If you could go back in time would you do it all over again?

[vm26]

OP, a lot of these "would you do it all over again" posts come down to a few factors. One of them is what specialty people eventually match into and if it was the specialty they really wanted to be in or a specialty they had to settle with. If you end up doing what you want to do, then maybe it will have been worth it for you. But there's no guarantee you'll match into the specialty you really want to be in. Not everyone gets to do derm even if they badly want it.

That said there are people who had to settle in a specialty but then found it was the specialty they were really meant for and are happy. So another factor is your attitude or personality. Some people won't ever be happy unless they can do a certain specialty, while others find happiness despite their circumstances (e.g., maybe they can see themselves happy in several different specialties, maybe they see their specialty choice less about medicine as an all-consuming "calling" and more about medicine as a good and stable career to pursue other goals in life or maybe there's a better balance between the two). Point is, know yourself.

agree...also different jobs within a given specialty can be vastly different. If I had to stick with my 1st attending job, I would have lived a pretty miserable existence until I died prematurely from some stress induced illness...my current job is pretty awesome, count my blessings and hope it lasts long time..

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[Gator7]

As someone who only just finished 4th year last week, Yes I would do it again.

However, if I could go WAY back I would skip as many grade school levels as possible. High school was about as useless as third year clerkships. Then either attend a combined BS/MD program or take a higher amount of credits per semester to graduate undergrad in 2-3 years.

One of the chief residents at my home program was only 23, pretty sweet.




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[Petrichor1]

I had another career (which I hated) already; I made enough to not have to work ever again if I didn't want to. Going to med school was my way of "getting more" out of life and giving back. So yes, at this stage, I would do it all over again because I'm not using medicine as a means to make a living.

That said, if I could go back to being 18, I would move to an exotic location and bartend at a resort until I died. I'd never marry or have children. I'd just enjoy the outdoors, live simply, and ignore everyone that told me I needed to "do something" with my life.

You guys really haven't worked a day in your life in order to just survive. Please stop inputting ideas like this in the minds of confused ppl. I'm having a hard time with what is so wrong with our generation. I see a big contrast among the older gen that is retiring and us. Atleast in my line of work the younger gen is more mature but when I visit sdn I smell a hint of entitlement and bad advise from those that haven't experienced real hardship. I understand medicine is not amazing like you envisioned and perhaps you all didn't try for harder jobs beforehand to see what real work is like. What the average nontrad now is doing is what I consider soft jobs that require minimum qualification. If you want to see stress someone needs to do something that takes a lot of prep and certification. Even a physician I spoke with told me to go against medicine but I know ppl to be really malignant and these are the same ppl who end up with their own kids going the medical route. I honestly don't understand the hipocrasy. It's ok to not really listen after consideration of the words of even the most accomplished physicians. Maybe it's the person that gives you deterring advice chose the wrong career for their personality. It's not that difficult if you shadow them and see how they treat and assess their patients. Medicine has a lot of subjectiveness. But you have to love it with all your heart to adjust to all the criticism and nuances and have real experience in the trenches to know that it doesn't get any easier elsewhere outside of medicine. Couple years ago I was really into medicine, it was everything I thought about. I am still the same way but now having worked, I don't consider it an all consuming goal. I guess that's how I've made it work and I think that's how ppl who want a normal family life need to see it so that they chose the right career from the very beginning rather than contemplate a u turn in med school.

 

[Pathman1000]

You guys really haven't worked a day in your life in order to just survive. Please stop inputting ideas like this in the minds of confused ppl. Guys I'm having a hard time what is so wrong with our generation. I see a big contrast among the older gen that is retiring and us. Atleast on my line of work the younger gen is more mature but when I visit sdn I smell a hint of entitlement and bad advise from those that haven't experienced real hardship.

I think you are the one who is confused.

 

[Azete]

You guys really haven't worked a day in your life in order to just survive. Please stop inputting ideas like this in the minds of confused ppl. Guys I'm having a hard time what is so wrong with our generation. I see a big contrast among the older gen that is retiring and us. Atleast on my line of work the younger gen is more mature but when I visit sdn I smell a hint of entitlement and bad advise from those that haven't experienced real hardship.

I think it's time to give the bong a rest.

 

[Petrichor1]

I think you are the one who is confused.

I'm sorry did I say something that didn't go over very well. One of the posters just said teachers make over six figures like it was a common thing...this is what I mean about ppl getting their real check asap.

 

[Petrichor1]

I think it's time to give the bong a rest.

Again, what's with you guys and the vocab

 

[jw3600]

Again, what's with you guys and the vocab

Because your post was incoherent rambling garbage.

 

[doctorskywalker]

Some very unsettling posts in this thread.

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

More flapjacks and hookers.

 

[Petrichor1]

Because your post was incoherent rambling garbage.

