Is the road to becoming a doctor really that hard

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RxnMan said:
Not really. As Dr. Peter Venkman said to his secretarty: "Janine, someone with your qualifications would have no trouble finding a top-flight job in either the food service or housekeeping industries."

<snort>

Gee, thanks, now everyone in the library is looking at me funny.

:laugh:

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tikiman said:
i like school and the whole experience of college so far but if u r asking me that if i am a Nerd, then the answer is no. I have huge interest in bio and that's generally wat i like learning abt.

I believe it. Being a nerd requires some degree of competence.
 
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who thinks tikiman is starting middleschool?
 
tikiman said:
Hi, i am currently a pre-med student and i do want to be a doctor. But sometimes when i see the road ahead, i get discouraged and think that maybe i should be something else. First, there is that extremely hard med schools that u have to get into, then if u go over that obstacle, u have to go through residency and sub-residancy and all that crap, that's like 11-14 yrs of studying. I mean i love the concept of putting medicine of someone's wounds but i have heard and seen how much u have to devote ur life to it if u wanna be successful at becoming a doctor and honestly, i don't see myself having any time for fun in those yrs cuz u gotta study so much and i really don't want to waste those prime yrs of my life getting lost in books and worrying abt getting A's. So i guess wat my question is that is becoming a doctor really as hard as people make it to be? Is that saying true that med school students have no social life???


Actually, it's not bad at all. It's a lot like the first few seasons of SCRUBS, but with lots more sex. Lots.
 
tikiman said:
i think i corrected this once before but i'll say it again. I am not gonna open up a free clinic right after i start my career. I intend to do it like 20 or 30 yrs after my career starts so that i have some money saved up for it. Wat else was wrong with it? plz explain?

take on step at a time missy...dont act stuck up about it and mention somethin ur not sure about...we get that you wanna be a doctor, but opening up a free clinic just throws your character off...i dont know thats what i think--its just the internet
 
k, k, that's enough dissing for one day. But i got the point that i REALLY need be sure abt whether i wanna become a doctor or not so i think i'll shadow a doctor to see wat its really like before worrying abt getting an MD or DO cuz i was a volunteer in a hospital but i don't think i got much out of it.
 
tikiman said:
k, k, that's enough dissing for one day. But i got the point that i REALLY need be sure abt whether i wanna become a doctor or not so i think i'll shadow a doctor to see wat its really like before worrying abt getting an MD or DO cuz i was a volunteer in a hospital but i don't think i got much out of it.

no doubt...start shadowing tomorrow or ASAP so you can come to a complete decision to become a doctor...trust me, becoming a doctor is not easy -- u really have to have ur head into it-- dont do something you will never like esp. becoming a physician!!!
 
MedicineNutt said:
no doubt...start shadowing tomorrow or ASAP so you can come to a complete decision to become a doctor...trust me, becoming a doctor is not easy -- u really have to have ur head into it-- dont do something you will never like esp. becoming a physician!!!

yea definitely... while we are at this subject, is there anything else that u guys did to make sure that yall want to be doctors at some pt in ur lives when u were a little hesitant abt going into medicine???
 
tikiman said:
yea definitely... while we are at this subject, is there anything else that u guys did to make sure that yall want to be doctors at some pt in ur lives when u were a little hesitant abt going into medicine???

good question, i have thought about engineering but after logically figurin out its flaws...i have come to know that i dont wanna save/work on machines rather work with people!! however, i have always been interested in medicine even the nurse or PA route...someone interested in medicine is interested in the human body and (nowadays) cutting-edge tech
 
MedicineNutt said:
good question, i have thought about engineering but after logically figurin out its flaws...i have come to know that i dont wanna save/work on machines rather work with people!! however, i have always been interested in medicine even the nurse or PA route...someone interested in medicine is interested in the human body and (nowadays) cutting-edge tech

alright, so wat was it that finally took all the doubts away from ur mind abt not going to medical school? did u shadow a doctor that really opened ur eyes or maybe some clinical research? wat i am trying to say is that is there any other useful way you or any one else here used to make SURE that you want to be doctors, except shadowing a doc?
 
