contemplating dropping out, need advice

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First, visit your school's counseling service.

Second, I recommend you power through. You really don't experience the juicy clinical stuff until 3rd year.
 
I'm not even sure whose in my counseloring, but its hard to imagine they be able to be TOO emphathetic when they went into academic medicine (which to me is the peak of being interested in medicine).

For the last half a year, the only thing that has motivated to keep going is hoping that clinical is interesting. But too many 3rd years have told me that life sucks in clinical and I'm not sure how I can tough it out.
 
fastfingers said:
I'm not even sure whose in my counseloring, but its hard to imagine they be able to be TOO emphathetic when they went into academic medicine (which to me is the peak of being interested in medicine).

For the last half a year, the only thing that has motivated to keep going is hoping that clinical is interesting. But too many 3rd years have told me that life sucks in clinical and I'm not sure how I can tough it out.
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Most of the people who hated third year liked 1st and 2nd year. I don't know anyone who has hated all the years.

3rd year will be like a full time job you don't get paid for.
 
it's kind of ridiculous that you took away a spot from someone who actually wanted to go to medical school, who knew what they were in for, and actually enjoys (at least some) of the material. frankly I don't feel bad for you at all since you didn't seem prepared in the least for what you were getting yourself into and didn't realize how much work med school would be. It sounds like you want money and free time, neither of which you will have for many years. if you are truly unhappy, I say stick through the rest of the year to see if it doesn't change, and if by the end of the summer you decide not to go back, then don't.

for what it's worth, i know someone who dropped out half way through their second year because they didn't like the material. he's applying to dentistry school now....yeah.
 
I was bored to death for much of the first two years. I looked at it as a job and just grinded it out. Go to the gym/exercise every day, go out at every opportunity. You'll get through it. Clinical rotations are much better, though they were good examples of why I DIDN'T want to go into a number of fields. Primary care, ob, peds, derm, radiology, etc etc etc.
If you really don't want to be a doctor, finish the term and ask for a leave of absence and they might let you back in in a year if you change your mind again.
What other field interests you?
 
Chiefer said:
it's kind of ridiculous that you took away a spot from someone who actually wanted to go to medical school, who knew what they were in for, and actually enjoys (at least some) of the material. frankly I don't feel bad for you at all since you didn't seem prepared in the least for what you were getting yourself into and didn't realize how much work med school would be. It sounds like you want money and free time, neither of which you will have for many years. if you are truly unhappy, I say stick through the rest of the year to see if it doesn't change, and if by the end of the summer you decide not to go back, then don't.

for what it's worth, i know someone who dropped out half way through their second year because they didn't like the material. he's applying to dentistry school now....yeah.
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What is with all the pre-meds posting on this board? Nobody cares what you think.
 
Chiefer said:
it's kind of ridiculous that you took away a spot from someone who actually wanted to go to medical school, who knew what they were in for, and actually enjoys (at least some) of the material. frankly I don't feel bad for you at all since you didn't seem prepared in the least for what you were getting yourself into and didn't realize how much work med school would be. It sounds like you want money and free time, neither of which you will have for many years. if you are truly unhappy, I say stick through the rest of the year to see if it doesn't change, and if by the end of the summer you decide not to go back, then don't.

for what it's worth, i know someone who dropped out half way through their second year because they didn't like the material. he's applying to dentistry school now....yeah.
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kk not sure why you're so mad, but i think you're clearly missing the point. I went into it with the full intention of sticking it out. I really believed it was my life's career, and believed in it since i was like 13. Science wasn't HUGELY interesting to me, but the concept of helping others is.

and you think I'm doing medicine for money? did you not read my post? I gave up a job that pays me 6 figures, and climbs up to around 500k. I ONLY worked 7 hours a day. I was basically at the peak of working very little for tons of money. ONLY quit cause I wanted to help people.
 
thanks for all the replies. I feel like I might end up taking a leave of absence. as much as I hate the idea that business is just about making money and feeling like a greedy bas****, the competition is interesting to me and I think I'd be a lot less depressed. Honestly, if I went into business I feel like I'd have to set up something that also helps society or else I won't feel too much value in how i contribute to society.

its just at the same time, i've invested so much into this.

honestly, i REALLY REALLY want to toughen it out to 3rd year. but right now, i'm on the verge of failing a class (due to my extreme lack of care for the material). its kinda been the breaking point of saying, not sure if I reallly want to retake the class in summer just to suffer through a process I have not happy in. Sad part is, I'm a huge conceptual learner and AWFUL at memorization so med school is like especially hard for me. Adds to my frustration. Basically its Bad at memorizing + dislike material = recipe for disaster
 
btw also didn't help that I just read a random blog and it was all these people saying quitting was their best decision in their lives and how other people said not quitting was the worst decision and now they depressed at work.

ahh so many life decisions
 
Concentrate on the goal more than the journey. First year sucks for pretty much everyone--find an outlet outside of school to keep yourself happy, because school isn't going to do it. The volume of material doesn't get less in second year, but it does get more interesting and you've refined your study technique by then. 3rd year is intense, but at least IME it seems better because you see the point of what you're doing (seeing patients rather than sitting in class or studying all day). And 4th year is sweet.