Honestly, the US and Canada are one of the few countries that give students a much longer time to contemplate their medical career. You'd think that we'd have fewer questions regarding staying in medicine once we are in but sadly the level of maturity that shows in our entrant population is somewhat disturbing but then I doubt any of you guys are part and parcel full representations of the whole that are recognized as medical students. It's very easy to recognize that if you don't enjoy medicine there is every reason to leave yet many don't due to the fact that medical students are a select group of students who believe in delayed gratification. However, to daydream and have funny conceptions of how life alternatively should have been lived with no idea of how the real world works is where my garbage of a post was inspired. Anyways, I'd like to not continue my rambling as I know many have pointed very valid comments that are on point and definitely do not derail this thread.

 

[jw3600]

Honestly, the US and Canada are one of the few countries that give students a much longer time to contemplate their medical career. You'd think that we'd have fewer questions regarding staying in medicine once we are in but sadly the level of maturity that shows in our entrant population is somewhat disturbing but then I doubt any of you guys are part and parcel full representations of the whole that are recognized as medical students. It's very easy to recognize that if you don't enjoy medicine there is every reason to leave yet many don't due to the fact that medical students are a select group of students who believe in delayed gratification. However, to daydream and have funny conceptions of how life alternatively should have been lived with no idea of how the real world works is where my garbage of a post was inspired. Anyways, I'd like to not continue my rambling as I know many have pointed very valid comments that are on point and definitely do not derail this thread.

Do you read your posts before you post them? Is English your first language?

 

[iceman55]

I'm referencing the pay scale of the teachers in my district, which is where I likely would have taught (given that alumni receive hiring priority). I'm not saying this would have been a logical route for everyone, but the question asked was what I would have chosen if I could make a different decision, and given the cush lifestyle of the teachers I had growing up, this would have been a good alternative for me, personally. I have friends who chose this route and are making more than my friends in nursing, their hours are better, they have more scheduled breaks, and they have multiple free periods every day to work on grading so they aren't bringing home piles of **** every night.

As for going into lifestyle-friendly specialties, most of them sound like the nine circles of hell to me. I don't find them interesting, don't like the patient populations in a few of them, etc. The fields I find most stimulating are, unfortunately, some of the most taxing. For this reason, knowing what I know now, I don't think I would make the same decision again, but that's just me. You can refute it all you want but OP asked for our perspectives, and that's mine.

OP, I once talked to a recently retired surgeon on here before I started medical school, and I wish I would have paid closer attention to what he said. I remember him telling me that he didn't realize how draining medicine was on him until he reached the end of his career, and then he noticed how much it really took out of him. At that point, I had no interest in surgery and was euphoric over getting in, so I didn't mind much attention to it. Now that I'm here, I think of that comment often and fully feel how spread thin I am and will continue to be for years and years. I'm still not interested in surgery, but the fields I like routinely work their physicians 70 hours a week, and I don't particularly want to spend my life working it away. That's not to say I don't love medicine or the learning, I just have other interests and strongly dislike the idea of sacrificing them for a job.

Aren't you only an MSI ? Better take care of yourself cause things only get worse except for the second half of fourth year. I taught First and second were pretty straight forward and I enjoyed myself a bunch while still doing well in classes and step 1. But third year f**king sucks, glad I'm nearing the end of it.

And yes I would do it again, just wish medical school curriculums would change to make the third year more focused for folks that are certain of the field they want to go into instead of all the BS rotations they make you go thru third year. Duke has already started something like this with their orthopaedics department.


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[zeppelinpage4]

Aren't you only an MSI ? Better take care of yourself cause things only get worse except for the second half of fourth year. I taught First and second were pretty straight forward and I enjoyed myself a bunch while still doing well in classes and step 1. But third year f**king sucks, glad I'm nearing the end of it.

And yes I would do it again, just wish medical school curriculums would change to make the third year more focused for folks that are certain of the field they want to go into instead of all the BS rotations they make you go thru third year. Duke has already started something like this with their orthopaedics department.


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Just to give another perspective on this. I'm gonna say that it gets better in many ways.

I get where Affiche is coming from...I had a million doubts first year, new people, new classes, not knowing how to study, the transition in first year sucks. And few of your classes feel relevant...it's just two more years of college science on steroids.

I agree. With the exception of spring of 4th year, every semester of med school sucks in its own special way. And I'm sure everyone's experiences varies. But, just to give another perspective, and maybe some hope to Affiche. I felt each successive year got better.

I HATED pre-clinical years. Struggled on all my exams, got depressed sitting around in a library reading badly made power points, and truly felt there was no light at the end of the ****ty tunnel. Not to mention Step 1. Being able to sleep in and schedule my own time when classes weren't mandatory was nice, but that's about the only redeeming quality of MS1 and MS2.

Third year sucked in its own special way, the exhaustion and the pony show BS annoy me, but it was still more relevant and interesting than anything from the basic science years...making it marginally better.

I do agree, it should be more focused...but as someone who was unsure of a specialty going in, I found the variety of experiences somewhat helpful in discovering what I liked and disliked.

