- Joined
- Jun 10, 2007
- Messages
- 276
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- 4
So with all of the discouraging "Whatever you do, don't go into medicine!" threads, seeing the physician I work for live her miserable life, and then the whole... you know... me not getting into medical school thing 
d), I'm facing some serious decisions here. Part of me is shooting up red flags saying that I should consider other career options. Tied into this is the fact that science was *never* my strongest subject. (Hence my 3.3 science GPA and 4.0 non-science.) I crazy love science and find it enthralling, but I've always had to work 1000 times harder to succeed in it. So do you do what you're naturally good at and enjoy? Or do what you're not as great at, but find to be challenging and exciting? My analogy is that just because you are an avid fan of baseball and follow its every move, doesn't mean you should be playing in the major leagues.
I love medicine and know I would find it satisfying, but I'm now wondering if maybe there are other careers as satisfying- or maybe even more so- that come with less of the personal sacrifices (long hours, so many years of school, debt, red-tape BS, etc.). Specifically, I've always been interested most in humanitarian/social work. I see myself working in organizations and/or underserved areas overseas rallying for education, social services, and human rights. I'm just not sure what this entails for myself in terms of education and the specific career title.
Some people suggested law, others public health, but part of the reason I chose medicine is because it offers the flexibility of entering these and other fields if I so choose to take my medical career in that direction. I sort of see it as the Eurail Pass of pursuing humanitarian career options, if that makes sense. However, now I'm wondering if I would be spending a ton of money and time to get a huge chunk of extra training that I will never need/use and moreover, as a result of this investment, be indebted to a field that was never really tailored for me in the first place.
Can anyone offer me advice? I'm not ruling out medicine or giving up and trying to find the next best thing; I'm trying to rule out other options to make sure that medicine is in fact the best field for me. Thus, given the description of what I am interested in, if not medicine, what would be the best career that would make the maximum, wide-reaching impact and how do I get there? What type of degree is best?
I realize a lot of people are going to say, "^#%*#%*!!! You're asking an online forum to tell you what to do with your life?? Maybe you should figure that out for yourself noodle." Well, that's exactly what I'm trying to do. I just want to feel this out and get perspective and clarification from people with more experience and knowledge. I feel like I'm blowing in the wind here with a quickly-approaching June 1st deadline ticking in my head. Eeks!
Thanks in advance! I'm sure I'm not the only one in this position.
d), I'm facing some serious decisions here. Part of me is shooting up red flags saying that I should consider other career options. Tied into this is the fact that science was *never* my strongest subject. (Hence my 3.3 science GPA and 4.0 non-science.) I crazy love science and find it enthralling, but I've always had to work 1000 times harder to succeed in it. So do you do what you're naturally good at and enjoy? Or do what you're not as great at, but find to be challenging and exciting? My analogy is that just because you are an avid fan of baseball and follow its every move, doesn't mean you should be playing in the major leagues. I love medicine and know I would find it satisfying, but I'm now wondering if maybe there are other careers as satisfying- or maybe even more so- that come with less of the personal sacrifices (long hours, so many years of school, debt, red-tape BS, etc.). Specifically, I've always been interested most in humanitarian/social work. I see myself working in organizations and/or underserved areas overseas rallying for education, social services, and human rights. I'm just not sure what this entails for myself in terms of education and the specific career title.
Some people suggested law, others public health, but part of the reason I chose medicine is because it offers the flexibility of entering these and other fields if I so choose to take my medical career in that direction. I sort of see it as the Eurail Pass of pursuing humanitarian career options, if that makes sense. However, now I'm wondering if I would be spending a ton of money and time to get a huge chunk of extra training that I will never need/use and moreover, as a result of this investment, be indebted to a field that was never really tailored for me in the first place.
Can anyone offer me advice? I'm not ruling out medicine or giving up and trying to find the next best thing; I'm trying to rule out other options to make sure that medicine is in fact the best field for me. Thus, given the description of what I am interested in, if not medicine, what would be the best career that would make the maximum, wide-reaching impact and how do I get there? What type of degree is best?
I realize a lot of people are going to say, "^#%*#%*!!! You're asking an online forum to tell you what to do with your life?? Maybe you should figure that out for yourself noodle." Well, that's exactly what I'm trying to do. I just want to feel this out and get perspective and clarification from people with more experience and knowledge. I feel like I'm blowing in the wind here with a quickly-approaching June 1st deadline ticking in my head. Eeks!
Thanks in advance! I'm sure I'm not the only one in this position.
