Don't love patient interaction - am I insane to apply to medical school?

[yerb_]

Ok but to be fair I was in love with the science too. And it was specifically the multidisciplinary model of science that’s present in medicine. Tox/pharm/physio/path, that combination of topics is what appealed to me. The ability to make a difference in others lives and the intimacy of the trust between a patient and their physician were kind of secondary things to me. And OP did at least express some amount of interest in that. I agree that you have to be interested in both things, but maybe not in the order that everyone usually prescribes…

I'd say this is completely accurate. I need to do something that has impact - I could care less if a research projects obtains a publication. Like you, tox/pharm/path are things that I have sometimes even studied on my own out of fascination (I read portions of a psychopharmacology textbook when I was prescribed my first SSRI since I was so curious what exactly it was doing, the different pathways, etc). At the same time, I would like to engage deeply with these things. For example, anyone can say "Fluoxetine is the leading treatment for anxiety, the algorithm says to titrate to 20mg if you have OCD-tendencies, let's check back in in 6 weeks". In my head, that is not intellectually stimulating enough, yet I understand someone has to do it. So it's also possible that my idea of what a physician does (think deeply about tox/pharm/path/etc) is only accurate to the medical training but not the actual job.

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[deleted1065184]

Ok but to be fair I was in love with the science too. And it was specifically the multidisciplinary model of science that’s present in medicine. Tox/pharm/physio/path, that combination of topics is what appealed to me. The ability to make a difference in others lives and the intimacy of the trust between a patient and their physician were kind of secondary things to me. And OP did at least express some amount of interest in that. I agree that you have to be interested in both things, but maybe not in the order that everyone usually prescribes…

When did they express interest in this? I may be missing something, but OP clearly loves science and being intellectually challenged, and wants a stable income...but I could not find a part about having in interest in treating patients or contributing to their healthcare. If I missed that, could you show it to me?

I completely agree that there doesn't have to be an order to it. I got a PhD first and if I was forced to choose between making sceintific discoveries/intellectual challenge and treating patients, I'd choose discoveries...but I also am passionate about directly improving human health and want to be involved in patient care (whether it involves patient interaction or not), so I'm doing both. But the interest in both is clearly and strongly there. I'm not seeing the desire for the second part based on OP's post and comments.

 

[deleted1065184]

I'd say this is completely accurate. I need to do something that has impact - I could care less if a research projects obtains a publication. Like you, tox/pharm/path are things that I have sometimes even studied on my own out of fascination (I read portions of a psychopharmacology textbook when I was prescribed my first SSRI since I was so curious what exactly it was doing, the different pathways, etc). At the same time, I would like to engage deeply with these things. For example, anyone can say "Fluoxetine is the leading treatment for anxiety, the algorithm says to titrate to 20mg if you have OCD-tendencies, let's check back in in 6 weeks". In my head, that is not intellectually stimulating enough, yet I understand someone has to do it. So it's also possible that my idea of what a physician does (think deeply about tox/pharm/path/etc) is only accurate to the medical training but not the actual job.

This sounds very much like somebody who wants a PhD or PharmD lmfao. Notice how there's no mention of the actual patient? You love the *science* buddy, and that's 150% okay. The stuff you're saying sounds just like all of my PhD colleagues. There's a THIRST for understanding the mechanism. It's not enough to be told that something works, you need to understand how. You would be an incredible scientist, regardless of how what field you go into. But I'm still not seeing anything about medicine.

 

[DarkBluMage]

Wanting to be mentally stimulated and have a good income isn’t a good reason to become a physician. There are far better options for that.

 

[Murse2MD]

When did they express interest in this? I may be missing something, but OP clearly loves science and being intellectually challenged, and wants a stable income...but I could not find a part about having in interest in treating patients or contributing to their healthcare. If I missed that, could you show it to me?

I completely agree that there doesn't have to be an order to it. I got a PhD first and if I was forced to choose between making sceintific discoveries/intellectual challenge and treating patients, I'd choose discoveries...but I also am passionate about directly improving human health and want to be involved in patient care (whether it involves patient interaction or not), so I'm doing both. But the interest in both is clearly and strongly there. I'm not seeing the desire for the second part based on OP's post and comments.

