Primarily drawn to medicine as a practical career choice

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hibore222

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I was really curious to see if other non-trads are in my boat.

I'm 25 years old, and I've been thinking a lot lately about how the things that happened in my life when I was 18 are still really affecting where I am now. Also, in the past week, I met another 25 yo that is doing the exact job that I hoped to be doing now, so, it's caused me to reflect a lot on the path that my life has taken.

In high school, I was always extremely interested in advertising and marketing, read tons of books on it, etc. I went by myself to one of the top undergrad business schools in the country, and planned to focus on that and be excited about that career. I love the way that marketing forces one to be creative in order to affect people's decisions. But once I got to college, I was really lonely, and had a really hard time making friends. In the middle of my freshmen year, I dropped out, headed home, went to a few other places, and finally graduated at a small mediocre near home (where I was pretty happy for my final two years of college).

I was so focused on just trying to find a place where I had friends and I could be happy that I really did not achieve any of the things that most people from my original school achieved by the time of their graduation, like impressive internships, participation in business clubs, leadership in organizations, etc.

All my jobs since college have had nothing to do with advertising, and in almost all certainty, I won't ever get a job at the top ad firms, etc.

My few years since college have been doing boring cubicle jobs that I don't care about, things just to pay the bills.

I could probably get into a good MBA program (good grades and good GMAT score), yet, there's no "business" job that really appeals to me at this point. And, given my complete lack of success that I've had when I've applied to jobs that interest me, I think I'm just sort of cynical that I could ever get a job in the business world that interests me.

I was unemployed for a while last year, and finally landed in my current job in September. Once the stress about having a stable income dissolved in September, I've been giving constant thought as to what direction I would like my career to head. Starting this past fall, for the first time in my life, I considered being a physician. I started thinking that after four years in the corporate world showed me how tough it can be to get a good-paying job, and while realizing that my current career path has no direction. I surveyed the career landscape and figured that the most realistic and likely way for me to get a six-figure job with high stability lies in health care. I'm currently taking Gen Chem I at night this semester.

I read the other threads about "passion", and I don't think that that describes how I feel about medicine.

There still are many other topics that I find more interesting reading about as compared to reading about medicine. They include...

-Advertising (I read 'Ad Age' all the time ... but trust me, especially since 'Mad Men', tons of people have wanted to get into advertising, but there just aren't that many jobs in the field)
-Foreign Affairs (not that many jobs in that field, at least relative to the number of people that would like to work in it)
-Economics (I'm fascinated by the human psychology aspect, but, the only decent career prospects involve getting a PhD, and even then, the career prospects are quite shaky, I know lots of Economics PhDs that are constantly working on semester by semester contracts with schools, and making not that much money ... and, the number of economics jobs in the private sector have been cut big-time since the financial crisis of 2008)
-Sports (I'm a male that loves sports. Shocking, right?)

So, my pursuit of medicine doesn't come from the fact that it's the subject that I find more interesting than any other, but more from the fact that, given where I am right now, it's the most practical way for me to achieve a comfortable salary over the course of my life. I feel like I have stopped thinking about "what interests me" and started looking at "what is the economy/market offering". I spent four years (albeit in one of the worst recession in American history) trying to find a job that "interests me", and I'm sick of doing that, as it hasn't been successful for me at all.

One reason that I never considered medicine as a career was because I never found science interesting. It was impossible for me to care about something that had no connection to human emotions / feelings (the way that English / History / Economics) interested me.

A big thing that I've realized over the last few years is that I'm MUCH less entrepreneurial than I always thought I was. I'd much rather be Charlie Rose than being a guy out on the road selling drill bits. I don't like the notion that the success of an entrepreneur/salesman depends so much on someone else buying in to you. Being a successful doctor is primarily about accumulating all the knowledge and being able to make wise decisions about information in front of you. That is VERY different than the skills needed in the business world, and I am now much more drawn to the latter. (All this is to say that I do have a fear or trying to start my own business).

I do think that I'd be happy being a doctor; at the very least, happier being a doctor than being a typical cubicle monkey for the rest of my life. But I'd be lying if I said that the topic of "medicine" currently interested me more than any of the topics mentioned above; hopefully that would change over time.

Anyone else have a similar mindset to me?
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hibore222 said:
I was really curious to see if other non-trads are in my boat.

I'm 25 years old, and I've been thinking a lot lately about how the things that happened in my life when I was 18 are still really affecting where I am now. Also, in the past week, I met another 25 yo that is doing the exact job that I hoped to be doing now, so, it's caused me to reflect a lot on the path that my life has taken.

In high school, I was always extremely interested in advertising and marketing, read tons of books on it, etc. I went by myself to one of the top undergrad business schools in the country, and planned to focus on that and be excited about that career. I love the way that marketing forces one to be creative in order to affect people's decisions. But once I got to college, I was really lonely, and had a really hard time making friends. In the middle of my freshmen year, I dropped out, headed home, went to a few other places, and finally graduated at a small mediocre near home (where I was pretty happy for my final two years of college).

I was so focused on just trying to find a place where I had friends and I could be happy that I really did not achieve any of the things that most people from my original school achieved by the time of their graduation, like impressive internships, participation in business clubs, leadership in organizations, etc.

All my jobs since college have had nothing to do with advertising, and in almost all certainty, I won't ever get a job at the top ad firms, etc.

My few years since college have been doing boring cubicle jobs that I don't care about, things just to pay the bills.

I could probably get into a good MBA program (good grades and good GMAT score), yet, there's no "business" job that really appeals to me at this point. I think I've been so jaded by boring cubicle jobs over the past few years that I can't imagine that there's any "business" job ... and, given my complete lack of success that I've had when I've applied to jobs that interest me, I think I'm just sort of cynical that I could ever get a job in the business world that interests me.

I was unemployed for a while last year, and finally landed in my current job in September. Once the stress about having a stable income dissolved in September, I've been giving constant thought as to what direction I would like my career to head, and I'm currently taking Gen Chem I at night this semester.

I read the other threads about "passion", and I don't think that that describes how I feel about medicine.

There still are many other topics that I find more interesting reading about as compared to reading about medicine. They include...

-Advertising (I read 'Ad Age' all the time ... but trust me, especially since 'Mad Men', tons of people have wanted to get into advertising, but there just aren't that many jobs in the field)
-Foreign Affairs (not that many jobs in that field, at least relative to the number of people that would like to work in it)
-Economics (I'm fascinated by the human psychology aspect, but, the only decent career prospects involve getting a PhD, and even then, the career prospects are quite shaky, I know lots of Economics PhDs that are constantly working on semester by semester contracts with schools, and making not that much money ... and, the number of economics jobs in the private sector have been cut big-time since the financial crisis of 2008)
-Sports (I'm a male that loves sports. Shocking, right?)

