Question from a pre-med

[susannaQ]

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Hey, I posted this in the pre-med forum in response to the thread, "What makes you want to become a docto?r". I realized that this is more of an appropriate place to post this kind of question so I reposted it here. I'd really appreciate it if I could get some honest advice/opinions.

Something that worries me: Nothing fascinates me about the human body. I don't find the way the body sweats or the number of neural synapses in the brain or the vast circuitry of blood or metabolizing drugs or producing urine to be anything wonderful or fascinating or beautiful (I hope this doesn't mean I'll have a much harder time getting through med school than other students. Any current medical students here with experience to answer this worry???) Like, I study it all the same but without too much fascination or feeling of enlightenment or advancement. The human body doesn't touch me in particular emotionally or make me feel in awe like it does for other people.

But, I do think the human body is somewhat interesting and is a mystery as is the rest of the world. But not something I die for to study in itself.

I would like to become a doctor because it makes me feel empowered to be able to solve people's medical problems. I thought of becoming a psychologist but that just bites to not be able to solve peoples' problems with their bodies and only their problems with their minds.

So, I don't like studying or learning AT ALL but I like to have scientific knowledge to be able to work to solve people's medical problems. If I didn't have to learn it to know how to solve medical problems, I wouldn't take the extra step or time to learn any of it. Does this mean I will be miserable in medical school? Current medical students, is this enough to get me through medical school or should I reconsider becoming a doctor?

 

[Skialta]

What are you, crazy? You should run, run far away from medicine. Seriously if the human body etc does not excite you or make you want to learn about how it works then medicine is not for you. Medical school is torture enough the first two years even when you are interested, I can't imagine you would be happy. Maybe psych would be a better route, no offense but you sound like a bit of a narcissist. Good Luck.

 

[susannaQ]

What are you, crazy? You should run, run far away from medicine. Seriously if the human body etc does not excite you or make you want to learn about how it works then medicine is not for you. Medical school is torture enough the first two years even when you are interested, I can't imagine you would be happy. Maybe psych would be a better route, no offense but you sound like a bit of a narcissist. Good Luck.

Don't worry, no offense taken. Curious and concerned though. What makes you think I'm a narcassist? I know I'm not crazy. And, I'm not a narcassist I hope. I don't enjoy lying or manipulating people into liking me and admiring me(I beleive thats what a narcassist is) and I don't have a big ego either (or at least I try not to). Anyways, I don't think a narcassist should be a psychologist either so I really hope you were kidding.

I don't really write with tact in mind. Maybe you read too much into my post. I meant just what I said, nothing more. I don't think doctors are holy or ordained or anything so I'm not going into medicine because I think it will make me become anything higher or lower than I am, just because it makes me feel good spiritually and less helpless to be able to help people when they have problems.

Again, the reason why I do NOT want to go into psychology because I want to be able to help people with ALL of their medical problems too. It doesn't interest me to just help people's minds without being able to help whatever troubles their bodies may be having. Its all connected in my mind. So, psychology is not some kind of back-up option in my mind. It is already excluded.

Like I said, its not that I don't think biology isn't interesting or mysterious, its just that I'm not fascinated by it like other people. For example, my friend has her masters in Bio and she thinks the human body is fascinating and amazing. She, however, does not want to be a doctor. She does not want to help people with their medical problems. I want to be a doctor and I think everything is amazing but I am not particulary more amazed about the biological sciences anymore than I am about literature or politics or astronomy.

Thanks for your advice. I need all that I can get. But, your post was so short. Do you really think I'd be unhappy as a doctor and make a bad doctor though? This really dissapoints me but if this is your honest opinion and if this is truely from your experiences from being in medical school and from discussing with other med school students, I will take your advice into heart. I still have about a year until the mcats...