Chiefer said:
it's kind of ridiculous that you took away a spot from someone who actually wanted to go to medical school, who knew what they were in for, and actually enjoys (at least some) of the material. frankly I don't feel bad for you at all since you didn't seem prepared in the least for what you were getting yourself into and didn't realize how much work med school would be. It sounds like you want money and free time, neither of which you will have for many years. if you are truly unhappy, I say stick through the rest of the year to see if it doesn't change, and if by the end of the summer you decide not to go back, then don't.
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You have no business posting in this topic as a premed--talk about not knowing what you're getting yourself into. You really can't fathom what the first year of med school is like until you've been through it.
 
Tough spot to be in, OP. I don't want to delude you into thinking the clinical years will inherently be better. Once you get to M3, might as well finish school. So if you want to quit, after M1 is the time.

But think long an hard about this. What is it exactly that you don't like about school? Just basic science? Then do some shadowing in fields you find interesting and see if something clicks. If you have a goal in mind, it's easier to take the basic science pill. Don't put all your eggs in M3 saving your interest. If you end up hating clinical stuff too, you're kinda stuck.


Chiefer said:
it's kind of ridiculous that you took away a spot from someone who actually wanted to go to medical school, who knew what they were in for, and actually enjoys (at least some) of the material. frankly I don't feel bad for you at all since you didn't seem prepared in the least for what you were getting yourself into and didn't realize how much work med school would be. It sounds like you want money and free time, neither of which you will have for many years. if you are truly unhappy, I say stick through the rest of the year to see if it doesn't change, and if by the end of the summer you decide not to go back, then don't.

for what it's worth, i know someone who dropped out half way through their second year because they didn't like the material. he's applying to dentistry school now....yeah.
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You have no idea what you're talking about. Go back to pre-allo and post in some MD vs DO threads. Your comment was neither insightful nor helpful.
 
Chiefer said:
it's kind of ridiculous that you took away a spot from someone who actually wanted to go to medical school, who knew what they were in for, and actually enjoys (at least some) of the material. frankly I don't feel bad for you at all since you didn't seem prepared in the least for what you were getting yourself into and didn't realize how much work med school would be. It sounds like you want money and free time, neither of which you will have for many years. if you are truly unhappy, I say stick through the rest of the year to see if it doesn't change, and if by the end of the summer you decide not to go back, then don't.

for what it's worth, i know someone who dropped out half way through their second year because they didn't like the material. he's applying to dentistry school now....yeah.
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👎thumbdown👎
 
Kaputt said:
Tough spot to be in, OP. I don't want to delude you into thinking the clinical years will inherently be better. Once you get to M3, might as well finish school. So if you want to quit, after M1 is the time.
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Yeah basically. Clinical isn't inherently better but it is much closer than MS1/MS2 to what most of us envisioned when we started med school. I personally found first year to be the most boring thing I've ever experienced.

Unfortunately shadowing can't really give you much of an idea of the clinical experience, because those years are predicated on the pathology knowledge from second year. It would be like watching a movie in a foreign language without studying the language first. There is a limited amount to extract from it.
 
I would strongly recommend continuing the year and doing a lot of shadowing in different fields. Though it doesn't feel that way now, you actually have a lot of free time in the preclinical years that you can use to shadow.

If the clinical work is still not interesting to you, then you could consider leaving - better to only waste a years worth of time and money on training, rather than figure this out after 4-8 years of training or feel stuck in a career you dislike. It also sounds like you have useful skills in other fields based on your prior job.