So, my pursuit of medicine doesn't come from the fact that it's the subject that I find more interesting than any other, but more from the fact that, given where I am right now, it's the most practical way for me to achieve a comfortable salary over the course of my life. I feel like I have stopped thinking about "what interests me" and started looking at "what is the economy/market offering". I spent four years (albeit in one of the worst recession in American history) trying to find a job that "interests me", and I'm sick of doing that, as it hasn't been successful for me at all.

I do think that I'd be happy being a doctor; at the very least, happier being a doctor than being a typical cubicle monkey for the rest of my life. But I'd be lying if I said that the topic of "medicine" currently interested me more than any of the topics mentioned above; hopefully that would change over time.

Anyone else have a similar mindset to me?
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I would have to say, as someone about to start medical school, if the material itself doesn't interest you, you will probably be completely miserable even before you attain the comfortable salary you are looking for. Imagine spending 4 years going deep into debt with no income, then another 3+ years earning what many entry-level jobs pay. Now imagine that you will be working 80 hours each week. Imagine what it would be like to be living for your days off, because you hate going to work, but having only two of those a month, and being so exhausted when you are off that you don't have the energy to do anything (not to mention the constant prospect of upcoming exams you need to study for.)

Does this really sound like a job you should pursue WITHOUT an interest in and passion for the subject matter of the job itself?
 
Thanks for the reply, very good points and I made my original post because I am a little worried that I won't really like it, and I'm still trying to figure that out.

FWIW, a family friend was going through severe medical issues lately, and I was fascinated to learn about what exactly was wrong, and what was causing it, etc.

I think that right now a lot of my uncertainty comes from the fact that the entire next year of my life is going to be focused solely on core courses and the MCAT, i.e., things that are fairly dull and have no direct impact on anyone else's life.
 
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Aside from the being lonely in college and not having many friends part, we are actually quite similar.

Back in the day, I wanted to go into healthcare as a wee little kid. Somewhere along the line, I got lost.

Like you, I considered advertising in college, tried out for a few low-end jobs, but in the end realized it wasn't for me. Most ad jobs are not the glitzy, Mad Men-type creative jobs. Sure you get perks from clients, but most of my friends were on the media planning and sales side, which involves a lot of numbers-crunching and that cubicle work you (and I) dislike. To get into creative, most people start early in college as copywriters, start building their portfolios and work their way up. Few get discovered like Don Draper. It's a tough gig and you're way late in the game.

I also pondered business for a bit, even took a couple of business courses after college and bought a GMAT book. Like you, I soon discovered that I found little satisfying about the business world or about climbing the corporate ladder. It felt superficial and it wasn't for me.

At age 25, I became reacquainted with the idea of healthcare again. I'm not gonna lie. One thing that did attract me to medicine was the eventual gratification of being able to provide my (future) family with a comfortable life. But initially, I didn't even consider medicine because of the painfully long path. I was thinking pharm or PA. It wasn't until I spent a year shadowing docs at a hospital before I realized that, not only was pharmacy boring to me, but I found medicine to be amazing and fulfilling in many ways. Fast forward through a few years and some white hairs later, here I am, about to start med school in a few months.

Before you decide to dive into the pre-med world, my suggestion to you would be to get experience, either volunteering at a hospital or shadowing physicians, just to see if the life is really for you. Like others will mention, it's a very long and expensive commitment and you want to be absolutely sure that medicine is something that you see yourself doing. Even being a pre-med can take years. There are other, shorter paths to healthcare that also provide rewarding experiences, good pay and offer significantly less-demanding lifestyles, like PA, dentistry, pharm, etc. Keep your options open.

There is nothing wrong with having the long-term goal of making decent dough as ONE of the reasons to go into medicine. It just shouldn't be your only reason, or you may find yourself just as miserable as you once were at your cubicle jobs, only with $300k in debt.
 
hibore222 said:
Thanks for the reply, very good points and I made my original post because I am a little worried that I won't really like it, and I'm still trying to figure that out.

FWIW, a family friend was going through severe medical issues lately, and I was fascinated to learn about what exactly was wrong, and what was causing it, etc.

I think that right now a lot of my uncertainty comes from the fact that the entire next year of my life is going to be focused solely on core courses and the MCAT, i.e., things that are fairly dull and have no direct impact on anyone else's life.
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It is impossible to tell, for sure, whether you will like it or not. This is something each of us who takes the plunge and accepts the debt of medical school is doing on faith, on a belief that it will be worth it, but knowing that it might not be what we imagine it will be. This is true of every profession, and why you can't name a single profession without some members who are disillusioned and who swear they would never do it again.

There is only so much you can do to prepare, but you should definitely do it all -- shadowing, volunteering, talking with doctors, reading about the subject -- before you commit to it. There is nothing wrong with having interests outside medicine, and though some might flame me for saying this, I bet most doctors would say there are other careers they would pursue if they truly could do anything they wanted, meaning they had no financial obligations tying them down/they had the innate talent for their dream career/etc.

I am pursuing medicine because I am interested in the material, want to treat patients and help them get better, and can't see myself happy in any other career that is practically obtainable to me. I wouldn't discourage anyone from doing what they want, but if this isn't what you truly want, you very well could be miserable and might want to abandon your pursuit of medicine. If this is something that really interests you, and if looking ahead, beyond the undergraduate pre-reqs, you are interested in and excited about the material, the patient contact, etc., definitely pursue and test your interest. Either way, the choice is one only you can make, obviously. :luck:

ETA: The dull material of the pre-reqs and the MCAT are just a hoop to jump through. Medicine is not simply studying this stuff and passing these tests. Make sure you look at what you will be doing, not what you are doing now, if you feel disillusioned with the path you are taking.
 
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@bizzy @seeker - Thanks, I really really appreciate those replies. I do definitely need to do more shadowing / volunteering ASAP.

I love learning, and I do know that ultimately I would feel good from having the immense amount of knowledge that doctors have (I love talking to doctors and hearing their stories and am always really impressed by their knowledge). But I'm still trying to figure out if I would be happy spending the majority of my career treating people on a day to day basis, as compared to doing sales, developing products, etc.

I think one reason that it's still so uncertain to me is that it's so unlike any sort of job that I ever expected to make a career out of. For instance, six months ago, I interviewed for an international sales job that I would have loved (a job completely unrelated to health care, and a job that I felt like I would've been truly great at), but unfortunately I didn't get it. So, after being truly interested in that job this past summer, it is a big jump to say that just six months later, I can be equally excited about something that is so completely different (especially, frankly, when I won't get any monetary benefit from the 'health care' job for ten years).