 

[EctopicFetus]

I honestly think that getting through medical school would be tougher. I also think though that it doesnt mean you will be a bad doctor. Being a good doctor has much more to do with caring about and for your patients than your IQ. Perhaps you should find something that really interests you. I think this is a better way to succeed in life in general. I am not going to encourage or discourage you. This is a personal choice, there are plenty of people who are "forced" into the profession by their parents or other reasons. They all regret this in the end. Just make sure this is something you want to do. Perhaps you should volunteer and spend some time in the hospital. Also, you might want to consider why you REALLY want to be an MD. I will say this.... If the human body doesnt fascinate you it will make the 1st 2 yrs of med school really really hard. Then 3rd yr hits and you get to the real reason you went to med school. Being some book smart socially awkward freak will do nothing for your patients either. The best MDs are those who are good with the books but better with people (unless you do radiology or pathology where there is much less patient interaction).

If you have more specific questions I would be happy to answer them.

 

[ItsNotATumor]

The best MDs are those who are good with the books but better with people (unless you do radiology or pathology where there is much less patient interaction).

After doing an externship in patho and currently a summer internship in rad, I can say that being in either specialty demands the same people skills than any other physician would need to posses. As for the human anatomy and science, an appreciation is good enough, no one needs to "love it" or "breathe it". From many of the thirds years I've talked to, all you really need to understand could be taught in a quarter of the time you actually spend learning it. In many ways, I think people with strong verbal abilities will go far in this field because learning medicine is like learning a new language, you get it bit by bit and it is always building since you'll be using it for the rest of your career. I know most of my classmates were born to be doctors, this is all they ever wanted to be, but not all doctors are married to this profession. I look at it like a job, one with great responsibility requiring huge amounts of skill, but a job nonetheless. And that attitude didn't make it any harder on me than anyone else... I think because of it I stayed sane.

 

[Singh]

Hi Susanna Q.

It's very difficult to say how well you'll fare in medical school. And if you ask medical students and doctors why they decided to study medicine, you will find a variety of answers, because everyone has a unique reason for wanting to study medicine. Some don't know what else to do. Some want to save the world. Others find medicine very exciting. And some do it to earn money, or because their parents force them to.

I think it's difficult to be fascinated by a subject, if you know nothing about it. This I realised through medical school. In the beginning of medical school, I wanted to work with cellular and molecular medicine (because this is what we started with), then we had anatomy and I wanted to become an orthopedic surgeon, then when we had cardiology, I wanted to become a cardiologist. See what I mean? Interest may come when you have some knowledge in the field. Before I started medical school, I didn't use my evenings reading books about how the brain works, or anything like that. It didn't really fascinate me much, but now I think medicine is the most interesting subject in the world!

Some qualities are important if you want to succeed as a medical student: A strong will is according to me the number one quality! You should be prepared to give up things which may seem important to you now. Lots of times you'll have to sit up late studying and you'll have difficulties sleeping because of stress. But if you don't mind this, then go for it! You won't regret it!

 

[Skialta]

SussanaQ,
Sorry, I wasn't trying to put you down, I half thought the post was a troll. Your second post explained your situation a little better. I guess there is no sure fire way to decide if you will ultimately be happy in medicine or not, but one advantage is that an MD degree is very versatile. Have you shadowed many physicians?

My backround is physicl therapy, in my experience a lot of medicine is dealing with chronic conditions. It is not so black and white about "fixing" a patient's problem, unless your thinking surgery. I can say for me it is not so much about being 100% successful about "curing" a patient, some of my most memorable and rewarding experiences are were the treatment failed and the patient either had a poor outcome or died(not that I was happy about the outcome). Those experiences were I was maybe the only person who was able to talk to the patient or had the objectivity to discuss death and dying are some of the most memorable. For me it is more about connecting with people and their families in their time of need, to inject some humor or make the patient more comfortable, of course I want to help cure all my patients, but I realize that is not possible in every case.

Medical school is not that hard, it is just the volume of material and the short amount of time to learn it in. My advice to anyone is that if you think you might be happy doing something else then medicine is probably not the best choice for you. Medicine is a wonderful career, but it also has many sacrifices and demands not counting all the hoops you have to jump through.

