ANOTHER, "would you do it again" but with a twist.

[futurepsych0]

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Okay, I know there has been about 2.5 million "would you do it again?" threads but this one is different I promise! Despite the title, this is only for people who WOULD NOT do it again. My question is what else would you do if you could go back? And I don't mean picking another specialization. I know the grass is always greener and this is obviously purely hypothetical but I think it would be interesting, informative, and a little fun. I am basically torn between going to a PhD program and medical school. I will be done with my bachelors this year and was going to take a year or two off to take premed classes as well as gaining some research experience. Then I was planning to take the mcats and gres, but reading these threads is making me consider doing some introspection during my break and looking at other options I have not considered.

So, if anyone else feels like Sean Connery, in The Rock, when he said
"I was trained by the best. British intelligence. But in retrospect I would rather have been a poet. Or a farmer." Let us hear it 😎

 

[Lunasly]

I'm not in medical school, but if I did start to regret it by the time I reached the end of medical school (and assuming I could go back), I would have probably went into law enforcement.

 

[mattyice]

I'm not in medical school, but if I did start to regret it by the time I reached the end of medical school (and assuming I could go back), I would have probably went into law enforcement.

So in prospective retrospect you would be a cop... 😕

 

[MilkmanAl]

I probably would've either been a pharmacist or stuck with physics in one way or another. I don't regret choosing medicine at all, but I wouldn't make the same choice again.

 

[PharMed2016]

I probably would've either been a pharmacist or stuck with physics in one way or another. I don't regret choosing medicine at all, but I wouldn't make the same choice again.

Grass is greener on the other side?

I've been thinking about that too. Is going to school for the next ten years really worth it in the end? I could just start my life right now as a pharmacist. Autonomy is overrated I'm thinking.

 

[muhali3]

I probably would've either been a pharmacist or stuck with physics in one way or another. I don't regret choosing medicine at all, but I wouldn't make the same choice again.

Do you mean that you wouldn't do medicine twice? Or that if you could go back in time and make the choice again, you would have chose something else?

 

[2012Aggie]

I am only a first year with four months of school behind me, so my opinion shouldn't matter for much. Having said that, I absolutely love every single minute of medical school. I would make the same decision in a heart beat. It only gets more difficult from here, but hopefully I keep enjoying it.

 

[Path Fiend]

I think you have to answer this question in consideration of why you are doing it in the first place. I came into medical school wanting to be the knight in shining armor for all children afflicted with illnesses, cancer, and etc. However, I found out after four years that I in no way, shape, or form wanted to deal with patients anymore. Clinical medicine started to become a beating. Wake up everyday at the asscrack of dawn, go to the hospital, see your patients, write a quick note about how they are doing, make minor changes to their plan, and see what happens next. There is also the stress factor that comes with being an internist, surgeon, and etc. After four years of jumping through numerous hoops, I decided path was the only last glimmer of shining light at the end of the tunnel for me. Long story short, if you enter medicine for the money, then you will 100% say that no way you would do it all again. If you enter medicine for the right reasons, then you may find some joy in those miserable four years before you actually become a doctor. And then if you are like me and find yourself four years down the line not really interested in patient management, then you can find a career like pathology or radiology as long as your good at things that require visual recognition. That's my .02

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

I am only a first year with four months of school behind me, so my opinion shouldn't matter for much. Having said that, I absolutely love every single minute of medical school. I would make the same decision in a heart beat. It only gets more difficult from here, but hopefully I keep enjoying it.

Lame

 

[Barley426]

@2012aggie

! Despite the title, this is only for people who WOULD NOT do it again.

To be clear, I think that the question is trying to figure out is what people would do if they didn't go into medicine, i find it easier to get past the "I'd do it all again" responses by saying "if for some reason you were back in college and were blacklisted from every medical school in the world, what would you do?"

Mine isn't so sexy of an answer, I probably would stick to research.

 

[Funke]

I'm not in med school yet, but what I wanted to do before I chose medicine was to go on and get a master's and PhD in religion. Sometimes I still wonder if I'm making the right choice, but I'll wonder either way, and I gotta choose something!

 

[2012Aggie]

I would probably teach high school science and coach. I love science but hate research.

 

[loveoforganic2]

"if for some reason you were back in college and were blacklisted from every medical school in the world, what would you do?"

High school chem/psych teacher or clinical health psychologist

 

[todds]

The way I think about it would be if I had all the money in the world, would I do this again..

I think so, just on a part-time basis with a lot more travelling, or I wouldn't mind doing residency European style with no debt, 70K salary for 6-8 years instead of the current system as well. That would be actually pretty sweet. Or if I had to do it again, maybe I'd apply MD/PhD style and have 0 debt. The fun of learning gets sucked out when you have ridiculous assessments constantly looming and a boat load of debt on top of working crazy hours.

I don't know what else I would have done with my life, and at least currently I'm actually useful towards society so thats a big plus. So I guess yes, I would have done this all over again because frankly the alternatives weren't that much better for me.

 

[mimelim]

I would have gone to law school.

 

[bala1]

I do regret my decision..If i wereto do it again I would probably go into engineering and a MBA after engineering school. One of the allures to medicine for me was the "be your own boss" but that is the farthest thing from the truth. With the red tape, regulations, everyone reviewing your notes. Entrepreneurship would have been good as well. Anything else but medicine. It truly has been a wicked ri de though.

