Have you ever thought of quitting Medical School ?

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I am about to start year one and there are days when I seriously have my doubts about committing myself for the next 4years or a lifetime to medicine..... :scared: but then there are the days/moment where I feel so proud and can't wait to start the ball rolling.

I like medicine but if it doesn't work out or if I lose my drive, I am willingly to let it go.....and pursue something that will make me truly happy. 😉
 
I think everyone goes through a short period in their lives as a med student when they think of quitting, that's when all the cushiness and comfort dies, leaving you to cope with the pressure, and then med school doesn't seem so ideal anymore..it's just getting over it
 
I'm sure everyone has felt that at one point. At this point, I haven't felt like quiting but I have asked myself many times why I decided to punnish myself by going to med school. There is just so much material to learn and so very little time. When I was at Under grad at Emory I was so use to learning everything for an exam. When I realized in medical school that there was no way that I was going to know everything they gave us and that there was plenty of people that felt the same way I felt a lot better.
 
adrenal_medulla said:
With my amount of debt, no.
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No kidding... The education system is seriously messed up in the USA, imo. I'll finish med school with a debt around 30-35 000 american bucks... Yea, you heard right 😳
 
Blake said:
No kidding... The education system is seriously messed up in the USA, imo. I'll finish med school with a debt around 30-35 000 american bucks... Yea, you heard right 😳
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So? You're still stuck around French Canadians. 😀
 
Fermata said:
So? You're still stuck around French Canadians. 😀
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😕 Nah, seriously, they are people like others. Of course, there are plenty of jackasses, but then again, which place doesn't have them ? And I can always move to another city/ country when I finish my residency, debt-free 😀. I heard most med students pay their debt with a single check, haha 😎
 
neuro3 said:
I have asked myself many times why I decided to punnish myself by going to med school.
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I asked my self the same quistion hundreds of times in the first 2 years :scared: specially befor 😱 Final Exams , but now I adapted to all the changes and I am doing well 😎 .
 
Blake said:
No kidding... The education system is seriously messed up in the USA, imo. I'll finish med school with a debt around 30-35 000 american bucks... Yea, you heard right 😳
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HA! I beat that in one year! wait a minute... 🙁
 
Brave Heart said:
Have you ever thought of quitting Medical School ? 🙁 If yes , Why ?
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At least 10 times a week. However, I just take some diazepam and let such thoughts take flight from my mind, at least for a short while. 😀 🙄
 
Blake said:
No kidding... The education system is seriously messed up in the USA, imo. I'll finish med school with a debt around 30-35 000 american bucks... Yea, you heard right 😳
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haha...same here...my debt's a lil lighter..but I owe my parents big time 🙂
 
Mike59 said:
Read a few pages from this book (The "Med school survival guide") every night:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...103-7335430-9079005?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

And when you're done, go back and keep reading it again. Very simple thoughts that will will make your life much more enjoyable if you take them to heart.

Best of luck to you.
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great recommendation. i was given that book by my grandparents for christmas and have read it twice. i start my first year on monday, and have been glancing at it to make sure that i remember all she said. 👍
 
Blake said:
No kidding... The education system is seriously messed up in the USA, imo. I'll finish med school with a debt around 30-35 000 american bucks... Yea, you heard right 😳
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Mine's about twice that.....

In one year.....

For all four years....

🙁
 
I hear ya Rogue Leader. Out of State tuition is evil. 🙁
 
I have wanted to be a doctor for so long that I think the most devastating would be if I ended up quitting medicine because I hated it so much.

So no, I haven't thought of quitting medical school out of self-preservation of my ego.
 
Yes, almost everyday I have thought about quiting. I hate the feeling of constant stress and lack of true free time. It certainly takes its toll on you after a while.

At the moment I'm in too deep now to quit.

All that keeps me going is the hope that life will be good again once I finish! :xf:
 
Every day.

Why? Fear that it is not worth the enormous costs. That's not just financial.
 
Orthodoc40 said:
Every day.

Why? Fear that it is not worth the enormous costs. That's not just financial.
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I'm probably burnt out I suppose. As 'fun' as being on the wards or studying is, I miss having time to do the things I actually enjoy in life. I will admit it's not all bad though.

dude1344 said:
I'm pretty sure residency is worse. 🙂
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Hey, don't ruin my fantasy! 😉
 
smart enough to get in, stupid enough to go..

i feel like that too from time to time. you just need to keep yourself grounded - go and shadow some docs in a field you might be interested in and remind yourself why you want to be here. its hard to get through the first two years
 
I wish I could quit pretty often. Medical school sucks and Resdiency will suck and it sucks know that at least 4 of the next 5 years will be predominated by sucking. However I don't have a better plan and I don't want to contemplate what the Navy will do to me if I don't follow through with this one, so I'm sticking with it. Also, as others have said, there is a light at the end of this tunnel, however pointlessly long and dark the tunnel may be. When you're having a bad day focus on that.
 
not for a second. everything sucks medicine sucks the least.
 
E: deleted inappropriate rant
 
VoiceofReason said:
not for a second. everything sucks medicine sucks the least.
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Are you talking about the suckieness averaged over a medical career as a whole or the specific suckieness of school/residency training ?

If it's the first I might agree with you (at least for realistic jobs), but if it's the second you're friggin insane.
 
<--just finished first year. I don't think about quitting (the consequences of doing such a thing are way too dramatic), but I do think "damn, I wish I would've thought of a more sane career to pursue." That thought takes place nearly every day.
 
The grass is always greener on the other side.

