I Am So Confused!!!

[snoopy69]

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I am an undergrad now and I am really confused about what I want to do. I am pretty sure that the medical field is for me, but I'm not sure what profession I would like the best. It seems as though all my fellow biology major students are gung ho about the premed route and so sure about their future. Recently I have been considering medical school also, but I don't know if it's for me or not. I don't know if I would just be doing it cuz everyone else is (i.e. for the wrong reasons), but I am also scared that I may regret not going later in life since I would feel such a sense of accomplishment and respect upon getting an MD or DO. I am also considering AA school or CRNA since I am interested in anesthesia. I have read horror stories from med students that feel like 8 years of their life was stolen from them, and I also know some midlevel providers that wish they had gone to med school. I have good grades and have done most of the prereqs, and a few people have been encouraging me to go for it, but I'm not sure. I feel like I may be missing out on my life while I'm in med school, since I feel like undergrad has been so time consuming as it is. I don't know if I'd be able to handle the mental strain, fatigue, etc... I was wondering if you all could give me some insight on these feelings. How did you decide on med school above other medical professions? Have any of you had these feelings as well? Have all the sacrifices you've made been worth it? Some female perspectives about med school and starting families would be helpful too. Sorry for this long post!

 

[Ratch]

i sat where you did once too - i had actually applied and been accepted to PA schools my senior year of college, and then one night i couldn't sleep because i was really scared of having an acronym behind my name at 24 years of age, and i decided to decline the acceptance. i had always been interested in research, so i did preclinical tox on monkeys for a year testing for cardiovascular effect. research was cool, but you need a PhD to really get your own work accomplished or considered, and its pretty impersonal. monkeys are only fun to talk to for a few minutes. tried two years of pharmaceuticals, worked in corporate and dealt with patients and hcp's for two years. was enjoyable and made bundles of dough, but man once you learn your job is boring as all belief, and its extermely heirarichial in big pharma.

biggest things i took away from working instead of going to school right away:
1. a better sense that medicine was the field i wanted to go into, after looking into research and pharm
2. a definite understanding that most management in this country is poorly picked, and that i would have to work under then, which i quickly learned does not suit my personality well
3. a realization that if i wanted to be as close to my own boss as possible, i would need to get a MD/DO, not a PA or NP

my suggestions for ya:
evaluate what it is about the sciences that you find interesting - people, cells, disease, microscopes, etc. then look at the career posibilities and educational requirements.
SHADOW AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE - this is the most important thing people in medicine neglect to do. i am not talking about a day or something. you need to spend lots of time with lots of different HCP, and gain a perspective on what their life is like, what their job is like, what the patient population is like, what limitations do they have based on their training and had a # of years in the field helped patch up any deficits. i shadowed an entire summer, 9-5, in a low income clinic that had two NP, two PA, a DO and an MD. granted i had to work side jobs and ask my parents for a little help, but i definitely got an awesome feel for the types of careers in medicine.

good luck, its a long road to travel, but if you are going to pay the money to get a degree, make sure you look at all your options. would you buy a car without test driving it first?

 

[DrMom]

duplicate thread, so closing. feel free to contribute to the open one in pre-allo