pre-meds, pre-whatevers: how did you solidify your career path?

[who knows]

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I'm 26, a college grad (social science major), and floundering. I'm a liberal arts major in a decidedly unsatisfying "career"(it's more a job than a career, truth be told). I have a vague interest in medicine; enough to push me to make this thread, but not pursue a medical career independently. Plainly, I don't know what to do with myself. I'd love to hear what pushed you all towards the path that you're on so as to have a better reference point for myself. I understand the motivations of others shouldn't have an effect on me, but if I'm honest ,that's where I am mentally right now.


It's the interwebz, be honest: Why are you doing all this? Money? Parental approval? Societal approval? A love of medicine? If it's the latter, I ask in a non-condescending way "how the hell do you know?" It seems to me like medicine, at the higher levels, is something you know nothing about until you're knee-deep. How do you really know you will find any highly technical potential career path interesting, for that matter?


Thanks for sharing. I want to reiterate that if my final question sounds condescending or troll-bait-ish, I come from a position of personal confusion. I don't mean to insult. I'm ambitious yet have no genuine, sincere interests in life besides sativa buds and nhl2010. But my academic success (4.0, didn't try particularly hard) gives me some hope.

 

[rbnsafsadgf]

I'm 26, a college grad (social science major), and floundering. I'm a liberal arts major in a decidedly unsatisfying "career"(it's more a job than a career, truth be told). I have a vague interest in medicine; enough to push me to make this thread, but not pursue a medical career independently. Plainly, I don't know what to do with myself. I'd love to hear what pushed you all towards the path that you're on so as to have a better reference point for myself. I understand the motivations of others shouldn't have an effect on me, but if I'm honest ,that's where I am mentally right now.


It's the interwebz, be honest: Why are you doing all this? Money? Parental approval? Societal approval? A love of medicine? If it's the latter, I ask in a non-condescending way "how the hell do you know?" It seems to me like medicine, at the higher levels, is something you know nothing about until you're knee-deep. How do you really know you will find any highly technical potential career path interesting, for that matter?


Thanks for sharing. I want to reiterate that if my final question sounds condescending or troll-bait-ish, I come from a position of personal confusion. I don't mean to insult. I'm ambitious yet have no genuine, sincere interests in life besides sativa buds and nhl2010. But my academic success (4.0, didn't try particularly hard) gives me some hope.

Go shadow physicians.

My interest in medicine started because I thought being an EMT would be cool, and then I learned that wasn't the case. What physicians did was cool!

Stop smoking the C. sativa and explore. Shadowing is a few emails and phone calls away.

 

[silverhorse84]

When I applied to college I had a few different ideas of what I wanted to do.

First I tried out vet medicine by being an animal science major, then promptly crossed that off and switched majors. One by one I tried out other jobs (teaching, religious, even some other medical jobs like being an EMT) - I crossed them all off. When I was working in the medical field, watching the different roles, the only one that seemed to fit me involved going to medical school. So here I am.

Try out everything you're interested in - you'll figure it out.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

I liked volunteering in a hospital. I didn't have anything else planned for the next 10 years. It seemed like a perfect match.

 

[justinbaily]

This may sound naive or corny, but I wanted to have a meaningful life in a career where I could be useful to other people. There was a life-changing health experience in my family that made that clear to me. I also wanted to be doing something that would allow me to learn new things for the rest of my life. My shadowing and clinical experiences helped me confirm that I could see myself enjoying a career in medicine. Before I really dedicated myself to becoming a doctor, I was pretty aimless and unhappy.

The idea of having a "job" that I didn't care about for the rest of my adult life sounds terrible.

 

[who knows]

Thanks. Good stuff so far. I care very little about myself, let alone people in general. I have little to no empathy; I'm not a bad person, but only because I have no real hedonistic desires. I'd probably act on them if I had them. I have zero desire to "help people;" any good fortune that would result from my practice would be the incidental result of my professional obligations, which are motivated almost exclusively by money, status and intellectual curiosity.

That's gross, but it's honest. I just haven't reached a point in my emotional development wherein I sincerely feel good after helping people. I don't necessarily think this precludes me from pursuing medicine, it just struck me upon reading Justin's very nice and admirable post. I'm the total opposite. I'm like the loser version of Patrick Bateman.

 

[mvenus929]

Well, I'm one of those that wanted to be a doctor when I was a kid... my mom and sisters started calling me 'Dr. Chelle' while I was still in high school, because I'd take care of them when they got hurt or sick. I've always been interested in science, so I knew that was the field I wanted to go into. I thought about Chemistry a little in college, but it didn't interest me after a semester of general chemistry. Human biology did.

But, what really cemented the fact that I wanted to become a physician was working in the hospital. I saw all sorts of different things, and I liked the role of the physician the best.

 

[Hifey]

I liked science but didn't want a career in academia or research, mostly because I like working with people and prefer to be in a job that allows social interaction and getting to know others. I also like making others feel better/fix things because it makes me feel good. I also like having lots of decision making power and ability to do things. Finally, volunteering/shadowing etc. helped solidify my path.

 

[EpiIV]

It's not something I decided overnight, it's something that grows on you over time even while you test it repeatedly against your doubts.

Originally, I was inspired by some great people who broke their bodies into the ground repeatedly in order to strive towards their goals. At the time, I wanted to go into medicine so I could help them stay on that track. I guess I felt indebted to them because before I met them, I was in a pretty low place myself and really didn't have a a connection with myself or my own health. Empowerment through exercise led to this.

So I volunteered in the sports medicine field and while I found it fascinating, realized that I the people I really needed to help were the ones who were in the same place I used to be.

And yeah, you give that enough time and self introspection and you realize that being a doctor doesn't necessarily feed your idealism quite the way you thought it would, and that most doctors are enablers and pill pushers and the idea of being this 'savior' of sorts becomes really sickening.

But still loving physiology and the way there is endless potential for adaption, I went into research. Found a second love for it. Because cutting up tissues is really cool. The other reasons are still back there, but now I know that even when people issues get me down, I just like the solidarity and focus of surgery. Solidarity not as alone, but I'm in my own head and nothing can shake me.

So it started with people but comes down to science.

But if you ask my Mother, she's going to tell you that I was destined to be a doctor all along because I had heart surgery as a child that saved me from an early death. "Put that in your personal statement!" No thank you, I'm not doing that. I'd prefer not to mention it. The fact that I've received medical care in the past, means very little to me in the scope of my career plans. But you know how mom's are, she's been on about this ever since I told her that I was going to be pre med.

So there's a few of the major reasons including a perspective on parents. They keep on evolving but they still point towards medicine for me. After a while they just mesh all together and you can hardly answer the question why anymore.

OP, you're absolutely right that you need a goal. I'm not sure if that goal is necessarily medicine or not. You can't decide this in one night, and you can't decide this while you're not in the right place mentally or emotionally. Do some soul searching. When was the last time you felt fulfilled or happy?