Even so, remember that an MD is a very flexible degree and consider the many different careers you could pursue with the degree. If your thing is helping people, but not basic science or clinical practice, perhaps you would like health policy or administration?
 
thanks for the replies. i've actualy done quite a bit of shadowing and although I don't hate it, I certainly didn't enjoy it. but i always told myself that it was because I didnt understand anything and that is why i didn't like shadowing. its just, i hate repeative work and although i always envision myself as some awesome doctor doing crazy things, its starting to feel more and more like step 1, memorize flowchart, step 2 apply flow chart step 3 prescribe cure. and to me, that just sounds so uninteresting now.

its just, right now in stuck in a limbo where i know 2nd year and step 1 would be 10 times harder and I'm already struggling to stay interested. can't imagine myself grinding out step 1. i also failed to grind out MCAT. basically tried reallly hard, put in hours in the library, but ultimately wasn't interested in MCAT material and just ended up being on the internet the whole day and in the end, more or less winged it. so i'm now thinking how step 1 is gonna be rough and continue my thoughts that the profession isn't right for me
 
fastfingers said:
thanks for the replies. i've actualy done quite a bit of shadowing and although I don't hate it, I certainly didn't enjoy it. but i always told myself that it was because I didnt understand anything and that is why i didn't like shadowing. its just, i hate repeative work and although i always envision myself as some awesome doctor doing crazy things, its starting to feel more and more like step 1, memorize flowchart, step 2 apply flow chart step 3 prescribe cure. and to me, that just sounds so uninteresting now.

its just, right now in stuck in a limbo where i know 2nd year and step 1 would be 10 times harder and I'm already struggling to stay interested. can't imagine myself grinding out step 1. i also failed to grind out MCAT. basically tried reallly hard, put in hours in the library, but ultimately wasn't interested in MCAT material and just ended up being on the internet the whole day and in the end, more or less winged it. so i'm now thinking how step 1 is gonna be rough and continue my thoughts that the profession isn't right for me
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OP,

What did you score on the MCAT?
 
fastfingers said:
kk not sure why you're so mad, but i think you're clearly missing the point. I went into it with the full intention of sticking it out. I really believed it was my life's career, and believed in it since i was like 13. Science wasn't HUGELY interesting to me, but the concept of helping others is.

and you think I'm doing medicine for money? did you not read my post? I gave up a job that pays me 6 figures, and climbs up to around 500k. I ONLY worked 7 hours a day. I was basically at the peak of working very little for tons of money. ONLY quit cause I wanted to help people.
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What job were you doing? Just curious. I ask because you were doing pretty damn well earning that kind of money one year out of undergrad. I can see how it might have spoiled you since you've experienced the end-point of what many don't anticipate until out of residency and having paid down student and / or practice loans.
 
IlDestriero said:
I was bored to death for much of the first two years. I looked at it as a job and just grinded it out. Go to the gym/exercise every day, go out at every opportunity. You'll get through it. Clinical rotations are much better, though they were good examples of why I DIDN'T want to go into a number of fields. Primary care, ob, peds, derm, radiology, etc etc etc.
If you really don't want to be a doctor, finish the term and ask for a leave of absence and they might let you back in in a year if you change your mind again.
What other field interests you?
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it's impossible to really "know" what you're in for when you step foot into medical school, friend. if i was able to really know what i was in for, i probs would have done something else too!

just hang in there OP. you'll have at least a few days of sunshine amidst the rain.
 
I got a 28 (though my averages were way better). and i worked in the the financial industry.

ahh tough first world problem here for me.
 
fastfingers said:
I got a 28 (though my averages were way better). and i worked in the the financial industry.

ahh tough first world problem here for me.
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OP,

I would take a leave of absence after the term is over. That way, you can have a year to mull it over, work for a bit, travel--whatever. You could do research for a year and, if you decide to return, that could be a boon to your residency app if you get a paper published. Don't just up and quit, though. Definitely take the leave and think about it. Every school has a leave policy, and it shouldn't be hard to get one.

Also, just out of curiosity, are you at an MD or a DO program?

g'luck with whatever you decide.
 
Not gonna lie, if I could get a 6 figure job with a lot of free time I would take that...mainly because med school is way too damn expensive and the amount of interest I'm going to have to pay on top of this in addition to time investment is just insane.

Obviously, you should realize that practicing medicine will be a lot different from studying in medical school. Maybe go talk to some doctors in the specialties you're interested in about their job satisfaction (ideally you would've already have done this as premed).
 
Akali said:
Not gonna lie, if I could get a 6 figure job with a lot of free time I would take that...mainly because med school is way too damn expensive and the amount of interest I'm going to have to pay on top of this in addition to time investment is just insane.

Obviously, you should realize that practicing medicine will be a lot different from studying in medical school. Maybe go talk to some doctors in the specialties you're interested in about their job satisfaction (ideally you would've already have done this as premed).
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The main advantage of medicine is the job security and control you have over your life. You can pretty much live anywhere and be guaranteed a six-fig income.
 