One thing that I really believe is that it's easier to "get your foot in the door" as a doctor than in many other professions. For all intents and purposes, if you get good pre-med grades and a good MCAT score, you'll get into a medical school. And if you pass medical school, you are almost certain to get into some residency program, and then from there, as long as you do well in the residency, you should be able to find an attending position somewhere in the country. I think in general, compared to many jobs, getting a start in medicine is more based on your own intelligence (as shown through MCAT / pre-med grades) than on someone being willing to give you a chance.

The same is not true of many other professions, especially ones that are sought after by many people relative to a small number of openings (like being a TV personality or having a good job in advertising).

Look at it this way. I guesstimated that there are 18,000 doctors in the Chicagoland area (660,000 physicians nationwide, and Chicagoland has 9 million people, i.e., 3% of the US population). Compare that to the fact that there are approximately 50 "TV personalities" in the city of Chicago. So, even though pre-med/med school/residency is a long journey, there are inherently far more openings for doctors at any given time in Chicagoland than there are opportunities to work on TV in Chicagoland.

DBizzy is absolutely right about the reality of the advertising industry. According to the BLS, the number of advertising professionals in the US is 462,300. However, realistically, an extremely large number of these people are likely making relatively mediocre wages ($38,000 on average), compared to the fact that an extremely high percentage of doctors make at least $100k. Furthermore, advertising positions are only expected to grow 8% total from the 2008-2018 period, compared to the fact that physician openings is expected to grow 22% in that same period. And, in advertising, "Competition for many jobs will be keen because the glamour of the advertising and public relations services industry traditionally attracts many more job seekers than there are job openings."

I have a friend that works at an entry level job at the most prestigious ad firm, and she says that she truly has zero negotiating-power salary wise, because there are hundreds of recent college grads every week trying to get her job. Furthermore, there are five people at her level trying to get the one job that she'll be up for at the next level in a couple years (like I've talked about elsewhere, the corporate world is very much a pyramid). And, just like at the Big 4 accounting firms, you sort of have to start your career at one of the top agencies if you ever want the relatively few high-paying advertising jobs. You almost never hear of someone starting their career at a small firm, or as an in-house accountant somewhere, and then moving over to being a higher-level auditor at one of the Big 4.

And, to mention another industry that interests me that has been getting killed over the last few years, look at "Wall Street"-type jobs. This painful stat from a New York Times article nails it: "The number of investment bank and brokerage firm employees between the ages 20 and 34 fell by 25 percent from the third quarter of 2008 to the same period of 2011, a loss of 110,000 jobs from layoffs, attrition and voluntary departures." Ouch. I believe that I'd be pretty happy being a trader. I interned at a hedge fund in college and really enjoyed it. I've been trading on my own since junior high and find the stock market very interesting, but as the above stat shows, it's been nearly impossible to get a "foot in the door" in finance over the past few years.

Anyways, all this is to again say that my initial/current interest in medicine comes primarily from the demand of the market and from "realistic career opportunities" instead of primarily from the thought of loving being a doctor.

Thanks for all your thoughts. I would love to hear follow-up if any of you have anything else to add.
 
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Do what you love. If that's finance, do that.

I work at a very successful hedge fund (albeit in an admin position). If you are really interested in trading, these are things you can/should do: 1) get an internship at a GREAT company. Make friends. If a trader likes you, he might hire you as a junior trader, but you are responsible for pushing that connection. 2) Send your resume to any and every hedge fund with a good amount of capital, telling them you would like a junior trader or intern position. I don't know if this is true for most firms, but our HR does look at every application and keeps it in mind for new opportunities. If you have something impressive, you might get a call. 3)Get an advanced degree, depending on what you want to specialize in. The most successful trader in our firm has a phd in physics, and something like 85% have higher than a bachelor's degree of some kind. MBA is kind of useless, but could be helpful in establishing contacts.

The way it seems to work is that young traders establish themselves at small(er) firms for a year or two, either through internships or entry level positions. Then, they either work up the ranks there and continue to establish themselves, or they move to an entry level/internship at a large(r) firm, lather, rinse, repeat.

You don't get a job at a good company without putting forth a lot of work and proving yourself first, but you CAN get it through hard work and making good professional connections.

However, even if you get here, it's cut throat. You must perform, or you will be gone. No exceptions, no preferential treatment.

Explore all your options, and figure out what works best for you. Good luck!
 
Thanks for that post and advice Kai. I absolutely agree with you on all those points. Why are you going down the medical path?

My biggest issue hands down is that there's not one specific job or career that I really really want to do. I've been spending a lot of time in the past couple months trying to figure out what I'm passionate about or what I would love to do, and I get nothing. Seriously.

The reason that I'm starting down the path of medicine is that it's one of the most "laid-out" of all career paths, along with one where the demand for a good-paying job and long-term stability is very high. Hardly the best reason to do it, needless to say.

Other than lots of thinking, and trying out a bunch of things, how do you figure out what you love to do?
 
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hibore222 said:
One thing that I really believe is that it's easier to "get your foot in the door" as a doctor than in many other professions.

I think in general, compared to many jobs, getting a start in medicine is more based on your own intelligence (as shown through MCAT / pre-med grades) than on someone being willing to give you a chance.
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Having been through a variety of fields in my life, I can attest to this. Assuming you have at least average intelligence and possess good study/work ethics, you will likely matriculate into a medical school within an application cycle or three, land a residency somewhere in the states, and eventually find a fairly stable job within a reasonable distance from where you'd like to live. It takes time, but you'll get there. Now, how competitive of a field you manage to crack into is a different story, though if your ultimate goal is family med or IM, you're probably going to be okay either way.

So in that sense, medicine definitely seems more of a "guaranteed" (I use that word loosely) shot at getting your foot in the door, as opposed to those fields that have lower barriers of entry, lots of seekers, and require more than just book smarts to shine.

Now, how much do you really love advertising or business?

It comes to a point where you have to weigh how much you desire those careers vs. how much risk you're willing to take to get there. It may take years, or you might get your break next week. It's all a risk, but definitely not impossible.

Your friend who has zero negotiating power will likely have to make many lateral moves in the upcoming years, constantly be dealing with the stress of potentially getting canned, and potentially settle for something less than that coveted marketing manager position at a Fortune 500 company. But that's the risk that all of the successful big-wigs had to take to get to where they're at.

If you are adverse to those risks, then sure, medicine can be your "guaranteed" (again, not literal) safe way out. Just be sure being around sick people is something you can stomach, and that you won't be regretting your decision one day when that friend of yours is doing international sales, developing products, everything you once wanted to do.

And again, there are plenty of other healthcare careers that are easier to enter, pay six figures, and are significantly less demanding for life. Get some healthcare experience and let us know what you think. Maybe you'll find your true passion.
 
