I Quit

[mercymercy]

After all the effort i put into the MCAT, prereqs shadowing and interviews. I have decided to call it quits even though i presently have 3 acceptances. I am no longer comfortable with medicine as a profession. I wish I had thought a lot more about this choice before wasting some of my time, but it is better for me to quit now than later. While I have an interest in medicine, I am not happy with the way medicine is being practiced today. I really researched the profession, talking to ~30 doctors so far, and I don't like what I am hearing. Everyone seems to believe things are spiraling out of control. The climax for me was I even approached the dean of students affairs of one of the schools that accepted me and she set up interviews with some doctors for me. You would have thought that they will somehow be encouraging, but they kept going with the same negative stuff. Only one out of six doctors took his time to highlight a few very abstract positives. Maybe it is just faith that has made me talk to the few bitter doctors out there, but i now believe that the sacrifice is not worth it. I plan on contacting the schools that offered me a spot this fall to tell them i am no longer interested, hopefully that will open up an opportunity for other brave people willing to go into medicine. As for me, I begin a pursuit of a computer science degree while attemping to get into dental school, and I am pretty sure I will never look back.

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[DrBowtie]

Have you talked to numerous dentists or computer science people? I'm sure you'll hear much of the same negatives. The grass is always greener on the other side.

 

[NervousNed]

well, it seems like you've done your research, and im sure you will be happy with your decision, and i have heard a lot of negativity myself from the doctors i have shadowed, but i have also heard even amongst the negativity, that they could not see themselves doing anything else, but like i said, you seem to have done your research, but before you leave ill put up these options for you, if your interested in medicine, theres so many types of fields, you could be a professor, you could be a researcher, etc. is nothing left in the field of medicine that interests you? anyway just hate to see someone drop off after all that hard work

 

[Stolenspatulas]

After all the effort i put into the MCAT, prereqs shadowing and interviews. I have decided to call it quits even though i presently have 3 acceptances. I am no longer comfortable with medicine as a profession. I wish I had thought a lot more about this choice before wasting some of my time, but it is better for me to quit now than later. While I have an interest in medicine, I am not happy with the way medicine is being practiced today. I really researched the profession, talking to ~30 doctors so far, and I don't like what I am hearing. Everyone seems to believe things are spiraling out of control. The climax for me was I even approached the dean of students affairs of one of the schools that accepted me and she set up interviews with some doctors for me. You would have thought that they will somehow be encouraging, but they kept going with the same negative stuff. Only one out of six doctors took his time to highlight a few very abstract positives. Maybe it is just faith that has made me talk to the few bitter doctors out there, but i now believe that the sacrifice is not worth it. I plan on contacting the schools that offered me a spot this fall to tell them i am no longer interested, hopefully that will open up an opportunity for other brave people willing to go into medicine. As for me, I begin a pursuit of a computer science degree while attemping to get into dental school, and I am pretty sure I will never look back.

wow.

you know the dentists are generally not exceptionally happy with their lives as well, right?

Your choice. Good for you in figuring this out now instead of later.

 

[Taty]

After all the effort i put into the MCAT, prereqs shadowing and interviews. I have decided to call it quits even though i presently have 3 acceptances. I am no longer comfortable with medicine as a profession. I wish I had thought a lot more about this choice before wasting some of my time, but it is better for me to quit now than later. While I have an interest in medicine, I am not happy with the way medicine is being practiced today. I really researched the profession, talking to ~30 doctors so far, and I don't like what I am hearing. Everyone seems to believe things are spiraling out of control. The climax for me was I even approached the dean of students affairs of one of the schools that accepted me and she set up interviews with some doctors for me. You would have thought that they will somehow be encouraging, but they kept going with the same negative stuff. Only one out of six doctors took his time to highlight a few very abstract positives. Maybe it is just faith that has made me talk to the few bitter doctors out there, but i now believe that the sacrifice is not worth it. I plan on contacting the schools that offered me a spot this fall to tell them i am no longer interested, hopefully that will open up an opportunity for other brave people willing to go into medicine. As for me, I begin a pursuit of a computer science degree while attemping to get into dental school, and I am pretty sure I will never look back.