Alright I think i'll definitely talk to a counselor first.

Yea I think i agree with the leave of absence. I definitely won't straight up drop out since its hard for me to know if i change my mind. I might still approach life as if its a drop out, but still have the option to go back.

I'm at a pretty decent MD school (not quite top 20, but I was a pretty strong applicant minus MCAT).

Akali: i've actually talked to doctors in speciality I'm interested (surgery) in the general consensus has been that I better be super interested and have a deep passion for what I'm doing, or else life is going to suck. I did quite a lot of shadowing and I think most of them seem to say that the life-work balance is really bad and they're not really happy. Although, they don't ever regret their decision and said they do feel passionate about their job.

Yea job security is nice, but my last job had high promotion rate and very low firing rate (I think in 5 years I would've hit 200k and 9 years I would've been at 300k if I match my manager's performance).

but money aside, just not sure if I want to make such a big committment and regret.


I guess a question i would like to ask is, has anybody here known or can personally attest that during their first and second year, they hated it SOOOOO much and felt minorly depressed that they reallllly seriously considered dropping out. But ended up not doing so and today, is super happy they made that decision?

I ask that question because I was just reading a blog (although it was a anti-medschool blog) and it was only people saying they regret not quitting early when they were not interested and ended up quitting during residency.
 
fastfingers said:
Alright I think i'll definitely talk to a counselor first.

Yea I think i agree with the leave of absence. I definitely won't straight up drop out since its hard for me to know if i change my mind. I might still approach life as if its a drop out, but still have the option to go back.

I'm at a pretty decent MD school (not quite top 20, but I was a pretty strong applicant minus MCAT).

Akali: i've actually talked to doctors in speciality I'm interested (surgery) in the general consensus has been that I better be super interested and have a deep passion for what I'm doing, or else life is going to suck. I did quite a lot of shadowing and I think most of them seem to say that the life-work balance is really bad and they're not really happy. Although, they don't ever regret their decision and said they do feel passionate about their job.

Yea job security is nice, but my last job had high promotion rate and very low firing rate (I think in 5 years I would've hit 200k and 9 years I would've been at 300k if I match my manager's performance).

but money aside, just not sure if I want to make such a big committment and regret.


I guess a question i would like to ask is, has anybody here known or can personally attest that during their first and second year, they hated it SOOOOO much and felt minorly depressed that they reallllly seriously considered dropping out. But ended up not doing so and today, is super happy they made that decision?

I ask that question because I was just reading a blog (although it was a anti-medschool blog) and it was only people saying they regret not quitting early when they were not interested and ended up quitting during residency.
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Link?
 
OP, medicine becomes much better 4th year. This is because most students by this point start to focus on their field of interest and become good at that. You also have a MUCH larger working knowledge and begin to remember and know the things that important. It can seem overwhelming at first, and especially as a 1st and 2nd year student. But learning medicine is a long process (4 years school, 3-5 years residency, 3-5 years fellowship) and you'll find that you never know enough. It is what it is.

I suggest you read a little about medicine outside of your studies to see if a field strikes your interest. Then find a doc to shadow and see some patients. It helps to put some of this stuff in perspective. Now, if after all this you still have absolutely no interest in treating patients then I suggest you quit. But stick it out at least for the first couple years. If what is say is true about your previous jobs the debt shouldn't be too terrible if you decide to quit early.

I'm not sure on a counselor. Don't know how helpful they would be. I also highly suggest NOT doing a leave of absence as that is a big red flag for residency applications.
 
OP, I want to give you the advice to take a road trip, visit a friend, see a good movie and get back to work. Here is my short story. Went to college out of high school but hated it. Started working as a mechanic and liked it. Five years later making 90k and single I went back to school for much the same reason you gave, to help people. School got hard, met my wife and dropped out my junior year to go back to my high paying job. I had talked to a school counselor who told me what I wanted to hear. I spent the next 12 years chasing happiness. Had great paying jobs, started a successful repair shop got married had three kids and one day it all caught up with me. Regret. It really sucks when it hits you that you gave up on your dream/purpose in life. Now with a wife and three children to support in addition to running a business I am back in school at 37 years old. So I thought I would give you my two cents because if I could go back in time I would find my younger self and tell him to stick it out. The free time and money you desire will be there for you when you need it. There are lots of people counting on you, now get back to work.🙂
 
drkennyj said:
OP, I want to give you the advice to take a road trip, visit a friend, see a good movie and get back to work. Here is my short story. Went to college out of high school but hated it. Started working as a mechanic and liked it. Five years later making 90k and single I went back to school for much the same reason you gave, to help people. School got hard, met my wife and dropped out my junior year to go back to my high paying job. I had talked to a school counselor who told me what I wanted to hear. I spent the next 12 years chasing happiness. Had great paying jobs, started a successful repair shop got married had three kids and one day it all caught up with me. Regret. It really sucks when it hits you that you gave up on your dream/purpose in life. Now with a wife and three children to support in addition to running a business I am back in school at 37 years old. So I thought I would give you my two cents because if I could go back in time I would find my younger self and tell him to stick it out. The free time and money you desire will be there for you when you need it. There are lots of people counting on you, now get back to work.🙂
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👍