Really good analysis of the "guaranteed" career path of primary care practices, and the risks inherent in the corporate/entrepreneurial world.

A great post once again. Thanks!
 
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I'm going into medicine because I find the subject matter (medical cases and academics) REALLY interesting, I know I enjoy patient interaction from when I worked at a doctor's office and when I worked as an EMT, and I had a lot of other things happen in my life that gave me a passion to practice medicine. I'd be happy to PM it to you, but it gets pretty personal. Essentially, I have always liked healing and medicine, and then lots of things happens that reaffirmed that interest, I explored other, related options, and decided upon doctor.

I can understand the straightforward nature of medicine being a huge appeal. It sounds like you might still be reeling a bit from unemployment. I can understand that feeling - it's why I'm in my current job: all I wanted was a feeling of financial security and stability, and this job has definitely provided that.

Here is what I would suggest for you: shadow/volunteer, and not necessarily only doctors.

Nursing is also a straightforward plan, with quick results and options for more specialized/further education later on (I shadowed some amazing Nurse Practitioners who did rotations alongside MD attendings, filled specialized niches where they acted as intermediaries between the nursing staff and the attendings, were specially trained to work Emergency Trauma teams, did medical research, and had their own primary care practice). Becoming a Physician Assistant is two years of insanely intense training with huge payouts, but what you are able to do in such a capacity is very much limited by what your doctor will allow. However, as a PA where you work/train can open up all sorts of interesting possibilities of what you can do. Also, look into the administrative side of things - have you ever considered getting an MPH?

Talk to as many professionals as you can, shadow as many of them as you can, and see what strikes a spark for you. What is it that excites you?
 
What is it that excites me?

That's a great question. I don't know. I've been trying to figure that out for months.

You really did nail it with the "reeling from unemployment" quote. In the two years since graduating college, I've really only had two job offers; my first job offer (a position I accepted a few months after college), and my current job. In that sense, it's pretty disheartening that, so far, I've never really had a choice in my career. I've truly had to just take what was offered to me to avoid poverty.

I do think that I'd be a good doctor, and I am reasonably certain that I could get a job as a doctor, and I know that I'd be happy with the salary as a doctor. Maybe all those reasons are enough to pursue medicine.
 
dbizzy said:
Aside from the being lonely in college and not having many friends part, we are actually quite similar.

Back in the day, I wanted to go into healthcare as a wee little kid. Somewhere along the line, I got lost.

Like you, I considered advertising in college, tried out for a few low-end jobs, but in the end realized it wasn't for me. Most ad jobs are not the glitzy, Mad Men-type creative jobs. Sure you get perks from clients, but most of my friends were on the media planning and sales side, which involves a lot of numbers-crunching and that cubicle work you (and I) dislike. To get into creative, most people start early in college as copywriters, start building their portfolios and work their way up. Few get discovered like Don Draper. It's a tough gig and you're way late in the game.

I also pondered business for a bit, even took a couple of business courses after college and bought a GMAT book. Like you, I soon discovered that I found little satisfying about the business world or about climbing the corporate ladder. It felt superficial and it wasn't for me.

At age 25, I became reacquainted with the idea of healthcare again. I'm not gonna lie. One thing that did attract me to medicine was the eventual gratification of being able to provide my (future) family with a comfortable life. But initially, I didn't even consider medicine because of the painfully long path. I was thinking pharm or PA. It wasn't until I spent a year shadowing docs at a hospital before I realized that, not only was pharmacy boring to me, but I found medicine to be amazing and fulfilling in many ways. Fast forward through a few years and some white hairs later, here I am, about to start med school in a few months.

Before you decide to dive into the pre-med world, my suggestion to you would be to get experience, either volunteering at a hospital or shadowing physicians, just to see if the life is really for you. Like others will mention, it's a very long and expensive commitment and you want to be absolutely sure that medicine is something that you see yourself doing. Even being a pre-med can take years. There are other, shorter paths to healthcare that also provide rewarding experiences, good pay and offer significantly less-demanding lifestyles, like PA, dentistry, pharm, etc. Keep your options open.

There is nothing wrong with having the long-term goal of making decent dough as ONE of the reasons to go into medicine. It just shouldn't be your only reason, or you may find yourself just as miserable as you once were at your cubicle jobs, only with $300k in debt.
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Hey dbizzy,

We are basically on the same path! I am 25 now and considering the long road of completing my prerequisites. When I was in high school, being a physician was basically my life's work. Double science major, great grades but in college I got lost and finished with a degree in the fields of ag business and economics; even got accepted to a very prestigious grad school for econ but I just think it has absolutely no interest to me anymore. The idea of any corporate job for my living makes me physically ill. I graduated 2 years ago and have not had any kind of career type job, just random jobs some of which I enjoyed but most paid very little. I have been shadowing physicians as of late and I am beginning to revive that early passion I had in science and medicine and I am now thinking about going back to school. Even if it takes 10 years to get through school and residency, when you are done you have accomplished something amazing and something that you are passionate about. Can I ask: Did you work to support yourself during your pre med days? How many years did it take to you get into med school? If you would prefer not to answer, no problem just curious! Thanks for all your insight!
 
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scrubbymcduff said:
Hey dbizzy,

We are basically on the same path! I am 25 now and considering the long road of completing my prerequisites. When I was in high school, being a physician was basically my life's work. Double science major, great grades but in college I got lost and finished with a degree in the fields of ag business and economics; even got accepted to a very prestigious grad school for econ but I just think it has absolutely no interest to me anymore. The idea of any corporate job for my living makes me physically ill. I graduated 2 years ago and have not had any kind of career type job, just random jobs some of which I enjoyed but most paid very little. I have been shadowing physicians as of late and I am beginning to revive that early passion I had in science and medicine and I am now thinking about going back to school. Even if it takes 10 years to get through school and residency, when you are done you have accomplished something amazing and something that you are passionate about. Can I ask: Did you work to support yourself during your pre med days? How many years did it take to you get into med school? If you would prefer not to answer, no problem just curious! Thanks for all your insight!
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Our stories are definitely similar.

I worked and had some much appreciated help from my parents as well. God bless their hearts, they have the "as long as you're doing something with your life then we have your back" mentality. It definitely would have been more difficult without their financial and moral support. I spent two years in DIY post-bacc before applying and getting my first acceptance.

Keep at it and stay focused, you'll be there in no time.
 
pre med 2014 said:
Lot's of children of doctors are forced into medicine and become competent physicians.
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Far more end up being lousy because they lack the interest or compassion, though. It's not a career you can dabble in. It's a career of long hours and lifetime learning. You either have the necessary interest to dive in head first, or you should be doing something else.