I was bored with Computer Science and yes it maybe gives you an opportunity to make 70k when you are 25, but I am giving it up for medicine

 

[mercymercy]

Have you talked to numerous dentists or computer science people? I'm sure you'll hear much of the same negatives. The grass is always greener on the other side.

Actually I have. I presently work at a software company, and I have talked to quite a number of dentists. What I like about my conversation with them, is the fact that they seem to know what their future looks like. Physicians on the other hand, simply have no clue.

 

[DrBowtie]

Actually I have. I presently work at a software company, and I have talked to quite a number of dentists. What I like about my conversation with them, is the fact that they seem to know what their future looks like. Physicians on the other hand, simply have no clue.

Hmm...I've heard quite the opposite with CS jobs. A good chunk are getting outsourced.

 

[Taty]

Hmm...I've heard quite the opposite with CS jobs. A good chunk are getting outsourced.

Agree, plus, if u dont have a prior experience it is very difficult to get a job.

 

[Eric Lindros]

After all the effort i put into the MCAT, prereqs shadowing and interviews. I have decided to call it quits even though i presently have 3 acceptances. I am no longer comfortable with medicine as a profession. I wish I had thought a lot more about this choice before wasting some of my time, but it is better for me to quit now than later. While I have an interest in medicine, I am not happy with the way medicine is being practiced today. I really researched the profession, talking to ~30 doctors so far, and I don't like what I am hearing. Everyone seems to believe things are spiraling out of control. The climax for me was I even approached the dean of students affairs of one of the schools that accepted me and she set up interviews with some doctors for me. You would have thought that they will somehow be encouraging, but they kept going with the same negative stuff. Only one out of six doctors took his time to highlight a few very abstract positives. Maybe it is just faith that has made me talk to the few bitter doctors out there, but i now believe that the sacrifice is not worth it. I plan on contacting the schools that offered me a spot this fall to tell them i am no longer interested, hopefully that will open up an opportunity for other brave people willing to go into medicine. As for me, I begin a pursuit of a computer science degree while attemping to get into dental school, and I am pretty sure I will never look back.

You couldn't have thought about this before you took the MCAT, prereqs, and paid for applications?

 

[soco]

Unbelievable, you go into medicine to fix things and you complain when you have to fix something? You can whine or you can do something about it. Ever hear of health policy(MPP)? It looks like someone forgot to tell you about that track during your 30+ interviews.

Except, with the sort of negative attitude you have right now I doubt that you'd manage it. Later, have fun in dental school.

 

[excalibur]

Talk to some anesthesiologists. They are all pretty happy and enjoy the medicine they practice. Remember there are about 20 or so specialties to choose from for residency. You can loathe 19 of those, but there may be one which you think is awesome.

 

[HumbleMD]

Hmm...I've heard quite the opposite with CS jobs. A good chunk are getting outsourced.

If it's about the cash, then dentistry is a good choice. With all of the cosmetic procudures out there, dentistry is the place to be for those motivated by $.

 

[bubabugster]

After all the effort i put into the MCAT, prereqs shadowing and interviews. I have decided to call it quits even though i presently have 3 acceptances. I am no longer comfortable with medicine as a profession. I wish I had thought a lot more about this choice before wasting some of my time, but it is better for me to quit now than later. While I have an interest in medicine, I am not happy with the way medicine is being practiced today. I really researched the profession, talking to ~30 doctors so far, and I don't like what I am hearing. Everyone seems to believe things are spiraling out of control. The climax for me was I even approached the dean of students affairs of one of the schools that accepted me and she set up interviews with some doctors for me. You would have thought that they will somehow be encouraging, but they kept going with the same negative stuff. Only one out of six doctors took his time to highlight a few very abstract positives. Maybe it is just faith that has made me talk to the few bitter doctors out there, but i now believe that the sacrifice is not worth it. I plan on contacting the schools that offered me a spot this fall to tell them i am no longer interested, hopefully that will open up an opportunity for other brave people willing to go into medicine. As for me, I begin a pursuit of a computer science degree while attemping to get into dental school, and I am pretty sure I will never look back.