tikiman said:
alright, so wat was it that finally took all the doubts away from ur mind abt not going to medical school? did u shadow a doctor that really opened ur eyes or maybe some clinical research? wat i am trying to say is that is there any other useful way you or any one else here used to make SURE that you want to be doctors, except shadowing a doc?

for me it was DESIRE!!! seeing people die from a tragic disease was probably an eye-opening experience...i want to do the best i can to save ppl...i mainly want to sacrifice my life for other ppl because i think its worth it...being a doctor (or any med field) allows you to do that!!! also, shadowing doctors just gave me an idea of the work physicians do...it wasnt really a deciding factor for me b/c i have been around a lot of doctors before shadowing...if you ask other people on this board im sure they'll have other reasons why they chose the doctor field...bottomline, if you want to make sure that being a doctor is right for you shadow or work at the hospital!!! don't research unless you think its worth your time b/c if interviwers figure out it wasnt something you enjoyed ---definitely not a good sign...GOOD LUCK!!
 
horton thruggle said:
Actually, it's not bad at all. It's a lot like the first few seasons of SCRUBS, but with lots more sex. Lots.
Thank you! There is a god!
 
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tikiman said:
thx dude, u really know how to push someone off the edge when a person is struggling... u'll be a great doctor!
i know i'm the next Dr. House :smuggrin:
 
1. NO its not as hard as its made out to be. Its always hard in the beginning when your given more than youve ever been before, but then, that becomes routine like everything else in life. All of the sudden, its not as much as it seems, such is life.

2. Med students choose their level of social life. Its funny b/c a lot of ppl who never partied much before start to a little and they are funny to watch, ah, but i digress. Life is what you make it.

Medicine just takes determination to keep going, which can be difficult at times, but in no way will you always feel overwhelmed. Its really not that bad, the politics of school is what kills me.
 
What the **** is this mess? Seriously...What the ****?
 
Pose said:
What the **** is this mess? Seriously...What the ****?

chill out pose... thx plastikos!
 
tikiman said:
So i guess wat my question is that is becoming a doctor really as hard as people make it to be? Is that saying true that med school students have no social life???

No the road to medical school isn't actually all that hard. In fact, once you go through it, you'll realize that it was actually pretty easy. There is a lot of work involved and I think that is what has primarily made people think medical school is for geniuses. In fact, it is not. You just need to try hard, get decent grades, be involved, get a good MCAT and apply to a spread of schools. When i say you need to be involved, i mean this will make or break your application. Have something amazing to talk about like a stint as a teacher in Guatemala or Iraq or something. You'll be a SHOE-IN. I guarantee that.

*Guarantee only a figure of speech. The author bears no responsibility for your success or failures when applying to medical school. In the event of rejection, humiliation, exploding diarrhea or genital warts, contact a psychic immediately.
 
nmnrraven said:
No the road to medical school isn't actually all that hard. In fact, once you go through it, you'll realize that it was actually pretty easy. There is a lot of work involved and I think that is what has primarily made people think medical school is for geniuses. In fact, it is not. You just need to try hard, get decent grades, be involved, get a good MCAT and apply to a spread of schools. When i say you need to be involved, i mean this will make or break your application. Have something amazing to talk about like a stint as a teacher in Guatemala or Iraq or something. You'll be a SHOE-IN. I guarantee that.

*Guarantee only a figure of speech. The author bears no responsibility for your success or failures when applying to medical school. In the event of reject, humiliation, exploding diarrhea or genital warts, contact a psychic immediately.


i am going to Pakistan to volunteer for 3 months... how does that sound? A possible SHOE-IN????
 
tikiman said:
i am going to Pakistan to volunteer for 3 months... how does that sound? A possible SHOE-IN????

