Should I continue with medicine? Pretty unhappy.

[enantio1988]

Hey everyone, I am hoping to get some advice for the current situation I'm in. I am hoping to get advice from people who are in residency/beyond so they can tell me what life is like in those stages. I finished up first year of med school but did not pass one semester, so I have to remediate... I am starting to have doubts about whether this path is right for me. Do things get better/easier once training is completed? I realize that I've struggled a lot through the pre-med curriculum, through applying, and through my first year. I didn't particularly like the clinical settings I'd been in when I was doing volunteer work and held a clinical job, but I brushed off those doubts at the time. Given my feeling of lack of competency in comprehending medicine, I'm worried whether it is wiser for me to get out earlier than later. I also realized I don't have a lot of interest in what we learn in lectures. Are my doubts normal in the context of most medical students, or are these serious indicators that medicine is not right for me? Since I don't have the benefit of hindsight, I don't know which path I should take-- cut my losses early and try to find a job using my undergraduate degree (science degree from a top US institution) and possibly pursue masters/PhD in another field, or to stick it out. Since I only finished one year of med school, I don't have as much student loans to consider. I am also prone to anxiety/depression, and I worry that these personality traits will make it very difficult for me to continue and have some semblance of happiness while I am training/practicing. Another factor that is bothering me is that I really value having a rich personal life, and I would ideally like to get married/start a family within the next four years (female in mid-twenties). I am single now and it was difficult for me to date while I was in med school, so I'm worried that this part of my life will remain stagnant if I continue with school. Thanks in advance for your help!

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[gutonc]

Get. Out. Now!

 

[yetanotherusername]

It is only going to get harder, first year is a breeze compared to third year. Read what you just wrote and I think you'll see you've answered your own question.

 

[QofQuimica]

Yes, it sounds like you should quit. From what you're saying, this isn't the right career for you, and it's better you realized that now than in a few more years when you'd be in too much debt to afford to be able to get out.

Do you have a backup plan/career in mind? If not, what I suggest you do is take a leave of absence from medical school. That will leave the door open on the odd chance you want to go back later while you figure out what you want to do with your life. Try to think about what you do enjoy doing/learning about; hopefully you can turn one of your interests into a career.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Law2Doc]

Agree with the others. Yes it gets "better" the further down the road you get, in some respects, but it also gets harder and more intense and more time consuming. If your heart is not in it, you won't go from unhappy one year to ecstatic the next. You have to want it bad and have a good sense of what "it" is. This is really not the right field for everybody. Know thyself.

 

[BoardingDoc]

Hey everyone, I am hoping to get some advice for the current situation I'm in. I am hoping to get advice from people who are in residency/beyond so they can tell me what life is like in those stages. I finished up first year of med school but did not pass one semester, so I have to remediate... I am starting to have doubts about whether this path is right for me. Do things get better/easier once training is completed? I realize that I've struggled a lot through the pre-med curriculum, through applying, and through my first year. I didn't particularly like the clinical settings I'd been in when I was doing volunteer work and held a clinical job, but I brushed off those doubts at the time. Given my feeling of lack of competency in comprehending medicine, I'm worried whether it is wiser for me to get out earlier than later. I also realized I don't have a lot of interest in what we learn in lectures. Are my doubts normal in the context of most medical students, or are these serious indicators that medicine is not right for me? Since I don't have the benefit of hindsight, I don't know which path I should take-- cut my losses early and try to find a job using my undergraduate degree (science degree from a top US institution) and possibly pursue masters/PhD in another field, or to stick it out. Since I only finished one year of med school, I don't have as much student loans to consider. I am also prone to anxiety/depression, and I worry that these personality traits will make it very difficult for me to continue and have some semblance of happiness while I am training/practicing. Another factor that is bothering me is that I really value having a rich personal life, and I would ideally like to get married/start a family within the next four years (female in mid-twenties). I am single now and it was difficult for me to date while I was in med school, so I'm worried that this part of my life will remain stagnant if I continue with school. Thanks in advance for your help!

Cut your losses and run. I can't find a single part of what you wrote that indicates that you should stay in medicine, and much of it screams "get out now." Based on what you wrote, I'm honestly curious about why you applied to medical school in the first place. You don't seem to like the clinical work, and you don't seem to like the lecture material so I'm not entirely certain what is holding you to this path at all. I don't write that to be mean, I just think it's a question worth asking yourself.

As for it getting easier: MS2 is vastly harder than MS1 because of Step 1. MS3 is vastly harder than MS2 because of the hours you are required to work while still studying for your shelf exams. MS4 is a complete joke and is basically a year off (aside from the stress of residency applications), but then you start residency which is substantially harder than MS3. It appears to get easier after that, but you are looking at a massively uphill battle for the next 6+ years before anything gets easier.

 

[Knightmd]

AGAIN: Get. Out. Now....

