Don't know how to answer "What career other than Medicine have you thought about?"

[GreekIsleSunset]

Any ideas for what to say, since the other occupations I have considered are basically all about $$$?

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[Ambs]

When interviewers asked me what other careers I thought of pursuing, I was simply honest. At first, I reinforced my passion for medicine and stated that if I were not to gain admission this cycle, then I would improve my application and reapply. But we are all real people, and we all have (and should have) interests outside of the sciences and medicine. Certainly everyone who is realistic understands the value of evaluating other career options, and for me this other career was being an English professor & freelance writer. I love English, and I was able to make the choice to go into medicine through my clinical and volunteer experiences. But I still enjoyed English through taking lots of English classes in undergrad and editing newsletters and writing short stories, something that I can do as a physician also.

So, my advice would be to state that you have through your multiple experiences firmly established that you want to pursue medicine. But before this became clear, you explored (insert other fields that genuinely interest you, may even be hobbies).

 

[GreekIsleSunset]

great answer...thanks Ambs!

 

[tinkerbelle]

Here's how I answered the "what career would you do if you didn't get into med school" question:

- teach
- get a biomedical engineering job (i suppose i should utilize my silly undergrad degree)
- job in the public health field

 

[Ambs]

great answer...thanks Ambs!

You're welcome!

 

[sigepwelker]

I have gotten the "if you could never be a doctor ...ever " question a few times. I say professional golfer and that always gets a chuckle.

 

[dinesh]

Be a bum

 

[Penelope1]

Any ideas for what to say, since the other occupations I have considered are basically all about $$$?

I would specify what about those other careers attracted you (which may be similar to what attracts you to medicine, or not), rather than just saying the careers without any explanation, which might give a misleading picture. Also, trust that being honest won't hurt you in the application process - they generally just want to see that you've thought about career choices seriously rather than just blindly following a pre-set path.

Personally, I mentioned teaching, because I enjoy talking to people and giving them information, and research, because I like the excitement of discovering something new.

 

[whoam]

IF your undergrad degree is in a different program other than health sciences you can mention that, also if you did get your under grad degree in health sciences you can say you looked into a different career options through the electives that you took