If you do that and have decent qualifications, you're in. I suggest you take the time after your trip to write about the conditions in Pakistan in a commentary to your state newspaper. If you put a lot of effort into this article and get it published, you'll have huge bragging rights on your application and it will distinguish your trip to Pakistan from other people who did similar things. Always get some sort of agency or institution to recognize your work. So yeah, do that, get around a 30 on your MCAT and a 3.6 GPA plus some genetics or biochemistry research (just a little) and you're gonna have people calling you "doc" in no time.

'No time' refers to several years of back-breaking labor in nazi-run concentration camps and at least one instance of intercourse with rap music star Snoop Doggy Dogg.
 
I think the question that needs to be dealt with is: which is more important to you...partying through those years or treating for life? If you are entirely opposed to the notion of not having the opportunity to party as much as other people your age, then maybe medicine isn't really what you want to do. There is nothing wrong with that. I could never be a librarian. Different strokes for different folks, ya know? I think it comes down to passion. If you don't feel you have it, it's better to know now than resenting everything later on and being a horrible doc.
 
Aside from what everyone else has said, the bottom line is that to be successful in anything you do in your life; you are going to have to be devoted to it. Medicine is difficult. So is becoming the superintendent of a school district, so is becoming a CEO and all those things take many years of hard work and dedication.

You need to do something that you enjoy with your life so that you can be excited about devoting yourself to it. Medicine = excitement to go to class and dissect a person, or learn about autoimmunity. Don't waste your time if you have any thought that it might be a waste to study rather than get plowed on a Thursday night.
 
Great post!

Delo_Ohm said:
Aside from what everyone else has said, the bottom line is that to be successful in anything you do in your life; you are going to have to be devoted to it. Medicine is difficult. So is becoming the superintendent of a school district, so is becoming a CEO and all those things take many years of hard work and dedication.

You need to do something that you enjoy with your life so that you can be excited about devoting yourself to it. Medicine = excitement to go to class and dissect a person, or learn about autoimmunity. Don't waste your time if you have any thought that it might be a waste to study rather than get plowed on a Thursday night.
 
Does going to Singapore as an Intern help in any BIG way? I helped a Prof. research a paper (Religion Dept.) and in return, flew to Singapore to attend the conference where it was being presented.

Is this a really good thing to put on my App?

dxu
 
Delo_Ohm said:
Aside from what everyone else has said, the bottom line is that to be successful in anything you do in your life; you are going to have to be devoted to it. Medicine is difficult. So is becoming the superintendent of a school district, so is becoming a CEO and all those things take many years of hard work and dedication.

You need to do something that you enjoy with your life so that you can be excited about devoting yourself to it. Medicine = excitement to go to class and dissect a person, or learn about autoimmunity. Don't waste your time if you have any thought that it might be a waste to study rather than get plowed on a Thursday night.

my thoughts exactly. medicine, research, anything of that nature is supposed to be its own reward. in reality, there are many things you can go into to make money. if you pursued a career in investment banking with the same dedication it takes to become a doctor, your lifetime earnings potential will no doubt be greater. you may get to party more along the way too. doing something because you feel it's a noble way to make a ton of cash is, in the end, not a reason to become a doctor. hopefully, along the way of building your resume as an applicant, that will reach you.
 
Delo_Ohm said:
Aside from what everyone else has said, the bottom line is that to be successful in anything you do in your life; you are going to have to be devoted to it. Medicine is difficult. So is becoming the superintendent of a school district, so is becoming a CEO and all those things take many years of hard work and dedication.