In my experience, anyone who indicates as a premed that they are worried that they won't like medicine probably won't like medicine. Do a ton of shadowing and volunteering before you make another move. You have to be pretty into medicine to slog through a lot of the crap.
 
I think Practical career choice is no less a reason than any other. I am entering my late twenties and have been doing research for years and I have thought about my decision a lot. Probably more than most of the young whipper-snappers on this website. Saying that the choice should be solely based on your cliche love for helping others that you developed when you were 4, is silly.

The older you get the more your choices are based on heavy thought where you weigh the pros and cons of your decision. I know I am the kind of person who doesn't need a lot of money, I am not a spender but I still want to go into medicine. I want job security and an something that piques my interest. I want a job that will make me some cash so I don't have to struggle like my parents did, and I also want to have fun reading scientific papers and seeing the smile on some kids face when I fix up their broken arm.

Don't get me wrong I really enjoy helping people especially in a scientific and health setting, but you have to pick something that you love to do as well as something that makes ends meet.
 
Class1P said:
I think Practical career choice is no less a reason than any other...
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I would say it's an equally bad reason to the cliche reason of wanting to help others. Neither will sustain you through the crap you have to wade through (both figuratively and literally) in this field. You have to have an interest above and beyond these or don't even bother.
 
An interesting point. And I appreciate you sharing that insight.
 
I think medicine gives a rare combination of intellectual satisfaction, spiritual satisfaction, and reliable livelihood. They might exist at varying degrees at different times, but for the most part all 3 can be had. But i think the trick is that you have to actually have a strong desire for the first two, cause the third alone will not compensate for all the pains that you'll have to endure. Most other careers can provide for the 1st and 3rd, and not the 2nd, and that's what's been missing for me in my current job. Even the 1st and 3rd have been diminishing rapidly, so now there is no other field that I would rather be in than medicine.
 
It's really how you define "reliable livelihood". Lots in finance probably thought that they had that in 2006, and they're likely out of work now. I know personally of a friend who has worked at a hedge fund the past 4 years who has now been unemployed for several months after his firm had awful years in 2010 and 2011.

And the reality is that the median salary for all bachelor's degree holders is only $54,000. You can live on that salary, but it'd be quite difficult to achieve my financial goals on that salary. The fact that a career in medicine can, more likely than any other career, help me achieve my financial goals is very appealing.

Let me make it clear though that I do think that it's very important to find medicine interesting. It's true that "practicality/salary/demand" is what made made me consider health care as a career choice after four years in a cubicle, but I do agree that finding it interesting is necessary for overall happiness.
 
hibore222 said:
Let me make it clear though that I do think that it's very important to find medicine interesting. It's true that "practicality/salary/demand" is what made made me consider health care as a career choice after four years in a cubicle, but I do agree that finding it interesting is necessary for overall happiness.
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Let me preface this by saying that I'm not trying to tell you what to do, because you have to make that decision for yourself. Many people, I am sure, have gone to medical school out of practicalities. Heck, I have my selfish reasons too; I think we all do. Take this for what it's worth: The opinion of one person.

I'm in a different place from you, OP. I already "made it." If I stay in my current field, I'm quite sure I'll never be unemployed. It is not an uncommon occurrence for people to randomly text me begging me to come back to some previous employer or another. (I wish I was kidding, because it's really kind of sad to have to say no--I like these folks.) And I already make more than some specialties. And I chose my field originally because I loved it. I still do.

If all goes as planned, I'll be applying this June. It'll be three years since I started thinking about medicine, two years since I started working my tail off to get there, and the reward for working my tail off is going to be another four years of paying money to work my tail off and then making minimum wage for another three to seven. While people puke, poop, and piddle on me. While I'm still doing the office work--writing notes and orders and charts. While I'm sitting in a call room instead of a cubicle (or an office, but whatever.)

I won't go so far as to say I wouldn't do this unless it's the only thing I could do, because obviously it's not; I've already had a career I like very much. But I would not be doing this because it's a sound fiscal decision, personally, even if I found the material interesting. Upthread, you mentioned accounting; I personally find accounting fascinating, and I almost got a master's in it. But I didn't, because while I could see myself being happy, it wasn't my passion.

When I started doing prereqs, I signed up to become an EMT. Because I knew I could handle the material cognitively. That wasn't my worry. I had to know if I wanted to deal with patients, if it was my passion, and if I could become good at it... before I dove off the cliff.

Turns out the answer is yes.

But there are a lot of people out there for whom the answer is no. And if you aren't passionate about it, deeply passionate, I echo Law2Doc: it's probably not going to carry you through all the crap. The evil, frustrating, deeply depressing crap that is noncompliant patients, dead patients, patients you personally hurt by getting it wrong... and all of that emotional angst on top of the worst parts of the paperwork you hate about the cubicle job now.

Intern year is hell. I haven't been through intern year, but I've done enough due diligence to know that intern year is hell. It's purposefully hell: that's part of the process, part of the conversion of medical students into physicians. The crucible is a necessary part of both developing clinical gestalt and developing the confidence to execute it. The audacity, if you will. But you can understand that, and it can still be hell. Indeed, it probably will be.

I know that intern year, among other parts, is going to be hell. I want this badly enough--am passionate enough about becoming a physician--to willingly insert myself into hell. (If I'm wrong, of course--and I may be--I'll be pleasantly surprised, but that's not a big issue.)

If you don't, or are unsure... well, draw your own conclusions. Best of luck to you either way.
 
Thanks for your story. I really have learned in a lot from this thread.
 
Dzerzhinsky said:
Let me preface this by saying that I'm not trying to tell you what to do, because you have to make that decision for yourself. Many people, I am sure, have gone to medical school out of practicalities. Heck, I have my selfish reasons too; I think we all do. Take this for what it's worth: The opinion of one person.

I'm in a different place from you, OP. I already "made it." If I stay in my current field, I'm quite sure I'll never be unemployed. It is not an uncommon occurrence for people to randomly text me begging me to come back to some previous employer or another. (I wish I was kidding, because it's really kind of sad to have to say no--I like these folks.) And I already make more than some specialties. And I chose my field originally because I loved it. I still do.

If all goes as planned, I'll be applying this June. It'll be three years since I started thinking about medicine, two years since I started working my tail off to get there, and the reward for working my tail off is going to be another four years of paying money to work my tail off and then making minimum wage for another three to seven. While people puke, poop, and piddle on me. While I'm still doing the office work--writing notes and orders and charts. While I'm sitting in a call room instead of a cubicle (or an office, but whatever.)

I won't go so far as to say I wouldn't do this unless it's the only thing I could do, because obviously it's not; I've already had a career I like very much. But I would not be doing this because it's a sound fiscal decision, personally, even if I found the material interesting. Upthread, you mentioned accounting; I personally find accounting fascinating, and I almost got a master's in it. But I didn't, because while I could see myself being happy, it wasn't my passion.