But as a whole, my experience was the opposite. MS4 > MS3 > MS2 > MS1 from best to worst imho, just because the material gets more relevant to what you want to do, and you become better adapted to studying and further develop friendships each successive year. Exceptions to this trend being the transition from pre-med to MS1, Step 1, and transition to clinical years which all suck extra hard.

I always struggled on exams too, which might explain why basic sciences were so tough for me.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Do most teachers just get paid for 9 months a year? Like 20 checks instead of 26?

My mom had a choice. She could either elect to have her annual salary paid monthly over 9 months or monthly over 12 months. She chose 12 months to make budgeting easier. she also worked a second job, so no free summers.

 

[mistafab]

Yeah, I'd do it again. This is dope.

Straight dope.

 

[Affiche]

To clarify a few things in this thread after seeing a few assumptions being thrown around:

1. I worked "just to survive" since I was 18 up until a few years before med school started for me. I've been at the very, very bottom of the the socioeconomic spectrum. This, largely, is why I didn't go into another career: I wanted the most stable income I could possibly secure to ensure that the days of stressing about money were behind me.
2. Depending on who you talk to, YMM on what's worse between preclinical vs clinical years. I know that at my school, preclinical years are especially taxing because of oppressive policies, scheduling nightmares and poor administration. I would not choose this school again, that's for sure. That all said, "better take care of yourself" isn't all that helpful. The issue isn't that I neglect taking care of myself or that I'm unaware of how bad the next two years will be, it's that I take care of myself and it's still often insufficient and I'm totally aware that this will likely continue throughout the next few years. I'm not depressed and I'm not struggling academically, I just don't like medical school lol.

Who knows. I may feel differently once I'm on the other side of this. But for now, I'm sick of the delayed gratification, I don't want keep putting off living for year after year, and while I'm content enough to stay, I'm aware enough of the drawbacks that I'd likely make a different decision if able to go back in time. That's all.

 

[ProfMD]

I am in a surgical subspeciality at an academic center. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of any of my colleagues who regret their decision to go into medicine. I know a few who are retirement age and looking forward to retirement. I know just as many who are past retirement age and stil jazzed to come to work everyday.

Not to say that there are not any who regret doing medicine - there are a lot of people on the medical staff and I don't know them all.

 

[bashwell]

agree...also different jobs within a given specialty can be vastly different. If I had to stick with my 1st attending job, I would have lived a pretty miserable existence until I died prematurely from some stress induced illness...my current job is pretty awesome, count my blessings and hope it lasts long time..

@vm26, you have been a huge help to me in all this, I want to say publicly, and more people would do well to heed your wisdom!

 

[Domperidone]

In all honesty though, that's probably my philosophy to most things I choose to do in life.

Each year is better than the one before though, I find.
Being a clinical year student was better than being a pre-clinical year.
Being a doctor/resident, is better than being a student.

Did I ever think it would turn out before I signed up for this?
I didn't. It was massive leap of faith. (It wasn't like..I wasn't nervous deep down about things turning out. There's multiple steps to becoming a 'dr.' and things can go wrong at each of those steps. An even worse thought was, what if I didn't like it. thankfully, medicine is diverse as it is wide in options).

To quote Steve Job's (overly quoted) Stanford address: "Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith."

 

[Robotfishbrain]

Do most teachers just get paid for 9 months a year? Like 20 checks instead of 26?

It differs on district, but my district gives teachers the option, bigger checks for 9 months or spread out for all 12 months. Most younger teachers around here just grab another gig during the summer. The teaching positions that offer $100K+ that are referenced in this thread aren't offered without contractual sacrifices (constant teacher reviews, no tenure, etc) which add SO MUCH pressure on the teacher. Not to mention these offers are extended to teachers with substantial experience, so saying that the "delayed gratification" of medicine is too demanding misses the point entirely.

If you want to be great at what you do, you'll make sacrifices in this life.

Saying that the teachers life would be easier and less stress while quoting a salary that high is just laughable.

 

[Affiche]

Not to mention these offers are extended to teachers with substantial experience, so saying that the "delayed gratification" of medicine is too demanding misses the point entirely.

If you want to be great at what you do, you'll make sacrifices in this life.

Saying that the teachers life would be easier and less stress while quoting a salary that high is just laughable.

Lol okay, dude. There are districts outside of your own. There and districts outside of mine. Whether or not you choose to believe it, some teachers actually do have a pretty good setup, my best friend being one of them, though I recognize this is generally reserved for the wealthier, suburban districts and are not the norm. Quit making broad sweeping statements about different professions, quit assuming you know better than everyone whose experiences differ from your own, quit attempting to invalidate the feelings of medical students despite not even being one, and move on.

 

[Affiche]

I imagine K-12 schools would take an MD-graduate as a teacher. It sounds like medicine has taken it's toll on you, why not try to teach if that's what you want to do?

And with comments like this, I'm not sure you should be dishing out advice or "perspective" on here.