You need to do something that you enjoy with your life so that you can be excited about devoting yourself to it. Medicine = excitement to go to class and dissect a person, or learn about autoimmunity. Don't waste your time if you have any thought that it might be a waste to study rather than get plowed on a Thursday night.

yea dude, i think i am starting to see the problem... the problem isn't that "becoming a doctor is hard'... its that i have to be SURE if this is wat i really wanna do in life before i step in the field... and right now, as u yall have probably figured out by now that i am not a 100% abt medicine.. more like 70%... if this is wat i do decide to devote my life to then, having time for "fun" won't be a factor for me and niether will the difficulty of this field!
 
tikiman said:
Hi, i am currently a pre-med student and i do want to be a doctor. But sometimes when i see the road ahead, i get discouraged and think that maybe i should be something else. First, there is that extremely hard med schools that u have to get into, then if u go over that obstacle, u have to go through residency and sub-residancy, that's like 11-14 yrs of studying. I mean i love the concept of putting medicine of someone's wounds but i have heard and seen how much u have to devote ur life to it if u wanna be successful at becoming a doctor and honestly, i don't see myself having any time for fun in those yrs cuz u gotta study so much and i really don't want to spend those prime yrs of my life getting lost in books and worrying abt getting A's. So i guess wat my question is that is becoming a doctor really as hard as people make it to be? Is that saying true that med school students have no social life???

Having done this already, being a pediatrician for 25 years, the hardest part is getting into medical school. It is harder to get into medical school now than when I went to school and yes I still enjoy getting up in the morning and seeing my patients .

My daughter is applying to medical school this round and has had 5 interviews and is waiting to hear. good luck to all.
 
tikiman said:
There are two types of Med School: Research and primary care.... dude, that's not 7 yrs, its 11 cuz u r leaving the first 4 undergraduate yrs! plus, if i decide to do, sub-residancy, then that will be extra 3 yrs. so that 4 (undergrad) + 4 (grad) + 3 (residancy) + 3 (sub-residancy),... that's 14 yrs!!!!

I am not sure if you are misinformed or if it is just the way that you have written your posts that seems odd. All medical schools train clinical doctors (some schools are more research oriented than others, but they all basically cover the same thing). What a previous post said about primary care is true.... if you want to be an general internist or pediatrician or ER doc you are looking at 7yrs (post undergrad). I am assuming you mean fellowship when you say sub-residency... fellowships really range in length, there are some that are only one year.

I wouldn't worry about the length of time, if you are truly passionate about medicine. But there are shorter roads to becoming wealthy if that is your ultimate goal (be honest with yourself on this one... because you don't want to get halfway down the road just to realize that it is not really where you want to be).
 
thank you all... u guys helped me significantly... good luck in achieving ur goals! :)
 
Definitely the most demanding occupation there is. You need to decide how much "fun time" you need in your life. If you need a lot, medicine is not for you. But, if you're really smart and you want to exercise your brain, there's no better place to be.
 
If you are asking yourself this question, I suggest going to the "General Residency" Forum and reading every single post on the "Would you do it over again" thread
 
gary5 said:
Definitely the most demanding occupation there is. You need to decide how much "fun time" you need in your life. If you need a lot, medicine is not for you. But, if you're really smart and you want to exercise your brain, there's no better place to be.

I disagree. If you are really smart and want to really exercise your brain, you could try for a doctorate in math among other academic fields. Many people assume that medicine is the hardest because they haven't experienced other fields. Having a phd AND being in medicine I can tell you that medicine is not the MOST demanding occupation.
 
