Currently I am in my undergrad going into my sophomore year. I'm torn between wanting to become a doctor or a dentist and I've heavily considered both. Furthermore, I have job shadowed a professional in each area. I know I have time to make this decision so I'm doing this to just see what other people have to say. Any and all feedback is appreciated!
I'm debating whether or not to pursue a career in Medicine or Dentistry. Convince me to be a Doctor.
- Thread starter Afausey
- Start date
If you don't know...no one knows. This has to be a personal decision. Since you still have time, you should really look at these two professions realistically. Shadowing physicians after they have completed their schooling, residencies, etc is wayyyyy different than living through all of the beginning stages yourself. I don't know too much about dental school or the dentistry profession, but I am a first year medical student. Shadowing doctors did not prepare me for the workload of medical school, or the debt that am accumulating and will be accumulating for the next 4 years. Both professions can be fun, but I think the workload, years of school and residency, etc are all different. Look further into details and decide for yourself what you are most REALISTICALLY going to want to do for the rest of your life.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Yea I get that and I agree, I just want to see why people are so passionate about being a doctor (or dentist). I don't want people to be bashing dentistry I want to hear why people love being a doctor (or dentist). I figure the more I expose myself to each area and try to learn why people love their profession it can only help with my future decision. Posting on these forums is hopefully a way to get a wide variety of views and opinions to learn from.
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2004
- Messages
- 30,873
- Reaction score
- 10,063
If you need to be convinced don't be a doctor. If you want to know more about the field definitely volunteer or shadow or otherwise somehow get yourself into a healthcare setting. This is a fairly competitive profession and either you are jazzed about it for some reason or you aren't, but it's not something you should ever be convinced into or out of. In short, if you need people on here to sell you as to why medicine is great, it's probably not the right job for you.
If you don't get it, then you don't get it. There's nothing wrong with that. Not everyone is supposed to be a physician so don't force it. Its a tough profession and you'll need a lot of desire to get through med school, residency, and finally debt repayment 
. You'll probably be working for a good 30 to 40 years so find something you are passionate about. Its more of a feeling than a logical choice in my opinion.
. You'll probably be working for a good 30 to 40 years so find something you are passionate about. Its more of a feeling than a logical choice in my opinion.
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2010
- Messages
- 72,621
- Reaction score
- 115,666
I'm not going to convince you. You need to follow your heart. Medicine is a calling, like being a priest or a fireman.
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2014
- Messages
- 2,872
- Reaction score
- 2,776
If you could picture yourself doing anything else, don't become a doctor. If money is the reason, DDS make more money (generally speaking). It's a strange question, to me, because though I've always loved science and math and all that, teeth were never interesting enough for me and I hate drills, and the bone spray smell, and flesh being scorched by the drill, and all that. Yeah, nope.
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2016
- Messages
- 3,564
- Reaction score
- 7,296
I can just picture firefighter applicants struggling to figure out their answer to "so why fires?"
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2007
- Messages
- 3,168
- Reaction score
- 12,356
You should be a doctor.
Did I do it right?
Did I do it right?
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2015
- Messages
- 274
- Reaction score
- 295
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2015
- Messages
- 2,446
- Reaction score
- 1,215
join the military
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2015
- Messages
- 256
- Reaction score
- 353
No one can or should convince you of doodley squat. This is a career decision. You have to make it yourself.
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2015
- Messages
- 1,374
- Reaction score
- 1,441
No. Convince yourself. This is your career and life, YOU need to make this decision. Not a bunch of SDN forum users.
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2016
- Messages
- 24,742
- Reaction score
- 44,493
I can just picture firefighter applicants struggling to figure out their answer to "so why fires?"
They ask you that in the oral interview. They want to make sure it's a career and not just a stepping stone.
Obviously not literally, "So why fires?" Lol.
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2016
- Messages
- 24,742
- Reaction score
- 44,493
Support this fully.
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2012
- Messages
- 7,691
- Reaction score
- 13,035
But seriously, this isn't a decision we can make for you
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2014
- Messages
- 811
- Reaction score
- 940
You have anything better in mind? Teeth vs everything else..