Medicine hasn't "taken its toll" on me. My grades are excellent, I'm published, I have friends in school. I like medicine, but I recognize that I could be equally happy in another profession with less work. Most medical students would be, to be honest. Just because I'm not "omg medicine is the greatest thing ever!" doesn't mean I'm not seeing things clearly, it's because I'm being realistic. If you look at other threads about how medical students feel throughout school, most of them are burnt out, lonely, and exhausted. Will it be worth it once I'm finished with training? Probably. Would I make the same decision again, knowing what I know now? Probably not. Lots of different ways to skin a cat.

The problem is that a lot of kids get to med school, realize how much med school sucks and are disillusioned to the profession in general, but are too far in debt to take their decision back. That isn't the reason I stay, as I still like medicine, but things aren't as black and white as you make them out to be.

 

[Elessar]

Medicine hasn't "taken its toll" on me. My grades are excellent, I'm published, I have friends in school. I like medicine, but I recognize that I could be equally happy in another profession with less work. Most medical students would be, to be honest. Just because I'm not "omg medicine is the greatest thing ever!" doesn't mean I'm not seeing things clearly, it's because I'm being realistic. If you look at other threads about how medical students feel throughout school, most of them are burnt out, lonely, and exhausted. Will it be worth it once I'm finished with training? Probably. Would I make the same decision again, knowing what I know now? Probably not. Lots of different ways to skin a cat.

You're an MS1, how in the world are you this burned out already?? Med school has honestly been pretty great so far, and most everyone in my class is still saying "omg medicine is the greatest thing ever". I'm sure things will change once we go through the ringer of 3rd year, internship, residency, etc. But at this point, I would be worried if I was already feeling so pessimistic about my career...

 

[Affiche]

You're an MS1, how in the world are you this burned out already?? Med school has honestly been pretty great so far, and most everyone in my class is still saying "omg medicine is the greatest thing ever". I'm sure things will change once we go through the ringer of 3rd year, internship, residency, etc. But at this point, I would be worried if I was already feeling so pessimistic about my career...

I'm not burned out or pessimistic. I have no problem studying or keeping motivation to finish the semester, and I know that I'll have a stable career, a great salary, and like what I do. I also know that I'll be working a lot more than I would in another field, sacrifice more than I would in another field, earn my full salary much later, have less time off, and will likely have an erratic schedule.

Look, OP wanted unfiltered perspective here. A recent JAMA article quoted that over 25% of medical students are depressed. If you browse this forum, you'll see a lot of medical students coping with exhaustion, most of them from the mental/emotional exhaustion of the workload and culture. You'll also see a lot conversation about the toxic culture of medicine in pre-clinicals, clinicals, and on to residency. Before medical school, I think I justified these opinions to myself by saying those people are naturally unhappy, they weren't cut out for medicine to begin with, they were just sheltered before med school, etc. I'm trying to be real here because I would have appreciated that a year or two ago. There's a lot of great aspects of medicine that make it a truly great profession and something to be passionate about, but there are ugly sides to medicine, too. I guess I'm tired of people hushing each other or shaming people for bringing light to the ugly parts. The culture in medicine can be toxic, though this varies from place to place, and it can be a heavy weight. The environment can be especially stifling in pre-clinical years, when everyone is incredibly stressed over grades, competing with each other, and seeing other all the time.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Absolutely

 

[UGA Non Trad]

It grinds my gears regularly hearing on SDN about how teaching is such an easy gig. It makes me want to roll my eye just as much as the premeds (and other uniformed) who comment on physician salaries and their time spent playing golf. I'm cannot speak for peoples motives in medicine or previous work experience, but I would like to dispel some of the misinformation in this thread regarding teaching.

First, it is very possible for teachers to make $100K+. If you have multiple advanced degrees (M.Ed, specialty degree, PhD, etc), 15+ years of experience, and happen to work in an affluent area, it's easy. It's not like those positions will be very competitive. No sweat. Look at the state with the second highest teacher salary nationwide (CA); in San Diego only 2% of teachers make over 100k. In my state (ranked #28 by average teacher salary) can you guess how many teachers make over 6 figures? 5. This is easy information to look up as a number of states have open access for individuals employed by the state.

Then there's hours worked. It's not a 40 hour a week job. Not by a long shot. Most high school teachers are on school grounds from ~6:30-3:30/4pm, minimum. This doesn't take into consideration the hours spent grading, writing lessons, meetings, etc. I would say ~60 hrs a week is a good average and you can find some information online to corroborate this. Some coaches put in 80+ hour weeks during the season. If you take into consideration my states 10 week "summer break", which I'll get to in a moment, those 60 hours still average out to about 48hrs/week.

"But at least you get the summer off." LPT: please for the love of all that is holy please refrain from saying this to any teachers you know. This is the equivalent of someone saying to an MS1 "Don't stress, after residency you'll make bank." It completely negates the hard work put in and sacrifices made. Not to mention that a majority of teachers do not actually have a free summer. In my state 54-58% of teachers worked in some fashion during those 10 weeks. In some states (NJ) that number is much higher.

