MD vs Comp Sci HELP!

[coolperson]

Hey guys, so I am debating between a CS or a MD (and slightly considering dental, but first I want to eliminate or not eliminate CS). I am going to college (a T10) this fall.
I am taking an intro CS class as well as pre med requirement classes such as phys and chem, skipping out of intro bio and calc.

I have been torn between cs and MD for a while now and I need to make a decision soon, bc it is hard to maintain grades while doing CS.
I don't have much experience in CS. I started doing some coding this summer for a month and a half in python. I like logical/analytical thinking but I am not naturally good at coding and many times I cannot solve coding problems ( I stare blankly at the screen sometimes and don't know what to do). I get some satisfaction from solving the problem but I can't really imagine sitting at a computer for the rest of my life that sounds very dull. Also, a lot of software don't have an impact on people/are kind of useless (i.e. creating a mobile paying app for Starbucks or something).
CS pay/job security is great, but pay varies and apparently, CS jobs are going to foreign countries like India. Also, IDK if I'm good enough at CS to land a position at a top company (many are better than me). CS is less stable and more variable. CS is definitely pretty cool and interesting, but seems more of a gimmick to me than directly helping people, and I can't code for hours at a time, I get bored or frustrated (keep in mind I don't have much experience in coding).

I shadowed a doctor for a few days (pediatric general surgeon). It was interesting and satisfying and meaningful work for sure. I also LOVE science, especially chemistry, and am really good at memorizing. I like chem bio a lot. Medicine is more interesting than CS, like I can read medical research papers and biomedical engineering research papers for long period of time. However, I think some parts of medicine are a little gross, like manual disimpaction, diseases like rett syndrome, etc. (but maybe I can work through that)?

the main thing that turns me off is the tons of years and lack of sleep needed to become a doctor. I can't tolerate that much sleep debt. I also have read so many blogs of med students who want to kill themselves, doctors have the highest rate of depression, suicide, long work hours, career regret, and many doctors tell their children to never become one because of no work-life balance and divorces. Doctors can have emotional tolls too (seeing some of the babies who were sick with SMA and IBD made me really emotional). However, doctors can maybe retire earlier and have better pay, and the work is obviously more meaningful, more social, and less boring than coding, and also maybe? less difficult than coding. Med is more stable.

I don't have a strong "burning" passion for either: I know many who have more passion than me for CS and more passion than me for med. I also am not the person who had an interest in medicine since I was born, I just started thinking about medicine in the last year.

tl;dr: CS is better work-life balance, easier, less time spent, good pay, but more boring and less impactful. Med is more interesting/more impact but burnout/ bad work life balance.
What are your guys thoughts on what I should choose? Is CS pre-med possible for at least the first year?

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[Dr panda]

What are your guys thoughts on what I should choose?
Only you can decide:
-why do you want to become a doctor/developer?
-some guy on SDN said this is better
Is CS pre-med possible for at least the first year?
Yes.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

Hey guys, so I am debating between a CS or a MD (and slightly considering dental, but first I want to eliminate or not eliminate CS). I am going to college (a T10) this fall.
I am taking an intro CS class as well as pre med requirement classes such as phys and chem, skipping out of intro bio and calc.

I have been torn between cs and MD for a while now and I need to make a decision soon, bc it is hard to maintain grades while doing CS.
I don't have much experience in CS. I started doing some coding this summer for a month and a half in python. I like logical/analytical thinking but I am not naturally good at coding and many times I cannot solve coding problems ( I stare blankly at the screen sometimes and don't know what to do). I get some satisfaction from solving the problem but I can't really imagine sitting at a computer for the rest of my life that sounds very dull. Also, a lot of software don't have an impact on people/are kind of useless (i.e. creating a mobile paying app for Starbucks or something).
CS pay/job security is great, but pay varies and apparently, CS jobs are going to foreign countries like India. Also, IDK if I'm good enough at CS to land a position at a top company (many are better than me). CS is less stable and more variable. CS is definitely pretty cool and interesting, but seems more of a gimmick to me than directly helping people, and I can't code for hours at a time, I get bored or frustrated (keep in mind I don't have much experience in coding).

I shadowed a doctor for a few days (pediatric general surgeon). It was interesting and satisfying and meaningful work for sure. I also LOVE science, especially chemistry, and am really good at memorizing. I like chem bio a lot. Medicine is more interesting than CS, like I can read medical research papers and biomedical engineering research papers for long period of time. However, I think some parts of medicine are a little gross, like manual disimpaction, diseases like rett syndrome, etc. (but maybe I can work through that)?

the main thing that turns me off is the tons of years and lack of sleep needed to become a doctor. I can't tolerate that much sleep debt. I also have read so many blogs of med students who want to kill themselves, doctors have the highest rate of depression, suicide, long work hours, career regret, and many doctors tell their children to never become one because of no work-life balance and divorces. Doctors can have emotional tolls too (seeing some of the babies who were sick with SMA and IBD made me really emotional). However, doctors can maybe retire earlier and have better pay, and the work is obviously more meaningful, more social, and less boring than coding, and also maybe? less difficult than coding. Med is more stable.