I definitely understand what you mean - and the times that I help out a patient during an EMT shift, I am happy to go the extra mile to chat with them about their grandchildren or even help them go to the bathroom (when it's a wheelchair-bound person and it's clear that they would like the help). I do these things even though I technically don't need to, I genuinely enjoy doing them. But I certainly would never have the energy to do it all day, every day, for an entire career.

I like the last sentence you posed - I have heard this before and that's what reassured me about med school previously. But since then I have heard some people say "go to med school to become a physician (and treat patients), don't go to med school to be a radiologist/surgeon/etc." And in a sense I feel like I am already not embodying that spirit.

She mentions being happy to help someone use the bathroom. I mean, it’s super easy to feel personal satisfaction at making a diagnosis, getting an intubation, seeing patient education lead to health changes, or adeptly performing any number of interventions…but if you can find any level of joy in assisting someone to use the bathroom, I feel that demonstrates a level of empathy and humility that could prove valuable in medicine. I’m not advocating for OP to go whole hog into medicine, but I definitely think they should explore their options and not write MD off completely. That’s all.

 

[yerb_]

She mentions being happy to help someone use the bathroom. I mean, it’s super easy to feel personal satisfaction at making a diagnosis, getting an intubation, seeing patient education lead to health changes, or adeptly performing any number of interventions…but if you can find any level of joy in assisting someone to use the bathroom, I feel that demonstrates a level of empathy and humility that could prove valuable in medicine. I’m not advocating for OP to go whole hog into medicine, but I definitely think they should explore their options and not write MD off completely. That’s all.

I appreciate this message a lot. The benefit to going the medical school route is that I could find myself actually preferring to work with patients than be in a lab all day (life works in weird ways and sometimes what you want in a career surprises you), or I could be one of the physicians who does mostly research + partial clinical work. The clinical work would be great for motivating me in research (where sometimes, inevitably, we all ask ourselves, is any of this actually going to help anyone or is this just making my boss happy?). The opposite is not true - it isn't so easy to get a PhD and be able to apply your research to real patients.

 

[DarkBluMage]

I appreciate this message a lot. The benefit to going the medical school route is that I could find myself actually preferring to work with patients than be in a lab all day (life works in weird ways and sometimes what you want in a career surprises you), or I could be one of the physicians who does mostly research + partial clinical work. The clinical work would be great for motivating me in research (where sometimes, inevitably, we all ask ourselves, is any of this actually going to help anyone or is this just making my boss happy?). The opposite is not true - it isn't so easy to get a PhD and be able to apply your research to real patients.

I wouldn’t risk thousands of dollars of debt on the chance that you might possibly like the profession. You could very well find out you absolutely hate medicine within your 3rd year of med school and feel stuck and be miserable for the rest of your career. Juice isn’t worth the squeeze but best of luck to you. Definitely shadow as many doctors as possible first before moving forward.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

Your advice is hitting me the most. I think you are completely right. I just saw a random Youtube video today on a Neurology resident’s day in the life, and she went from the ER, to spending time at her desk alongside other residents, to talking with neuroradiologists and getting explanation about her patient’s scans. I saw this video after researching about data scientist jobs, bioinformatics etc which all end up being desk jobs with some meetings - and I couldn’t help but think it was an amazingly diverse day with SOME desk time to think about her cases but also getting to interact with many other smart people (ie other docs, residents). That comparison doesn’t exist in software/tech. So now I am both more confused and eager to shadow

Now it just becomes a difficulty to find shadowing experiences..