Will you hire me? I'm good at fixing stuff...
 
fastfingers said:
Hi. I'm currently a first year medical student and I'm contemplating dropping out. I feel like this will be the biggest decision of my life, so I was wondering if anybody else had experience and know of anybody with experiences similar to me. Basically I've already completed anatomy and so far, I've found the material in med school to be completely dry, uninteresting and its just like memorizing flow charts after flow charts to me. Perhaps I'm poor in science (or as one tutor told me, if i understand the material I would remember it). But to me, its just memorize what drug X does to certain things.

To say the least, I have already lost all motivation to study. I see my notes and with test coming up soon, I still can't get myself to study. In college, I hated studying for premed classes too, but I toughed it out because I knew if I cram for 2 days before exam, I would have the next 2 weeks to have fun. But now, I know that I have to study everyday and the most break I get is 1 or 2 days.

I heard it doesn't get easier from here so I was wondering if its a good idea to leave early if I have no interest. Straight out of college, I worked for a year and made nearly 6 figures, but I left because I felt like I didn't help people and wasn't very motivated. But now, that job seems a lot happier than what I have now since I had sooo much free time.

I'm afraid right now that if I stick this out, I'd end up being unhappy for the rest of my life. As much as I see the extreme appeal of helping a patient and feeling like I make a difference in the world, I don't think I've ever been TOOO interested in medicine. For those curious about personality type, I'm ENTP which funny enough, seems to be the complete opposite as all my classmates.

Thoughts?
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We've all felt this way at one time or another. It definitely gets better. The great thing about medicine is that there's something for everyone.
 
If you hate science/memorization and only went into medicine because of a vague of helping people then of course you're going to hate medical school. You went into medical school for all the wrong reasons. The biggest reasons people truly go to medical school are because it's one of the only professions where a biology degree is actually helpful, it has great job security as well as great pay, great prestige, and access to new toys every year. Yes, service is a part, but it can't be your only motivation.

Look, you don't have an idea of why you want to be a doctor other than a vague sense of service. If you stuck to making money and putting that money to good use, you could have helped 10 times the number of people than by becoming a physician.
 
drkennyj said:
OP, I want to give you the advice to take a road trip, visit a friend, see a good movie and get back to work. Here is my short story. Went to college out of high school but hated it. Started working as a mechanic and liked it. Five years later making 90k and single I went back to school for much the same reason you gave, to help people. School got hard, met my wife and dropped out my junior year to go back to my high paying job. I had talked to a school counselor who told me what I wanted to hear. I spent the next 12 years chasing happiness. Had great paying jobs, started a successful repair shop got married had three kids and one day it all caught up with me. Regret. It really sucks when it hits you that you gave up on your dream/purpose in life. Now with a wife and three children to support in addition to running a business I am back in school at 37 years old. So I thought I would give you my two cents because if I could go back in time I would find my younger self and tell him to stick it out. The free time and money you desire will be there for you when you need it. There are lots of people counting on you, now get back to work.🙂
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👍

Awesome post, Kenny. And pretty inspirational, if I do say so myself.

Proud to call you my classmate, sir. 🙂

notbobtrustme said:
If you hate science/memorization and only went into medicine because of a vague of helping people then of course you're going to hate medical school. You went into medical school for all the wrong reasons.
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While I don't agree with everything in your post, I am surprised no one mentioned this earlier. I definitely think the OP just might have glorified the medical profession a bit here. You do NOT have to go into medicine to help people. In fact, there are many professions where you can, many with shorter lengths of training (I will agree that they probably do not have the same benefits and security as medicine, though). And just because you do not choose to go into medicine, does not mean that you cannot choose to do something altruistic in your personal life. Also, I think the OP's statements, "I don't think I've ever been TOOO interested in medicine", "science wasn't HUGELY interesting to me, but helping others was" might be a bit telling.

