Hi. I'm just a lowly high school senior, but let me try to help you. Try to find what is truly important to you.
Sure, physician glamor has really dimmed down a lot, but what they do is STILL the same.
Do you want to hold people's lives in your hand?
Do you want to keep a person alive by putting your hand through his chest, pumping his heart to keep him alive?
Do you want to further the advancement of cures for diseases? Develop new treatments to cure a whole subset of diseases?
What do YOU want to do? There is no right or wrong answer. I wont lie, I think pharmacy is slightly boring, and dentistry is WAY cool... you have to be millimeter precise on procedures... very technical. The specialties in dentistry are pretty awesome, the life is awesome, the pay is awesome... Everything in dentistry is awesome.
The ONLY THING that you have that other specialities DON'T, is the
INTANGIBLES
The feeling you get after you just performed an operation. The joy you receive when you deliver a baby.
Sure, the negatives may outweigh the positives in medicine in every single aspect that other fields, but you HAVE to count the intangibles.
THOSE ARE THE REAL REASONS WHY WE WANT TO HELP PEOPLE.
There are surgeons that i've talked to, who've been divorced, surgeons who i've talked to who have wonderful families.
My dad is a Cardiothoracic Surgeon.... I don't see him often. But when I do, I love asking him about what he does, because I love to see the actual joy that his career brings him as he says.
He loves letting me view video's of his surgeries, explaining what he does. It's the most interesting thing in the world to me.
Will I become a Doctor? Maybe, maybe not. my values as an individual are totally normal. I want to have a family life and I want to be relaxed in my work environment. I want to be an entrepreneur, as well as a health professional. I want the nice comfortable salary that health professionals earn. I want to continue playing Piano, and enjoy nice trips in my sports car with my girlfriend... But maybe that won't be possible. Just gotta find your happiness.
To the OP, that being said, ask yourself WHY you want to be a doctor. Ask yourself if the care and advancement of human life outweighs your own personal goals.
Just pointing this out, my father is a CT surgeon, works around 75-88 hours a week approx. and his brother (my uncle) is a dentist.
My I live in a moderately sized home. Parents drive Mercedes and a Range Rover (mother is a radiologist)
My uncle and my aunt who are dentists works around 50 hours a week (monday through friday) owns 4 dental practices, has like, 4 hygenists and 4 associate dentists and has 46% overhead .They Drive Ferrari's and he has an S-Class too, along with an Escalade. he has a always goes on weekend trips with my cousins on their boat... He hikes, ski's, and works out a lot (he is in better shape than I am)
He comes to the basketball games I play with my cousin (because my dad can never make it) and he usually drives me home too.
He has the biggest house... Huge.
When I ask him what his favorite thing to do, he says to spend time with his family after hard week's work.
When I ask my dad what his favorite things to do is, and he replied
"Seeing a heart beat in a patient's chest after performing a transplant."
This is to just give you an insight on the different types of people gravitate to different types of fields. I am lucky to have both healthcare professionals be in my family, because it makes the decision and what's important to you, a LOT easier.
Best of luck to your decision man... I would LOVE to be in your position.
At least you aren't one of those students who scurry to Optometry or Podiatry because they couldn't make it to Med School (like my older brother
)