And I haven't even talked about the nightmare that teaching has become today. Difficult students and parents, unqualified people looking over your shoulder, bureaucratic paper work that will make you pull your hair out. Sound familiar?

All that to say sometimes the grass isn't greener. However if, for whatever reason, medicine did not work out for me, I would definitely go back to teaching.

To the topic of the thread: As an MS2, 2 weeks out from dedicated, I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[Affiche]

It grinds my gears regularly hearing on SDN about how teaching is such an easy gig. It makes me want to roll my eye just as much as the premeds (and other uniformed) who comment on physician salaries and their time spent playing golf. I'm cannot speak for peoples motives in medicine or previous work experience, but I would like to dispel some of the misinformation in this thread regarding teaching.

First, it is very possible for teachers to make $100K+. If you have multiple advanced degrees (M.Ed, specialty degree, PhD, etc), 15+ years of experience, and happen to work in an affluent area, it's easy. It's not like those positions will be very competitive. No sweat. Look at the state with the second highest teacher salary nationwide (CA); in San Diego only 2% of teachers make over 100k. In my state (ranked #28 by average teacher salary) can you guess how many teachers make over 6 figures? 5. This is easy information to look up as a number of states have open access for individuals employed by the state.

Then there's hours worked. It's not a 40 hour a week job. Not by a long shot. Most high school teachers are on school grounds from ~6:30-3:30/4pm, minimum. This doesn't take into consideration the hours spent grading, writing lessons, meetings, etc. I would say ~60 hrs a week is a good average and you can find some information online to corroborate this. Some coaches put in 80+ hour weeks during the season. If you take into consideration my states 10 week "summer break", which I'll get to in a moment, those 60 hours still average out to about 48hrs/week.

"But at least you get the summer off." LPT: please for the love of all that is holy please refrain from saying this to any teachers you know. This is the equivalent of someone saying to an MS1 "Don't stress, after residency you'll make bank." It completely negates the hard work put in and sacrifices made. Not to mention that a majority of teachers do not actually have a free summer. In my state 54-58% of teachers worked in some fashion during those 10 weeks. In some states (NJ) that number is much higher.

And I haven't even talked about the nightmare that teaching has become today. Difficult students and parents, unqualified people looking over your shoulder, bureaucratic paper work that will make you pull your hair out. Sound familiar?

All that to say sometimes the grass isn't greener. However if, for whatever reason, medicine did not work out for me, I would definitely go back to teaching.

To the topic of the thread: As an MS2, 2 weeks out from dedicated, I wouldn't change a thing.

Dude, literally nowhere did anyone say that nationally, teachers are all making 100k.
If you read what I wrote, I literally said "the high school I attended", which, after looking up numbers, the average salary is over 75k with the top 25% of teachers earning ~100k.
Settle down. That's not even what the thread was about.

 

[Pablo94]

Dude, literally nowhere did anyone say that nationally, teachers are all making 100k.
If you read what I wrote, I literally said "the high school I attended", which, after looking up numbers, the average salary is over 75k with the top 25% of teachers earning ~100k.
Settle down. That's not even what the thread was about.

literally can we just stop then?

 

[Affiche]

literally can we just stop then?

Please.

 

[UGA Non Trad]

Dude, literally nowhere did anyone say that nationally, teachers are all making 100k.

Yea, that's probably why I didn't quote you or anybody else.

 

[Robotfishbrain]

Dude, literally nowhere did anyone say that nationally, teachers are all making 100k.
If you read what I wrote, I literally said "the high school I attended", which, after looking up numbers, the average salary is over 75k with the top 25% of teachers earning ~100k.
Settle down. That's not even what the thread was about.

I don't believe you. Source on these figures? I'm simply replying to discussions on this thread, don't know what else you want me to do.

 

[Affiche]

I don't believe you. Source on these figures? I'm simply replying to discussions on this thread, don't know what else you want me to do.

Learn to do your own research, it'll benefit you in medical school

If you're that obsessive over this, which you seem to be the obsessive type, you can PM me for the source. I'm not posting my district or other identying information on this forum.

Back to the actual topic of the thread....

 

[Petrichor1]

To clarify a few things in this thread after seeing a few assumptions being thrown around:

1. I worked "just to survive" since I was 18 up until a few years before med school started for me. I've been at the very, very bottom of the the socioeconomic spectrum. This, largely, is why I didn't go into another career: I wanted the most stable income I could possibly secure to ensure that the days of stressing about money were behind me.
2. Depending on who you talk to, YMM on what's worse between preclinical vs clinical years. I know that at my school, preclinical years are especially taxing because of oppressive policies, scheduling nightmares and poor administration. I would not choose this school again, that's for sure. That all said, "better take care of yourself" isn't all that helpful. The issue isn't that I neglect taking care of myself or that I'm unaware of how bad the next two years will be, it's that I take care of myself and it's still often insufficient and I'm totally aware that this will likely continue throughout the next few years. I'm not depressed and I'm not struggling academically, I just don't like medical school lol.