I know everyone is telling you pathology (which is a great route and you may love it!) but honestly everything you're saying also vibes with a lot of people who like things like critical care or even inpatient IM to some extent. You typically spend the first part of your day gathering data, talking to patients (or examining ones who can't talk to you often in the ICU), discussing with your team the best plans of care. there's solo computer time (though the BS of note writing and administrative stuff is a whole other topic) and social time and patient time, but you don't spend all day with back to back patients like you do in clinic. You also have more ability to control what you spend your time on than in clinic - who you see first and how much time you spend with them, and you have some time to sit and think about plans and come back to patients if you have new ideas. critical care folks especially LOVE talking physiology and mechanisms like you seem interested in.

Unfortunately, to get to those jobs you do have to spend a lot of time in clinic during training (more so if you go the IM route to CC, there's also other routes from EM/Anesthesia/Surg though). So as before, if it's so torturous of a prospect that you can't do some of it for a few years, then reconsider. But I think a lot of people are reading your title and jumping to thinking you despise all patients which i really don't think is true from everything you've actually said.

(I also think lots of other specialties have niches you may actually enjoy - I'm just pointing this out here because i think your options aren't quite as limited as people are saying, if you actually look into what you're saying you like. but go shadow before making any decisions to apply!!)

 

[chilly_md]

Regarding the concern about income, it will take you about 10 or more years to finish your training as a physician. Because it will be another 2 years (at the earliest) till you can matriculate to medical school.

 

[Manatee3]

Look at medical physics- great for introverts, intellectually stimulating.

 

[BronteR]

Okay, so let me explain:
I am four years out of college (but only 22 since I graduated college very early) and have worked at various research labs + biotech companies. I enjoy research a lot, enjoy reading papers and discussing science with other researchers. I do not see myself doing a PhD since that would involve soul-crushing 5-6 years just to be doing a similar job to what I am doing now, just making 30k more a year.

I have dabbled with the idea of med school ever since college and so I got my EMT cert and have been working weekend shifts as an event EMT. I've also been studying for the MCAT for the past 3 months. I have never shadowed any doctors yet.

So why not medical school?

The other day I was seeing my ObGyn, and she was asking me about my job, etc (making small talk) during the exam. And I had this visceral feeling of, I would hate to do this every day as my job. I love having my desk or bench space, working mostly solo and being able to banter with coworkers. I like being in my head 80% of the time, wrangling with problems and trying to come up with ideas. I don't know if I could see patient after patient, make constant small talk, etc. I am technically not actually an introvert because I really do enjoy talking to all my coworkers, but that's a very different level of social energy than always talking to strangers.

So why medical school?

I loooove learning about physiology, the human body. My EMT program was a blast. I like the idea of getting a lot of little problems throughout the day and trying to solve all the different puzzles. Very important to me: I'd like to have a recession-proof job that puts me solidly in the middle class (grew up extremely poor so the idea of making 70-100k per year the rest of my life whilst trying to have a family gives me anxiety already). I'd like an intellectually stimulating job.

I think the specialties of anesthesiology/CC, radiology, and pathology seem interesting to me. But if I am already ruling out patient interaction-heavy specialties NOW and I am not even IN med school yet, is it unwise to go through the effort and should I instead find something else that can scratch the itch?

pathology, radiology and anesthesia would offer you a career in medicine without the small talk to patients. The first two don't typically see the patients and the later usually one time to screen pre surgery.

 

[guitar45]

Thank you all for the suggestions. Now it's got me wondering, what do introverts do when they enter med school (and how do they handle constant patient interactions)? Obviously just because you are an introvert, doesn't mean you shun small talk like a vampire would sunlight. But I wonder how introvert premeds get excited to do a career of 20+ patients per day, every day, for the rest of their career.

Having been painfully shy all my life, I chose pharmacy, which was a pretty good area for me. But now my son is dealing w/exactly same as you all. He made it thru medical residency and has been at a job less than a year and is seriously planning on quitting. He just really does not like the pt interaction. I’m worried for him, w/a pretty large debt. But I want him to not be miserable either. His job wants him to still hang in there. My main point though is his job wants him to talk to someone, which I really think is the best idea, even if medicine is not going to be where he stays. Being shy is not a sin. But being willing to talk things over w/someone can really help. I was scared at first and it took a long time for me. But there are good therapists. Nobody should feel shame for being shy. Best wishes

 

[Alpineclimb]

Okay, so let me explain:
I am four years out of college (but only 22 since I graduated college very early) and have worked at various research labs + biotech companies. I enjoy research a lot, enjoy reading papers and discussing science with other researchers. I do not see myself doing a PhD since that would involve soul-crushing 5-6 years just to be doing a similar job to what I am doing now, just making 30k more a year.