What were the major points that turned you off from medicine? Another thing to consider is that the doctors who seem to be most unhappiest were the ones who were practicing and getting lots of money before the HMOS, etc. really started to take control of how patients are treated.... Have you talked to doctors that just got out of residency? Maybe they will have a different perspective? But still, at the end of the day, you're a doctor and have the ability to help people extensively i.e. set-up free clinics for underserved populations., go to thrid world countries etc.. In the end, it's all about attitude.

 

[Robizzle]

Note the date, attempt #502562 in trying to explain why medicine isn't the best job on earth to SDN pre-meds: 02/05/07

 

[stixx]

CS is quite possibly the most unstable area you could get into.

The 90s boom encouraged way too many kids to get CS degrees, now not only are they being pushed out of their jobs by software engineers, they also have to worry about outsourcing.

You'd be going from having infinite job security as a doctor to virtually 0...if medicine's not for you that's great, but yea as said the grass is greener...

 

[NervousNed]

i think hes switching not because of the money just cause he didnt like the job he saw, at least thats what im hoping, can the OP comment on what exactly about it he didnt like? was it the stress or the excessive work hours etc?

 

[khadija]

at first i thought this was a joke. but i guess u r serious. if this is what u really want, then it is better for u to drop medicine before u go through med school than after. but u might still want to think about it. u r obviously a very intelligent person and will probably be successful no matter what u do. what exactly was it that u were so dissatisfied about? that medicine isn't practiced the way it should? have u thought about complimentary and alternative medicine, or homeopathic or natural medicine?

 

[Eric Lindros]

Note the date, attempt #502562 in trying to explain why medicine isn't the best job on earth to SDN pre-meds: 02/05/06.

I'm confused, did you mean 07?

 

[stixx]

i think hes switching not because of the money just cause he didnt like the job he saw, at least thats what im hoping, can the OP comment on what exactly about it he didnt like? was it the stress or the excessive work hours etc?

It's not the money so much as the uncertainty...if dental doesn't work out OP could be unemployed with a CS degree for a lot longer than expected

edit: and that's a key word..."unemployed" - you'll never hear doctors complain about that, because it doesn't exist for them. Especially up in Canada where there's a shortage. You can pretty much do anything, hospital or private practice, any specialty or none, and live anywhere. Your services as a doc will always be in need. There are ups and downs to every profession...has the OP ever met anyone who simply gloated about how amazing their profession is? I doubt it.,

 

[RAD11]

First of all congrats on your acceptances! You have to do what is best for you. However, with that said, make sure you think about your next move very carefully. If you decide to withdraw from your acceptances now, they might not be easy to come by later on (if you decide you want to go into medicine after all).

 

[stiffany]

After all the effort i put into the MCAT, prereqs shadowing and interviews. I have decided to call it quits even though i presently have 3 acceptances. I am no longer comfortable with medicine as a profession. I wish I had thought a lot more about this choice before wasting some of my time, but it is better for me to quit now than later. While I have an interest in medicine, I am not happy with the way medicine is being practiced today. I really researched the profession, talking to ~30 doctors so far, and I don't like what I am hearing. Everyone seems to believe things are spiraling out of control. The climax for me was I even approached the dean of students affairs of one of the schools that accepted me and she set up interviews with some doctors for me. You would have thought that they will somehow be encouraging, but they kept going with the same negative stuff. Only one out of six doctors took his time to highlight a few very abstract positives. Maybe it is just faith that has made me talk to the few bitter doctors out there, but i now believe that the sacrifice is not worth it. I plan on contacting the schools that offered me a spot this fall to tell them i am no longer interested, hopefully that will open up an opportunity for other brave people willing to go into medicine. As for me, I begin a pursuit of a computer science degree while attemping to get into dental school, and I am pretty sure I will never look back.

Personally, this is one of the most asinine posts I've ever read. You give up years of work because out of six doctors you met with, many were troubled by the state of medicine in this country and the rigor of medical training? All of which who are probably in academic medicine since you were referred to them by the dean? wtf bbq. Suck it up, go to med school, land a derm residency, and become a dermatologist. Work 35 hrs a week, make half a mil, and get months of vacation time. Your life in medicine doesn't have to revolve around the confines of a hospital suite wrought with uncompensated care problems, overloaded patient rosters, crappy physician reimbursements for non-procedure based visits, and internal med docs who think the hospital is life.

