to you jinx and Ark. I hear ya too.
Sometimes I think people don't want to hear reality stories from those that have worked quite some time in crazy, university hospital settings. They haven't really lived enough in that environment, so. . .
There are extremes to either side here. Old Grunt, it's true. The only way is one foot in front of the other. You find out how it will be for you as you go through it, and you keep in mind people have different perspectives for a number of reasons.
From where I've been for a very decent amount of time, there's no "glory road" in medicine. It's a fine profession. But it's not about great honor or prestige or the money. LOL, truly. Some "make it big" as compared with most others I suppose, but in all professions that is the way it goes.
There's better money and prestige to be made elsewhere without the same amount of educational frontloading and other hoops and the particular brand of frustration that can come with going down the pre-med-to-medical-school-to-no-less-than-three-years-residency-to-low-man-on-totem-pole-in-the-practice road.
I figured out, as many do, what the luckiest residents are making during residency. The lucky ones in my part of the country are making what comes out to be $10-$12 per hour (That is based on residents 80 hr--work week, not including their own study time for practice at work in residency, step 3, and board certification prep. BC can mean oral exams too, which many surg. res and fellows have shared can be tough.)
As most physicians will share, don't go into this if you can really see yourself doing and loving something else.
Thing is, most don't get to see things as they truly are until they have been through it, unless they have somehow seen from the inside. Yes that inside perspective may be limited as compared with actually going through it. But nurses that I know that have been on the indirect and then direct perspective will admit their eyes were more open to what the whole process is about as compared with a fair amount of their MS peers.
Medicine is really about humble pie, nose to the grindstone, day in and day out service. The truth is a good number of physicians try to talk their own kids out of pursuing it if they can. I've heard them do so. And there is a reason for that other than them being complainers, whiners, or bitter people. It's a bit similar to why a number of nurses will totally discourage their kids from going into nursing. Sure, they know they can't stop them. But they will let their peace be spoken and for good reason.
Yes, there is a lot to medicine from points all the way around; but when you reduce it down, it's more about service than a lot of the glorious ideals of what it is. And I can bring forth numerous physicians that will say this. Yes they may well like what they do, but they will tell you that it is no glory road or the road to wealth or some kind of prestige.
Honestly this fixation with this is a little bit strange to me coming from a NT. I say go to physicians and speak with them. If they are straight-up, they will speak the balanced truth of all sides, and that includes the sucky sides, though they really won't have enough time to go into great detail about the sucky sides of it--too many and too long. You have to wait to the book comes out.
Princeton has a book out that includes movies and book recommendation about medicine.
I personally thought"Learning to Play God" was a good non-fiction re-telling of things. It's got some good perspectives on the PGY/intern blues. Robert Marion is honest in his recounting. It's a little bid dated now, as his experiences go back to the late 70's early 80's. But there are things that are mostly relevant in it. And folks can thank his influence in the movement to reduce residency work hours down from 120/wk. No he wasn't a lone wolf in this; but he had been railing against it for some time.
Anyway, the book is worth the few bucks to me, or I say pick it up from the library. Actually a lot of physicians have written non-fiction perspectives of the whole process.
Here's the link of reviews on it from amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Play...ts=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
Thanks jinx and Ark for being straight up and hitting it where it really is.