I was working last year as an engineer making good bucks. It was intellectually challenging, but overall I was bored as hell at work and couldn't wait for school to start, and how awesome it would be to study and learn new things in school. 🙄

Now, I think about how awesome it was to have a nice cushy job with income coming every month. *sigh*
 
Perrotfish said:
Are you talking about the suckieness averaged over a medical career as a whole or the specific suckieness of school/residency training ?

If it's the first I might agree with you (at least for realistic jobs), but if it's the second you're friggin insane.
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what i mean is this country and capitalism in general depersonalizes labor to a degree almost befitting a nightmare and in addition makes you do a backbreaking amount of it. Everything sucks because no matter what you do you'll be working hard and feeling like just another cog in a machine that is fueled by broken dreams.

medicine sucks the least because sometimes you get to do some cool things and for a few fleeting moments a day or a week the world isn't gray and drained.
 
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Anybody who claims he hasn't at least had the thought flash through his head is just plain lying. Seriously considering it is a different story entirely. It's like suicide except financial instead of physical.
 
Anybody who claims he hasn't at least had the thought flash through his head is just plain lying.
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This hits the nail on the head. When you're studying at 10:45PM on a Saturday, and plan on waking up every day for the next month and doing the same thing (board study) who wouldn't want to quit? The trick is ignoring the little voice.
 
I think many don't quit because of the amount of debt they are in. I also believe no one will truly understand what medical school / residency etc is until they actually start. Many tried to explain to me before I started, but I just couldn't really understand what they were saying. I have a lot of respect for people who have / are going through this.
 
I haven't seriously considered quiting, but I have often wondered what kind of misguided madness possesses physicians to push their children to go into medicine. Definitely not a field I'd ever wish on someone who needed to be cajoled into it.
 
nontradfogie said:
I haven't seriously considered quiting, but I have often wondered what kind of misguided madness ever causes physicians to push their children to go into medicine. Definitely not a field I'd ever wish on someone who needed to be cajoled into it.
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Agreed. Not even my worse enemy. But a question I have for all of you is what would you have done instead? My back-up was pharmacy.
 
nontradfogie said:
I haven't seriously considered quiting, but I have often wondered what kind of misguided madness possesses physicians to push their children to go into medicine. Definitely not a field I'd ever wish on someone who needed to be cajoled into it.
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Becuse it's safe and sure. The reason physicans and non-physicians alike push their kids into medicine is that they know that if they can just browbeat their kids through premed those kids will never be living at home ever again. If your kid goes in to finance, business, engineering, or whatever there are no such guarentees.

Mine didn't push me into medicine, but I can see the logic.

Agreed. Not even my worse enemy. But a question I have for all of you is what would you have done instead? My back-up was pharmacy
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Would have tried for Marine OCS, though I have to admit I'm probably a better fit for Navy medical.
 
escesc said:
Agreed. Not even my worse enemy. But a question I have for all of you is what would you have done instead? My back-up was pharmacy.
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I would have gone the PhD route and done research with prosthetics, I may still be ale to do that though.
I started as a Nursing major so if I'd stuck with that I'd have been a CRNA
 
Perrotfish said:
The reason physicans and non-physicians alike push their kids into medicine is that they know that if they can just browbeat their kids through premed those kids will never be living at home ever again. If your kid goes in to finance, business, engineering, or whatever there are no such guarentees.
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dude if I match in my hometown I'll definitely try to move back in with my parents, lol. screw paying for a crappy 1 bedroom apartement in the ghetto when i could have unlimited fridge access, laundry service, free internet, throwing house parties when they go for a weekend trip ETC. regressing back to high school days is honestly one of the only things i look forward to. (btw i moved out of my parents house long before med school so don't hate lol)

plus it's like a duty to share some of the misery of medicine with those around you... during residency my mom can be talking with her friends about "her son the doctor", and her friends can just say, "well if he's so cool wtf does he still live at home?!!!"
 
MilkmanAl said:
Anybody who claims he hasn't at least had the thought flash through his head is just plain lying. Seriously considering it is a different story entirely. It's like suicide except financial instead of physical.
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Sadly true. We all could have picked an easier route (hey, let's drop out en masse and go to dental school?!), but at the end of the day, I'm still glad I'm here.
 
nontradfogie said:
I haven't seriously considered quiting, but I have often wondered what kind of misguided madness possesses physicians to push their children to go into medicine. Definitely not a field I'd ever wish on someone who needed to be cajoled into it.
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I feel like the only reason you should go to med school is if after at least 50 ppl have tried to persuade you not to (and explained in grave detail the hours spent memorizing useless info, feeling like an idiot all the time, the detachment from life outside of medschool...) you still want to pursue medicine.

I didn't listen, but I still do my part and try to sway young eager pre-meds 🙂
 
MilkmanAl said:
Anybody who claims he hasn't at least had the thought flash through his head is just plain lying. Seriously considering it is a different story entirely. It's like suicide except financial instead of physical.
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:bow: Brilliant, Milkman.

Yes, the financial suicide for me is the main reason I've never seriously considered quitting, and also the fact that in my previous field (public policy), I was not able to find a job, which made me pretty miserable. However, having bombed my last final (relative to my class, though I cleared the pass rate in all my classes by a large margin), I sometimes wonder if I have what it takes to get to where I want to be (preferably, academia). The pressure cooker and competition with my classmates sometimes gets me down, but I figure that even if I have to do a field I don't enjoy immensely, I will have a job, and a good one at that.
 
financial suicide indeed its too bad there arent many places to expatriate to where your debt can't be collected
 
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