Instead, you're going back to school for a comp sci degree and to apply again to another professional school. Unfortunately, the people I've met in dental school aren't happy either. They're stressed and overworked also. Maybe their training isn't quite as masochistic as medicine and maybe dentistry doesn't have as many problems with funding, etcetera (I would argue because it's not as tied to overall health - and therefore a much smaller system), but there will still be things you'll hate about the profession.

I say give yourself a month or two before you decide to throw in the towel completely and mess up your chances if you decide that medicine is ultimately for you. Breath, consider shadowing a doctor who actually likes his/her job, and consider your other options by talking to dentists and shadowing their work also. Know what you're getting yourself into instead of plunging towards the deep end.

 

[Misfit!]

CS is quite possibly the most unstable area you could get into.

The 90s boom encouraged way too many kids to get CS degrees, now not only are they being pushed out of their jobs by software engineers, they also have to worry about outsourcing.

You'd be going from having infinite job security as a doctor to virtually 0...if medicine's not for you that's great, but yea as said the grass is greener...

Yes, exactly.

I would go speak to someone who works 9-7 in a cubicle every day of their lives before you make the jump. My sister tried this out in the tech industry, absolutely hated it, and decided to go back to get her phD even though her salary prospects will be worse in academia.
Maybe you should try working for a few years and see how you like it, and try to decide if that's something you could see yourself doing for the rest of your life.

 

[foofish]

CS is quite possibly the most unstable area you could get into.

The 90s boom encouraged way too many kids to get CS degrees, now not only are they being pushed out of their jobs by software engineers, they also have to worry about outsourcing.

You'd be going from having infinite job security as a doctor to virtually 0...if medicine's not for you that's great, but yea as said the grass is greener...

I was going to say the exact same thing, that I was under the impression that the golden era of CS had passed. I'm a few years out of college now, but the CS boom was probably at its peak when I started (and everyone and their mother was either doing CS or ibanking), but 4 years later when I graduated most of my CS friends were jumping ship (out of misery and lack of job prospects...and these were highly qualified, brilliant CS people). I can't tell you how many people I know who wanted to kill themselves after working for a year or two for some of the most coveted CS companies out there, and who quit their 6-figure starting salaries to go do God-knows-what because they were really just that utterly unhappy. And don't dentists have one of the highest suicide rates (after toll booth workers)?

OP--I'm glad you came to this conclusion now, and the fact that I think you're insane to think CS and dentistry are happier and more reliable fields to go into probably highlights the fact that--on a personal level--medicine is a bad choice for you and a good choice for myself and the other posters. Good luck!

 

[spicedmanna]

After all the effort i put into the MCAT, prereqs shadowing and interviews. I have decided to call it quits even though i presently have 3 acceptances. I am no longer comfortable with medicine as a profession. I wish I had thought a lot more about this choice before wasting some of my time, but it is better for me to quit now than later. While I have an interest in medicine, I am not happy with the way medicine is being practiced today. I really researched the profession, talking to ~30 doctors so far, and I don't like what I am hearing. Everyone seems to believe things are spiraling out of control. The climax for me was I even approached the dean of students affairs of one of the schools that accepted me and she set up interviews with some doctors for me. You would have thought that they will somehow be encouraging, but they kept going with the same negative stuff. Only one out of six doctors took his time to highlight a few very abstract positives. Maybe it is just faith that has made me talk to the few bitter doctors out there, but i now believe that the sacrifice is not worth it. I plan on contacting the schools that offered me a spot this fall to tell them i am no longer interested, hopefully that will open up an opportunity for other brave people willing to go into medicine. As for me, I begin a pursuit of a computer science degree while attemping to get into dental school, and I am pretty sure I will never look back.

If you are being genuine, then thank you for not going into medicine. That last thing we need are more bitter physicians who will complain instead of trying to be a part of the solution to our current healthcare situation.

I wish you all the best and hope that you will find your life's work, whatever that is.

 

[Mr. Tee]

There's no foolin me.

 

[DrBowtie]

So whose clamoring for his 3 spots?

 

[morriske]

So whose clamoring for his 3 spots?

hmm...are any of them in Chicago?

 

[TSK]

I'm sure you could find 30 or so professionals in any field that aren't pleased with the direction of the profession or in general. As a matter of fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone that was completely "happy" with their profession. Even entertainers and athletes who get paid millions of dollars to do what they love/are good at are perpetually complaining about their profession.