When I started doing prereqs, I signed up to become an EMT. Because I knew I could handle the material cognitively. That wasn't my worry. I had to know if I wanted to deal with patients, if it was my passion, and if I could become good at it... before I dove off the cliff.

Turns out the answer is yes.

But there are a lot of people out there for whom the answer is no. And if you aren't passionate about it, deeply passionate, I echo Law2Doc: it's probably not going to carry you through all the crap. The evil, frustrating, deeply depressing crap that is noncompliant patients, dead patients, patients you personally hurt by getting it wrong... and all of that emotional angst on top of the worst parts of the paperwork you hate about the cubicle job now.

Intern year is hell. I haven't been through intern year, but I've done enough due diligence to know that intern year is hell. It's purposefully hell: that's part of the process, part of the conversion of medical students into physicians. The crucible is a necessary part of both developing clinical gestalt and developing the confidence to execute it. The audacity, if you will. But you can understand that, and it can still be hell. Indeed, it probably will be.

I know that intern year, among other parts, is going to be hell. I want this badly enough--am passionate enough about becoming a physician--to willingly insert myself into hell. (If I'm wrong, of course--and I may be--I'll be pleasantly surprised, but that's not a big issue.)

If you don't, or are unsure... well, draw your own conclusions. Best of luck to you either way.
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Excellent advice and story. Thank you for sharing.
 
hibore222 said:
There still are many other topics that I find more interesting reading about as compared to reading about medicine. They include...

-Economics (I'm fascinated by the human psychology aspect, but, the only decent career prospects involve getting a PhD, and even then, the career prospects are quite shaky, I know lots of Economics PhDs that are constantly working on semester by semester contracts with schools, and making not that much money ... and, the number of economics jobs in the private sector have been cut big-time since the financial crisis of 2008)
-Sports (I'm a male that loves sports. Shocking, right?)
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It would probably be faster and cheaper to get a PhD in economics than to go to medical school, especially if residency or a postbac program to do the med school requirements are factored in. I have no idea what it would take to start a career in sports management, but I'm guessing it would also be a better option than going 200k in debt for medical school.
 
Hi, I'm you three years after med school matriculation.

In retrospect, the cubicle job was simpler. Life was simpler.

Get a PhD if you want to exercise your brain. Just as time consuming but much cheaper.


hibore222 said:
I was really curious to see if other non-trads are in my boat.

I'm 25 years old, and I've been thinking a lot lately about how the things that happened in my life when I was 18 are still really affecting where I am now. Also, in the past week, I met another 25 yo that is doing the exact job that I hoped to be doing now, so, it's caused me to reflect a lot on the path that my life has taken.

In high school, I was always extremely interested in advertising and marketing, read tons of books on it, etc. I went by myself to one of the top undergrad business schools in the country, and planned to focus on that and be excited about that career. I love the way that marketing forces one to be creative in order to affect people's decisions. But once I got to college, I was really lonely, and had a really hard time making friends. In the middle of my freshmen year, I dropped out, headed home, went to a few other places, and finally graduated at a small mediocre near home (where I was pretty happy for my final two years of college).

I was so focused on just trying to find a place where I had friends and I could be happy that I really did not achieve any of the things that most people from my original school achieved by the time of their graduation, like impressive internships, participation in business clubs, leadership in organizations, etc.

All my jobs since college have had nothing to do with advertising, and in almost all certainty, I won't ever get a job at the top ad firms, etc.

My few years since college have been doing boring cubicle jobs that I don't care about, things just to pay the bills.

I could probably get into a good MBA program (good grades and good GMAT score), yet, there's no "business" job that really appeals to me at this point. And, given my complete lack of success that I've had when I've applied to jobs that interest me, I think I'm just sort of cynical that I could ever get a job in the business world that interests me.

I was unemployed for a while last year, and finally landed in my current job in September. Once the stress about having a stable income dissolved in September, I've been giving constant thought as to what direction I would like my career to head. Starting this past fall, for the first time in my life, I considered being a physician. I started thinking that after four years in the corporate world showed me how tough it can be to get a good-paying job, and while realizing that my current career path has no direction. I surveyed the career landscape and figured that the most realistic and likely way for me to get a six-figure job with high stability lies in health care. I'm currently taking Gen Chem I at night this semester.

I read the other threads about "passion", and I don't think that that describes how I feel about medicine.

There still are many other topics that I find more interesting reading about as compared to reading about medicine. They include...

-Advertising (I read 'Ad Age' all the time ... but trust me, especially since 'Mad Men', tons of people have wanted to get into advertising, but there just aren't that many jobs in the field)
-Foreign Affairs (not that many jobs in that field, at least relative to the number of people that would like to work in it)
-Economics (I'm fascinated by the human psychology aspect, but, the only decent career prospects involve getting a PhD, and even then, the career prospects are quite shaky, I know lots of Economics PhDs that are constantly working on semester by semester contracts with schools, and making not that much money ... and, the number of economics jobs in the private sector have been cut big-time since the financial crisis of 2008)
-Sports (I'm a male that loves sports. Shocking, right?)

So, my pursuit of medicine doesn't come from the fact that it's the subject that I find more interesting than any other, but more from the fact that, given where I am right now, it's the most practical way for me to achieve a comfortable salary over the course of my life. I feel like I have stopped thinking about "what interests me" and started looking at "what is the economy/market offering". I spent four years (albeit in one of the worst recession in American history) trying to find a job that "interests me", and I'm sick of doing that, as it hasn't been successful for me at all.

One reason that I never considered medicine as a career was because I never found science interesting. It was impossible for me to care about something that had no connection to human emotions / feelings (the way that English / History / Economics) interested me.

A big thing that I've realized over the last few years is that I'm MUCH less entrepreneurial than I always thought I was. I'd much rather be Charlie Rose than being a guy out on the road selling drill bits. I don't like the notion that the success of an entrepreneur/salesman depends so much on someone else buying in to you. Being a successful doctor is primarily about accumulating all the knowledge and being able to make wise decisions about information in front of you. That is VERY different than the skills needed in the business world, and I am now much more drawn to the latter. (All this is to say that I do have a fear or trying to start my own business).

I do think that I'd be happy being a doctor; at the very least, happier being a doctor than being a typical cubicle monkey for the rest of my life. But I'd be lying if I said that the topic of "medicine" currently interested me more than any of the topics mentioned above; hopefully that would change over time.