I had your exact same issues. Not interested AT ALL in my studies... not interested in the clinical setting.... HATING the hours... feeling zero passion. You don't want to be the 31 year old resident looking for bioengineering programs that can accept him to do a fresh career switch and have to start from scratch and delay any family plans.

And yes, it gets MUCH WORSE every year...

 

[gutonc]

Although I was the first one who said "Get out now" and I still 200% agree with that, I disagree that it gets harder as you go along. M1 sucked goat nads for me. And despite the obvious work hour and sleep deprivation issues once you hit the clinical side, it overall gets much easier from there.

That said, if you hate what you're doing now and hoping you'll like it better as things go along, that's definitely a recipe for disaster.

 

[enantio1988]

Thanks everyone for the responses! I really appreciate it and would love to hear more insights.

For those who like medicine, what would you say are the characteristics that you MUST have to get through this field as sane as possible?

Should I stay to get my MD as I've heard that can open doors? How would you weigh getting the MD versus dropping out and getting a master's/PhD in a biotech/bio related field?

If I don't continue with med school, what career options would you recommend if I have a biology-related undergraduate degree from a competitive, top US university?

 

[enantio1988]

Although I was the first one who said "Get out now" and I still 200% agree with that, I disagree that it gets harder as you go along. M1 sucked goat nads for me. And despite the obvious work hour and sleep deprivation issues once you hit the clinical side, it overall gets much easier from there.

That said, if you hate what you're doing now and hoping you'll like it better as things go along, that's definitely a recipe for disaster.

Gutonc: can you please clarify in what way it gets much easier?

 

[ggidgetzz]

From what I've heard an MD degree without a residency is close to worthless.

 

[gutonc]

For those who like medicine, what would you say are the characteristics that you MUST have to get through this field as sane as possible?

You must like medicine. Without this, any other characteristics are meaningless.

Should I stay to get my MD as I've heard that can open doors? How would you weigh getting the MD versus dropping out and getting a master's/PhD in a biotech/bio related field?

It opens a lot of doors into careers as a physician. Otherwise, there aren't many doors that an MD by itself (without other clinical experience) will open that can't be opened by other doors. Somebody will now come in here and throw the "consulting" bomb. Let us know how that works out for you. Does this happen? Sure. Is it common? No.

If I don't continue with med school, what career options would you recommend if I have a biology-related undergraduate degree from a competitive, top US university?

Something that would make you happy. It sounds like you're one of those people who went to med school because you were "supposed to" whether that's because of your parents or some latent social pressure, I don't know. But you need to decide what kind of a career you would really like to have. Want to do clinical work but not the level of independence and risk associated with being a physician? Go to PA school. Like the clinical and science aspect but want to have a 9-5 M-F job with no call or weekends? Genetic counseling. Like the science but not the clinics? Get a masters in a biomedical research field (not a PhD...that's a whole other level of suck you probably don't want to take on) and go to work in industry. Like the business aspect? Healthcare focused MBA. Honestly, there are about 10,000 things you can do that aren't being a doctor. You need to figure that out for yourself.

 

[gutonc]

Gutonc: can you please clarify in what way it gets much easier?

Not really. Other than to say that as you go along, it usually becomes more clear why you're doing what you're doing. But if you can't at least see some of that from where you are now, this is not the path for you. Cut your losses while your debt load is still in the 5 figure range.

 

[TraumaLlamaMD]

Med school got easier for me in the sense that I felt like I was doing things that I enjoyed a lot more in the later years - interacting with patients and performing procedures, rather than learning the theory of the physiology in a classroom. If the clinical setting doesn't appeal to you, I don't think it really gets easier.

 

[Law2Doc]

From what I've heard an MD degree without a residency is close to worthless.

You can be the most overqualified science teacher at a private prep school, I suppose. You can Definitely get a sales job with a private equity firm cold calling all your classmates. Beyond that it's a much harder sell. People float around things like consulting, big pharma, financial services but the truth of the matter is they would just as soon hire someone who has actually worked in the field.

 

[Gastrapathy]

MS1-2 are not medicine. Do some shadowing with pp attendings. See if you like the job. If you don't, it's not worth it for opening doors. Tell the doctors why you are there. You don't need to suck up to get a letter so try to see it for what it is. I like my job but then most everyone in my specialty is happy enough.

 

[DermViser]

Although I was the first one who said "Get out now" and I still 200% agree with that, I disagree that it gets harder as you go along. M1 sucked goat nads for me. And despite the obvious work hour and sleep deprivation issues once you hit the clinical side, it overall gets much easier from there.

That said, if you hate what you're doing now and hoping you'll like it better as things go along, that's definitely a recipe for disaster.

With all due respect, if you were AOA in medical school, basic sciences in M1 hardly "sucked goat nads" for you. I would also say that the work hour and more importantly, sleep deprivation issues are MAJOR contributors to one's mental health and to exhaustion and shouldn't be discounted. Hardly the definition of getting easier.

It may get "easier" in not having to take multiple choice exams every few weeks, but that's about it.