How do I know if I have a passion for medicine

[TheAppleJuice]

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or if I'm just going into it for the money and prestige?

I am smart and have good grades and did well on the MCAT - I think I could become a good/successful med student and doctor, but how do I know if I want to?

I have done volunteering/shadowing but I feel like I didn't find a good place because there was little to do and it was kind of boring (but nothing was really going on). other problem is I really wouldn't say I have a "passion" for anything, outside academic interests

help?

 

[doc05]

Get more exposure

 

[Microbug]

If you can make 300k+ a year doing another reputable job, would you do that or be a doctor?

 

[TheAppleJuice]

If you can make 300k+ a year doing another reputable job, would you do that or be a doctor?

i would do that - exactly - especially if I could be making that earlier than mid 30s. does that mean I shouldn't go into medicine?

 

[theonlytycrane]

Go work a **** job for 6 months and think about what you want to do.

 

[Microbug]

i would do that - exactly - especially if I could be making that earlier than mid 30s. does that mean I shouldn't go into medicine?

Yes. Go into investment banking or things like that.

 

[Danny L]

I am smart and have good grades and did well on the MCAT - I think I could become a good/successful med student and doctor, but how do I know if I want to?

I have done volunteering/shadowing but I feel like I didn't find a good place because there was little to do and it was kind of boring (but nothing was really going on). other problem is I really wouldn't say I have a "passion" for anything, outside academic interests

My true passion is sports but obviously I can't do that so I'm doing medicine. For most jobs, just do what you're good at because no matter what it will suck. Getting into IB isn't any easier than getting into med school, and not to mention they emphasize different skills (ie finance/business=social skill emphasis; medicine=academic emphasis). Every job wants you to be "passionate" about the career, medicine is nothing special. Just find some medicine specific reasons as your secondary reasons after money/prestige for the interviews and you'll be good (and obviously never mention money/prestige)

 

[Goro]

or if I'm just going into it for the money and prestige?

I am smart and have good grades and did well on the MCAT - I think I could become a good/successful med student and doctor, but how do I know if I want to?

I have done volunteering/shadowing but I feel like I didn't find a good place because there was little to do and it was kind of boring (but nothing was really going on). other problem is I really wouldn't say I have a "passion" for anything, outside academic interests

help?

Find a different volunteering venue. Try hospice, clinics or nursing homes.

Doing Medicine for the money is the baseline.

 

[Microbug]

My true passion is sports but obviously I can't do that so I'm doing medicine. For most jobs, just do what you're good at because no matter what it will suck. Getting into IB isn't any easier than getting into med school, and not to mention they emphasize different skills (ie finance/business=social skill emphasis; medicine=academic emphasis). Every job wants you to be "passionate" about the career, medicine is nothing special. Just find some medicine specific reasons as your secondary reasons after money/prestige for the interviews and you'll be good (and obviously never mention money/prestige)

Yes but why would you put yourself through med school and residency/fellowship. IB is less time and money investment.

 

[Danny L]

Yes but why would you put yourself through med school and residency/fellowship. IB is less time and money investment.

On the surface it's less time/money investment, but you need to get into a decent (bulge bracket) firm to have a comparable salary to a doctor (although iirc analysts don't usually make >200k). Also, being good at networking is a must and quite honestly not everyone can do it. IB/other finance sub-sectors often have an up or out policy and getting promoted to senior positions (or transitioning from IB to PE/HF) is often dependent on how well you can network. Even landing the job to begin with requires good networking skills. Not to mention, being stuck in middle management kind of blows

If OP is equally good at both it might be worth it to consider

 

[cactusman]

Yes but why would you put yourself through med school and residency/fellowship. IB is less time and money investment.

IB is a high-stress, competitive career path full of super-target school students who have been networking for years. A student who has likely been focusing on bio/chem suddenly switching into that does not seem like a simple solution at all.

 

[sab3156]

Yes but why would you put yourself through med school and residency/fellowship. IB is less time and money investment.

I get what you're saying, but after working in finance I can tell you that people in IB are pretty miserable. Especially at the gunner firms that are actually paying people that much. You work very hard for that pay. Also, for those types of jobs/salaries, you typically need to be from a top school and have outstanding credentials. It's a lot harder to get into high paying IB than people realize.

 

[Microbug]

I think the conclusion we reached is that medicine is hard, IB is hard. All kinds of high paying jobs involves hard work. So OP should just try marrying rich at this point.

 

[DokterMom]

@TheAppleJuice - What would you like to spend your days doing? Working with people or solo? Working on a computer? with equipment? with Ideas? Are you good with your hands? What are your strengths? Clearly you're quite intelligent -- How would you like to apply that intelligence? If your intelligence were only 'OK' for a given field, what other strengths would you bring to the table?

Just as importantly, what parts ofa work environment do you hate? Paperwork? Interpersonal drama and Politics? Inefficiency? Bureaucracy? Arrogance and big egos? Sloth? Dishonesty or shady ethics? Mess, smells and sickness?

@Goro's suggestion to broaden your medical exposure to other areas is also a good one. Many typical hospital volunteering gigs are boring. Try other healthcare settings where you can actually do more.

 

[anyusernamenottaken]

shadowing is the best answer. Does the info you learn as a doctor/med school even interest you? That's probably a good place to start. I know I could go into comp science and make a pretty good living, but the thought of having to read a book about networking or CPU's/GPU's makes me cringe. I probably couldn't get through the 1st paragraph. Basically, do what you like. It will make learning about it that much easier.