Should I quit medical schoo? 3rd year non native student

[ruby1004]

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[ncide]

Stick with it mate, you're almost finished. Life after school is always better. It's a grind we all have to go through and it isn't easy. There are alternate career paths where having an MD degree is very favorable, and you don't have to go through as much (or any) patient interaction.

Dentistry involves a significant amount of patient interaction, so if you aren't comfortable in medicine, then dentistry is not necessarily better. You can go through a oral pathology residency in dentistry, but pathology in medicine is a better route for you if you want to minimize patient interaction.

 

[Mad Jack]

I am a 28 years old 3rd year medical student who immigrated from SE Asia about 10 years ago.
Although I've been in US for more than a decade, I still have hard time speaking English and communicating with people. I am extra extra introvert and have really hard time making friends in medical school.
Ever since I entered medical school I find myself being anxious and stressed with feeling of inadequacy.
My performance for M1 and M2 has been A/B average and fulfilled all curriculum requirement without failure, but at the end of 2nd year I was burned out and suffered from depression.
I couldn't take step 2 in time (my parents were in process of divorce as well) and had to take LOA for entire year. Finally this summer I took STEP1 and score turned out to be only 210.
After starting 3rd year on Aug., so far I've received A from psych rotation but I still feel very miserable rotating internal medicine. My English is inadequate to communicate with patient/collegues and my intellectual curiosity/desire to serve patient is at minimum. I feel like I can still force myself to stay in medical school and do pathology, family medicine, or psychology. Sometimes I want to end my life to get away from medical school, on the other hand I just simply want to quit medical school and seek another career (e.g. apply for dental school). I know the final decision will be depend on myself but I would appreciate any opinions, criticism, or advice.

You remind me very much of one of my classmates, a wonderful girl that reading your post I wish I'd reached out to more. I worry that the problem is less about medicine and more about a lack of social connections on account of multiple factors (how busy you are, how long the training process is, language barriers, lack of communities nearby that share your culture perhaps), and that you might be leaving medical school under the false assumption it will cure all of these things, when in fact they would persist in dental school or elsewhere. Just ask yourself honestly- do you dislike medicine, or do you dislike your current social life and medicine happens to be an exacerbating factor? Getting to the root cause of why you aren't feeling great about the process will give you a lot of insight into how to proceed.

That you did very well on your psych rotation tells me that your English skills are not as lacking as you might believe, so you should work on your confidence in that regard. Your post was also well written- language clearly isn't your major issue. So just be honest about what it is, exactly, that is lacking in your life right now and whether leaving medical school would correct that.

Also, you should utilize counseling services if they are available to you. Good luck out there, I hope you find your way.

 

[justin1390]

Your own well being should be paramount as you pursue a career that can make you happy. There's a lot to be addressed here, so let me go in order of importance:

1. If you are depressed to the point of suicidality, you need to get extra help. Find a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist in your area. You may even search for someone who speaks your native language. This is and should remain top priority. There's too many great things about life to be suffering the way you are over a single career choice
2. If you are feeling like a career practicing medicine is not the best option for you, there are a ton of other options ranging from pharmaceuticals to consulting, etc. However, you will need to finish your intern year and Step 3 for the better paying jobs. You could find an easy transitional year residency and tough it out for a year, then go work outside the scope of practicing medicine
3. It sounds like you are reasonably sharp and performing well in rotations, so it sounds like you at least have a good shot at a residency.
4. Do not be disheartened by a 210. I scored a 211 and 226 respectively on steps 1 and 2. I matched to my first choice in a typically hard to get into residency. If you really want to get into a residency of your choice, do a SubI there 4th year and work hard. You'll match no problem.
5. Even though you are introverted, try to be proactive on rotation and work hard. Even if you don't like to jump in and be outgoing, at least offer to help the residents, etc. It will show and you can get good letters for residency.

Again, if you think you would be happy doing something medicine related, even if it's outside of active practice, I would at least get into a transitional residency. By then, you might find you really like it and want to finish residency, or perhaps finish residency before seeking a non-conventional career. Just know those options exist.

Best of luck and please keep us updated!

 

[Mr Roboto]

I am a 28 years old 3rd year medical student who immigrated from SE Asia about 10 years ago.
Although I've been in US for more than a decade, I still have hard time speaking English and communicating with people. I am extra extra introvert and have really hard time making friends in medical school.
Ever since I entered medical school I find myself being anxious and stressed with feeling of inadequacy.
My performance for M1 and M2 has been A/B average and fulfilled all curriculum requirement without failure, but at the end of 2nd year I was burned out and suffered from depression.
I couldn't take step 2 in time (my parents were in process of divorce as well) and had to take LOA for entire year. Finally this summer I took STEP1 and score turned out to be only 210.
After starting 3rd year on Aug., so far I've received A from psych rotation but I still feel very miserable rotating internal medicine. My English is inadequate to communicate with patient/collegues and my intellectual curiosity/desire to serve patient is at minimum. I feel like I can still force myself to stay in medical school and do pathology, family medicine, or psychology. Sometimes I want to end my life to get away from medical school, on the other hand I just simply want to quit medical school and seek another career (e.g. apply for dental school). I know the final decision will be depend on myself but I would appreciate any opinions, criticism, or advice.

If you hate medical school so much, what makes you think you'd enjoy dental school? Why would you be able to communicate with patients and colleagues better as a dentist than as a physician?

 

[Goro]

A) Go see your school's counseling or therapy center STAT! Do not be a non-compliant patient. You're going to have plenty of those in your career.
B) You worked very hard to get where you are. Don't throw that away. Your thought your English skills were good enough to be a doctor...trust them.
C) It might be time for an LOA.
D) Just a thought, but to hone your English speaking skills, do NOT speak to anyone else of your community or family in your native tongue.
E) You CAN get through this!

I am a 28 years old 3rd year medical student who immigrated from SE Asia about 10 years ago.
Although I've been in US for more than a decade, I still have hard time speaking English and communicating with people. I am extra extra introvert and have really hard time making friends in medical school.
Ever since I entered medical school I find myself being anxious and stressed with feeling of inadequacy.
My performance for M1 and M2 has been A/B average and fulfilled all curriculum requirement without failure, but at the end of 2nd year I was burned out and suffered from depression.
I couldn't take step 2 in time (my parents were in process of divorce as well) and had to take LOA for entire year. Finally this summer I took STEP1 and score turned out to be only 210.
After starting 3rd year on Aug., so far I've received A from psych rotation but I still feel very miserable rotating internal medicine. My English is inadequate to communicate with patient/collegues and my intellectual curiosity/desire to serve patient is at minimum. I feel like I can still force myself to stay in medical school and do pathology, family medicine, or psychology. Sometimes I want to end my life to get away from medical school, on the other hand I just simply want to quit medical school and seek another career (e.g. apply for dental school). I know the final decision will be depend on myself but I would appreciate any opinions, criticism, or advice.