Unless you are more specific about what makes you think you'll be so unhappy in medicine, I think you'll have a hard time finding a comparable field with dissimilar woes....

 

[Stolenspatulas]

Remember that doctors in the past were likely more motivated by money and family pressure to become doctors than today. Many doctors went into medicine because there fathers practiced medicine.

meaning, you are asking the wrong people. the ''right people'' are those presently going into medical school that aren't as motivated by these reasons and instead by more ''pure'' reasons to go into this field. I think doctors, as a profession, will experience an increase in job satisfaction. my .02$.

 

[msundi83]

Good luck with your decision. I don't think anyone should try to disuade you since they don't know you personally. Either way it is a decision you should have to live with and even if it is the wrong one you can be sure you made it and didn't involve to much info from anonymous posters on a premedical forum in your decision.

 

[Stolenspatulas]

There's no foolin me.

that was my first thought as well. its a sad world that requires us to be cynics when it comes to premed confessions.

 

[mercymercy]

i think hes switching not because of the money just cause he didnt like the job he saw, at least thats what im hoping, can the OP comment on what exactly about it he didnt like? was it the stress or the excessive work hours etc?

It all started when one of my mentors quit medicine because of her rising malpractice insurance. She told me gynaecologists are facing that problem all over the country. Well, I decided I might not go into gynaecology afterall, but I was curious about what the real life challenges of a physician are. That was when I decided to start talking to different doctors. The problems for me boiled down to the cost, uncertainty, and potential loss of family time due to long work hours. I know some of the specialties are easy on hours, but lets be honest, the chances of becoming a dermatologist are pretty slim. I was also not comfortable with the idea that I might be forced practice a profession that I don't like just because I owe money. I am not discouraging anyone from medicine, I just feel like it is not for me.

 

[spicedmanna]

Remember that doctors in the past were likely more motivated by money and family pressure to become doctors than today. Many doctors went into medicine because there fathers practiced medicine.

meaning, you are asking the wrong people. the ''right people'' are those presently going into medical school that aren't as motivated by these reasons and instead by more ''pure'' reasons to go into this field. I think doctors, as a profession, will experience an increase in job satisfaction. my .02$.

I tend to agree with much of what you are saying. I've talked with quite a few docs, too, and the ones who are my parents' age (~60's) are often more disillusioned than the docs my age (~30's). The younger docs seem to be more keenly aware about the current state of our healthcare system. They definitely cite the problems they face everyday due to rising healthcare costs, HMO's, lack of access, paperwork, population growing older, and insurance limitations, but they also cite their love of patient management at the level of the physician as the overwhelming redeeming factor.

 

[NervousNed]

guys give him a break

1. there is nothing wrong with the cs industry at all, i was a comp eng for 3 years, had o problem finding a job, had no problem staying secure, baby boomers are retiring and if you research more those jobs are not declining they are growing once again

2. cs people dont worry about malpractice at all, they dont worry about how to pay off debt etc, they arent in loads of paper work and worrying about health policty etc. , they work on very tough problems as well and if he likes that more i tihnk thats fine

I think if you arent 100 % certain about medicine your doing the right thing, work a few years find out what its like to work in the real world, then if you feel you want to come back you still can, i think were being too harsh on the person, its much harder to do the opposite become a doctor then wonder forever if the grass was indeed greener on the other side, so work then see if you want to be a doctor, you got a long time to decide

 

[HumbleMD]

Geez, we're seeing the common problem with many posters on SDN here. Everyone over-personalizes things. If the medical profession isn't right for the OP, that's fine, and probably a good thing to realize now. It not being right for MercyMercy does not mean that the rest of use are throwing our lives away, so stop getting so defensive as if the OP were attacking out very being.

 

[Towelie]

Troll.

About as subtle as premedmachine, if you ask me.

 

[Mr. Tee]

Troll.

About as subtle as premedmachine, if you ask me.

No he isn't. I quit medicine too!

He's better than premedmachine. He made a 44 MCAT, so you should listen and quit too.

 

[45408]

guys give him a break

$5 says it's a girl from the tone of the post, and $5 says it's a guy because it's computer science. I'm torn.

