m still pretty new to the premed track, so my motivation might change when I apply though.)

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Have you read biographies or testimonials from physicians? No one can or should answer for you, but you can find out why others became physicians easily.

 

[Round786]

Have you read biographies or testimonials from physicians? No one can or should answer for you, but you can find out why others became physicians easily.

I’ve noticed a lot of these testimonials describe an event where medicine intersects with their personal life (ex. family member or you got sick/injured). It would typically follow in a strict pattern where the writer says the event got them interested in healthcare as a whole, and the ECs they did in undergrad (shadowing and clinical volunteering) got them interested in being a physician specifically.

Would you say this is a good narrative? For premeds to have an initial interest in medicine, and to reaffirm this interest through ECs?

Like for me specifically:

My brother was born pre-mature and suffering from jaundice, a heart defect, and deafness in both ears -> the pediatric ER doc, neurosurgeon, cardiothoracic surgeon, and entire NICU team making my brother a healthy, happy, and hearing (with cochlear implants) baby made me intrigued about medicine -> I determined I want to give the same happiness to families, the doctors gave my brother and my family -> I feel being a physician is the best way to do this -> I confirmed this by shadowing to gain a ballpark of what physicians do, do clinical volunteering to gain experience with patients, and do non-clinical volunteering to expand on my emotional intelligence

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I’ve noticed a lot of these testimonials describe an event where medicine intersects with their personal life (ex. family member or you got sick/injured). It would typically follow in a strict pattern where the writer says the event got them interested in healthcare as a whole, and the ECs they did in undergrad (shadowing and clinical volunteering) got them interested in being a physician specifically.

Would you say this is a good narrative? For premeds to have an initial interest in medicine, and to reaffirm this interest through ECs?

Yes, I would say that is the usual and expected story arc I would see in applications.

 

[Med Ed]

The single most common inciting event I have seen is the death of a grandmother. Medical school admissions is practically fueled by grandmother deaths.

Interestingly, grandmother deaths are also the most commonly cited cause of exam failures, both in undergrad and medical school. Some of our students have lost 3 or 4 of them.

In case you are wondering, I'm not kidding about any of this.

 

[Round786]

The single most common inciting event I have seen is the death of a grandmother. Medical school admissions is practically fueled by grandmother deaths.

Interestingly, grandmother deaths are also the most commonly cited cause of exam failures, both in undergrad and medical school. Some of our students have lost 3 or 4 of them.

In case you are wondering, I'm not kidding about any of this.

Rip to me whose parents were BOTH orphans.

 

[Round786]

Yes, I would say that is the usual and expected story arc I would see in applications.

That’s good. Also is it okay to incorporate multiple tragic events? The other event in my life was my dad getting cancer. But that occurred when I already knew I wanted to go to medicine, so whatever I learned from it is more supplementary then it is eye-opening if that makes sense.

Should I just stick to one event?

 

[SahilMehtaMD]

If you want to become a doctor, you must first have the motivation to push through the most difficult of times. That is one reason why the “why” is so important. The answer to the “why medicine?” serves as motivation, drive, perseverance. There are only a few people in this world that can accomplish incredibly difficult tasks just because they want to, most people need the proper motivation. Then as tasks become more difficult, greater incentives are needed.

If you are a pre-med, you must know why you are studying, doing research, volunteering, shadowing, and anything else you do. Devoting your time to these things cannot be just “because I want to be a doctor”. You must go deeper and know why you want to become a doctor. You might even have to ask yourself why you exist on this earth. What is your purpose?

If you truly believe that your purpose is to make a difference in this world by healing and caring for the sick and injured, then you will take all the necessary steps, no matter how difficult, to fulfill that purpose.

 

[Glassdyr]

For what reason should one actually do medicine? Doing it for the money is repeatedly said to be a bad idea. If you want to save lives, there are many other fields for this, like rescue squads or hazardous water treatment. With an interest in research, one can get a PhD in something science or medical related. If you want to work directly with patients, you have the option of nursing or physicians assistant programs. As far as I am concerned, these groups all make enough money.

With this being considered, medicine seems like a huge waste of time with all of the school and training required. If this question ever came up to you, how would you answer it and avoid all of the arguments above?

There's a few other reasons, but one major reason I want to pursue medicine is because of the level of education required. I love learning, and even more than that, I love learning deeply. To me, "all the school and training required" is a benefit of medicine. The difficulty is also a major aspect -- call me a masochist, but I love anything difficult because of the feeling of satisfaction I get afterward. Hard =/= bad, in my opinion. Hence, med school.

I agree on the financial aspect. I grew up poor, and the difference between a PA and an MD salary is negligible, since six figures is an ungodly amount of money to me, no matter the specific digits that make up those figures. Mathematically, I know there's a difference between 500k and 100k, but I'll never be able to fully conceptualize the difference.

 

[pcm810]

There's a few other reasons, but one major reason I want to pursue medicine is because of the level of education required. I love learning, and even more than that, I love learning deeply. To me, "all the school and training required" is a benefit of medicine. The difficulty is also a major aspect -- call me a masochist, but I love anything difficult because of the feeling of satisfaction I get afterward. Hard =/= bad, in my opinion. Hence, med school.

I agree on the financial aspect. I grew up poor, and the difference between a PA and an MD salary is negligible, since six figures is an ungodly amount of money to me, no matter the specific digits that make up those figures. Mathematically, I know there's a difference between 500k and 100k, but I'll never be able to fully conceptualize the difference.