I have dabbled with the idea of med school ever since college and so I got my EMT cert and have been working weekend shifts as an event EMT. I've also been studying for the MCAT for the past 3 months. I have never shadowed any doctors yet.

So why not medical school?

The other day I was seeing my ObGyn, and she was asking me about my job, etc (making small talk) during the exam. And I had this visceral feeling of, I would hate to do this every day as my job. I love having my desk or bench space, working mostly solo and being able to banter with coworkers. I like being in my head 80% of the time, wrangling with problems and trying to come up with ideas. I don't know if I could see patient after patient, make constant small talk, etc. I am technically not actually an introvert because I really do enjoy talking to all my coworkers, but that's a very different level of social energy than always talking to strangers.

So why medical school?

I loooove learning about physiology, the human body. My EMT program was a blast. I like the idea of getting a lot of little problems throughout the day and trying to solve all the different puzzles. Very important to me: I'd like to have a recession-proof job that puts me solidly in the middle class (grew up extremely poor so the idea of making 70-100k per year the rest of my life whilst trying to have a family gives me anxiety already). I'd like an intellectually stimulating job.

I think the specialties of anesthesiology/CC, radiology, and pathology seem interesting to me. But if I am already ruling out patient interaction-heavy specialties NOW and I am not even IN med school yet, is it unwise to go through the effort and should I instead find something else that can scratch the itch?

Don’t Particularly like patient interaction? NO PROBLEM. Get your MD, for sure. We need more doctors, and good ones like you. We need problem solvers. It is indeed a recession proof job. There will always be some patient interaction and you will learn to enjoy it. Pathology and Radiology: fantastic specialties, lots of colleague interaction, not much patient interaction, but you are still helping patients and saving lives. I’ve been an anesthesiologist for 25 years, LOVE my job, lots of problem solving, perfect marriage of physiology and pharmacology. In surgery we fix things, it’s immediate gratification. If you like EMT you will love Anesthesiology. It’s mostly interacting with other physicians, surgeons and nurses, some patient interaction. Helping them through that scary difficult time is rewarding and you will learn to love that too.

I did a lot of bench research in my education. It’s all good training for what you will do in the future as an anesthesiologist. It’s all about attention to detail.

 

[eigen]

I’d suggest against this unless you are really lacking a network or skills. An MS is now becoming more and more irrelevant, as when you’re about to enter the work field, you’ll be competing with BS grads who already have a couple of years of experience under their belt. You have a good shot of entering industry with just a bachelor’s rather than a master’s. In fact, most companies would pay for your master’s if you already work for them.

FWIW, I don't see this problem at all in my students who get an MS. I think you have to be careful about picking your program (location, network, degree type, etc.) but I don't see an MS becoming irrelevant in my field at all: in fact, it's becoming increasingly relevant as an industry degree.

 

[oldman]

I'd say this is completely accurate. I need to do something that has impact - I could care less if a research projects obtains a publication. Like you, tox/pharm/path are things that I have sometimes even studied on my own out of fascination (I read portions of a psychopharmacology textbook when I was prescribed my first SSRI since I was so curious what exactly it was doing, the different pathways, etc). At the same time, I would like to engage deeply with these things. For example, anyone can say "Fluoxetine is the leading treatment for anxiety, the algorithm says to titrate to 20mg if you have OCD-tendencies, let's check back in in 6 weeks". In my head, that is not intellectually stimulating enough, yet I understand someone has to do it. So it's also possible that my idea of what a physician does (think deeply about tox/pharm/path/etc) is only accurate to the medical training but not the actual job.