I think, OP, that while you like the idea of medicine, you just might not be too interested in the reality of it. You shadowed a lot, you didn't like it. You only toughed it out because you wanted to help people. While noble, I don't think this is a good enough reason to pursue medicine. What I think is that you should do something you are TRULY passionate about, even if it is super competitive (because you said you like that), and do something altruistic/meaningful to you in your personal time.
 
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I mean, I think it was easy for me to assume that nobody liked premed courses that much. When i took my premed courses I thought I was probably the happiest person versus my peers so I assumed it was just something where everybody toughens it out. it was hard for me to gauge how uninterested I was until med school since studying was never something i really liked to do. and i don't think the feeling of helping was vague. while shadowing wasn't great, working in clinics and helping patients 1 on 1 was a pretty satisfying feeling. I really wanted a career where i can help through one on one interaction and I felt medicine was clearly the best choice. Its just now, I don't feel as the ends justifies the means.
 
ahhh kenny, that's what i'm hesitating about. if i literally went into this blindly, i think dropping out would be an easy decision. its just that, i think it'd be a very satisfying career and I don't wanna be 10 years from now and say that I wish I could cure patients and sit with patients. while I could do something altruistic on the side, it would be nicer for me to believe I'm making a difference everyday while at my job. volunteered as a nurse and it was a pretty gratifying experience (minus the hour grinds).

But then again, my other fear is that 10 years from now, I go from being happy to being sad. As some of you might have picked up, I kind of did glorify the career of medicine, but thats probably because my personality is optimistic enough for me to glorify almost everything I set my mind to. It would just be sad for me to lose this optimism after 10 years of training while being unhappy.
 
fastfingers said:
ahhh kenny, that's what i'm hesitating about. if i literally went into this blindly, i think dropping out would be an easy decision. its just that, i think it'd be a very satisfying career and I don't wanna be 10 years from now and say that I wish I could cure patients and sit with patients. while I could do something altruistic on the side, it would be nicer for me to believe I'm making a difference everyday while at my job. volunteered as a nurse and it was a pretty gratifying experience (minus the hour grinds).

But then again, my other fear is that 10 years from now, I go from being happy to being sad. As some of you might have picked up, I kind of did glorify the career of medicine, but thats probably because my personality is optimistic enough for me to glorify almost everything I set my mind to. It would just be sad for me to lose this optimism after 10 years of training while being unhappy.
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I know how you feel, and I contemplated this my first year of med school as well. No one can really prepare you for how different it will be; I came from an engineering background, so it was a difficult transition to say the least.

However, I'm an MS-4 now and I made it through. I found friends who supported me alongside my family and girlfriend and I kept up with my hobbies - art, martial arts, etc. Maybe if I had the will to get rid of them and just study I would have gotten ridiculous grades/scores - but on the other hand, I may have done even worse without my own personal life.

And if you're curious, I still glorify medicine. You just have to find some doctors you'd want to emulate - not all of them are burnt out geezers who only do it for status. I guess many do, but definitely not all. There is some element of personal satisfaction which I think you're convinced you're losing because it seems like all you do is study and take exams, but I still recommend sticking around for the 3rd year clerkships. Or, you could try out your school's student clinic if there is one. It was pretty cool learning to do a physical exam and hearing the first "thanks" from a patient.
 
I was in a similar situation as you - high paying job that was mostly analytical. The transition to med school sucked, and I had a bunch of 22-year old wunderkind classmates that could memorize things after one pass, whereas I needed 3-5 passes to commit information to memory. I still do, although it definitely gets easier to memorize large amounts of info as you go along.

Nobody really knows how your life is going to turn out. However, if I were in your position, I'd probably heavily reconsider medicine - the grinding memorization does not get better (gets much worse if anything), and you don't see the "helping people" part for a long, long time. I would say that if you can see yourself being happy in another field, you should really consider it. I hate certain parts of medicine, but overall I know I'm a lot happier in it than any other field. If that weren't true, I don't think I'd be slogging through all this crap and sacrificing my late 20s.
 
I do wish I could fast forward time and see if I like it, but at the same time, it would be one of the riskiest decision in my life, putting myself 200k in debt without knowing if I want to do it. I just have that feeling that if I quit now, I could pay off my debt with the money I made last year and start afresh.

Right now, I can barely do a first pass without feeling the grind. been taking all my exams on basically first pass. and 2nd pass is almost impossible to do cuz the material becomes infinitely more uninteresting.

Just really need to know if this would ultimate change my perspective of life into a negative person.
 