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2015
- Messages
- 1,672
- Reaction score
- 2,183
What is your reason for even questioning med school?
- Joined
- May 20, 2016
- Messages
- 811
- Reaction score
- 354
I asked this same question about personal statement on another forums and got the following response. Now I am questioning my life
It's sad how few people have actually lived. I mean really lived. There are so many aspiring doctors here who haven't even left their own country, or have only left it to holiday with family in their youth. There are people here who have not experienced a series of tumultuous relationships, people who have not hitchhiked for hundreds of miles in whatever direction suits them best that moment, people who have not found themselves drinking hard liquor with a gang of strangers at 2am in a city they can't even remember the name of. Me? I've done all these things. I've traveled the lonesome highways, caught trains and buses and sat shivering and damp in the passenger seats of cars belonging to people who told me more about life than the lonely and callow narcissists on this board ever have. I've gazed lovingly into the eyes of women who taught me the ineffable secrets of their mysterious sex. I've worked more jobs I can remember and learned more skills than I will ever need. I have made friends and enemies from coast to coast and experienced more emotional peaks and valleys than most people here can even comprehend. How can you guys even consider medicine when you haven't even known the world of the people you are intending to serve? How can you expect anybody to take your statement seriously when you have experienced barely more than a child afraid of what lies beyond the boundaries of his comfortable little world? My writing flows with an assurance that reflects my own internal state. The dialogue I write is representative of the parlance of the man on the street, not the child in the abstract universe you have concocted to compensate for the fact that the world outside your window terrifies and confuses you. When I write a profound sentence I do it knowing I will be understood and admired not only by the academic whiling away a quiet afternoon in his armchair, but also for the orphaned young man working sixty hours a week as a knuckle-puller in a Sheboygan abattoir. And all this at the age of nineteen, my life almost entirely ahead of me, several USBs hanging from my keychain full of stories that would no-doubt make the pale and sheltered suburbanites that browse this board gasp in incredulity. Have you lived? I mean, really lived?
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2016
- Messages
- 24,742
- Reaction score
- 44,493
I asked this same question about personal statement on another forums and got the following response. Now I am questioning my life
It's sad how few people have actually lived. I mean really lived. There are so many aspiring doctors here who haven't even left their own country, or have only left it to holiday with family in their youth. There are people here who have not experienced a series of tumultuous relationships, people who have not hitchhiked for hundreds of miles in whatever direction suits them best that moment, people who have not found themselves drinking hard liquor with a gang of strangers at 2am in a city they can't even remember the name of. Me? I've done all these things. I've traveled the lonesome highways, caught trains and buses and sat shivering and damp in the passenger seats of cars belonging to people who told me more about life than the lonely and callow narcissists on this board ever have. I've gazed lovingly into the eyes of women who taught me the ineffable secrets of their mysterious sex. I've worked more jobs I can remember and learned more skills than I will ever need. I have made friends and enemies from coast to coast and experienced more emotional peaks and valleys than most people here can even comprehend. How can you guys even consider medicine when you haven't even known the world of the people you are intending to serve? How can you expect anybody to take your statement seriously when you have experienced barely more than a child afraid of what lies beyond the boundaries of his comfortable little world? My writing flows with an assurance that reflects my own internal state. The dialogue I write is representative of the parlance of the man on the street, not the child in the abstract universe you have concocted to compensate for the fact that the world outside your window terrifies and confuses you. When I write a profound sentence I do it knowing I will be understood and admired not only by the academic whiling away a quiet afternoon in his armchair, but also for the orphaned young man working sixty hours a week as a knuckle-puller in a Sheboygan abattoir. And all this at the age of nineteen, my life almost entirely ahead of me, several USBs hanging from my keychain full of stories that would no-doubt make the pale and sheltered suburbanites that browse this board gasp in incredulity. Have you lived? I mean, really lived?
I do think that people should try to see the world, especially the developing world if just to get an idea of how much of the world actually lives. But, it also sounds like that guy was trying to humblebrag or just brag. Don't question your life because pretentious douche is pretentious. Just live a little.