There are plenty of medical specialties that don’t require you to be the best people person. Another option that would give you lots of chance to think about physiology is being an ICU Intensivist. They often have challenging basic science questions to deal with. Fixing lung mechanics. Balancing electrolytes etc. there are some tough talks with family at times.

 

[SCallergydoc]

There are many medical specialties where patient interaction is minimal and there is no schmoozing. I started as PhD and did three years of post-doc and did not like the idea that if I did not secure a grant I did not get paid. Went to med school (I LIKE schmoozing) so the fit was good for me. Regardless of medical specialty you will have to get through things like OB, Ped, IM and interact with patients or parents. Get a PhD and post-doc and you will have to get grants. Not an easy answer. If you get a PhD (or MD) and have a business mind there are many avenues in research and consulting although if you don't like interacting with people you can forget consulting.

 

[nimbus]

I went to medical school because that was what my family expected. I never particularly enjoyed talking with patients. I went into anesthesia and couldn’t be happier with my career choice. Depending on the procedure, I spend 1-10min talking to them about the anesthetic. Usually about 1min for a cataract. More like 10min for heart surgery or aortic surgery. Then I meet them in the operating room and start the fun stuff.

By chance I have my own health issues and spend time visiting neurooncologists, radiation oncologist and neurosurgeons. We spend a LOT of time talking about my health issues. Typical appointments are 45-60min almost entirely spent talking. I appreciate their care very much but days full of long conservations would feel exhausting to me.

So I think their are niches for all personality types in medicine and people gravitate toward fields that appeal to them.

 

[JStarMD]

There are many options long known as NPC specialties (no patient care--see "House of God", Shem, 1978) that have attracted docs for decades. Perhaps you'd make a great medical examiner or medical director with a pharmaceutical or device company? With respect to the latter, a ten month electrophysiology course (learn pacemaker and defibrillator technology) plus a business degree would put you in an envious position long- term in a well-paid rapidly expanding area of cardiac medicine. A Ph.D. in related life-sciences is an excellent option as well.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Wanting to be mentally stimulated and have a good income isn’t a good reason to become a physician. There are far better options for that.

Here is my hot take - there really aren’t. What other profession guarantees a physician level income? Sure there will be outliers but even in tech the medians and lifetime earnings are far lower. Obv there are exceptions to this, and you still shouldn’t go into medicine without a love for it.

 

[deleted1065184]

Here is my hot take - there really aren’t. What other profession guarantees a physician level income? Sure there will be outliers but even in tech the medians and lifetime earnings are far lower. Obv there are exceptions to this, and you still shouldn’t go into medicine without a love for it.

This logic only works if OP requires physician-level income. From what I've seen so far, OP wants a good income but doesn't necessarily have to be physician-level. For this reason, I recommended PhD (likely 4-5 years, will be paid for, and will pay a stipend) and then going into biotech/consulting. It is fairly easy to leave a PhD making $150k in those areas and there isn't really an income cap. I have several friends in these areas and they all make over $150k, about half make over $200k, and a few of those make over $300k. And if they continue to be promoted, their income will continue to increase.

Leaving med school ~$200k in debt, then doing 3-9ish years in residency/fellowship where you're making $60-70k the entire time (debt increases in many situations), then finally making $200-700k vs. leaving grad school with no debt (and potentially money saved if you live in a lower COL city), no postdoc necessary, immediately making $150k+, and likely earning physician-level salary in the next 6-8 years.

For somebody who hasn't expressed real interest in medicine and already doesn't like patient care, the second option sounds ideal imo. Med school and grad school both suck, so OP isn't going to be able to avoid that. But instead of just learning already established (and often times outdated) science, a PhD program will allow OP to be at the forefront of scientific discovery and advancement....which is something they made very clear is one of their main interests.

 

[BMC11]

Okay, so let me explain:
I am four years out of college (but only 22 since I graduated college very early) and have worked at various research labs + biotech companies. I enjoy research a lot, enjoy reading papers and discussing science with other researchers. I do not see myself doing a PhD since that would involve soul-crushing 5-6 years just to be doing a similar job to what I am doing now, just making 30k more a year.