Anyways, I think the OP has made a lot of mistakes, and hopefully this isn't another one. Dental school is just as bad as med school. Except there are a lot fewer ways to specialize in dentistry.

 

[xylem29]

Wow - that's insane. I've only spoken to one doc, and that one doc said something along those negative lines - that it's not what you think it is, pay is not what you think it is, hours are bad, and it's not worth the time and money that you invest into it. However, he said that given these negatives - the only reason he is still in medicine, is that he is doing orthopedics, which he loves - otherwise, he would've quite too.

So, I guess you just gotta find what you love. Perhaps those docs you spoke too weren't happy with medicine b/c they weren't happy with their specialty? I personally can't see how you can ever go wrong with an MD - honest to god, you can go into teaching and academia, quit medicine all together and go into business where they need physicians as consultants, practice medicine, work in a hospital, go into private practice and control your own hours, create a clinic or several, staff them with recent grads, and not practice at all and just manage your business. You can become a news correspondant like Dr. Gupta. You can create your own healthcare radio program or television program. You can go int hospital administration. Healthcare policy. You can become a politician. Jesus - there's so much you can do after medical school, it's not like you wasted your time and are limited to practicing medicine.

 

[Stolenspatulas]

$5 says it's a girl from the tone of the post, and $5 says it's a guy because it's computer science. I'm torn.

Anyways, I think the OP has made a lot of mistakes, and hopefully this isn't another one. Dental school is just as bad as med school. Except there are a lot fewer ways to specialize in dentistry.

$5 the colts win the superbowl. I'll give you 100:1 odds. Come on you can make $500!! thats like 40 cases of busch light!

 

[vmc303]

Wow - that's insane. I've only spoken to one doc, and that one doc said something along those negative lines - that it's not what you think it is, pay is not what you think it is, hours are bad, and it's not worth the time and money that you invest into it. However, he said that given these negatives - the only reason he is still in medicine, is that he is doing orthopedics, which he loves - otherwise, he would've quite too.

So, I guess you just gotta find what you love. Perhaps those docs you spoke too weren't happy with medicine b/c they weren't happy with their specialty? I personally can't see how you can ever go wrong with an MD - honest to god, you can go into teaching and academia, quit medicine all together and go into business where they need physicians as consultants, practice medicine, work in a hospital, go into private practice and control your own hours, create a clinic or several, staff them with recent grads, and not practice at all and just manage your business. You can become a news correspondant like Dr. Gupta. You can create your own healthcare radio program or television program. You can go int hospital administration. Healthcare policy. You can become a politician. Jesus - there's so much you can do after medical school, it's not like you wasted your time and are limited to practicing medicine.

Going to medical school, without actually planning to, you know, practice medicine, is kind of a bad idea.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

After all the effort i put into the MCAT, prereqs shadowing and interviews. I have decided to call it quits even though i presently have 3 acceptances. I am no longer comfortable with medicine as a profession. I wish I had thought a lot more about this choice before wasting some of my time, but it is better for me to quit now than later. While I have an interest in medicine, I am not happy with the way medicine is being practiced today. I really researched the profession, talking to ~30 doctors so far, and I don't like what I am hearing. Everyone seems to believe things are spiraling out of control.

Please really think hard about this, since you have already been working in the computer industry I think you can possibly switch back later. But you can't do that with medicine. You say you might regret sticking with it later, but that seems more addressable than not sticking with it and regretting it later.

Everyone here knows exactly what you are talking about. HMOs and certain patients want to rape us up the ass with lead pipes. The money is going to ****, the hours are rising as fast as a 13 year old boy's wang in the morning, having a family means hiring an illegal Mexican immigrant woman over 50 to come take care of your kids because you have no money or time, and not to mention loan sharks will be coming to beat your legs with bats and violate your wife because you owe 200k in tuition money.

The reason why (at least for me) that I am sticking with it is because of how sh*tty it has become. I walk into my clinical volunteering in undergrad expecting to have medical moments worthy of NBC or ABC primetime television where patients and family hug me and cry and say oh dear god thank you for being here to help us. Instead I'm telling people that we don't have the medication for them because we are simply a free clinic. I'm telling people who have gone to the ER and found out that they need surgery to go back to the ER because we can't do anything for them. I watch little kids come in with all sorts of problems that could have avoided with basic things like immunizations and primary care. But everyone here knows this too. Everyone here has felt this in some sort of fashion at some point in their premed career.