Who knows. I may feel differently once I'm on the other side of this. But for now, I'm sick of the delayed gratification, I don't want keep putting off living for year after year, and while I'm content enough to stay, I'm aware enough of the drawbacks that I'd likely make a different decision if able to go back in time. That's all.

My post was not for those who have worked to survive from day one of adulthood but there is merit in following another career that is not considered temporary. You learn how people adjust to life and how your seniors have lives outside of their career and settle. To work in a temp position, even though you are working like a horse, will not give you that understanding.
The fact that you are a MS1 and getting burned out by your environment and not necessarily academics makes me worried. You cannot let situations like these take a toll on you. At work we have a choice to not worry about the things we can't control but to work very hard to correcting the things we are in control of. The way you mention your troubles means that medicine fit your needs of a secure life but I don't see that passion which must have become lost at the moment for you.

 

[Petrichor1]

Do you read your posts before you post them? Is English your first language?

It's called texting, it's a 5th language for everyone if you don't leave out autocorrect that seemlessly changes your words.

 

[PhillyMed777]

I love how some people here who went into medicine in the 70s-80s think its the same game as being in medical school now. It's entirely different. All the relentless effort through undergrad and med school to do great. Still zero guarantee that I'll get the specialty I want. I suffer everyday to try to match into my desired specialty, invest huge boatloads of time money and effort. The psychological burden is much higher...and the game is entirely different.

 

[OTOSwap]

Life is too short. Yes, I regret right now only because I am not in the specialty that is right for me. If I can get into that one, I will not regret. All jobs are hard, but if you are "into it" then it is a little easier.

 

[Affiche]

I love how some people here who went into medicine in the 70s-80s think its the same game as being in medical school now. It's entirely different. All the relentless effort through undergrad and med school to do great. Still zero guarantee that I'll get the specialty I want. I suffer everyday to try to match into my desired specialty, invest huge boatloads of time money and effort. The psychological burden is much higher...and the game is entirely different.

I think the psychological burden is worse too for people who fall in love with the more competitive specialties. My friends who are interested in family med, peds, psych etc are all perfectly content with the workload so far, just mainly concerned with their debt burden. The field I love the most (also the one I worked in prior to school) is competitive and that adds stress, but I absolutely love it, so it is what it is. I have classmates who are incredibly unhappy in preclinical years because of the pressure to not close doors early on. The amount of burden med students feel will vary depending on their program and career aspirations.

 

[ZX10R]

No I wouldn't but this ship has sailed.

 

[CrayXMP14]

totally burnt out. Won't do it again. Passion was there but got killed with time, and startingdays seeing the same sick people coming through the doors, because they just do not want to invest in their health and expect doctors to work magic for them

 

[mimelim]

Lol. No. I would go teach high school English or French where I'd be home at 3:30 every day, have summers off and breaks throughout the year, time to travel and time to read/study things outside of medicine.

Oh, and where my colleagues and culture weren't so insufferable.

Maybe I missed something, but aren't you a first year medical student? You aren't really doing anything over by dropping out now. I don't know how you can answer, "No" and not just quit and go do whatever else...

Plenty of high school teachers are making ~100k (in the suburbs, usually). Having double the salary but no time to use it isn't doing a whole hell of a lot for me.

The median HS teacher salary is 57k. More than half earn <54k. While many school districts have a handful of educators/teachers that make 100k, they are by far the minority. There are some districts that pay more, they also tend to either be in Alaska or have high costs of living. It is a bit disingenuous to say "plenty" are making 100k.

Edit: caught up on thread, ignore second part, been talked to death already.

 

[Affiche]

Maybe I missed something, but aren't you a first year medical student? You aren't really doing anything over by dropping out now. I don't know how you can answer, "No" and not just quit and go do whatever else...



The median HS teacher salary is 57k. More than half earn <54k. While many school districts have a handful of educators/teachers that make 100k, they are by far the minority. There are some districts that pay more, they also tend to either be in Alaska or have high costs of living. It is a bit disingenuous to say "plenty" are making 100k.

Because by the time I dropped out, took another standardized test, applied to graduate school and matriculated I would be sinking another 1-2 years, plus would have to find another job to work and support myself during that time. I like medicine a lot, certainly enough to keep going, but if I could go back 3-4 years I would pursue a different career that gave me more flexible hours to balance the other things I'm passionate about.

I'm not getting back into the teacher salary bit. I was pretty clear about the fact that my desire to go into teaching was based on the salary and lifestyle of the teachers in the district I would be most likely to teach in. Pretty sure the Chicago Tribune just did an article last year about the 8-10 suburban school districts in Illinois quoting averaging teacher salaries >100k. Not exactly Alaska.

