Please help... should i go for it????

[Weezy32]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I have been doing research on if i want to be a doctor for the past year and i still cant say 100% sure I AM GONNA GO FOR IT. However i have to make decision NOW ...

I am a business major and if i decide not to take pre med classes i will graduate in the Fall of this year.. and if i decide to take pre med classes i will graduate next summer. I also have to start taking pre med classes and am currently signed up to take intro to chem 2 and physics 1 this summer along w my business classes.

These are the positives i have come up with so far.


-I really WANT TO BE A DOCTOR because i feel like i will get satisfaction from the career and i will ENJOY going to work every day.

- Money is definitely one of the factors but not the major one. I want to be financially stable and have the money to buy cars, travel, take vacations etc... Being a pharmacist, accountant, finance advisor might yield me just as much money but i would literally shoot my self if my job was to sort pills every day in the back of the pharmacy or look over some companies numbers for the rest of my life.

- I enjoy going to school... meeting new people and learning something new everyday is actually fun for me. I ABSOLUTELY have no problem going to school for another 4 years..I plan on getting a MBA anyway if i decide not to do med school.

- I dont plan on getting married/having children until i am 35-40 so that is not going to be a problem.

- I learn the material easy... I have never had to study much. I am they type of the person that will go to class, listen to the professor , take notes and pretty much be able to get atleast a b on the test without even looking at the notes again because i will remember most of the stuff that the professor has said a week ago. I am not trying to brag, i am not saying i am a genius or anything like that. I just feel like i can remember stuff pretty easy. Now i am sure ill have to study for my science classes and med school classes. Main thing i want you to get out of this is that if i get into med school there is a good chance that i would be succesfull.

-Finally , i am very focused. Once i make up my mind that i will achieve something THAT IS IT... i will do everything in my power to achieve that. I will not slack off and i will literally become obsessed with achieving that goal. That is why it is important that i actually decide I AM GOING TO BE A DOCTOR because i know if i do that i will actually do it.

THINGS HOLDING ME BACK FROM PULLING THE TRIGGER

- MAIN THING .... LONG HOURS that doctors have to work. Everything i read says most doctors spend 60+ hrs working a week. Eventually i want to have a family, spend time with the wife, go to my sons baseball/football/soccer games, take vacations, travel the world, have hobbies, etc etc. If i am working 70-80 hours a week my time to do that would be very limited. I want to have a life outside of work.

- Honestly i am not sure how i will handle studying everyday for like 8 hrs. I see your guys schedule on here and its a bit scary. Again , i have never studied that much and i am just not sure how i will take it. I am used to having atleast a little bit of fun... watch a few movies, play some games, misc, play basketball, lift. It seems like most med school students only study, go to class, sleep, eat... I even read that some of you dont have time to exercise or lift weights (my hobby).

-How will i afford med school.. my parents are immigrants, dont have good credit history and dont own a house. Will i be able to get a loan..? my credit is also not good as i have a 40k medical bill i have not payed.


Thats all i can think of so far.. I know this is a long read and if you read everything thank you. I would like to get an opinion from each of you on if i should pull the trigger or just forget about med school and try to get some managment job that pays 60k a year and be stuck in a 9-5 rut that most people are in.

 

[Cypher321]

First things first....what's your gpa looking like?

 

[Weezy32]

First things first....what's your gpa looking like?

I am not asking if ill be able to get into med school bro. I know if i put my mind to getting in med school and becoming a doctor i will do it.

I am more concerned with if i should become a doctor or not based on what i want out of the career. I want to know should i be a doctor based on the lifestyle i want to have after i become a doctor (IE spend time with the wife, go to sons soccor practice, travel etc etc).. Like i said if i decide i am gonna become a doctor i will become a doctor its just about making that decision to do it.

 

[Cypher321]

I am not asking if ill be able to get into med school bro. I know if i put my mind to getting in med school and becoming a doctor i will do it.

Many people can if they apply enough persistence but getting into medical school is in fact a numbers game (uGPA, sGPA, and MCAT score). Knowing what your gpa is in comparison to the average matriculated student will give you an idea of what the road ahead looks like and if it's worth the effort.