Anyone else have a similar mindset to me?
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Sure, it would be faster/cheaper to get a PhD in economics, but as I noted in another post, the job prospects for that are extremely shaky. Having a stable, six-figure salary for the majority of my career is a key step in my financial goals, and that salary is much more likely to be obtained working as a doctor than by having a PhD in economics.
 
hibore222 said:
Sure, it would be faster/cheaper to get a PhD in economics, but as I noted in another post, the job prospects for that are extremely shaky. Having a stable, six-figure salary for the majority of my career is a key step in my financial goals, and that salary is much more likely to be obtained working as a doctor than by having a PhD in economics.
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Or as a dentist. Or as a pharmacist. Or as a Anesthesiology Assistant. Or as a Physician Assistant.

It's the same money you want but the 1st two are 4 years w/o residency. The 2nd two are 2 years w/o post-grad training.
 
hibore222 said:
Sure, it would be faster/cheaper to get a PhD in economics, but as I noted in another post, the job prospects for that are extremely shaky. Having a stable, six-figure salary for the majority of my career is a key step in my financial goals, and that salary is much more likely to be obtained working as a doctor than by having a PhD in economics.
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No one seems to believe me, they go online look up the highest salary in the best specialty and dirty their shorts. It's is an unbelievably difficult and long path, especially when you aren't into it. These last 3 years could be 300 years for all I care.
 
thepoopologist said:
No one seems to believe me, they go online look up the highest salary in the best specialty and dirty their shorts. It's is an unbelievably difficult and long path, especially when you aren't into it. These last 3 years could be 300 years for all I care.
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Yep. It's telling when there are basically two substantially similar threads going on and virtually every resident is saying the same thing -- that taking a practical view is simply not enough meat on the bone to make it worth go down this road. You won't enjoy it, more than that you will be miserable if you aren't into it from the start. And that's miserable to the tune of 80 hours a week for a lot if years. Not getting weekends off regularly. Lots of overnights in the hospital. All for the privilege of pretty much having the same kind of long hours and lifetime of learning and extreme expectations on you for the rest of your career. No other field exacts the same kind of punishment on you emotionally. You simply aren't going to be in situations where you have to break bad news to people or have your clients die on you or make deadly mistakes in most other fields. I sure didn't as a lawyer. Did it quite a while and the worst news I had to tell people was that their deal fell through. No death, no loss of family members, no talking to them about autopsies or organ donation. To do this 80 hours a week is a huge stone to shoulder. If you otherwise love it, fine. If it's just about earning a certain level of salary and having job security, not fine. Extremely childish actually. You are looking at the dollar signs end basically missing the Forrest for the trees. This is a very unusual job and you can't do it effectively or compassionately if you aren't "all in".
 
thepoopologist said:
Or as a dentist. Or as a pharmacist. Or as a Anesthesiology Assistant. Or as a Physician Assistant.

It's the same money you want but the 1st two are 4 years w/o residency. The 2nd two are 2 years w/o post-grad training.
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OP: Whatever anyone else may tell you, it is fine to go into medicine for the money. I come from a country where around 70% of the best students in high school start specializing in their senior HS years with the hope of getting into Medicine or Engineering because the perception (mistaken in my opinion) is that that is where the money is. The preferences or passion does not come into it, and many who do graduate into either of these disciplines have successful careers/lives (regardless of whether they would have rather been playing in a rock band instead).

HOWEVER:
If your intention is a six figure salary with reasonable assurance, there are other professions that may yield the same result for less effort (as the quoted response above highlights).

Additionally, as EdLongshanks mentioned in the previous thread, the medical doctor path is very long and strenous and without a passion for it, it is possible that you may feel inclined to give it up half-way through. Your post indicates that you have luke-warm interest in your current career and seem to want change. So, will the six figure income at the end of 10 years be sufficient motivation to keep you going thru the difficult periods of med school and residency? Are you certain that half-way thru, you will not drop out because things are difficult and you do not have the passion for it any more.

To summarize:
Passion for medicine does not need to be altruisim that is set on 'saving the world' but a liking for the field that will carry you thru the difficult times in med-school and residency. It is OK to get into medicine without the altruisitic passion, but make sure that you have whatever motivation that is necessary to grind thru the 10 years before you realise your six figure income.
 
Thanks gdfernan, I appreciated that response a lot.
 
One of the great things about medicine that makes it so appealing to me is the broad range of opportunities available: I would love to work with patients and advise them, council them on what they should be doing. I would also love to 'travel' while practicing medicine, i.e. docs w/o borders, etc. (although not too keen on long-term commitment, but I'm sure there's some opportunity there?). There's also legislative work, biotechnology, and surely advertising or something related will be involved in all of these fields (whether or not it’s realistic for an MD/DO to be doing it is maybe questionable). There's also the potential for setting own hours in private practice or hospital, depending on specialty, down the road.

This huge range of possibilities and flexibility is one of the many reasons medicine has personally drawn me in; I love the idea that with medicine, one can continuously evolve in different environments, with different roles and I think this will be hugely rewarding (at least to me). Not only that, but in a world with almost 7 billion people, contributing some good and giving back is crucial to (my) happiness, imo.

Right now, I am slightly burnt out regarding the material after taking two semesters of (voluntary) pre-req anatomy & phys. At this point in time, I am not passionate about pathways, or protein carriers. However, I'm not hugely concerned because I feel this is probably normal and while enjoying and being intrigued by the material is important, I think the prospect of wanting to learn continuously is maybe more important? My big picture perspective reinforces for me that I want to do (some/all?) the possibilities listed above, and that the four year educational plan is just a way to get there, it is not an end-all (although it could be! lol). Also, one thing I remind myself often is that those four years will happen no matter what. Time will inevitably pass and worse than failure, or a misguided choice is, in my opinion, regret. Finally, it never hurts to take some classes and see how you do; you never know until you try!
 
hibore222 said:
Sure, it would be faster/cheaper to get a PhD in economics, but as I noted in another post, the job prospects for that are extremely shaky. Having a stable, six-figure salary for the majority of my career is a key step in my financial goals, and that salary is much more likely to be obtained working as a doctor than by having a PhD in economics.
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Hibore, I don't know if I can add much more to this conversation but here goes. There are an unbelievable amount of opportunities to make a six-figure salary for much less time, effort and cost you will incur to become a physician.

As my name implies, I'm a CPA. I know that I can be making great money if I continue my career path. In fact, if I put in the amount of time into my career that I'll have to put into medical training I give myself a very high probability that I could be making MORE than I would be coming out of residency and/or fellowship and wouldn't have the debt burden.

There's a good amount of research to support that you will be most successful (financially and otherwise) doing what you are most PASSIONATE about. Talk to people in the fields you are interested in. Shadow not only physicians but PAs, Physical Therapists, RNs, etc. Heck, check out the administrative side.