i disagree with the notion that doctors don't have time for fun, family and lives. it depends on your specialty and your approach. i know plenty of doctors who have time to enjoy their lives, even if they have to make some sacrifices in income and number of hours worked for it. being a doctor isn't being a sweat-shop factory worker. i'd like to be a psychiatrist and have my own practice. I don't see how working, lets say, 5 days a week, 50 hours a week even, won't leave me with time for fun. Even my ENT, who is a phenomenal vocal cord/mouth cancer surgeon gets off of work at 6pm. and then from the hours of 6-12 it seems that he has a wife, two kids, and a hobby as an amateur actor. i WANT my doctor to be a well balanced human being. i want them to be committed to medicine and loving waht they do. any job you take will take up about 50 hours a week of your time. sure, med school and residency are different issues with much more insistant hours, but even then I have seen two of my friends in med school react differently to it based stronly on their previous assumptions. They both study quite a bit, but one is happy and the other is not. one seems to have time for a life, because she studies and then enjoys what little time she has free. the other assumes she's not allowed to have anything but a commitment to medicine, and going on a date or out to a movie is a sign of wavering commitment. it worries me that so many people seem to be going into medical school with the idea that they're entering some sort of slave regime, in which they will be held captive for the next forty some odd years. I'm going into medicine because its interesting to me, its rewarding work, and its the life that i want. i'll be living in the spheres of home and hospital, and thats fine by me. just as if i became a college professor and spent the vast majority of my time slaving away writing for academic journals. if medicine is not just a job for you but a way of life, then it seems perfectly reasonable that that way of life can include.... well.... a life (friends, family, maybe a few laps around the gym without those leg shackles they put on you to keep you in anatomy lab for 50 hours at a time...) hehe
 
one other thing.... for people who aren't 100% sure about becoming a doctor, i don't think a vast majority of people are 100% sure.

but if the drive is there, if the desire is there, then the doubt is something that may grip at you from time to time, but doesn't pull you down. i have always loved to write. always. i was originally going to work to be a college english prof in a creative writing department and write novels. but even though i love to write, the actual university job i'd need to feed myself didn't really do much for me, or at least i don't believe it would, as a person. Medicine is really where my heart is. i love writing, but i can't see myself getting up every day and teaching creative writing even though i feel the written word is one of the key ways to transforming people into being better people. i CAN see myself getting up every morning for the rest of my life and treating their ailments, making them feel better, performing surgeries. AND writing in my spare time, or making time for it (i have a doctor friend of the family who is a novelist and a doctor and is great at both). so when i doubt myself and say, how am i going to do this? i just think about what i want to look back on career-wise when i'm 80. and say, what did i do with myself every morning. and to me medicine is what will make me feel satisfied, i believe.

dealing with doubt is a little like dealing with religious faith. a lot of religious people doubt god from time to time, but dealing with their doubt and coming back around to their faith usually makes their faith stronger.
not to have too heavy a metaphor, but i think picking a life path is like this. you may not know if you've done the right thing till you ARE 80 and look back, but if you keep coming back from your doubt to your path, then you'll probably feel better and better about your decision.

no decision is 100% right, its just a fact of life. even if you think something is 100% for you, you never ever know what life may bring that will change your mind. the best you can do is feel like you're making the best decision for yourself, even if there are other life paths that are out there that could make you happy. I hit a huge fork in the road - and now I am writing AND studying medicine .... and writing increasingly about medicine. (i have an oliver sacks complex)

doubt may never go away. but at some point, you just have to pick something you think will make you happy and go with it, and try to incorporate a balance of other things you love in your life. its not the most scientific way of dealing with things, but hey, thats life.
 
I agree that it really does depend on the specialty of choice. I have known psychiatrists that never do work beyond 4:30-5:00 PM. They don't take crisis calls during work hours or after hours. Any patient in crisis contacts the suicide and crisis center or ER. They don't work on weekends either.

I think this is good because the reverse can interfere with patient care. There is one psychiatrist in private practice that is on call for 24 hours/7 days a week. He is so tired that I witness him screaming at very mentally ill patients. He takes everything out on anyone around him. He has lost patients and workers to other doctors. Other doctors make bad remarks about him behind his back. So, yes rest is very important. If you're not going to do it for yourself, do it for others around you.
 