I have dabbled with the idea of med school ever since college and so I got my EMT cert and have been working weekend shifts as an event EMT. I've also been studying for the MCAT for the past 3 months. I have never shadowed any doctors yet.

So why not medical school?

The other day I was seeing my ObGyn, and she was asking me about my job, etc (making small talk) during the exam. And I had this visceral feeling of, I would hate to do this every day as my job. I love having my desk or bench space, working mostly solo and being able to banter with coworkers. I like being in my head 80% of the time, wrangling with problems and trying to come up with ideas. I don't know if I could see patient after patient, make constant small talk, etc. I am technically not actually an introvert because I really do enjoy talking to all my coworkers, but that's a very different level of social energy than always talking to strangers.

So why medical school?

I loooove learning about physiology, the human body. My EMT program was a blast. I like the idea of getting a lot of little problems throughout the day and trying to solve all the different puzzles. Very important to me: I'd like to have a recession-proof job that puts me solidly in the middle class (grew up extremely poor so the idea of making 70-100k per year the rest of my life whilst trying to have a family gives me anxiety already). I'd like an intellectually stimulating job.

I think the specialties of anesthesiology/CC, radiology, and pathology seem interesting to me. But if I am already ruling out patient interaction-heavy specialties NOW and I am not even IN med school yet, is it unwise to go through the effort and should I instead find something else that can scratch the itch?

I got a phd before I went to medical school. I’m a resident now.

What you like sounds exactly like someone who should go to graduate school and get a phd. If you’re concerned about salary, don’t go into academia. Industry jobs pay way more than 70-100k per year with a phd.

Please do not go to medical school if you do not love working with patients. The experience will be painful and meaningless. I went because I realized something was missing from my life. I’m in a specialty where I don’t have to talk to people for very long. The funny part of it is that when we have bad bedside manners and poor social skills, we actually scare the **** out of people and make them uncomfortable—which makes giving anesthesia difficult.

People are not pieces of paper or puzzles to be solved. If that’s what you’re looking for, there are 5000 other things you can do with your life. Be an industry scientist.

 

[themagicmeatball]

Maybe look into Occupational and Environmental Medicine . Not always mentioned as an option Residency Program | Occupational & Environmental Medicine

 

[yerb_]

I can’t thank everyone enough for replying to this thread - it’s been immensely helpful to hear all the different perspectives.

I am considering a PhD (perhaps in Biomedical Eng), but I can’t help but feel the oppressive weight of the upcoming recession - which makes me want to choose a job that will *always* be necessary. This might be pessimistic, but I fear things will continue to get harder. Global warming is going to increasingly affect our ecomony (thinking of the 2,000 cows that died of heat this weekend in Kansas). When everyone is shifting towards becoming a coder, data analyst, project manager, etc - how many startups will be getting funded in 10-20 years? Jobs for data analysts on LinkedIn already have 200+ applicants within a few days - for one job. Obviously not every tech/engineering job is this hard to get - but I feel at least in medicine the need for skilled workers will only increase as stress/disease increases. Anyways, obviously there are some logical holes to my points here but anytime I think about the future, I start to think medicine is like a safe, warm blanket.

 

[Choсolate]

I can’t thank everyone enough for replying to this thread - it’s been immensely helpful to hear all the different perspectives.

I am considering a PhD (perhaps in Biomedical Eng), but I can’t help but feel the oppressive weight of the upcoming recession - which makes me want to choose a job that will *always* be necessary. This might be pessimistic, but I fear things will continue to get harder. Global warming is going to increasingly affect our ecomony (thinking of the 2,000 cows that died of heat this weekend in Kansas). When everyone is shifting towards becoming a coder, data analyst, project manager, etc - how many startups will be getting funded in 10-20 years? Jobs for data analysts on LinkedIn already have 200+ applicants within a few days - for one job. Obviously not every tech/engineering job is this hard to get - but I feel at least in medicine the need for skilled workers will only increase as stress/disease increases. Anyways, obviously there are some logical holes to my points here but anytime I think about the future, I start to think medicine is like a safe, warm blanket.