To the rest of you, some people like mercy can't handle it and turn their backs on it. Thats perfectly fine and thats his prerogative. But don't let that discourage you because the next generation of docs need to be leaders and fighters, not people who shy away from a good scrap. I see in your posts the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come where the courage of premeds and docs fails, where we forsake the sick and break all bonds of the patient-caregiver fellowship, but it is not THIS day. An hour of codes and shattered stethoscopes, when the age of medicine comes crashing down! But it is not THIS day! This day we FIGHT! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth I bid yoU STAND, DOCS OF THE WEST(ern Hemisphere)!



oH mY GOd wE r GoING tO DIe

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

OK I am in the same boat as you. I have 5 aceptances and was contemplating throwing the towel in. I have an extensive education including a U of C MBA and am giving up a high 6 figure salary to go to medical school. Here is what I am going to do: Go to medical school and try out the first year and get to know more about medicine FOR MY SELF, not from shadowing, not from chatting with people, but with my own two eyes and ears.

Actually a good deal of docs on this site will tell you that med school is nothing like practicing medicine... I'd have to say you would AT LEAST have to go through your clinical years to really begin to understand medicine

 

[deleted103644]

Not that I'd necessarily advocate it, but there are plenty of lucrative things you can do with an MD besides practice medicine. You might even be able to convince yourself that you're helping people. There are plenty of financial jobs out there for disgruntled M.D.'s, and healthcare consulting firms would probably pay more for an MD than an MBA.

 

[BNSN]

Please really think hard about this, since you have already been working in the computer industry I think you can possibly switch back later. But you can't do that with medicine. You say you might regret sticking with it later, but that seems more addressable than not sticking with it and regretting it later.

Everyone here knows exactly what you are talking about. HMOs and certain patients want to rape us up the ass with lead pipes. The money is going to ****, the hours are rising as fast as a 13 year old boy's wang in the morning, having a family means hiring an illegal Mexican immigrant woman over 50 to come take care of your kids because you have no money or time, and not to mention loan sharks will be coming to beat your legs with bats and violate your wife because you owe 200k in tuition money.

The reason why (at least for me) that I am sticking with it is because of how sh*tty it has become. I walk into my clinical volunteering in undergrad expecting to have medical moments worthy of NBC or ABC primetime television where patients and family hug me and cry and say oh dear god thank you for being here to help us. Instead I'm telling people that we don't have the medication for them because we are simply a free clinic. I'm telling people who have gone to the ER and found out that they need surgery to go back to the ER because we can't do anything for them. I watch little kids come in with all sorts of problems that could have avoided with basic things like immunizations and primary care. But everyone here knows this too. Everyone here has felt this in some sort of fashion at some point in their premed career.

To the rest of you, some people like mercy can't handle it and turn their backs on it. Thats perfectly fine and thats his prerogative. But don't let that discourage you because the next generation of docs need to be leaders and fighters, not people who shy away from a good scrap. I see in your posts the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come where the courage of premeds and docs fails, where we forsake the sick and break all bonds of the patient-caregiver fellowship, but it is not THIS day. An hour of codes and shattered stethoscopes, when the age of medicine comes crashing down! But it is not THIS day! This day we FIGHT! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth I bid yoU STAND, DOCS OF THE WEST(ern Hemisphere)!



oH mY GOd wE r GoING tO DIe

I'm in it to win it.

 

[_ian]

The grass is always greener on the other side. I regularly wobble between about thirty different career choices, and it's coming to a head now that I ought to be applying to programs very soon, and I'm only particularly qualified for the biomedical ones. MD? PhD in neuroscience? MD/PhD? MS in actuarial science? Maybe one in public health? JD? Self-study and wing the first couple actuarial exams? Live in mom's basement?

I don't doubt that the OP has made the right decision, but for anyone in this situation, it's important to understand why you are making the decision you are. You absolutely must find the things you like about the job and concentrate mostly on those. If all you can focus on are the negatives - much like myself - you'll just drive yourself crazy. Medicine has big problems. Academia has big problems. Research in industry has big problems. Business and management have big problems. Find what you enjoy and go for it, don't try your damndest to avoid things on your fear of the future.