Wordead said:
I was in a similar situation as you - high paying job that was mostly analytical. The transition to med school sucked, and I had a bunch of 22-year old wunderkind classmates that could memorize things after one pass, whereas I needed 3-5 passes to commit information to memory. I still do, although it definitely gets easier to memorize large amounts of info as you go along.

Nobody really knows how your life is going to turn out. However, if I were in your position, I'd probably heavily reconsider medicine - the grinding memorization does not get better (gets much worse if anything), and you don't see the "helping people" part for a long, long time. I would say that if you can see yourself being happy in another field, you should really consider it. I hate certain parts of medicine, but overall I know I'm a lot happier in it than any other field. If that weren't true, I don't think I'd be slogging through all this crap and sacrificing my late 20s.
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I disagree with this. As you proceed into your residency, medical training becomes more about knowing the concepts and being able to integrate information, master logistics/time management, and apply logic and reasoning. Most docs end up just looking up the details prior to a consultation.
 
fastfingers said:
Hi. I'm currently a first year medical student and I'm contemplating dropping out. I feel like this will be the biggest decision of my life, so I was wondering if anybody else had experience and know of anybody with experiences similar to me. Basically I've already completed anatomy and so far, I've found the material in med school to be completely dry, uninteresting and its just like memorizing flow charts after flow charts to me. Perhaps I'm poor in science (or as one tutor told me, if i understand the material I would remember it). But to me, its just memorize what drug X does to certain things.

To say the least, I have already lost all motivation to study. I see my notes and with test coming up soon, I still can't get myself to study. In college, I hated studying for premed classes too, but I toughed it out because I knew if I cram for 2 days before exam, I would have the next 2 weeks to have fun. But now, I know that I have to study everyday and the most break I get is 1 or 2 days.

I heard it doesn't get easier from here so I was wondering if its a good idea to leave early if I have no interest. Straight out of college, I worked for a year and made nearly 6 figures, but I left because I felt like I didn't help people and wasn't very motivated. But now, that job seems a lot happier than what I have now since I had sooo much free time.

I'm afraid right now that if I stick this out, I'd end up being unhappy for the rest of my life. As much as I see the extreme appeal of helping a patient and feeling like I make a difference in the world, I don't think I've ever been TOOO interested in medicine. For those curious about personality type, I'm ENTP which funny enough, seems to be the complete opposite as all my classmates.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

A lot of people don't like the nitty gritty basic sciences. You spend 4 years as a medical student but 30 years as a physician. Do you think you will like doing what a physician does? If you do then yes you should stay in it and stick it out. If you leave now no one else is benefiting, there will just be one less doctor in this world.
 
ahh its true. i just don't know if residency is gonna be right for me either. 80 hr work weeks sounds hard and it sounds like a lot to endure for 6 years.
 
I am only an M1 and this is just my $0.02, but, try to take it one day at a time. I knew what I was getting into, but if I thought too much about how hard medical school and residency would be, I never could have gotten out of bed in college, let alone studied for the MCAT, applied to med school, etc. Same thing now. Medical training undeniably sucks at times, and if I think too hard about Step 1, let alone residency, I want to drop out too. Just focus on each day's lectures, each week's material, each month's test, and no more than that. Maybe it's short-sighted, but it's the only way I can deal with the stress. One day at a time.

Also, not that I necessarily think you should stay in med school, but you should certainly keep in mind the doors that an MD will open for you. With a background in finance and an MD, I would think you could get a nice consulting job somewhere like McKinsey or Bain. Staying in med school, if you think you can find a way to preserve your mental health and pass all of your classes--big if, and this is where talking to your school's counselors would help--will let you make the most informed possible decision. Hate third year, fourth year, and everything about medicine? Take the MD and run to the corporate world. Find something you like? Great, good that you stuck with it. No regrets either way. Hopefully. Good luck.
 
fastfingers said:
ahh its true. i just don't know if residency is gonna be right for me either. 80 hr work weeks sounds hard and it sounds like a lot to endure for 6 years.
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I might have missed something, but what are you planning to go into that takes 6 years and pushes the 80 hr week throughout?
 
fastfingers said:
ahhh kenny, that's what i'm hesitating about. if i literally went into this blindly, i think dropping out would be an easy decision. its just that, i think it'd be a very satisfying career and I don't wanna be 10 years from now and say that I wish I could cure patients and sit with patients. while I could do something altruistic on the side, it would be nicer for me to believe I'm making a difference everyday while at my job. volunteered as a nurse and it was a pretty gratifying experience (minus the hour grinds).