I wish you the best of luck. 🙂

 

[azzarah]

Here are some of my reasons for entering med school:

1. interest in research
2. interest in science
3. interest in helping others
4. interest in public policy
5. interest in public health and preventive medicine
6. Want a flexible career with financial security

When I started med school I was mostly interested in hard core research and science...now I am mostly interested in public policy and preventive medicine, etc.
Hope this helps.

 

[azzarah]

SusannaQ...you're not from Chicago are you? You just sound like someone I know...if so, PM me! 👍

 

[Firebird]

OP--A Narcissist is someone who is madly in love with their own self. What you described was an antisocial personality (what medicine/psych now calls a sociopath).

Just get into a career that makes you happy. Go shadow some physicians and see if you enjoy it. If not, go figure something else out.

 

[susannaQ]

SusannaQ...you're not from Chicago are you? You just sound like someone I know...if so, PM me! 👍

God, I hope this is a good thing. So far, I sound like both a possible narcassist and a troll. Maybe I need to get sent to boot camp for a couple of weeks or take etiquette lessons to improve my demeaner towards other people.
No, not from Chicago. Sorry.

Thanks for the advice guys. Sometime I get myself really worked up and stressed out and I just keep writing and writing and obsessing (ie. I can't make any more bad decisions with my life than I already have!!! sob sob) and nothing helps unless I can talk to people and get feedback. Its nice to get help from people who are in med school.

Skialta, no need to apologise. I either piss people off now or I piss them off later with my approach. Its better for me to piss them off now while I'm still young and while my behavior is still regarded as somewhat more excusable by other people. Its good for me to get a feel for how people feel about my outlook and what other people find offending. Strong opinions going either way are the best ones for me to hear at this point and yours is very helpful to me. I find it your experience with the rewards of medicine encouraging.

Singh, I'm glad that you feel that a strong will is the most important factor. This has always been my strongest aspect but has not alwys carried me thru all of life's battles. It reminds me that I still need to find a center to balance on and make sure I can depend on it.

All of this will turn out okay in the end.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I entered medicine because I was interested in science and the research behind medicine. The concept of helping people was important too but the science/research aspect was a big draw for me.

One thing to consider is that many people change as they go through medical school. Perhaps when you go through medical school, you will change too. You may find that you're more interested in policy/administration or research. That's totally cool because that means you're growing as a person.

Personally, going through medical school really solidified my commitment to research. I gradually realized throughout M3 year that although I liked to interact with patients, I didn't like working in clinics at all...that kind of environment was just not for me. However, I loved working in a lab environment. And I realized that I don't need patient contact to be happy, people contact itself (for example, teaching students in a classroom setting or training grad students if I become a lab PI) will do.

Basically, people change in medical school. Regardless of what kind of person you are and will become, there will be something in medicine that will likely suit you.

 

[Jaded Soul]

To the OP: Have you considered becoming a PA? Now I'm not saying that PAs don't have to study to get to where they are, but the path to it doesn't compare to going through med school and residency. Some of the PAs I've worked with stated similar things as you did as reasons for choosing the PA route.

 

[susannaQ]

To the OP: Have you considered becoming a PA? Now I'm not saying that PAs don't have to study to get to where they are, but the path to it doesn't compare to going through med school and residency. Some of the PAs I've worked with stated similar things as you did as reasons for choosing the PA route.

One of my roomates once suggested that to me a year or two ago but I didn't know quite why and didn't ask. He said that if I was unsure of myself but still wanted to go into medicine, I should considere a masters in Physician Assistantship. But one of my mom's friends is around 45 and became a PA a while ago(I know things have evolved but I still use him as an example) and then, because, as he put it, he was doing everything a doctor was pretty much doing but with less freedom, he went to medical school and got an MD degree.
I think I'd rather go all the way and get a doctorate and not a masters. I'm beginning to think that the problem is that I'm being lazy and finicky. This reminds me that an MD is a degree earned and not just a position description that needs to be fulfilled. If I keep studying harder, this will and should probably become a part of me and I won't mind it so much.