I am more concerned with if i should become a doctor or not based on what i want out of the career. I want to know should i be a doctor based on the lifestyle i want to have after i become a doctor (IE spend time with the wife, go to sons soccor practice, travel etc etc).. Like i said if i decide i am gonna become a doctor i will become a doctor its just about making that decision to do it.

Try getting in touch with some doctors at your local hospital and see if you can shadow them. This will give you a glimpse into the life of a doctor plus most medical schools look for shadowing time regardless.

Best of luck.

 

[Weezy32]

Many people can if they apply enough persistence but getting into medical school is in fact a numbers game (uGPA, sGPA, and MCAT score). Knowing what your gpa is in comparison to the average matriculated student will give you an idea of what the road ahead looks like and if it's worth the effort.



Try getting in touch with some doctors at your local hospital and see if you can shadow them. This will give you a glimpse into the life of a doctor plus most medical schools look for shadowing time regardless.

Best of luck.

Firs, thanks for replying so quickly.


I think you are missing my point...Not sure if you read my entire OP but i have been doing research on what it takes to get in med school/become a doctor for about a year now. I already know the average GPA and MCAT i will need to get into my first choice school as well as my back up schools. That is not the problem...

Also i already said that i know what doctors do and that i will enjoy what i am doing if i become a doc... again thats not the problem.

The problem is that i am not sure becoming a doctor would be a good thing for me because i do eventually want to have a family and actually spend time with them. I want to have hobbies, i want to travel the world, i want to have nice cars but i am not entirely sure that if i become a doctor i will have time to enjoy my life.Even though i enjoy working, I DO NOT want to spend my whole life stuck in a hospital treating patients and neglecting my family/friends/hobbies/etc.

Hopefully this makes a little more sense.

 

[drizzt3117]

Sounds like you'd be happier in another career.

Firs, thanks for replying so quickly.


I think you are missing my point...Not sure if you read my entire OP but i have been doing research on what it takes to get in med school/become a doctor for about a year now. I already know the average GPA and MCAT i will need to get into my first choice school as well as my back up schools. That is not the problem...

Also i already said that i know what doctors do and that i will enjoy what i am doing if i become a doc... again thats not the problem.

The problem is that i am not sure becoming a doctor would be a good thing for me because i do eventually want to have a family and actually spend time with them. I want to have hobbies, i want to travel the world, i want to have nice cars but i am not entirely sure that if i become a doctor i will have time to enjoy my life.Even though i enjoy working, I DO NOT want to spend my whole life stuck in a hospital treating patients and neglecting my family/friends/hobbies/etc.

Hopefully this makes a little more sense.

 

[NickNaylor]

1) Ask for advice.
2) Ignore all advice.
3) ????
4) PROFIT

People are giving you good advice. Go shadow, talk to physicians, etc. and figure out if you can have the personal life you want while being a physician. Also, you're going to need much more than simply numbers to get into med school.

 

[drizzt3117]

Honestly if you aren't sure about it, do something else, you have no idea WTF you're getting yourself into.

 

[slatermd]

- Money is definitely one of the factors but not the major one. I want to be financially stable and have the money to buy cars, travel, take vacations etc...

..I plan on getting a MBA anyway if i decide not to do med school.

-Finally , i am very focused. Once i make up my mind that i will achieve something THAT IS IT... i will do everything in my power to achieve that. I will not slack off and i will literally become obsessed with achieving that goal. That is why it is important that i actually decide I AM GOING TO BE A DOCTOR because i know if i do that i will actually do it.

*THINGS HOLDING ME BACK FROM PULLING THE TRIGGER*

- MAIN THING .... LONG HOURS that doctors have to work. Everything i read says most doctors spend 60+ hrs working a week. Eventually i want to have a family, spend time with the wife, go to my sons baseball/football/soccer games, take vacations, travel the world, have hobbies, etc etc. If i am working 70-80 hours a week my time to do that would be very limited. I want to have a life outside of work.