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2015
- Messages
- 26
- Reaction score
- 32
Jesus. Please don't take this guy to heart. I've traveled, I've lived. I've spent years homeless, getting into trouble and finding myself and am now a happy partner, employee, researcher and mother. I've lived a full life and that does not make me better than you or anyone. You've experienced things that guy can't imagine. Everyone is freaking special and this guy and you and I are not any more or less unique or cool or whatever. Follow your dream. That's truly living. /inspirationalrantI asked this same question about personal statement on another forums and got the following response. Now I am questioning my life
It's sad how few people have actually lived. I mean really lived. There are so many aspiring doctors here who haven't even left their own country, or have only left it to holiday with family in their youth. There are people here who have not experienced a series of tumultuous relationships, people who have not hitchhiked for hundreds of miles in whatever direction suits them best that moment, people who have not found themselves drinking hard liquor with a gang of strangers at 2am in a city they can't even remember the name of. Me? I've done all these things. I've traveled the lonesome highways, caught trains and buses and sat shivering and damp in the passenger seats of cars belonging to people who told me more about life than the lonely and callow narcissists on this board ever have. I've gazed lovingly into the eyes of women who taught me the ineffable secrets of their mysterious sex. I've worked more jobs I can remember and learned more skills than I will ever need. I have made friends and enemies from coast to coast and experienced more emotional peaks and valleys than most people here can even comprehend. How can you guys even consider medicine when you haven't even known the world of the people you are intending to serve? How can you expect anybody to take your statement seriously when you have experienced barely more than a child afraid of what lies beyond the boundaries of his comfortable little world? My writing flows with an assurance that reflects my own internal state. The dialogue I write is representative of the parlance of the man on the street, not the child in the abstract universe you have concocted to compensate for the fact that the world outside your window terrifies and confuses you. When I write a profound sentence I do it knowing I will be understood and admired not only by the academic whiling away a quiet afternoon in his armchair, but also for the orphaned young man working sixty hours a week as a knuckle-puller in a Sheboygan abattoir. And all this at the age of nineteen, my life almost entirely ahead of me, several USBs hanging from my keychain full of stories that would no-doubt make the pale and sheltered suburbanites that browse this board gasp in incredulity. Have you lived? I mean, really lived?
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2015
- Messages
- 2,307
- Reaction score
- 5,228
"Now open your mouth wide" said the Dentist, smirking, as he entered the room. He was about to enter the patient's mouth - another day at the job.
"Let's split her in half" said the surgeon, smirking, as he entered the room. He was about to make a cut, knowing he had been in the cut with his homegirl a little earlier - another day at the job.
"Let's put this tube in there" said the urologist, smirking, as he entered the room. He loved telling that to his patients. The look he would get back was priceless - another day at the job.
"Let me put this in there" said the gynegologist, smirking, as he entered the room. 'I bet your partner would find this funny' he thought to himself - another day at the job.
"Now let's see what we have here" said the radiologist, smirking, as he entered the room. He was by himself in the dark, as usual, but he always said that since he thought it made him sound cool - another day at the job.
I just made a bunch of male-perspective scenarios OP. Decide for yourself if you want to choose one over the other.
"Let's split her in half" said the surgeon, smirking, as he entered the room. He was about to make a cut, knowing he had been in the cut with his homegirl a little earlier - another day at the job.
"Let's put this tube in there" said the urologist, smirking, as he entered the room. He loved telling that to his patients. The look he would get back was priceless - another day at the job.
"Let me put this in there" said the gynegologist, smirking, as he entered the room. 'I bet your partner would find this funny' he thought to himself - another day at the job.
"Now let's see what we have here" said the radiologist, smirking, as he entered the room. He was by himself in the dark, as usual, but he always said that since he thought it made him sound cool - another day at the job.
I just made a bunch of male-perspective scenarios OP. Decide for yourself if you want to choose one over the other.
