Are we all sadists/masochists?

[silas2642]

Sitting here when I should be writing up a lab report, I started thinking if the vast majority of medical school applicants/students are simply sadistic in nature. I mean, who in their right mind would willingly enter a process so painful and full of gut wrenching moments of self-doubt and anxiety, only to be admitted to medical school where the suffering continues. Even during the match-- I mean c'mon, guys, could we pick a harder path? Face it guys, we are just sick twists who need a life.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Apparition]

Sitting here when I should be writing up a lab report, I started thinking if the vast majority of medical school applicants/students are simply sadistic in nature. I mean, who in their right mind would willingly enter a process so painful and full of gut wrenching moments of self-doubt and anxiety, only to be admitted to medical school where the suffering continues. Even during the match-- I mean c'mon, guys, could we pick a harder path? Face it guys, we are just sick twists who need a life.

Sometimes I have these thoughts too but the alternative is having a career that's meaningless to me. Every once in a while, I wish I was interested in something else (and i'm already in another profession) but I can't force myself to be interested in it. So I choose the sequence of gut wrenching moments that is the med school admissions process over the doom I feel when I imagine myself doing almost anything else.

 

[DarkFark]

If possible, take some time off before medical school and get the stress out of your system for a little while. It's done wonders for me.

 

[Nodelphi]

I hear you. SOmehow I thought the pressure would be off after my first acceptance. To my surprize it seems to have quadrupled as now I'm worried about going to the medical school I like best instead of just going to a medical school.

I need a vacation. 🙁

 

[Law2Doc]

I hear you. SOmehow I thought the pressure would be off after my first acceptance. To my surprize it seems to have quadrupled as now I'm worried about going to the medical school I like best instead of just going to a medical school.

I need a vacation. 🙁

Wait till med school starts. Then you will learn what pressure really is.

 

[Thundrstorm]

Sometimes I think this way... especially since I'm signing up for ~8 yrs of more education. But then I realize that 1. knowing myself, I'll enjoy the process, and 2. when I finish, I get to have a really fulfilling career, and then it all seems infinitely worth it.

I also have the benefit of taking a year off from school, during which I worked a 9-5 job in the legal feild and then a research job, confirming that I miss being a student, hate desk jobs, and love research. And I feel refreshed and ready to get back into school. 😀

 

[freshh.]

I don't know about everyone else but I also wonder whether I suffer from an anxiety disorder, OCD, and several other mental illnesses because sometimes I just cannot believe that I am undergoing this process voluntarily. It just isn't right..

 

[Law2Doc]

sometimes I just cannot believe that I am undergoing this process voluntarily.

Not just voluntarilly -- you are paying $ for it.

 

[NehsNairb]

Sitting here when I should be writing up a lab report, I started thinking if the vast majority of medical school applicants/students are simply sadistic in nature.

I think you meant masochist. Sadists would be the professors who get off on assigning those long ass lab reports which take endless nights to write and format only to have the TAs read just the conclusion and give you an arbitrary grade.

But if you are true to your desire in becoming a doctor, it's worth all the pain.

 

[QofQuimica]

Sitting here when I should be writing up a lab report, I started thinking if the vast majority of medical school applicants/students are simply sadistic in nature. I mean, who in their right mind would willingly enter a process so painful and full of gut wrenching moments of self-doubt and anxiety, only to be admitted to medical school where the suffering continues. Even during the match-- I mean c'mon, guys, could we pick a harder path? Face it guys, we are just sick twists who need a life.

Is this a trick question??? Duh!!! 😉 And apparently med school is even more of it....

 

[Rafa]

You should read the thread in the allo forum titled something like "are we wasting the best years of our lives?".

 

[happydays]

I think you meant masochist. Sadists would be the professors who get off on assigning those long ass lab reports which take endless nights to write and format only to have the TAs read just the conclusion and give you an arbitrary grade.

But if you are true to your desire in becoming a doctor, it's worth all the pain.

Thanks for clearing that up. You beat me to it.