- Honestly i am not sure how i will handle studying everyday for like 8 hrs. I see your guys schedule on here and its a bit scary. Again , i have never studied that much and i am just not sure how i will take it.

I would like to get an opinion from each of you on if i should pull the trigger or just forget about med school and try to get some managment job that pays 60k a year and be stuck in a 9-5 rut that most people are in.

Also i already said that i know what doctors do and that i will enjoy what i am doing if i become a doc... again thats not the problem.

The problem is that i am not sure becoming a doctor would be a good thing for me because i do eventually want to have a family and actually spend time with them. I want to have hobbies, i want to travel the world, i want to have nice cars but i am not entirely sure that if i become a doctor i will have time to enjoy my life. Even though i enjoy working, I DO NOT want to spend my whole life stuck in a hospital treating patients and neglecting my family/friends/hobbies/etc.

OP, I encourage people to pursue their dreams. Medicine is not your dream. drizzt said it very well.

Sounds like you'd be happier in another career.

I am hesitant to tell you to look elsewhere, because you sound like the kind of person who is very motivated by people telling you "you can't do it," or "you won't be able to handle it." I am NOT saying those things. You could probably do it, but it's pretty clear that you would end up disliking it.

It's not really fair to say "I know what doctors do, and I would enjoy doing it" and then add the clause, "but not for more than 40 hours." So, everything that I put in bold above, IMO, are reasons you should look into something else. And they are the reasons that you came up with. The underlined things, while not inherently *bad* reasons to pursue medicine, are totally insufficient; and you can get them through some other career that would be a better fit.

I would tell you to seriously consider PA school. I never considered it until I met the head of admissions for a PA program, and I felt like a fool for not having it on my radar sooner.

It may take you less time to complete the prereqs for PA school, depending on what you've taken already. You'd still get to do a lot of what doctors get to do on a day-to-day, with less responsibility (not necessarily a bad thing) and better hours. The pay is less, but it's more than the $60K you don't want to settle for. And there's flexibility. You can change your specialty multiple times during your career as a PA with much less consequence than a physician who would have to complete another residency or fellowship.

Long story short, you don't have to choose between medicine, MBA, and the 9-5 rut. There's a lot more out there; I suggest you look into it a little more thoroughly. You sound like you would be miserable in medicine.

 

[Catalystik]

Even though i enjoy working, I DO NOT want to spend my whole life stuck in a hospital treating patients and neglecting my family/friends/hobbies/etc.

This is pretty much what you'll need to do, at least until you pay back your educational loans. After that, and paying off the house, and saving for the kids' college education, provided you're not addicted to owning expensive cars, you can ease back the throttle and work fewer hours.

 

[slatermd]

This is pretty much what you'll need to do, at least until you pay back your educational loans. After that, and paying off the house, and saving for the kids' college education, provided you're not addicted to owning expensive cars, you can ease back the throttle and work fewer hours.

... i want to have nice cars

- Money is definitely one of the factors but not the major one. I want to be financially stable and have the money to buy cars...

OP, the return on investment probably will not be to your satisfaction.

 

[Journey2become]

I would be hesitant to flat out say that you should not go to medical school. However, there are some red flags. Mainly I would say that before you throw the baby out with the bath water you should explore more than just what is on paper. I also thought shadowing was useless at first. However, I is the closest that you can get right now to going through a day in the life of a doctor without being one. Shadowing should do one of two things: make you say "urh, this is not for me!" or it will light a fire under you (at least it was that way for me, the latter that is!).
Also, as already suggested check-out other health related options for a good fit between job satisfaction and happy home. Try shadowing the other fields that you find kind of interesting. Hope you find your passion!

 

[Weezy32]

Thanks guys, i guess i will look into shadowing but its not looking like i will be doing med school.

 

[NickNaylor]

Thanks guys, i guess i will look into shadowing but its not looking like i will be doing med school.

Are there really people that make their life decisions like this? 😕

 

[mrbuttersworth]

.Not sure if you read my entire OP but i have been doing research on what it takes to get in med school/become a doctor for about a year now. I already know the average GPA and MCAT i will need to get into my first choice school as well as my back up schools. That is not the problem...

