Having Doubts...

[HealthNombreUno]

New here so please excuse any stupid questions. I've been wanting to go to medical school for almost my entire life. I just love healthcare in general. Recently I've been having doubts about medical school because I can't handle stress that well and I'm afraid I won't be happy working so much. I was hoping dental school would provide opportunities to do stuff like diagnosing and procedures just without the 24 hour shifts that come with residency in medical school. What do you think is the best choice for me? Please keep in mind that I love to work. I just have a fear of getting too depressed to enjoy what I do. I guess I just want a balanced lifestyle.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted738762]

New here so please excuse any stupid questions. I've been wanting to go to medical school for almost my entire life. I just love healthcare in general. Recently I've been having doubts about medical school because I can't handle stress that well and I'm afraid I won't be happy working so much. I was hoping dental school would provide opportunities to do stuff like diagnosing and procedures just without the 24 hour shifts that come with residency in medical school. What do you think is the best choice for me? Please keep in mind that I love to work. I just have a fear of getting too depressed to enjoy what I do. I guess I just want a balanced lifestyle.

I initially choose dentistry because of the better lifestyle which made me research more into it and I thought this is something I can see myself doing. It seems as if you have realized dentistry has a better lifestyle, but haven't researched or shadowed a dentist. Go research the profession and then go shadow a dentist, if you like what you see then you'll make up your own mind. I wanted to go to med school as well but I realized it isn't for me after I shadowed both a dentist and a physician and after lots of research. Although, medicine does have several avenues you can explore for a better lifestyle, but those are avenues are extremely competitive for obvious reasons, but with dentistry its almost guaranteed with a better lifestyle.

 

[HealthNombreUno]

I initially choose dentistry because of the better lifestyle which made me research more into it and I thought this is something I can see myself doing. It seems as if you have realized dentistry has a better lifestyle, but haven't researched or shadowed a dentist. Go research the profession and then go shadow a dentist, if you like what you see then you'll make up your own mind. I wanted to go to med school as well but I realized it isn't for me after I shadowed both a dentist and a physician and after lots of research. Although, medicine does have several avenues you can explore for a better lifestyle, but those are avenues are extremely competitive for obvious reasons, but with dentistry its almost guaranteed with a bett

I initially choose dentistry because of the better lifestyle which made me research more into it and I thought this is something I can see myself doing. It seems as if you have realized dentistry has a better lifestyle, but haven't researched or shadowed a dentist. Go research the profession and then go shadow a dentist, if you like what you see then you'll make up your own mind. I wanted to go to med school as well but I realized it isn't for me after I shadowed both a dentist and a physician and after lots of research. Although, medicine does have several avenues you can explore for a better lifestyle, but those are avenues are extremely competitive for obvious reasons, but with dentistry its almost guaranteed with a better lifestyle.

Thanks for the quick reply. I've shadowed multiple physicians and I can't help but notice how miserable and overworked they all look. It's very frightening. I don't want to go through years of schooling just to suffer like that. I will shadow my community dentist in the near future for sure. It also stood out to me how upbeat and happy all of the hygenists and dentists act every time I'm there for a checkup. Something about happiness and a sense of purpose is so attractive.

 

[Incis0r]

Thanks for the quick reply. I've shadowed multiple physicians and I can't help but notice how miserable and overworked they all look. It's very frightening. I don't want to go through years of schooling just to suffer like that. I will shadow my community dentist in the near future for sure. It also stood out to me how upbeat and happy all of the hygenists and dentists act every time I'm there for a checkup. Something about happiness and a sense of purpose is so attractive.

This is one of the big reasons why I chose dental.

 

[8_man]

lots of autonomy, lots of science, lots of helping people, lots of money, and lots of free time


hmm...

 

[tyjacobs]

New here so please excuse any stupid questions. I've been wanting to go to medical school for almost my entire life. I just love healthcare in general. Recently I've been having doubts about medical school because I can't handle stress that well and I'm afraid I won't be happy working so much. I was hoping dental school would provide opportunities to do stuff like diagnosing and procedures just without the 24 hour shifts that come with residency in medical school. What do you think is the best choice for me? Please keep in mind that I love to work. I just have a fear of getting too depressed to enjoy what I do. I guess I just want a balanced lifestyle.

Shadow dentists to see what they do. Many of us are pre dental/dental students in this forum so it's hard for us to tell you how dentistry honestly is since we don't practice.

I think you'd get better responses on the dental subforum.

I chose dentistry because it's low stress for the most part compared to medicine and great work life balancd

 

[Life of Pablo]

I'm going to play devil's advocate.....

Dental school is INCREDIBLY expensive nowadays. If you are simply in it for the money (not saying you are) then don't choose dentistry because you may very well be 400k-500k in debt after dental school and would make more money as a doctor. Also, there have been many new laws/rules that prohibit residents from working too long of hours like they did in the past, and depending on what specialty you go into, you may only need to be a resident for a few years which isn't much in the long run.

Finally, if you can't handle stress well, well dental school has PLENTY of that, too.