"I can't see myself being/doing anything else..."

[ProtonatedAlchy]

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"I can't see myself being/doing anything else..."

Two dean of admissions have told me never to say this in an interview. They like to see people who have considered other professions and aren't so one sided toward medicine their entire lives

 

[EmpathMan]

I think this is one of those moments where someone needs to put their arm around the shoulders of a few of you and walk you slowly to a private area and have a quiet talk with you about life. If someone wants to be a doctor with all their heart and soul and might and are extremely passionate about it and simply don't want to be/do anything else because this is WHAT they want.... What gives you the right to bash them and say "OH WOW THEY'RE SO ONE-SIDED MAN THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT, THEY DON'T REALLY WANT TO BE A DOCTOR, E.T.C"

Lulz is all I have to say, empathy is a trait everyone should strive to have. 😉

<3<3 all

 

[StormingWynn]

I think this is one of those moments where someone needs to put their arm around the shoulders of a few of you and walk you slowly to a private area and have a quiet talk with you about life. If someone wants to be a doctor with all their heart and soul and might and are extremely passionate about it and simply don't want to be/do anything else because this is WHAT they want.... What gives you the right to bash them and say "OH WOW THEY'RE SO ONE-SIDED MAN THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT, THEY DON'T REALLY WANT TO BE A DOCTOR, E.T.C"

Lulz is all I have to say, empathy is a trait everyone should strive to have. 😉

<3<3 all

I wasn't trying to offend anyone by making this thread. I was just trying to understand why a lot of premeds always say those words?

 

[Compass]

Empathy is nice, but so is a realistic view on life. Some people are just not meant to be doctors, police officers, teachers, etc.

 

[Danae00]

.

 

[halekulani]

Don't you guys think that's really old and blatantly stupid? Come on.. I read this in every thread asking about future plans. Yes I want to be a doctor BUT I can see myself in other professions. Do people seriously lack that imagination to see themselves in other professions? Or are they just not wanting to? I thought I just throw this out there because it's rather irritating and very mundane on this forum.

nobody really knows what they want to do

but everyone knows what they don't want to do.

 

[sylvanthus]

I agree, I find this phrase to be irritating as well because I think in the vast vast majority of cases it is not truly an honest reason. Very very few pre-meds actually have a clue what medicine is all about. Their exposure consists of "shadowing" a doctor for a few hours on occasion or "volunteering" in the ER folding blankets. That is not enough real exposure to actually state that they cannot see themselves doing anything else.

 

[thepoopologist]

I have a variety of interests that mostly fall in the arts. I seriously considered trying for the writer/novelist career but the practical side of me led me to medicine, which is an interesting enough field for me to warrant the time commitment. I'm 27 years old and I could not see myself slaving away at a job and spending my hours afterward at the typewriter for a couple years with no guarantee of success. Not that I'm aiming for last place, but with medical school I could graduate last in my class and still be a doctor earning a six figure salary. The same does not necessarily apply to law or business school.

Some of my friends are engineers. I'd say that's the second most stable job I can think of, although engineers are more a commodity than physicians, who don't always have to be at the whim of an employer. The ones who graduated with higher gpas generally had an easier time finding a job than the ones with 2.7's, and started with higher salaries than the ones with 2.7's. But the 2.7's eventually found jobs too and worked their asses off, and eventually that evened out the playing field. Hell, one of them lied his way into Yahoo and his starting salary was $75,000 at 22 years old.

But I digress. If medicine doesn't work out, and that's a big IF, I'd gun for a writing career, and if that doesn't work out, then I really have no clue what I'd do. I'm into photography but most people cannot make a living as photographers. I like eating a good meal but most chefs don't make enough money unless they run a successful restaurant, and I've worked at one and it isn't very satisfying making the same dish over and over again.

You'll meet plenty of people with a one dimensional view on life, and a one dimensional goal, and although it sometimes makes them not-so-interesting people to talk to, you'll realize that it works for them when that single mindeness takes them to their goal. I'd say it's much easier studying all day and night in medical school when you%0Proxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 eally can't think of anything you'd rather be than a doctor.

I'm not saying money is everything BUT I don't want to spend my 30's and beyond thinking about things like basic survival. A medical career will provide me with a comfortable enough existence that'll allow me to focus on the pleasures of life, and isn't that what we all aim for?

Anyway, please excuse me. I need to take a dump and then go study my brains out. Finals and all in a month. I love the crushing pressure of med school, it makes me hot.

 

[dukemed22]

I agree with most of your points... all I was trying to say was that it is somwhat useless to compare the average mba to the average md, just because there are a lot more MBAs than there are doctors.

I don't buy the idea that just because someone is good enough to get into medical school, they will automatically be successful in something else.

MBA admissions are very different from MD admissions, for one - volunteering is not a de facto requirement, job experience is extremely important, you'll typically need an LoR from an employer, etc. And after that, doing well in organic chemistry says little about how well you can negotiate and succeed in business. Anyway, to get a job in finance, you'll probably need a top undergrad degree, which isn't something every premed has.

While the average premed who makes it to medical school is probably likely to be above average based his/her GPA (which does help in MBA admissions) and work ethic (which helps everywhere), the assumption that all medical students could have gone to Harvard/Stanford/Kellogg/Wharton/Sloan/Chicago business school and made millions in finance/consulting/trading is probably not accurate.

 

[dukemed22]

42% of med school applicants get in, last I checked. 42% of MBA grads DO NOT make better average salaries than physicians. And memorizing a bunch of science facts and carrying water around in the ER are not good indicators of a career in business. Both careers require two VERY different skill sets. There are plenty of students from top law schools graduating that cannot find jobs do to oversaturation of attorneys. And even then, the average salary for lawyers is still much less than physicians.

The fact still stands, if there is one career to be average in, it's medicine.

I agree with your last point. But again, all I was trying to say was that there are a lot of MBAs, but nowhere near as many doctors. So of course the average MBA will make less... I'm just wondering if this is a good comparison to make. Same with law school grads, there are a lot more than there are md/do grads. If you have some stats of what the top 40% of MBAs make, I'd be interested to see them (not doubting you, but I'm just curious)

 

[Mopp22]

I can see myself being an astronaut, how's that for imagination?

 

[StormingWynn]

I can see myself being an astronaut, how's that for imagination?

What me an other people are trying to say is that a lot of people who are premeds are one-dimensional and should explore fields other than medicine just in case it doesn't work out. Isn't this what an ADCOM wants? a well rounded individual that has explored all possibilities?

 

[Mopp22]

I know what you're trying to say, geez....

 

[StormingWynn]

I know what you're trying to say, geez....

lol sorry.. 😉

 

[Mopp22]

Its ok.