 

[peteB]

I would have gone to law school.

Recently read that there are about twice as many law school grads now than there are jobs 😱

 

[mimelim]

Recently read that there are about twice as many law school grads now than there are jobs 😱

Yes, but like any profession, if you are at or near the top of your class coming from a top school, you will be able to find a good job. My wife nor I have any doubts that she will get her pick of jobs when she graduates based on the interest/recruitment she has gotten (currently in law school). It helps to be aiming for a less competitive field (prosecution). But, while there is never a guarantee of a particular spot, if you are good, you will land a decent job.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Do you mean that you wouldn't do medicine twice? Or that if you could go back in time and make the choice again, you would have chose something else?

I'd choose something else, likely pharmacy or astrophysics. I can think quite a few far shorter and less soul-crushing ways to get to a job I like. The money will be nice, but the debt is obscene. At least I'll actually be doing what I signed up for next year.

 

[Planes2Doc]

I'd probably go back to working in the airline industry, in hopes of at least making more money and getting promoted to a better position. Looking forward from an analyst position sucked compared to the difficulties we must go through as medical students, which is only temporary.

 

[DocHawk117]

If I could do it all over again, I would have continued gymnastics, honed my super skills, kept my hair dyed red, invested in more leather outfits, and married Hawkeye.

 

[ophthope]

If I could do it all over again, I would have continued gymnastics, honed my super skills, kept my hair dyed red, invested in more leather outfits, and married Hawkeye.

Similarly, I would have been a reclusive orphan millionaire with a secret psychotic phobia that drove me to vigilantism even against the chastising of my fatherly butler.

Or I would've just kept being an engineer making great money working a humane amount of hours. Definitely one of those two.

 

[Perrotfish]

Okay, I know there has been about 2.5 million "would you do it again?" threads but this one is different I promise! Despite the title, this is only for people who WOULD NOT do it again. My question is what else would you do if you could go back? And I don't mean picking another specialization. I know the grass is always greener and this is obviously purely hypothetical but I think it would be interesting, informative, and a little fun. I am basically torn between going to a PhD program and medical school. I will be done with my bachelors this year and was going to take a year or two off to take premed classes as well as gaining some research experience. Then I was planning to take the mcats and gres, but reading these threads is making me consider doing some introspection during my break and looking at other options I have not considered.

So, if anyone else feels like Sean Connery, in The Rock, when he said
"I was trained by the best. British intelligence. But in retrospect I would rather have been a poet. Or a farmer." Let us hear it 😎

I would have liked to be an I banker, or maybe a writer, or possibly an.astronaut.

What I would have done is gotten an engineering job. I have no people skills so I would be stuck with entry level HVAc work with no real prospect of promotion. Or I would have until the economy turned south, which it did, then I would have gotten fired. I imagine I would then have tried, and failed, to get into Marine OCS. I would have ultimately picket up a QI job in retail and moved back in with mom and dad while I traveled from Walmart to Walmart, trying to find more efficient ways for them to stock their shelves. Oh, and I probably would have an OKCupid account which would be a source of many embarrassing stories, which I would tell mostly to my Mom and Dad.

For all the complaining I do all year long I'm very thankful I managed to stumble into this job. Happy holidays everyone!

 

[ManBroDude]

 

[DeadCactus]

So you want advice on choosing a career only from people who regret choosing their own career? Did you ask drop-outs for help in picking a major?

 

[disorder]

i would've gotten out of science in college and gone into finance.

 

[MCAT guy]

Finance isn't a bad gig.

I think medicine can pay better but it also takes 10 years and a few hundred grand. Crazy hours too.

I really dont know sometimes. But yeah, doing it for money makes no sense. Too much training and debt wipes out that advantage. And hourly wages... residency is like 2 normal jobs at once.

In summary, yeah medicine is fine or equivalent to a normal good job in america...IF you are in what medicine calls a "lifestyle specialty" or what the rest of the world calls not working insane hours and having to do your job at 3am on random days.

 

[futurepsych0]

So you want advice on choosing a career only from people who regret choosing their own career? Did you ask drop-outs for help in picking a major?

Not at all. This thread was by no means meant to tell me what to do. I simply thought it would be interesting to see what MDs and DOs would say. I would have posted this on the psychology forum but i would have just seen post after post saying medical school. Which is why i posted this here for the "fun". In every field there will be people who love it, hate it, or don't really care so i take all posts on sdn with a grain of salt. But yes, if i had to listen to a crowd i would rather hear the people who bit** about it just so i am aware of the down sides of PhD, MD/DO, LCSW, NP/PA and so on. I am already familiar with the potential benefits of every path but it's the negative aspects of the career that will help me pick my poison. If that makes sense.

 

[45408]

If I were to change....I like medicine and would stay in this field, I think, but I'd be a CRNA or something.

What I think I would enjoy most outside of medicine would be fine finish carpentry or hand-made furniture. I'd be Norm Abram. If the sky were the limit, then I'd be an F-35 or Apache pilot who went base jumping and wingsuit flying on the weekends, until it got too cold, then I'd go heli-skiing.

 

[dfib slim]

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