...not sure what you've come across, but last time i took the MCAT and applied to medical school, it came down to a lot more than knowing the average for schools...

i think the person was just starting from square one: making sure you dont have a 0.4 and 12D

good luck whatever field you go into, tho-
i'm hoping- and most of the doctors i've come across reassure me- that the whole "life" thing is manageable on top of an MD
but as said- shadow, experience, and test yourself; itll give you a better idea about what you want than a bunch of judgmental pre-meds

 

[Kaustikos]

Firs, thanks for replying so quickly.


I think you are missing my point...Not sure if you read my entire OP but i have been doing research on what it takes to get in med school/become a doctor for about a year now. I already know the average GPA and MCAT i will need to get into my first choice school as well as my back up schools. That is not the problem...

Also i already said that i know what doctors do and that i will enjoy what i am doing if i become a doc... again thats not the problem.

The problem is that i am not sure becoming a doctor would be a good thing for me because i do eventually want to have a family and actually spend time with them. I want to have hobbies, i want to travel the world, i want to have nice cars but i am not entirely sure that if i become a doctor i will have time to enjoy my life.Even though i enjoy working, I DO NOT want to spend my whole life stuck in a hospital treating patients and neglecting my family/friends/hobbies/etc.

Hopefully this makes a little more sense.

You answered your own question. Medicine requires a dedication that superscedes a lot of careers. Granted, there are other jobs where you work long hours, this one tops it with the demand/responsibility. Granted, you could always get a comfy job in consulting/private practice, but you're going to be doing the long hours for a while (med school/residency/etc) so if you can't see yourself tolerating it for at least 7 years, then I wouldn't recommend it. If you can't see that...then get out.

 

[two thirty]

Wrong forum, but have you considered dental school?

It is pretty similar to med school, but you'll be out a little quicker and have just as good as earning potential. Also, you are rarely on call and most established dentists rarely work more than 40 hours a week.

As far as studying in med school goes, I really feel like its exaggerated on this forum. Obviously, it's going to be a lot harder than undergrad and you'll have to work your butt off. But the guys posting here are also usually the guys that study 30 hours a week out of class in undergrad, and I've never done that other than finals week and I have a 3.8 GPA. My dentist said his dental education was hard, but him and his friends would usually study while drinking beer and watching the Braves several nights a week. If you don't try to get a really tough specialty or finish in the very top of your class, you don't have to strive for absolute perfection.

Just my two cents.

 

[Lunasly]

It seems to me that you are just looking for an easy way out. You want a job where you have regular hours, but make a fortune in order to have your nice house and expensive cars.

I don't think your goals are realistic because I think some of the only people who have this sort of job are those who are famous. Don't get me wrong: You will have a lot of money as doctor or a dentist, but you have to work hard in order to have that luxury. Something has to give because sometimes you just can't have it all.

based on what you saying it seems like this is not a career that is interesting to you. However, I don't think you should let anyone else tell you what is and what is not right for you. I think this is problem you have to find the solution to and I think shadowing more often or talking to doctors will help you out.

 

[Weezy32]

Thanks for all your help. After much deliberation i decided that med school is not for me... I have dropped the pre med classes i was gonna take during summer.


Good luck to all of you.

 

[drctother]

Thanks for all your help. After much deliberation i decided that med school is not for me... I have dropped the pre med classes i was gonna take during summer.


Good luck to all of you.

👍

 

[Sammich117]

Thanks guys, i guess i will look into shadowing but its not looking like i will be doing med school.

Thanks for all your help. After much deliberation i decided that med school is not for me... I have dropped the pre med classes i was gonna take during summer.


Good luck to all of you.

If just this thread talked you out of going into medicine then you absolutely don't (didn't?) want it enough.

 

[Thirteeen]

Are there really people that make their life decisions like this? 😕

Or better yet...


[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld5Px8tU69A[/YOUTUBE]

 

[kansaskid]

If just this thread talked you out of going into medicine then you absolutely don't (didn't?) want it enough.

👍