teo752
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2021
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
Hello, I'm a 19 years old college student that really needs your help. So to begin with, in my country you enter college through a nationwide exam, like in India or China, where the higher your score the more options you have to choose your major. I managed to have such a score that enabled me to enter any major I wanted. The problem was that I didn't know what I wanted. I knew since I was little that I liked science and growing older I was considering a career in research to be the best option for me. I was especially interested in diseases mechanisms, their cures and new drugs so I was leaning towards medicine, biology or pharmacy. Unlike the US, medicine and pharmacy are considered majors, 6 and 5 years respectively. Also programs like MD/PhD do not exist. And everything you study here is 100% free
So after much self reflection and a one-day doctor shadowing, I realized I don't like patient interaction at all even though I like the diagnosis part. What I think will make me happier is researching potential cures or new drugs or anything that has to do with general human life improvement. I may sound a little too optimistic but I think I would have higher impact if I help discover a new cure than helping single patients and also it sounds more interesting to me. There is still the possibility though that the diagnosis part will make me equally happy since it seems like solving a detective's case.
In the slightly more probable scenario that I choose to follow my research passion I still don't know how to get there. My concern is salary and job opportunities if I choose the biology major->PhD path compared to MD(->PhD?) path. Will there be any preference and different salary if I'm a researcher and have an MD background? Also are there medical specialties that allow me to do research with minimum clinical duties? I know e.g. pathology has no patient interaction but I don't know if it will fascinate me. Also I have spent maybe hundreds of hours researching online about that dilemma but can't formulate a clear answer.
Last thing is that I really want to have an economically comfortable life, will research allow me to have it?
So dear students, scientists, physicians and physician-scientists according to your experience or plain judgement what would you advise that confused 19 year old kid to do?
Any advice will be hugely appreciated
Thank you for your time 🙂
So after much self reflection and a one-day doctor shadowing, I realized I don't like patient interaction at all even though I like the diagnosis part. What I think will make me happier is researching potential cures or new drugs or anything that has to do with general human life improvement. I may sound a little too optimistic but I think I would have higher impact if I help discover a new cure than helping single patients and also it sounds more interesting to me. There is still the possibility though that the diagnosis part will make me equally happy since it seems like solving a detective's case.
In the slightly more probable scenario that I choose to follow my research passion I still don't know how to get there. My concern is salary and job opportunities if I choose the biology major->PhD path compared to MD(->PhD?) path. Will there be any preference and different salary if I'm a researcher and have an MD background? Also are there medical specialties that allow me to do research with minimum clinical duties? I know e.g. pathology has no patient interaction but I don't know if it will fascinate me. Also I have spent maybe hundreds of hours researching online about that dilemma but can't formulate a clear answer.
Last thing is that I really want to have an economically comfortable life, will research allow me to have it?
So dear students, scientists, physicians and physician-scientists according to your experience or plain judgement what would you advise that confused 19 year old kid to do?
Any advice will be hugely appreciated
Thank you for your time 🙂