I have talked about being attracted to a career that demands excellence and life long learning (this only a part of my answer) and have been pretty successful this cycle, but of course that is anecdotal.

 

[Tenk]

 

[Future_Bone_Docta]

For what reason should one actually do medicine? Doing it for the money is repeatedly said to be a bad idea. If you want to save lives, there are many other fields for this, like rescue squads or hazardous water treatment. With an interest in research, one can get a PhD in something science or medical related. If you want to work directly with patients, you have the option of nursing or physicians assistant programs. As far as I am concerned, these groups all make enough money.

With this being considered, medicine seems like a huge waste of time with all of the school and training required. If this question ever came up to you, how would you answer it and avoid all of the arguments above?

If invested properly from a young age, PA/NP can make more money long term.

MD/DO is for people who want to be medical experts and give themselves the most robust education.

I have seen people fall into the fallacy of "the grass is always greener" in all walks of life. PAs wish they went to med school, doctors wish they went to PA school, nurses wish they went to med school, NPs wish they went to PA school. You see the spectrum.

 

[Future_Bone_Docta]

There's a few other reasons, but one major reason I want to pursue medicine is because of the level of education required. I love learning, and even more than that, I love learning deeply. To me, "all the school and training required" is a benefit of medicine. The difficulty is also a major aspect -- call me a masochist, but I love anything difficult because of the feeling of satisfaction I get afterward. Hard =/= bad, in my opinion. Hence, med school.

I agree on the financial aspect. I grew up poor, and the difference between a PA and an MD salary is negligible, since six figures is an ungodly amount of money to me, no matter the specific digits that make up those figures. Mathematically, I know there's a difference between 500k and 100k, but I'll never be able to fully conceptualize the difference.

After double the debt or more, 8 extra years of lost income, and being in the highest tax bracket (~43% salary gone), the difference in long term ROI is minimal between the two.

 

[Future_Bone_Docta]

The accuracy tho

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

It's pretty easy. When you go to a doctor's appointment and leave thinking, "Damn, I can't imagine myself doing anything other than that job," then you know you are in the right place.

It's only in US really that physicians make large sums of money. Most everywhere else it's still a good (great) paying job but people do it because it's what they want to do.

If you have to go through reasons and logic to understand why you want to do something, then you probably don't want to do it.

 

[canijust]

Would it make a convincing narrative to say that medicine allows you to do multiple of these things? For instance, as a doctor, you can work with patients, do research, learn, etc. As in yes, you can do good as a nurse but you won't generate research output. You can save lives as a firefighter but you won't work directly with patients. What I'm trying to get at is, is it "enough" for someone to become a doctor to pursue the intersection of all of these "siloed" privileges?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Would it make a convincing narrative to say that medicine allows you to do multiple of these things? For instance, as a doctor, you can work with patients, do research, learn, etc. As in yes, you can do good as a nurse but you won't generate research output. You can save lives as a firefighter but you won't work directly with patients. What I'm trying to get at is, is it "enough" for someone to become a doctor to pursue the intersection of all of these "siloed" privileges?

Can you specify how this answer defines YOUR narrative/story? I mean you can do all that as a dentist. You also sound very academic with the answer as there is plenty doctors do outside that context.

 

[canijust]

Can you specify how this answer defines YOUR narrative/story? I mean you can do all that as a dentist. You also sound very academic with the answer as there is plenty doctors do outside that context.

Thank you for the response!

What would really constitute as "my" story? Would talking about my specific clinical, research, extracurricular experiences be enough or should there be a more "personal history" component (ie grandmother's death)? What I found was if I try to incorporate too much of my personal history, I lose space in which I can describe my actual experiences.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you for the response!

What would really constitute as "my" story? Would talking about my specific clinical, research, extracurricular experiences be enough or should there be a more "personal history" component (ie grandmother's death)? What I found was if I try to incorporate too much of my personal history, I lose space in which I can describe my actual experiences.

It's too hard to generalize because it has to matter to you. However, remember that you have to balance quantity of experiences with depth of reflection. You also need to do some homework on secondary application essay topics so you see other places where you can expand on other activities. You don't put everything in with your PS.

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

Thank you for the response!

What would really constitute as "my" story? Would talking about my specific clinical, research, extracurricular experiences be enough or should there be a more "personal history" component (ie grandmother's death)? What I found was if I try to incorporate too much of my personal history, I lose space in which I can describe my actual experiences.

Tbh, you don’t have to compare being a doctor with being other things. When I read someone’s essay, I never think “ but you can also be…” I think what matters the most is that your desire to be a doctor is genuine. You are not gonna differentiate yourself from other applicants by having more of a reason to be a doctor. For why medicine, I think the simplest answer is the best. Such as I find medicine really interesting and applying knowledge to change someone’s health outcome exciting and fulfilling. That to me is an excellent reason why you want to pursue medicine.

 

[canijust]

Sounds about right. Thank you to both responders!

 

[LizzyM]

Do keep in mind that in addition to your personal statement, you have a short paragraph (or two for your three most important activities) to describe each of 15 items in the work and activities section. This can include employment, volunteering, clinical experience (employment or volunteer), leadership, teaching/tutoring, shadowing, research, presentations, publications, honors, hobbies, athletics, artistic endeavors, and maybe some other categories I've forgotten.