Medicine or stay in management consulting?

[deleted1058816]

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[operaman]

Can’t really give great advice because I’m not you and don’t know your individual priorities. But I can say that you are very young and there’s no rush. Nothing wrong with giving it a couple extra years, saving money and investing, and coming to medicine later. I had friends in school with a lot of savings who wrote a check for school and had no debt - a nice place to be! If you’re getting some fulfillment from your current role, maybe worth seeing where it actually goes. Nothing wrong with doing medical school at 26 or 28, especially if you’re doing it with eyes wide open knowing it’s what you want.

 

[Goro]

I recently graduated college and was fortunate enough to land a job in management consulting for my 2 intended gap years before med school. However, for the first time since I began college 4 years ago, I am second guessing medicine.

Here I am 22 years old making $130K. In 2 years, if I don't begin med school, I'll be making $200K; in 5 years $400K; in 10 years > $1M. Money is not everything, and I do NOT enjoy my job.

I want still want to become a doctor. But I can't help but wonder if it is even a rational decision: if helping people is what I want, would I make a bigger impact joining a non-profit in a leadership role in 5 years time, instead? I can't image having the time do have any significant extracurriculars / have a broader impact on society if, for the next 10 years, I'll be studying / working 60-80 hrs per week.

Any thoughts? Med students, what would you do in my situation?

What does your heart tell you? Medicine is a calling, after all.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Moving to pre-med.

As others have said, this really comes down to your personal values. I will say that as a physician you can have a profound impact on the lives of your patients, and that doctor-patient relationship you form really is unique. That said, except for a tiny few, physicians are consumed by caring for their patients (as well as all of the administrative nonsense that you hear us complain about), so the chance of you making a "broader impact on society" is small. But talk to people who are trying to "change the world" and you will quickly find that path is not easy, and you certainly don't see the immediate fruits of your work like you do when you help your patients as a doctor.

You probably cannot go wrong as long as you are honest with yourself about what you want.

 

[_TheStruggl3_]

I recently graduated college and was fortunate enough to land a job in management consulting for my 2 intended gap years before med school. However, for the first time since I began college 4 years ago, I am second guessing medicine.

Here I am 22 years old making $130K. In 2 years, if I don't begin med school, I'll be making $200K; in 5 years $400K; in 10 years > $1M. Money is not everything, and I do NOT enjoy my job.

I want still want to become a doctor. But I can't help but wonder if it is even a rational decision: if helping people is what I want, would I make a bigger impact joining a non-profit in a leadership role in 5 years time, instead? I can't image having the time do have any significant extracurriculars / have a broader impact on society if, for the next 10 years, I'll be studying / working 60-80 hrs per week.

Any thoughts? Med students, what would you do in my situation?

It's not a guarantee that in 10 years you're making $1M. Really depends on your skills and will require switching across several companies, so I wouldn't assume you'll be in that bracket. MBA increases that prospect, but means you're out of the job market for 2 years. People who hit $500k+ income in management or IB also miss family events, take calls on weekends, and deal with headaches. So would you rather be working that hard in a job you love or one you don't?

 

[LindaAccepted]

I recently graduated college and was fortunate enough to land a job in management consulting for my 2 intended gap years before med school. However, for the first time since I began college 4 years ago, I am second guessing medicine.

Here I am 22 years old making $130K. In 2 years, if I don't begin med school, I'll be making $200K; in 5 years $400K; in 10 years > $1M. Money is not everything, and I do NOT enjoy my job.

I want still want to become a doctor. But I can't help but wonder if it is even a rational decision: if helping people is what I want, would I make a bigger impact joining a non-profit in a leadership role in 5 years time, instead? I can't image having the time do have any significant extracurriculars / have a broader impact on society if, for the next 10 years, I'll be studying / working 60-80 hrs per week.

Any thoughts? Med students, what would you do in my situation?

About a year ago I interviewed a Dell med student who had left consulting to go to med school. He seemed pretty happy with his choice. At the time he was an M4. He valued his time as a consultant and was using that experience as a med student to "have a broader impact." He had started a local produce delivery service that combined several social goods with a sustainable business and alleviating food insecurity.

But as others have said, you need to know what you want and what's important to you.

 

[LizzyM]

From that perspective, go to law school and become a congressional aide helping to develop policy or work in the executive side in an regulatory agency. Or take a job writing the regs as part of the Joint Commission or a state government insurance regulatory body. Or work in a health care policy think tank or consulting firm. Yes, that makes a bigger impact for populations but none of them make a difference when one precious life is on the line. For that task you need healthcare providers who take patients one at a time and do their best to keep them alive.

I've been reading The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER by Thomas Fisher. It gets into many of the socio-political issues at play that leave an ER attending frustrated that he can't make a bigger impact or prevent what leads to people requiring his care. Read it and see if it inspires you in one direction or another.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Had a student who was a lawyer in an Intl law firm. Mid 30s. Went to our school, did well, then dropped out. Didn't like the age gap between their classmates, and certainly didn't like their station in life as an MS1. Meaning being the lowest person on the totem.pole. Dropped out after the first year. Something to consider.if you wait.
As far as the 80k helo ride, your job is to save lives, unless an advance directive forbids it. No one is asking whether you have done anyone a favor by evacuating them for life saving specialty care. In reality, your opinion on the matter is not required. As a doctor, you must do your job and not worry about the " What ifs"? My advice to students who "think" about attending med school is just don't do it. Go to med school if you can't see yourself doing anything else. It's too long,expensive, and extremely difficult.

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

I think you have an inflated idea about how much you will be making as a college graduate. Your ceiling with a BA is around 200k. They will rarely promote pre-MBA associates to a higher level. You will not simply go up in ranks automatically as you described. You will have to fight economic downturns, company politics, and luck to even have a chance to make more than 300k. Just to give you an idea, graduates from M7 business schools start at McK around 150k and after bonus about 230k. None of my friends, out of business school for exactly 10 years (one of the best business schools in the country), are making anything near 1M. So if you stay in consulting because you think it’s just easy money, then don’t do that. You will not likely make anything near what you think in 5 or 10 years.