21jumpstreet...thats one of my favorite tv shows
 
MedicineNutt said:
for me it was DESIRE!!! seeing people die from a tragic disease was probably an eye-opening experience...i want to do the best i can to save ppl...i mainly want to sacrifice my life for other ppl because i think its worth it...being a doctor (or any med field) allows you to do that!!! also, shadowing doctors just gave me an idea of the work physicians do...it wasnt really a deciding factor for me b/c i have been around a lot of doctors before shadowing...if you ask other people on this board im sure they'll have other reasons why they chose the doctor field...bottomline, if you want to make sure that being a doctor is right for you shadow or work at the hospital!!! don't research unless you think its worth your time b/c if interviwers figure out it wasnt something you enjoyed ---definitely not a good sign...GOOD LUCK!!


Or you could join the army and sacrifice your life to save other people. Then you dont even need a HS diploma to fulfill your dreams
 
lol at "Doctors make a lot of money" Medicare is going to be cut by ~16% over the next 10 years, which represents about 8% decrease in income for most physicians. Overhead is increasing, cutting into income. Oh yeah, cost of medical education is astronomical compared to the past too. I would get used to the idea of living modestly untill your 50's, not starting a "clinic" which you would never be able to fund without outside resources.
 
Referring to an earlier post, is it true that his parents tried to become doctors and failed, and that's why they are forcing their son into it?
 
Dont worry about being 100% sure, no one should be, its not necessarily a good sign (doubt is good), and i am 100% sure of that.
 
CoolCucumber said:
Referring to an earlier post, is it true that his parents tried to become doctors and failed, and that's why they are forcing their son into it?

lol, no, that's not true. Whoever said that is obviously a dum***... my parents were doctors, my mother a gynaecologist and my father a surgeon in the ER... n no one is pushing me in anything, i mean i did feel some pressure for going into medicine just cuz like every1 in my family is a doctor (just like any1 else would with the same scenario as mine) but nothing more.
 
being a doctor is easy. don't let anyone here fool you. all it takes is a little discipline. most doctors and med students glamorize the profession like it belongs on the pedestal most lay people have it on. after school and residency, they feel as though they've gotten past the worst hazing ritual ever. in reality, it really wasn't that tough of a challenge. throughout their careers, at least for the majority of physicians, nothing challenging will ever come their way....just a regular routine of following evidence based medicine and a decreasing salary over the next several decades when the public finds out we're overpaid, deservedly so i might add. med school hasn't been intellectually stimulating to say the least...thank god i've got an opt year to pursue my other passion.

there is this quote that goes around the medical community that says, '....about 10 percent of what you learn your first two years of medical school is all you really need for the wards.' it's sickening to me that so many students and physicians actually believe this. usually, these are the people that think 'OMG! med school is sooo like really hard!'. the brightest minds know how wrong that quote really is...and that in fact, most of what you learn is very much relevant in the wards.

in reality, most students will fall into this bracket - disciplined and driven average students who aren't smart enough to create or discover anything in life on their own. very seldom do you find true geniuses in this field. it's true....give them a book to memorize, follow the 'plan' to treating a sick patient, give them an MD. what you get when you become a physician -good money, tough hours, and a shameless self-promotion that the road to becoming a doctor was so intellectually difficult that only the select few are able to do it.

for reference, yes i am a med student. i have one brother who just finished his residency in ophthal. both parents are retired physicians. and a sister who by far is the brightest and most creative out of all of us graduating from grad school in the spring.

i read this quote somewhere here on SDN a long time ago that speaks the truth on so many levels.