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2014
- Messages
- 517
- Reaction score
- 336
Not true
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2015
- Messages
- 236
- Reaction score
- 203
Like many others said, no one should convince you especially on SDN. Imagine explaining why you wanted to do medicine at an interview and you literally said "SDN told me why". If shadowing isn't enough for you, maybe you should try to find another way to expose yourself to the fields to find out if it's what you want to do.
I'm only responding here because if other posters didn't know, he asked the same exact question in the predental forum titled " Medicine or Dentistry, Convince Me to be a Dentist". Don't ask people on the internet, you can definitely just go out and experience it yourself in real life via shadowing or asking your doctor/dentist.
I'm only responding here because if other posters didn't know, he asked the same exact question in the predental forum titled " Medicine or Dentistry, Convince Me to be a Dentist". Don't ask people on the internet, you can definitely just go out and experience it yourself in real life via shadowing or asking your doctor/dentist.
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2015
- Messages
- 737
- Reaction score
- 1,937
I say get a business degree or go to law school.
Sincerely,
a second week med student
Sincerely,
a second week med student
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2016
- Messages
- 24,742
- Reaction score
- 44,493
Terrible advice unless you can get into a T14 or already have a job lined up.
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2004
- Messages
- 30,873
- Reaction score
- 10,063
Well to be fair, if you truly have no idea what to do with your career to the point you are being asked to be "convinced" of a career on SDN, maybe spending a few years in law school learning how to think critically wouldn't be such a bad thing for OP even if he left law school jobless and became something less degree oriented. Or spend a year backpacking in Europe. Same deal -- OP needs to figure some things out.
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2016
- Messages
- 24,742
- Reaction score
- 44,493
Yeah, but he'll learn how to think critically and then be jobless and unemployable with a JD. Backpacking through Europe is cheaper and less detrimental to his career.
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2004
- Messages
- 30,873
- Reaction score
- 10,063
A JD isn't per se detrimental to ones career, and he may need the instruction in critical thinking. But the backpacking plan is definitely more cost effective. At least he has options.
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2016
- Messages
- 24,742
- Reaction score
- 44,493
Until he tries to get a non-legal job, and no one will hire him because they think he'll bolt the second a legal job opens. Not that that happens to everyone, of course.
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2016
- Messages
- 486
- Reaction score
- 359
OP, I think it will be incredibly hard for anyone to help you with this. You picked two of the highest paying/ highest status professions and are asking us to formulate which one of better. If you can get in either one, it is certainly a feat since many are VERY passionate and driven and still are unable to get in year after year.
- Joined
- May 20, 2016
- Messages
- 811
- Reaction score
- 354
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2015
- Messages
- 1,078
- Reaction score
- 275
hey OP, I had trouble deciding between medicine vs dentistry/pharmacy as well
my best advice to you to look at the professions aside from the money/years in school and make an informed decision
I personally did not find the job of a dentist to be intellectually stimulating/will allow me to grow as a person in the future, and therefore I feel that medicine is more suited to me because i love to learn as an individual and i'm sure my profession will be filled with interactions/decisions/challenges that will help me grow to be a better person. Plus, aside from patient care I hope to be involved in academia/research as well
My best advice to you is to SHADOW! if you like the role of a dentist and the tasks he is expected to perform then go for it, however I advise you to shadow a physician at a private practice and hospital to gain a greater understanding of what a physician does/who he or she interacts with/deals with on a daily basis. Also clinical research is pretty cool if you have time to work alongside a PI.
good luck!
my best advice to you to look at the professions aside from the money/years in school and make an informed decision
I personally did not find the job of a dentist to be intellectually stimulating/will allow me to grow as a person in the future, and therefore I feel that medicine is more suited to me because i love to learn as an individual and i'm sure my profession will be filled with interactions/decisions/challenges that will help me grow to be a better person. Plus, aside from patient care I hope to be involved in academia/research as well
My best advice to you is to SHADOW! if you like the role of a dentist and the tasks he is expected to perform then go for it, however I advise you to shadow a physician at a private practice and hospital to gain a greater understanding of what a physician does/who he or she interacts with/deals with on a daily basis. Also clinical research is pretty cool if you have time to work alongside a PI.
good luck!