 

[mimelim]

Because by the time I dropped out, took another standardized test, applied to graduate school and matriculated I would be sinking another 1-2 years, plus would have to find another job to work and support myself during that time. I like medicine a lot, certainly enough to keep going, but if I could go back 3-4 years I would pursue a different career that gave me more flexible hours to balance the other things I'm passionate about.

I'm not getting back into the teacher salary bit. I was pretty clear about the fact that my desire to go into teaching was based on the salary and lifestyle of the teachers in the district I would be most likely to teach in. Pretty sure the Chicago Tribune just did an article last year about the 8-10 suburban school districts in Illinois quoting averaging teacher salaries >100k. Not exactly Alaska.

You have a minimum of 6 more years of training and you are worried about sinking 1-2 years? I say this as someone who would have a hard time starting over, (I'm also 9+ years into training), but absolutely know that medicine was the right direction to go in. Dropping out of medical school now means a job in teaching in <2 years, more than likely <1 year. I've asked two public school teachers about what I would need to do to become a high school teachers (both started in the last 2 years) and both said that I would need to take the Praxis and wouldn't require further schooling. Again, maybe I'm missing something, but what test/graduate school are you talking about? You don't need a graduate degree to teach high school. And regarding the praxis...

Teacher: you can sign up for it in 2 weeks to a month
Teacher: you don't need to study for it
Teacher: If you aren't a ***** you'll pass with flying colors
Teacher: Frankly anyone who can't pass it without studying should not be a teacher, in terms of content knowledge

So, like I said, I'm not exactly sure why an MS1 that answers, "No." to the question, "would you do it over" isn't dropping out.

 

[Affiche]

You have a minimum of 6 more years of training and you are worried about sinking 1-2 years? I say this as someone who would have a hard time starting over, (I'm also 9+ years into training), but absolutely know that medicine was the right direction to go in. Dropping out of medical school now means a job in teaching in <2 years, more than likely <1 year. I've asked two public school teachers about what I would need to do to become a high school teachers (both started in the last 2 years) and both said that I would need to take the Praxis and wouldn't require further schooling. Again, maybe I'm missing something, but what test/graduate school are you talking about? You don't need a graduate degree to teach high school. And regarding the praxis...

Teacher: you can sign up for it in 2 weeks to a month
Teacher: you don't need to study for it
Teacher: If you aren't a ***** you'll pass with flying colors
Teacher: Frankly anyone who can't pass it without studying should not be a teacher, in terms of content knowledge

So, like I said, I'm not exactly sure why an MS1 that answers, "No." to the question, "would you do it over" isn't dropping out.

Meh, you don't need to understand it.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

I immediately regreted my decision (not really, but sorta) and left second semester of 1st year. Worst life decision I've made: Going to my state medical school. (what a **** show, my peers are wrapping up 3rd year and the **** show only got more disorganised). Best life decision I've made: Leaving the study of medicine and returning to engineering.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

There are incredibly few professions that offer the security and pay of doctoring. For every teacher or engineer breaking 6 figures there are dozens making half of that. Physicians routinely are in the top income brackets nationwide and you'll have to be pretty lousy to not made 120,000 minimum. Just like the patient who thinks she has cancer because her best friends mothers bridge partner does, the ideas that because someone knows someone that got a nonreproducible sweet gig does not make it the most likely denomination here

I'm not disputing anything said here per say, but since this is the kind of thread people find when they are trying to figure out if they want to do medicine or something else, I want to throw some numbers out there for anyone asking themselves how else they could do OK without a medical degree.

Industry: Oil and Gas
Years of Experience: 7ish
Degree: Mechanical Engineer
Region: Gulf Coast
Institution: State School
Base Salary: 110k, not counting pension nor 401k matching (7%) and all other benefits
Bonuses this year: 30k
Debt: None, can be paid off 1-2 years out of school.
Hours: 40 a week, no call, no emergencies, no weekends
Exception: A 5 week stint of 12hr days, 7 days a week, then another 2 week stint of the same. However, these are planned a year in advance, plenty of time to prepare for them.

This is the norm in my industry, not the exception. If I could change one thing, I would have gotten a Chem E degree instead, they seem to have more upward mobility in my industry. Good luck to the lurkers who are questioning things, I'll help in any way I can.

 

[Stagg737]

Finishing up 3rd year, so I've got a long way to go but I'd do it again. There have been some rocky moments and a fair amount of times of high stress, but overall I've enjoyed it and finally seeing patients has reaffirmed that it's been worth it (so far). If I could go back in time I'd probably do more than a few things differently, but I'd still choose to pursue medicine.

Aren't you only an MSI ? Better take care of yourself cause things only get worse except for the second half of fourth year. I taught First and second were pretty straight forward and I enjoyed myself a bunch while still doing well in classes and step 1. But third year f**king sucks, glad I'm nearing the end of it.