"a medical student will tell you how great they are, but a grad student will show you"
 
firebody said:
being a doctor is easy. don't let anyone here fool you. all it takes is a little discipline. most doctors and med students glamorize the profession like it belongs on the pedestal most lay people have it on. after school and residency, they feel as though they've gotten past the worst hazing ritual ever. in reality, it really wasn't that tough of a challenge. throughout their careers, at least for the majority of physicians, nothing challenging will ever come their way....just a regular routine of following evidence based medicine and a decreasing salary over the next several decades when the public finds out we're overpaid, deservedly so i might add. med school hasn't been intellectually stimulating to say the least...thank god i've got an opt year to pursue my other passion.

there is this quote that goes around the medical community that says, '....about 10 percent of what you learn your first two years of medical school is all you really need for the wards.' it's sickening to me that so many students and physicians actually believe this. usually, these are the people that think 'OMG! med school is sooo like really hard!'. the brightest minds know how wrong that quote really is...and that in fact, most of what you learn is very much relevant in the wards.

in reality, most students will fall into this bracket - disciplined and driven average students who aren't smart enough to create or discover anything in life on their own. very seldom do you find true geniuses in this field. it's true....give them a book to memorize, follow the 'plan' to treating a sick patient, give them an MD. what you get when you become a physician -good money, tough hours, and a shameless self-promotion that the road to becoming a doctor was so intellectually difficult that only the select few are able to do it.

for reference, yes i am a med student. i have one brother who just finished his residency in ophthal. both parents are retired physicians. and a sister who by far is the brightest and most creative out of all of us graduating from grad school in the spring.

i read this quote somewhere here on SDN a long time ago that speaks the truth on so many levels.

"a medical student will tell you how great they are, but a grad student will show you"

I actually agree with a lot of what you say, but come on, there are a ton of average grad students, artists, researchers, scholars out there. And I don't really think people in those professions find their careers mentally-stimulating even 60% of the time. Maybe the world I've been in for the past 4 years is vastly different from SDN, but I rarely met any premeds who felt entitled or superior to anyone else. If anything, we had to be "undercover" pre-meds because it was such a cliche career to pursue, and no lab was enthusiastic about taking someone who would eventually "waste away their intelligence" in medicine. I think a lot of scholars/researchers in other fields already hold your point of view and even look down on medicine...which I think is hurtful to the pre-meds who really are passionate about what they're studying.

"in reality, most students will fall into this bracket - disciplined and driven average students who aren't smart enough to create or discover anything in life on their own."

OK, that's just plain offensive. Many med students would've succeeded in whatever career they put their minds to, but they chose medicine because they are really passionate about the work, they want to serve others, and you have to respect that. Discipline and motivation are two of the best qualities anyone can have, whether they're an artist or a doctor. If you want to start categorizing people based on creativity, I think you'll find that very few people here on earth are actually born with the kind of creativity that you would notice (judging from your ridiculously high standards anyway...) so what's the point of poo-pooing students of certain careers as non-creative anyway?
 
AMEN Grad school does indeed take you dor a loop. Having to create on the fly is much harder than having a scripted response before you.


firebody said:
being a doctor is easy. don't let anyone here fool you. all it takes is a little discipline. most doctors and med students glamorize the profession like it belongs on the pedestal most lay people have it on. after school and residency, they feel as though they've gotten past the worst hazing ritual ever. in reality, it really wasn't that tough of a challenge. throughout their careers, at least for the majority of physicians, nothing challenging will ever come their way....just a regular routine of following evidence based medicine and a decreasing salary over the next several decades when the public finds out we're overpaid, deservedly so i might add. med school hasn't been intellectually stimulating to say the least...thank god i've got an opt year to pursue my other passion.

there is this quote that goes around the medical community that says, '....about 10 percent of what you learn your first two years of medical school is all you really need for the wards.' it's sickening to me that so many students and physicians actually believe this. usually, these are the people that think 'OMG! med school is sooo like really hard!'. the brightest minds know how wrong that quote really is...and that in fact, most of what you learn is very much relevant in the wards.

in reality, most students will fall into this bracket - disciplined and driven average students who aren't smart enough to create or discover anything in life on their own. very seldom do you find true geniuses in this field. it's true....give them a book to memorize, follow the 'plan' to treating a sick patient, give them an MD. what you get when you become a physician -good money, tough hours, and a shameless self-promotion that the road to becoming a doctor was so intellectually difficult that only the select few are able to do it.

for reference, yes i am a med student. i have one brother who just finished his residency in ophthal. both parents are retired physicians. and a sister who by far is the brightest and most creative out of all of us graduating from grad school in the spring.

i read this quote somewhere here on SDN a long time ago that speaks the truth on so many levels.