I actually understand how you are feeling about the current economic situation. I myself am considering about whether I want to obtain a PhD or an MD, and as a side note, if formally interested in going to the PhD route, you could try obtaining an M.S. in Europe first (as the programs are 1 year for biological fields) and then shift to a PhD program in Europe as well which typically last only 3 -3.5 years due to strict timelines about the funding that will be allocated to your research. However, due to the economic situation which could easily become worse, I am not sure about whether an industry related job with a PhD would be stable for years to come, and that greatly bothers me (I myself grew up somewhat poor, at least according to American standards). In some respects, based on your previous posts, I feel like you are leaning toward MD, notwithstanding your last one where you stated you are considering to do a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. That is the vibe I am getting from you.

 

[nicesecrets]

Obviously not every tech/engineering job is this hard to get - but I feel at least in medicine the need for skilled workers will only increase as stress/disease increases.

This point you made is actually one reason why I think pharma and biotech jobs will be sought after and important for many years to come. Although I don't want to go so far as to say pharma is recession proof, because who really knows... The fact is that there are to this day so many diseases for which we have inadequate treatment. Consider cancer - for all the tremendous progress made, there are still many types of cancers for which the prognosis with best available treatments is still very poor. As long as diseases exist, and as long as new ones keep coming up (in the last two years itself, COVID and monkeypox), not only is it essential to have physicians to treat patients who have the disease, but it is also essential to have researchers to study the disease and innovate treatments or even better, cures. And yes, this can be done in the pure academic space. But the research powerhouses like Penn, Harvard, Stanford etc, usually spin off a lot of their research into biotech companies /startups. The pharma/biotech industry is really the only path forward in the long term to approve new therapies.

The problem with your point about stability of future start ups and difficulty to find jobs is that a PhD role in a startup/pharma is very different from a project manager role. It is also highly specialized. I hope this will always be the case for me, but currently my role is very valuable in my company because there are not that many people who have the same skill set that I do to perform my function. But my function will always be needed for drug approval. While individual companies may fail and jobs may be unstable because of that, if you perform an essential research function that adds to your job security.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Pharma is not recession proof, and you must really love working in spite of constant change. Also PharmD is just as desirable a path vs. PhD in some cases though you should research this.

If you think applying to medical school is tough, the hoops for applying for a real industry job will make you love preparing for the PREview or Casper assessments.

 

[FlowRate]

There are plenty of introverts in medicine. It probably does make the job more palatable/enjoyable (and help with patient sat scores) if you're an extrovert. The relatively "scripted" nature of patient interactions can be appealing for introverts since you know what to expect/there's a goal to the interaction.

While it's true that a lot of people do find their PhD very stressful, I'm not sure that it has to be "soul crushing" if you're someone who genuinely likes being in lab.

 

[yerb_]

1 year update
Hi y'all! Just wanted to give an update a year later - I ended up deciding on research after a lot of deep thought and am now starting my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Now that I am here, I actually work for a MD-turned-PI and get to shadow some of his clinical shifts, and I am very very glad that I chose research. Although the medical field and those in it will always hold a special intrigue in my heart, I do not have any regrets and don't think I ever will in the future.

Thank you again for all the wonderful replies, I read and re-read this thread when I was making this monumental career decision and it helped so much!

 

[wook]

1 year update
Hi y'all! Just wanted to give an update a year later - I ended up deciding on research after a lot of deep thought and am now starting my PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Now that I am here, I actually work for a MD-turned-PI and get to shadow some of his clinical shifts, and I am very very glad that I chose research. Although the medical field and those in it will always hold a special intrigue in my heart, I do not have any regrets and don't think I ever will in the future.

Thank you again for all the wonderful replies, I read and re-read this thread when I was making this monumental career decision and it helped so much!

Thank you for the update! We often don't hear how people are doing, and it's great to hear that you chose wisely!!