Like the old saying goes: No pain, no gain.

 

[freshh.]

Not just voluntarilly -- you are paying $ for it.

And look at how much we're paying for it.

 

[Will Ferrell]

I also have the benefit of taking a year off from school, during which I worked a 9-5 job in the legal feild and then a research job, confirming that I miss being a student, hate desk jobs, and love research. And I feel refreshed and ready to get back into school. 😀

being a student is so much easier than life in the working world. we don't know how easy we have it sometimes.

 

[RunnerMD]

This thought runs through my mind sometimes, especially considering the salary. While we will be well-compensated, being a doctor isn't what it used to be. We are all very intelligent and could easily enter another profession making as much or more $, with a lot less suffering.

That being said, I think its a "good thing" to go through all of this crap to become a doctor. That way, we can weed out all the people who aren't pursuing medicine for the right reasons.

 

[Rafa]

being a student is so much easier than life in the working world. we don't know how easy we have it sometimes.

👍 Honestly. If you're dogged enough to want to go to med school, you're probably not the type who'd thrive in a 9-5 cubicle, day after day after day after excrutiating day. Give me an occupation (being a hard-working student) that challenges every last neuron in me head, over one that lets each of 'em rot, slowly, painfully, tragically, for the sake of a soulless enterprise.

In case you can't tell, I've had a non-thinking job or two, and each day of brainless automation only reinforced my desire to stay out of that world. 🙂 Eventually, when we become doctors, we'll still be doing something *interesting*, but we'll also get paid to do it. And of course, there are several jobs out there that also allow one to think, and use one's cognitive abilities creatively. However, this is the one I've picked. And in the path to this job, being a busy student is a better way, for me personally, to spend my twenties, than being a regular worker.

 

[GA Girl]

Sitting here when I should be writing up a lab report, I started thinking if the vast majority of medical school applicants/students are simply sadistic in nature. I mean, who in their right mind would willingly enter a process so painful and full of gut wrenching moments of self-doubt and anxiety, only to be admitted to medical school where the suffering continues. Even during the match-- I mean c'mon, guys, could we pick a harder path? Face it guys, we are just sick twists who need a life.

Lol...and most of us are paying much $$$ to do this as well. I'm giving up a well-paying job to go through the experience...but I can't imagine doing anything else in life.

 

[Nodelphi]

Wait till med school starts. Then you will learn what pressure really is.

You know what? You're right. I've been under more pressure than this at other times in my life, thanks, that actually helped me put some of it in perspective in an odd way. 😀

 

[Law2Doc]

You know what? You're right. I've been under more pressure than this at other times in my life, thanks, that actually helped me put some of it in perspective in an odd way. 😀

You are on a path where no matter how bad it seems, you are going to look back to the previous year fondly thinking how easy you used to have it. It will stay this way at least until you finish residency. Use this to keep everything in perspective. It's warped but it works.

 

[Gatewayhoward]

Why are people so scared of pressure and stress? Consider the opposite, one of my family members who is middle-aged and single, worked the same job since he graduated highschool, on the job 12 hour days 5-7 days in a row, comes home and drinks about 6 or 7 beers a night. really feel bad for him actually. point I'm somehow trying to make is being an overachiever might be stressful and get labels like "abuse" and "struggle" and stuff. Hey, I could always climb the corporate ladder, or look at stock and bonds and markets the rest of my life and make better money a whole lot easier, I'd rather base jump off the grand canyon without a chute. bring on the pain!

 

[21JumpStreet]

Sitting here when I should be writing up a lab report, I started thinking if the vast majority of medical school applicants/students are simply sadistic in nature. I mean, who in their right mind would willingly enter a process so painful and full of gut wrenching moments of self-doubt and anxiety, only to be admitted to medical school where the suffering continues. Even during the match-- I mean c'mon, guys, could we pick a harder path? Face it guys, we are just sick twists who need a life.

Yes, speaking from experience there are harder paths. Getting a doctorate in math is certainly harder. We wouldn't even have time online to discuss this.