"a medical student will tell you how great they are, but a grad student will show you"
 
firebody said:
being a doctor is easy. don't let anyone here fool you. all it takes is a little discipline. most doctors and med students glamorize the profession like it belongs on the pedestal most lay people have it on. after school and residency, they feel as though they've gotten past the worst hazing ritual ever. in reality, it really wasn't that tough of a challenge. throughout their careers, at least for the majority of physicians, nothing challenging will ever come their way....just a regular routine of following evidence based medicine and a decreasing salary over the next several decades when the public finds out we're overpaid, deservedly so i might add. med school hasn't been intellectually stimulating to say the least...thank god i've got an opt year to pursue my other passion.

there is this quote that goes around the medical community that says, '....about 10 percent of what you learn your first two years of medical school is all you really need for the wards.' it's sickening to me that so many students and physicians actually believe this. usually, these are the people that think 'OMG! med school is sooo like really hard!'. the brightest minds know how wrong that quote really is...and that in fact, most of what you learn is very much relevant in the wards.

in reality, most students will fall into this bracket - disciplined and driven average students who aren't smart enough to create or discover anything in life on their own. very seldom do you find true geniuses in this field. it's true....give them a book to memorize, follow the 'plan' to treating a sick patient, give them an MD. what you get when you become a physician -good money, tough hours, and a shameless self-promotion that the road to becoming a doctor was so intellectually difficult that only the select few are able to do it.

for reference, yes i am a med student. i have one brother who just finished his residency in ophthal. both parents are retired physicians. and a sister who by far is the brightest and most creative out of all of us graduating from grad school in the spring.

i read this quote somewhere here on SDN a long time ago that speaks the truth on so many levels.

"a medical student will tell you how great they are, but a grad student will show you"



I agree with an earlier post that everything becomes a job. I agree that its not THAT hard to become a dr (ie graduate med school), and to an extent with some of the things said. But other things you say are flat out ridiculous and probably purposely so.
Ive never heard your quote, and dont believe anyone actually thinks that. I would argue the first two years is just like undergrad, a foundation, but rarely used regularly, unless your in IM or Family Practice. Other fields have such an array of knowledge its stunning. Also, since when is medicine mostly evidence based? This is a new idea and only truly exists in certain situations, most of medicine is still making your best decision without all the facts.
I dont know if you meant were overpaid or deserve to be so or the public deserves to know were overpaid. Your view whatever it is, will change once your out there doing it and in charge.
Your also wrong about geniuses in the field. You should look up the definition of genious, its actually not that impressive and many more people fall into this category than you would imagine. Maybe you meant brilliant people. You sound jaded, which is fine, but you should still be a bit more objective. I myself am a huge jaded cynic, but not blind. Not creative? Ok, at this point your just not paying attention.
 
as far as your comment on most med students falling into the bracket of not creative enough on their own so they become physicians.... i don't know where you're getting that from, but almost all the doctors i've known or been treated by played a musical instrument, painted or were involved in some creative endeavor. I'm going to med school in the fall and i'm a published fiction writer who plans on continuing to write for the rest of my life, hopefully in a public and published fashion. so i think people are plenty creative. doctors create new devices all the time. And even if they don't , just dealing with people requires you to be creative. if you've ever done a lot of lab work, you'll realize that the creativity of an experiment comes in coming up with a plan and then looking at the results, not the actual pipetting , a monkey could do it, kinds of steps. med students and grad students aren't that different, i don't think. both love science, one just wants to spent their time treating the people, not just the molecular problems. nothing wrong with either one.
 
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