And yes I would do it again, just wish medical school curriculums would change to make the third year more focused for folks that are certain of the field they want to go into instead of all the BS rotations they make you go thru third year. Duke has already started something like this with their orthopaedics department.

I feel the exact opposite about the first paragraph. First year was fine, second year was miserable. I frequently had passive thoughts about dropping out, but convinced myself that things would get better after boards and pushed through. Third year has been amazing and it's been the first time in a long time where I can wake up and be excited about the day on a pretty regular basis. Even the days where I'm completely exhausted and just trudging through are better than the vast majority of second year.

I've got mixed feelings about the second paragraph. I think it would be great for some people to be able to focus more on the fields they're really interested in (our school has tracks which allow students to do this), but I think being exposed to a variety of fields can be really important too. Going into 3rd year, there were a few fields that I was sure I wouldn't be interested in. Turns out that two of those fields became my top 2 choices and the two fields I was planning on deciding between have completely fallen off my radar. If I didn't have to go through the rotations I thought were more BS during third year, I would have missed out on a field that ended up fascinating me.

I don't believe you. Source on these figures? I'm simply replying to discussions on this thread, don't know what else you want me to do.

Not trying to turn this back into a huge thing, but the (public) high school I went to has a starting salary for teachers between 60-70k with quite a few of the older ones clearing 6 figures. Sure, it's the minority, but there are some teaching jobs that pay very, very well. Source: Friends from high school who now teach at the same high school.

 

[jeffk805dent]

I'm not disputing anything said here per say, but since this is the kind of thread people find when they are trying to figure out if they want to do medicine or something else, I want to throw some numbers out there for anyone asking themselves how else they could do OK without a medical degree.

Industry: Oil and Gas
Years of Experience: 7ish
Degree: Mechanical Engineer
Region: Gulf Coast
Institution: State School
Base Salary: 110k, not counting pension nor 401k matching (7%) and all other benefits
Bonuses this year: 30k
Debt: None, can be paid off 1-2 years out of school.
Hours: 40 a week, no call, no emergencies, no weekends
Exception: A 5 week stint of 12hr days, 7 days a week, then another 2 week stint of the same. However, these are planned a year in advance, plenty of time to prepare for them.

This is the norm in my industry, not the exception. If I could change one thing, I would have gotten a Chem E degree instead, they seem to have more upward mobility in my industry. Good luck to the lurkers who are questioning things, I'll help in any way I can.

the only problem with this that aren't most O&G jobs in the Gulf Coast? Not everyone wants to work there just like not everyone wants to work in Los Angeles/New York. Whereas in medicine your options are literally the entire nation.

The only other profession I can think of that comes close to having a combination (key word being combination) of job security, demand, nationwide need and pay is accounting

 

[DocWinter]

I'm not disputing anything said here per say, but since this is the kind of thread people find when they are trying to figure out if they want to do medicine or something else, I want to throw some numbers out there for anyone asking themselves how else they could do OK without a medical degree.

Industry: Oil and Gas
Years of Experience: 7ish
Degree: Mechanical Engineer
Region: Gulf Coast
Institution: State School
Base Salary: 110k, not counting pension nor 401k matching (7%) and all other benefits
Bonuses this year: 30k
Debt: None, can be paid off 1-2 years out of school.
Hours: 40 a week, no call, no emergencies, no weekends
Exception: A 5 week stint of 12hr days, 7 days a week, then another 2 week stint of the same. However, these are planned a year in advance, plenty of time to prepare for them.

This is the norm in my industry, not the exception. If I could change one thing, I would have gotten a Chem E degree instead, they seem to have more upward mobility in my industry. Good luck to the lurkers who are questioning things, I'll help in any way I can.

Uhhuh. And what is life like whilst you get those 7 years experience? You'll be fine living on an oil rig off the mainland? Family situation? Can be physically demanding. Geographically Isolating. And this is assuming you do well in school as an engineer, a degree certainly flit everyone, including intelligent premeds.

It sure could work, But it's a nitch field

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

Uhhuh. And what is life like whilst you get those 7 years experience? You'll be fine living on an oil rig off the mainland? Family situation? Can be physically demanding. Geographically Isolating. And this is assuming you do well in school as an engineer, a degree certainly flit everyone, including intelligent premeds.

It sure could work, But it's a nitch field

I said gulf coast as in geographical region, not in the actual gulf. Oil and gas is much more than oil rigs, think refineries, petrochem plants, terminals, pipelines, corporate headquarters etc. My previous 7 years in the industry have looked exactly like I described, never been away from home for more than a week or two for training a year. Not sure how much better it could be for family life unless I was working less than 40hrs a week and baking brownies. Not physically demanding in any way, nor is it geographically isolating in any way, Houston and New Orleans arnt exactly cultural deserts and both have interstates running through them with international airports. GPA cutoff for the last two major companies I worked for when recruiting was 3.0-3.2. It's really not all that nitchy. There are refineries,terminals, and Chem plants all over the country.