But then again, my other fear is that 10 years from now, I go from being happy to being sad. As some of you might have picked up, I kind of did glorify the career of medicine, but thats probably because my personality is optimistic enough for me to glorify almost everything I set my mind to. It would just be sad for me to lose this optimism after 10 years of training while being unhappy.
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Well it looks like you have gotten a lot of advice so I will leave you with my final thoughts and I hope you arrive at the best decision. Most people who make personal sacrifice for the benefit of others are happy. Many who seek out things for themselves are not. And finally, it’s hard to know when to stop digging if you’re standing in the hole, better to get out for a minute and then decide if you should keep digging. Good Luck.
 
drkennyj said:
OP, I want to give you the advice to take a road trip, visit a friend, see a good movie and get back to work. Here is my short story. Went to college out of high school but hated it. Started working as a mechanic and liked it. Five years later making 90k and single I went back to school for much the same reason you gave, to help people. School got hard, met my wife and dropped out my junior year to go back to my high paying job. I had talked to a school counselor who told me what I wanted to hear. I spent the next 12 years chasing happiness. Had great paying jobs, started a successful repair shop got married had three kids and one day it all caught up with me. Regret. It really sucks when it hits you that you gave up on your dream/purpose in life. Now with a wife and three children to support in addition to running a business I am back in school at 37 years old. So I thought I would give you my two cents because if I could go back in time I would find my younger self and tell him to stick it out. The free time and money you desire will be there for you when you need it. There are lots of people counting on you, now get back to work.🙂
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and this is why I sure hope it's worth it blasting through all this straight through from K-4 to PGY-3 without a break....
 
ahh true. tho i feel if i want to go into consulting, i'd rather just do it now. if i stick it through i would probably want to see patients. i guess its just a very hard decision.

i heard surgery is more or less huge workhours, i could be wrong tho.
 
drkennyj said:
OP, I want to give you the advice to take a road trip, visit a friend, see a good movie and get back to work. Here is my short story. Went to college out of high school but hated it. Started working as a mechanic and liked it. Five years later making 90k and single I went back to school for much the same reason you gave, to help people. School got hard, met my wife and dropped out my junior year to go back to my high paying job. I had talked to a school counselor who told me what I wanted to hear. I spent the next 12 years chasing happiness. Had great paying jobs, started a successful repair shop got married had three kids and one day it all caught up with me. Regret. It really sucks when it hits you that you gave up on your dream/purpose in life. Now with a wife and three children to support in addition to running a business I am back in school at 37 years old. So I thought I would give you my two cents because if I could go back in time I would find my younger self and tell him to stick it out. The free time and money you desire will be there for you when you need it. There are lots of people counting on you, now get back to work.🙂
Click to expand...
I haven't started medical school yet but this post was definitely encouraging to read
 
Devils advocate here.

I worked a bit in the "financial/consulting" industry. At a couple BIG time places. You don't make the kind of money you're talking about working <7 hrs a day, stress free, early in your career, etc...sorry, they want producers. If you ain't bringing it in, they're shipping you out, simple as that. I've seen a thousand posters on here who claim they could just "go to wall street or wherever and easily pull down 300K working 30 hr weeks"...doesn't work like that.

Second, it sounds like you've kind of made up your mind. Frankly, I'm wondering what you were expecting in medical school. You study. Go to the gym. Study. Catch a flick. Study. Study. Take a Test. Get smashed. Go to the Gym. Study. Study. Rinse and repeat.

Third, if you do have these other career options available, then you're actually sitting pretty in some respects. Tough it out for the rest of the year, re-evaluate once you've had a month in the summer to simmer down a bit. If you decide medicine is still for you, that's awesome, if not, oh well, it sounds like you have some great options there too. I'm not trying to be an A-hole, nor do I think you should quit, but it doesn't matter that everyone on here (all physicians or soon-to-be physicians) are telling you to stay. What is it you want out of your life? You've got some soul-searching to do.

Good luck, I really hope you make the decision for YOU. Sorry I didn't just tell you to "stick it out" or "it get's better, trust me"...I/we are not you.
 
There is a difference between "sticking it out" when times get tough but you still enjoy what you do and have a goal in mind, and a realization that you are truly in the wrong place at the wrong time. If it's the latter, then it will never get better. The big question is will OP like clinical medicine? Because that's the ultimate justification for persisting with studies and completing an MD. Unfortunately, as a first year, you don't really know. And waiting for the 3rd year to find out while accumulating all the debt is probably not a very sound option. Perhaps OP could hang out with internal medicine/ surgery etc residents on call days and get a glimpse of his future. I do believe that dropping out without completing the first year and making sure it is the right decision is premature.
 
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