I don't have a strong "burning" passion for either: I know many who have more passion than me for CS and more passion than me for med. I also am not the person who had an interest in medicine since I was born, I just started thinking about medicine in the last year.

tl;dr: CS is better work-life balance, easier, less time spent, good pay, but more boring and less impactful. Med is more interesting/more impact but burnout/ bad work life balance.
What are your guys thoughts on what I should choose? Is CS pre-med possible for at least the first year?

CS is not better work life balance in every case. Talk to anyone who works in startups, 80+ hours is common and if the startup fails you have no financial gains. Now a days lot of doctors work 8-5.

You can take 2 premed classes, 1 CS class and 1 writing class in first semester and see how it goes.

 

[aorta22]

Okay first things first... take a deep breath! You're going into freshman year, you do not need to have your entire life figured out yet. Yes you can take an intro CS class while taking intro chem. Unless your school somehow requires first years to declare their major immediately, you absolutely do not need to declare your major the first day you walk onto campus, and you have some time to think about your options and learn more specifically what you like best.

Don't count CS out just because you've coded for a month and a half and it's hard. Don't count out medicine just because of blogs! Take some time this year (and over the next few years) to take classes, gain more experience, and form your own opinions. Talk to older students in the different majors you're considering, join a few clubs, and - especially for medicine - volunteer or shadow to get a better sense of REAL clinical environments. Research papers and textbooks are one thing, but seeing medicine up close in the hospital or clinic may give you a new perspective. Same thing for CS- taking a CS class may be very different from working as a SWE at a tech company. Pursuing either medicine or CS will require a solid amount of dedication, and it's a lot easier to dedicate yourself to something that you love. So before you choose your future career and plan out the next 50 years of your life, give yourself the time to figure that out first

Writing as someone who started college with a VERY similar perspective (I thought I knew everything I wanted to do and where I wanted to end up, LOL), the greatest piece of advice I can give you is to keep an open mind. Take classes you never thought you would consider, study a language, get involved with student organizations, meet people outside of your major/minor through clubs or other extracurriculars. Go to office hours and hear about the fields you're considering from your professors. Talk to people who are very different from who you are! College is not just a direct road to med school or a job, it is also an extremely valuable chance to learn and grow as a person. And at the end of the day, that will make you a far more interesting candidate to tech jobs, med schools, or whatever else you choose to pursue.

 

[Physician.EXE]

I always encourage everyone to learn how to code. No matter what path you choose, having a computer science skill set will be very useful.

 

[pioneer22]

CS major here. I chose medicine because of the connection. Google, etc are very lifeless jobs which is why most people only stay 2 years.
Really consider why you want to pursue CS or medicine (or both).

 

[Physician.EXE]

CS major here

Quick, tell me how to reverse a linked list! /s

 

[coolperson]

CS major here. I chose medicine because of the connection. Google, etc are very lifeless jobs which is why most people only stay 2 years.
Really consider why you want to pursue CS or medicine (or both).

What year of college are you in? How hard is it to pursue CS pre med for you in terms of maintaining GPA. If CS is lifeless then why did you choose to major in it?

 

[coolperson]

Quick, tell me how to reverse a linked list! /s

Did you also major in CS and do pre med? If so, can you give some advice on how to succesfully do CS pre med, and also why did you choose medicine over CS?

 

[pioneer22]

What year of college are you in? How hard is it to pursue CS pre med for you in terms of maintaining GPA. If CS is lifeless then why did you choose to major in it?

CS has great applications and teaches problem solving.
CS careers are traditionally lifeless. Unless starting at a computer screen for 8 hours at a time is appealing to you.

 

[Select All That Apply]

CS has great applications and teaches problem solving.
CS careers are traditionally lifeless. Unless starting at a computer screen for 8 hours at a time is appealing to you.

It is. Coding is appealing. You sound like you are doing too much back end oriented work and not having fun with toying around with front end elements like web dev.

 

[hamstergang]

I was a CS major, now an attending for the past 3 years. The pre-med classes took up all my electives, but it wasn't otherwise hard to do them together. Many say that it's bad for your GPA, but I don't know -- I'm good at CS and school in general so had no problems. It's nice knowing more about computers than all my colleagues and being able to write nearly useful short programs now and then. I was able to better understand the match algorithm than my fellowship program director due to my background. I was also able to create a mathematical model of my outpatient clinic to determine the right number of new patients per week in order to stay full but not overfill.

I ultimately went into medicine not because I didn't like CS but because that was my plan all along. You have to major in something and this seemed fun.

Reading the OP, I don't know why the options should be narrowed to just CS or medicine. Maybe there's something else you'd actually enjoy? Otherwise, you have time still to explore and figure this out.