I'm not saying to look at everything through rose-colored glasses, just don't blow the negatives out of proportion. For example, the debt a doctor incurs and the cost of malpractice isn't really that relevant in the long run -- you'll still have significantly better earning potential than a biomedical scientist over your career, despite the fact that they didn't pay a dime for graduate school!

For me, living in mom's basement is looking more and more likely, because I'm too scared to dive in to medical or graduate school. I wish I could take my own advice.

 

[Eric Lindros]

guys give him a break

1. there is nothing wrong with the cs industry at all, i was a comp eng for 3 years, had o problem finding a job, had no problem staying secure, baby boomers are retiring and if you research more those jobs are not declining they are growing once again

2. cs people dont worry about malpractice at all, they dont worry about how to pay off debt etc, they arent in loads of paper work and worrying about health policty etc. , they work on very tough problems as well and if he likes that more i tihnk thats fine

I think if you arent 100 % certain about medicine your doing the right thing, work a few years find out what its like to work in the real world, then if you feel you want to come back you still can, i think were being too harsh on the person, its much harder to do the opposite become a doctor then wonder forever if the grass was indeed greener on the other side, so work then see if you want to be a doctor, you got a long time to decide

Dude, you're so trollable.

FYI, trollable = Gullible to trolls. I might have made this word up, but who knows

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

LeT THE CONVERSATION BEGIN!!

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

im so voting for her, itd be nice to see what someone without a coin purse can do in teh white hizzyyyy

plus i want more universal health care shoved in my face

 

[basicscikills]

After all the effort i put into the MCAT, prereqs shadowing and interviews. I have decided to call it quits even though i presently have 3 acceptances. I am no longer comfortable with medicine as a profession. I wish I had thought a lot more about this choice before wasting some of my time, but it is better for me to quit now than later. While I have an interest in medicine, I am not happy with the way medicine is being practiced today. I really researched the profession, talking to ~30 doctors so far, and I don't like what I am hearing. Everyone seems to believe things are spiraling out of control. The climax for me was I even approached the dean of students affairs of one of the schools that accepted me and she set up interviews with some doctors for me. You would have thought that they will somehow be encouraging, but they kept going with the same negative stuff. Only one out of six doctors took his time to highlight a few very abstract positives. Maybe it is just faith that has made me talk to the few bitter doctors out there, but i now believe that the sacrifice is not worth it. I plan on contacting the schools that offered me a spot this fall to tell them i am no longer interested, hopefully that will open up an opportunity for other brave people willing to go into medicine. As for me, I begin a pursuit of a computer science degree while attemping to get into dental school, and I am pretty sure I will never look back.

I'm a bit confused. Did you do any research on the state of the profession you were going into prior to making all that effort? The problems of the nation's health care system are not a new thing. The field is constantly changing, which means that many docs are going to be bitter that it is no longer what they entered into many years ago. The same can be said of the dental and computer science fields, I might add. You'll find a lot of computer people that are angry that their former cushy job got outsourced to India or wherever and now they make a fraction of what they thought they'd get coming out of school. Many dentists complain that the high costs of school and practice set up make it very difficult to make the type of money they anticipated.

I'm additionally curious as to why you selected dentistry and computer science. The two don't seem to go together that well, although perhaps you have some way that you hope they'll integrate. I'm sure there would be opportunities in medicine for a computer person, but it seems that you've already made up your mind.

The biggest thing that concerns me is that you've allowed the opinions of a few doctors to shape your understanding of the practice of medicine as a whole. Many of us who have worked in the health care industry prior to medical school feel that the challenge of helping to change a broken system is a very important part of our future practice. The fact that everything isn't wonderful in medicine makes it possible for us to make a real difference in our careers, as opposed to just collecting some cash.

In closing, I can say that as a current medical student who has worked in the health care industry prior to entering med school, I feel that the positives of medicine far outweigh the negatives. Most of the doctors I know feel the same. I'm saddened that medicine is losing someone that could have been a fine physician someday. Good luck with your application to dental school, although I hope that you spend time researching the field so that you'll understand what you're getting into.