I'm also concerned about your attitude. You are acting like your career is over with not prospects. Dude, you're only 25 and graduated from college into the crappiest economy since the Depression. You're an absolute baby in your career. Everyone at 25 is. You have to take some risks to make it. You're likely going to have to relocate to go to med school or residency, so why not look outside your local area for some good jobs. There are tons of opportunities out here in the Pac NW and other places in the country. Start exploring. You say you're risk averse but I think quitting where you are at in life to pursue medical school and taking on obscene amounts debt is more risky. Don't think that everything is over unless you do medicine. Attitude is everything, my friend.

My brother, a textbook case of someone who appeared to have no job prospects (history major, laid off from a cruise company, unemployed for three years) finished his MBA program at one of our local universities (not top-tier). Guess what? He landed a job at Amazon where his total comp will be about $110K/yr. He's 29. He didn't work during his MBA program, even though most everyone else did. What did he do. Started there as a contractor only making $20/hr but busted his ass and shined. He's a product manager and is part of building out a new line of business.

Should I tell you about my two other friends that were graphic design majors that were making relatively small salaries at design firms that went to T-Mobile and are now making over $100K as managers? Or my friend that is a software programing mgr at Disney making well over $100K? Or my best friend, a law school dropout making over $100K as a sales support engineer for a some wireless industry vendor?

What's the moral of the story of these dudes? They do what they are passionate about. And they are making great money and they love their jobs. They are PASSIONATE about what they do. I have CPA friends making over $100K that love their jobs. I don't love what I do. I've tried to love it for eight years but I just can't get into it.

I know you are trying to do deep self-assessment so keep it up. Have you read "What Color is Your Parachute" or "48 Days to the Work You Love"? If found these really beneficial. 48 Days was better for me, YMMV. Pay the $$ to talk to a career counselor / coach to help you with finding the right route. There are some helpful tests like the Brinkman First Look that can really help you out. Changing careers is not an easy decision and you should do as much due diligence as you can.

Best of luck. I'm sorry about such a long and possibly rambling post.
 
PS: your comment about Big 4 is crap. Big 4 is an entirely different animal. You can make a boat-load of dough at a large local firm without worrying some other partner in Texas enabling the largest fraud in history and bringing your fortunes down.

Also, I've had no problem getting industry jobs without Big 4 credentials.
 
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I can see how someone can think it's a practical career choice and want to go in based on that, but you'll be hitting the curve with your teeth first once you start doing all the science work required to get into med school, pass the steps, and the lousy work conditions to get to this "practical career choice" state. I'm not saying you have to be mother Theresa and do medicine even if it were for nothing in return, but if you don't like the details of being a doctor, no paycheck or job stability can bring you happiness.
 
In your response to your original post, I think you need to have a genuine interest in the field that will only blossom into something more while studying to get into medical school. If it doesn't develop than I think you will have a hard time justifying yourself in interviews and if you make it to med school. At least that's how I see it. It seems money is important to you as it is to most people, but I think the goal of having a six figure income needs to be accomplished by doing a job that you really enjoy.
Ask yourself this- Could you be a physician and work for what you get paid now? I could.
 
In a month since I started this thread, one massive thing has changed:

I finally "get" how all-encompassing medical training is.

So, that whole "stable/practical" career stuff is not why I'm still interested in medicine. I get that medicine needs to be a "compulsion".

****

I'm definitely fascinated by how the human body works, and I love talking to doctors about the medical issues that they deal with. I love the notion of having all the knowledge that doctors have. But I'm well-aware that I might not have what it takes to make it through med school and residency, or I might be miserable by the demands of the practice.

I posted this in another forum, but am curious as to what non-trads think. Someone recently said to me, "I know a lot of physicians, and they all wanted to be doctors from a very early stage in life. They sensed that it was what they were meant to do with their lives."

Do you think that it is generally true? In order to be successful and happy in medicine, is it almost certainly necessary to have that lifelong calling to it? ........ Or, does anyone know cases of people who never really considered medicine until their mid-20s or later, and are now doing it and happy?

Thanks.
 
hibore222 said:
In a month since I started this thread, one massive thing has changed:

I finally "get" how all-encompassing medical training is.

So, that whole "stable/practical" career stuff is not why I'm still interested in medicine. I get that medicine needs to be a "compulsion".

****

I'm definitely fascinated by how the human body works, and I love talking to doctors about the medical issues that they deal with. I love the notion of having all the knowledge that doctors have. But I'm well-aware that I might not have what it takes to make it through med school and residency, or I might be miserable by the demands of the practice.

I posted this in another forum, but am curious as to what non-trads think. Someone recently said to me, "I know a lot of physicians, and they all wanted to be doctors from a very early stage in life. They sensed that it was what they were meant to do with their lives."

Do you think that it is generally true? In order to be successful and happy in medicine, is it almost certainly necessary to have that lifelong calling to it? ........ Or, does anyone know cases of people who never really considered medicine until their mid-20s or later, and are now doing it and happy?

Thanks.
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Doesn't matter when you get excited about something, but it has to be a sustaining level of excitement. I actually think folks who come to medicine later in life are better off as they never have the same angst that they are on the wrong path. But by the same token, if you are someone who is excited about medicine now, but maybe less so a year from now, then that's a problem.
 
It all depends on your skill set. I was once an engineering student because I thought it would lead to a stable career. Turns out this is only true if you manage to graduate with an engineering degree. :oops:

Now I can read and prattle about biological and medical topics all day, but it wasn't always so. There was a time, back in undergrad, when all my classes ran together and I wanted to just get it all over with and take the MCAT and do cool stuff already - I realize now that I was being an impatient little ****. Or maybe the fun/interesting part of my brain has been somehow damaged.

In any event, the calling/obsession can take a while to develop. I think it's sort of like how if you have a red chair and you want to paint it white, you're going to need to put on three separate coats. Biology and medicine are notorious for reteaching material ad nauseum but the nice thing about this is that by the second or third time you're studying something, it feels like common knowledge, and you start looking up wikipedia articles on random genes and such. At that point you can bore most normal people to tears simply by reciting random facts, even though you're only 1% of the way there - then you're on the road to enlightenment...
 
scarshapedstar said:
At that point you can bore most normal people to tears simply by reciting random facts, even though you're only 1% of the way there - then you're on the road to enlightenment...
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Oh, was that boredom? I thought those were tears of joy at discovering new things.....
 
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Stick it out with medicine or explore different career?
Replies
9
Views
1K
corgo
corgo
C
2nd Bachelor's for career switch into medicine?
Replies
2
Views
624
confusedchicken
C
C
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Are second career doctors typically happier than people who went into medicine during their 20's?
Replies
3
Views
958
GoSpursGo
GoSpursGo
T
Is medicine really a purposeful, meaningful career? Or does it all fade away one day?
Replies
22
Views
3K
RustBeltOnc
RustBeltOnc
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