EM for me?

[testingpig]

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hello. i have always planned to go to medical school. And I am a bit confused now. I am european and want to go back to europe when I make some decent $$. But medicine is not the best way to the riches because of all the years with the negative income. Anyway, since I am done with my bachelor's degree in biology (and not some industrial major like accounting or engineering), there are not many alternatives. 1 i can think of is to be an actuary. Supposedly if i work in usa as an actuary for about 5 years and pass 9 exams and become a fellow, I can move to europe (either my home country or switzerland) and make low six figures. But I dont know if thats possible or if passing exams is not enough. I mean there are so many unemployed people right now and i know nothing about that profession other than it requires a math background.

So I want to know how good is EM really? I know it is 4yrs of med school+3yrs residency and that the salary would never go <$100/hr. But can you work 6months/yr? I understand that would cut my income in half but I dont need a lot of money if i can just do what i like (travel and fish and have sex).

And i want to know also if it will hurt my med school application if I enlist in the army reserves right now for a combat specialty. I just want to occupy myself for the next couple of months and I could do a research internship instead, but I thought it would be more fun to play a soldier... I could always do research later if I am accepted into med school. But is it true that they (adcoms) would look down on me for doing something that 18yo kids do (most of the guys in basic training will be 18)? I really just want to meditate for a couple of months, to get my head clear.

 

[coharahawk]

I understand that would cut my income in half but I dont need a lot of money if i can just do what i like (travel and fish and have sex).

LOL, awesome.

 

[HIJay]

classic.
i also want to just travel, fish and have sex and practice a bit of EM in between

 

[medivac]

What makes you think you can play soldier for only a couple of months? Granted, I never did reserves, but once you sign on that line, they own you. Recruiters lie. It's in their job description. Read every fine print. They are not going to train you just to let you loose when you want to go do something else.

That being said, I don't think having a military background is a hinderance at all for EM. There are lots and lots of ex military ED docs. When I was interviewing, I found that was the thing most people wanted to hear about.

 

[testingpig]

What makes you think you can play soldier for only a couple of months? Granted, I never did reserves, but once you sign on that line, they own you. Recruiters lie. It's in their job description. Read every fine print. They are not going to train you just to let you loose when you want to go do something else.

That being said, I don't think having a military background is a hinderance at all for EM. There are lots and lots of ex military ED docs. When I was interviewing, I found that was the thing most people wanted to hear about.

I have good reason to believe that I will not be deployed unless I volunteer. Not from recruiter but from what I've read about different contracts. If I do not get into med school, then yes I will get deployed within the next 3years.
I am not just talking about "military background" but "what have you done last year?", basically I am supposed to use my time to optimize my application. And the expectancy might be research and volunteering. Military background usually means several years in the service before college and/or deployments-not going to bootcamp before the application season. Of course med schools want to hear about the military. They will also be very interested to hear if you have any felonies or if you failed any classes. I wonder if med schools ask me why I enlisted just now and I answer "I wanted to make some money short-term" or "I wanted to learn how to blow up trees using explosives", will they think "He is really interested in medicine, passionate enough to take a volunteer reserach position" or will they think "damn what a loser".

 

[quideam]

"I wanted to learn how to blow up trees using explosives", will they think "He is really interested in medicine, passionate enough to take a volunteer reserach position" or will they think "damn what a loser".

Well, it depends on how attached they are to their shrubbery. You may want to look into schools that either have few trees, or so many that your ability to remove them, and quickly, would be beneficial to your application.

How much money do you think you'd need for travel, fishing, and sex? Just thinking about my budget for next year...

 

[testingpig]

Well, it depends on how attached they are to their shrubbery. You may want to look into schools that either have few trees, or so many that your ability to remove them, and quickly, would be beneficial to your application.

How much money do you think you'd need for travel, fishing, and sex? Just thinking about my budget for next year...

well if you cant dedicate at least 6months out of the year to these activities, then you fail.