career alternatives

[melionaire]

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Hi everyone,
I graduated from college last month with a B.S. I initially majored in Biological Sciences with the hopes of becoming a doctor one day. Now that I graduated, I've become less excited and enthusiastic about the career. I also started having second thoughts after having read many negative comments about medicine and being in medical school. I started looking at other possible careers but I am rather clueless since I never thought of any other career until now. I have thought about research but I can't imagine myself in a lab all day repeating experiment after experiment. Any advice? For those of you who decided not to pursue medicine or aren't satisfied with being a medical doctor: What are you doing now? What path would you have taken if you were given a second chance? I will appreciate your help. Thanks

 

[Van Chowder]

Hi everyone,
I graduated from college last month with a B.S. I initially majored in Biological Sciences with the hopes of becoming a doctor one day. Now that I graduated, I've become less excited and enthusiastic about the career. I also started having second thoughts after having read many negative comments about medicine and being in medical school. I started looking at other possible careers but I am rather clueless since I never thought of any other career until now. I have thought about research but I can't imagine myself in a lab all day repeating experiment after experiment. Any advice? For those of you who decided not to pursue medicine or aren't satisfied with being a medical doctor: What are you doing now? What path would you have taken if you were given a second chance? I will appreciate your help. Thanks

Well, assuming the primary reason you wanted to be a doctor was to help people, why not do something like teaching! You can help people ( by being a cool but good prof. and not have to do a **** ton of research, unless you get your PhD which would mean more $$$)

May I ask, why dont you want to practice medicine anymore? You should not let other people's negative experiences influence your decisions.. If you continue to do that, you will never have a career because there is always going to be someone complaining about any career fathomable, most of which do not give the personal satisfaction or the nice paycheck that being a physician would give.

 

[mvenus929]

It really depends on what you want to do, and why a career as a physician doesn't appeal to you anymore. You can become an NP for much less hassle, and still have many of the same responsibilities as a MD/DO. You can go into public health, you can work as a med tech in a diagnostic lab (which isn't research). You can work for the CDC.

You can teach... high school, middle school, college.

 

[LilHouse]

🙂

 

[jvesco22]

I also started having second thoughts after having read many negative comments about medicine and being in medical school.

That's pathetic. Seriously. Do you live off SDN posts? You let users here affect your decision to shy away from medicine and now you are wanting other users to give you guidance in other careers? Get your **** together man and be your own person, make your own decisions...

 

[Dr Gerrard]

Calm the **** down jvesco, seriously. Previously, the OP probably just had the glorified view of medicine that so many others have and had not even thought about the time and the sacrifices that would be necessary.

I am sure he/she is not rethinking because someone told him to rethink, but rather because a med student/resident/attending might have made a post about the negative aspects of medicine and just made him rethink his desire.

You are pathetic man.

 

[Nilf]

That's pathetic. Seriously. Do you live off SDN posts? You let users here affect your decision to shy away from medicine and now you are wanting other users to give you guidance in other careers? Get your **** together man and be your own person, make your own decisions...

There is no reason to question the validity of SDN posters JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE FROM SDN. People who post about their experience here usually give usually honest personal accounts of what medicine is like. You would be a fool to completely disregard this goldmine of information.

I don't want to sound like a grizzled vet, because I'm not, but when I was considering applying to medschool, internet barely kicked off. Information was scarce. There were no discussion forums, search engines sucked big time, and the experienced people, AKA older docs, were largerly computer illiterate. The only info about medicine that was available were several books from MDs. This info was usually obsolete by the time the books were printed. Because of this scarcity of information, I severely underestimated the amount of effort required, and the dark side of medicine.

Do not repeat this mistake. All the info is available--do your homework. Your life depends on it.

To the OP: after you peel several layers, you will find the true reason why you wanted to become doctor. Was it money, prestige, ill-conceived altruism? Once you get to the bottom for it, you'll research other paths which will take you there. The world is your oyster. Good luck.

 

[Kaustikos]

That's pathetic. Seriously. Do you live off SDN posts? You let users here affect your decision to shy away from medicine and now you are wanting other users to give you guidance in other careers? Get your **** together man and be your own person, make your own decisions...

Your naivety and ignorance is astounding

There is no reason to question the validity of SDN posters JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE FROM SDN. People who post about their experience here usually give usually honest personal accounts of what medicine is like. You would be a fool to completely disregard this goldmine of information.

I don't want to sound like a grizzled vet, because I'm not, but when I was considering applying to medschool, internet barely kicked off. Information was scarce. There were no discussion forums, search engines sucked big time, and the experienced people, AKA older docs, were largerly computer illiterate. The only info about medicine that was available were several books from MDs. This info was usually obsolete by the time the books were printed. Because of this scarcity of information, I severely underestimated the amount of effort required, and the dark side of medicine.

Do not repeat this mistake. All the info is available--do your homework. Your life depends on it.

To the OP: after you peel several layers, you will find the true reason why you wanted to become doctor. Was it money, prestige, ill-conceived altruism? Once you get to the bottom for it, you'll research other paths which will take you there. The world is your oyster. Good luck.

Although you can be rather cynical/negative (Nurses make 500k/yr), you are right in smacking reality into some of the premeds here. I will say that I hope your source of information is good. I don't doubt your decision making for a second; medicine isn't an easy choice and lots (I mean LOTS) of people don't understand the reality of medicine and what it really entails. Props for your decision, as it is something people (here especially) would not have the guts to do.

 

[jvesco22]

happy thoughts

 

[melionaire]

Thank you all for responding.
I changed my mind about becoming a doctor after I realized the amount of time and sacrifice one has to put in. Don't get me wrong, I am a dedicated and hard working person but 7-9yrs of exploitation doesn't sound very exciting to me. I never knew about these things while I was in college and that's why I never questioned my decision to go to medical school. I think it's very important to be a 100% sure about doing something-especially if it's something in which you have to give up most of your life.

 

[witness23]

while there is some truth to the 7-9 years of exploitation statement, do you really think that other careers do not face the same thing?

first thing first, what are you interested in? you do not have to stick to science, you can totally make the transition into law or something of that sort. there are a LOT of options here.

 

[melionaire]

If anyone wants to know the reality of the world outside of medicine, I can provide full details. What I have to say about the real world would make several people cry if they don't have thick skin (I've made a couple of people cry before by telling them how the real world works)

Will you share please?

 

[witness23]

i'll share a bit. i'll do it in comparison to academia, and environment that you are just (or will be) leaving.

college/student-life: You have full control of your schedule. You decide on what classes to pick. You may say that you are bound by med school standards, but thats up to you. You can go to class, or you can skip. You can study for an exam or just watch my super sweet 16. You are around people of your own AGE. You are around people who are in the exact same situation as you are (difference between a pre-med and a pre-law is minute). The conversations involve free thinking. You will always have someone to talk to. You are around mostly people of your own major, which, you hopefully picked due to interest. Your conversation revolves around **** that you wanted it to revolve around. Looking for ass is not a stress, but a fun diversion from studying. You are awake everyday til 6 am and only sleep 2 hours a day and it doesn't bother you. You can hangout with whoever and whenever, pretty much.

Job: You have to wake up at a certain time. You have to go to sleep at a certain time. You do this 5 days a week. Same ****. Friday nights are great. But Saturday nights? You need to get back on your sleep schedule. You work with people MUCH older than you. Does it make sense for every one to be your age? No, it doesn't. Do they group entry-levels together? No, this isn't a ****ing internship, the company is trying to make and provide in this tough economy. It makes no sense to group a newbie with another newbie. Are you at the bottom of the barrel? Yes. 90% of the company > your boss > receptionist > janitor > most of your immediate co-workers > the co-worker thats kinda cute >>>>>>>> you.

People that you work with will have their own lives. that means they have to provide for kids and families. They made their sacrifices already, this is their career, not a stint between med school entry. The conversation will be structured. People might like you, but they wont open up to you, and you won't open up to them. You will learn to develop a schedule. You will want to avoid anything that throws you off from this schedule, that means most of your previous real life friends (I love mine to death but hey). Maybe you will get a gf and just chill with her all the time. Look out mid-life crisis. You really won't be doing what you actually wanted to do. Which means either work harder or be satisfied. Neither will help you achieve perfection, but there's a certain charm to the struggle of the working environment and you will find happiness somewhere there.


yea, cant wait to get back to school

 

[Kaustikos]

i'll share a bit. i'll do it in comparison to academia, and environment that you are just (or will be) leaving.

college/student-life: You have full control of your schedule. You decide on what classes to pick. You may say that you are bound by med school standards, but thats up to you. You can go to class, or you can skip. You can study for an exam or just watch my super sweet 16. You are around people of your own AGE. You are around people who are in the exact same situation as you are (difference between a pre-med and a pre-law is minute). The conversations involve free thinking. You will always have someone to talk to. You are around mostly people of your own major, which, you hopefully picked due to interest. Your conversation revolves around **** that you wanted it to revolve around. Looking for ass is not a stress, but a fun diversion from studying. You are awake everyday til 6 am and only sleep 2 hours a day and it doesn't bother you. You can hangout with whoever and whenever, pretty much.

Job: You have to wake up at a certain time. You have to go to sleep at a certain time. You do this 5 days a week. Same ****. Friday nights are great. But Saturday nights? You need to get back on your sleep schedule. You work with people MUCH older than you. Does it make sense for every one to be your age? No, it doesn't. Do they group entry-levels together? No, this isn't a ****ing internship, the company is trying to make and provide in this tough economy. It makes no sense to group a newbie with another newbie. Are you at the bottom of the barrel? Yes. 90% of the company > your boss > receptionist > janitor > most of your immediate co-workers > the co-worker thats kinda cute >>>>>>>> you.

People that you work with will have their own lives. that means they have to provide for kids and families. They made their sacrifices already, this is their career, not a stint between med school entry. The conversation will be structured. People might like you, but they wont open up to you, and you won't open up to them. You will learn to develop a schedule. You will want to avoid anything that throws you off from this schedule, that means most of your previous real life friends (I love mine to death but hey). Maybe you will get a gf and just chill with her all the time. Look out mid-life crisis. You really won't be doing what you actually wanted to do. Which means either work harder or be satisfied. Neither will help you achieve perfection, but there's a certain charm to the struggle of the working environment and you will find happiness somewhere there.


yea, cant wait to get back to school

That's almost to an extreme pov. Your job must suck, badly. I thought I had it bad, but it apparently isn't. I suppose being Toxicologist in pharmaceuticals isn't terrible...

Yes, you have to wake up early - but it's what society has been trying to teach you since grade school. If you can't get used to getting up early, you're either an extreme slacker or some other variation there of.

Yes, you work with people older than you - but you decide your level of involvement in friendship with these people. Older people aren't necessarily different from our age. Believe it or not, some do have the same interests as you do. I work with co-workers in their 40s who have similiar interests as me.

Yes, you have a schedule, but you have leniancy based on how successful you are at managing your time

Yes, you might be at the bottom of the barrel, but depending upon how involved you are and how much common sense you have, that will be temporary as you outshine people in your environment

All in all, it seems you've had bad luck.