Too Much Thinking?

[202149]

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I know that it's a struggle for most people to get accepted to medical school, but has anyone else struggled with simply deciding upon medicine as a career?

(Warning: Semi-long post ---> feel free to just respond to the above open-ended question if you don't want to read the rest) 🙂

I'll be as brief as possible: I graduated with a political science BA in 2008 with an alright GPA (3.57), took no hard science courses (besides an A- in an "Intro to Calculus" course), and pretty much have been having a hard time deciding on a career for as long as I can remember.

Since the beginning of senior year (now more than 3 years ago), I started thinking a lot about becoming a doctor. Thought about other health careers: Speech Pathology isn't for me even though I greatly greatly respect the profession being that I've seen some truly inspirational speech pathologists for stuttering treatment. Thought about PA, Nurse, etc. but I think I'd eventually want to diagnose patients as part of my job....so basically I always end up back at "MD or DO".

Health experience: volunteered for a semester at a rehabilitation hospital when I started thinking about medicine and I was able to shadow a physiatrist -- great experience. After college, I took a random job stocking supplies, etc. in an operating room for about a year to try to help decide --- boring job, but was fascinated by surgery, anesthesiology, etc. Sometime during that year I thought to myself: "Well, since I'm not 100% sure about this by now, it probably isn't for me" and I began considering teaching high school history, basically since I enjoy reading history books.

Where I'm at now: I guess some people would call me crazy, but I'm in the middle of my second year teaching English in Ecuador. Great experience, but I find that I'm still always thinking about practicing medicine as a career (and I'm always reading non-trads' blogs, posts, healthcare news, etc.)

I know how challenging the post-bacc classes would be, I know my options, I know I'm still fairly young (24), and I think that if I completely dedicated myself, I'd be able to do this even though my undergrad GPA isn't stellar.

However I keep on coming back to the same thing: I'm still not 100% sure. Would I be doing this for the "right reasons"? Should I try teaching history in a private school for a year or two and then see if I want to continue on that path or not before plunging into medicine? Etc.

Am I thinking too much? I hate melodrama, but really does there come a point where one should just take a "leap of faith"?

Has anyone had similar feelings prior to beginning the path?

Thanks. Happy holidays 🙂

 

[Isoprop]

I don't think anybody really knows what it's like to be a doctor until he or she actually becomes one. Really, even if you had perfect knowledge of how medicine is practiced today, there's no guarantee that's how medicine will be practiced a decade later when you will be finishing up your residency.

So yes, a big part of this is a "leap of faith." But you seem to be doing the right things so that it isn't too far of a leap: volunteering, shadowing, kicking the tires of other possible career choices, asking questions, etc. But in the end, it really takes a jump from your end to finally commit to it.

Good luck.

 

[azerkail]

You would have an amazing interview based on your life experience. 😀

 

[202149]

Thanks for the input. Good point about how no one really knows exactly what being a doctor is like until....practicing medicine. This is probably true of pretty much any profession. The factor that intimidates me sometimes about "taking the leap" is the decade of training. However, that hasn't kept me from continuing to seriously consider the profession...so I guess that says something about what I personally want.

I know that I'll be able to firmly decide in the non-too-distant future, after testing out teaching a bit more and after shadowing some more doctors in different specialties and volunteering.

Thanks again.

 

[tremulousNeedle]

This is common / normal. It's better to be struggling with this decision now. Imagine being the student that knows that they want to be a doctor and when they finally get there, they start questioning their decision. I’ve seen this happen to residents and med students alike.

Good luck.

 

[Scottish Chap]

I know that it's a struggle for most people to get accepted to medical school, but has anyone else struggled with simply deciding upon medicine as a career?

(Warning: Semi-long post ---> feel free to just respond to the above open-ended question if you don't want to read the rest) 🙂

I'll be as brief as possible: I graduated with a political science BA in 2008 with an alright GPA (3.57), took no hard science courses (besides an A- in an "Intro to Calculus" course), and pretty much have been having a hard time deciding on a career for as long as I can remember.

Since the beginning of senior year (now more than 3 years ago), I started thinking a lot about becoming a doctor. Thought about other health careers: Speech Pathology isn't for me even though I greatly greatly respect the profession being that I've seen some truly inspirational speech pathologists for stuttering treatment. Thought about PA, Nurse, etc. but I think I'd eventually want to diagnose patients as part of my job....so basically I always end up back at "MD or DO".

Health experience: volunteered for a semester at a rehabilitation hospital when I started thinking about medicine and I was able to shadow a physiatrist -- great experience. After college, I took a random job stocking supplies, etc. in an operating room for about a year to try to help decide --- boring job, but was fascinated by surgery, anesthesiology, etc. Sometime during that year I thought to myself: "Well, since I'm not 100% sure about this by now, it probably isn't for me" and I began considering teaching high school history, basically since I enjoy reading history books.

Where I'm at now: I guess some people would call me crazy, but I'm in the middle of my second year teaching English in Ecuador. Great experience, but I find that I'm still always thinking about practicing medicine as a career (and I'm always reading non-trads' blogs, posts, healthcare news, etc.)

I know how challenging the post-bacc classes would be, I know my options, I know I'm still fairly young (24), and I think that if I completely dedicated myself, I'd be able to do this even though my undergrad GPA isn't stellar.

However I keep on coming back to the same thing: I'm still not 100% sure. Would I be doing this for the "right reasons"? Should I try teaching history in a private school for a year or two and then see if I want to continue on that path or not before plunging into medicine? Etc.

Am I thinking too much? I hate melodrama, but really does there come a point where one should just take a "leap of faith"?

Has anyone had similar feelings prior to beginning the path?

Thanks. Happy holidays 🙂

A common theme seen: if there is a desire there to be a physician, it pretty much never goes away. The perception of what a career in medicine involves is massively different from reality, however. I had similar feelings to you when I was thinking about applying eight years ago.

Nobody can tell you what to do, but ask yourself what is giving you pause. If you are not sure, question whether this is for you. Many people develop an unbelievable obsession about being a doctor for crazy reasons. Here are a few things to consider: 1) Cost. The debt burden is now more than ever. Loans can no longer be deferred during residency, and you should expect to pay back $2-3 for every dollar you borrow. In addition, medical school tuition is increasing out of proportion to inflation. You will be in debt for a LONG time - even if you go to a state school (what I chose to do to save money). 2) Time. This is essentially a 7-10 year commitment just to obtain the training. You can do a lot in that time. You will serve this profession and it will become your #1 focus and use of time for the rest of your natural life. 3) Reality. Many patients, families etc. won't thank you for the hard work you put into their care and, in fact, they'll do a lot of crazy things that will block otherwise efficient care. This is a serving profession, and most often you will get no thanks. Be prepared for that when you've been awake after 30 hours of service and you've not eaten or sat down. Nobody cares when you eat, sleep, or pee, and often you'll have no time for any of those. Your family (as supportive as they will be) are just not going to understand when you are perpetually late for everything and miss important family events. It's going to happen.

In the end, I would probably do it again. It's true that the level of autonomy you'll have as a physician can't be matched, and you'll always have a great job. Medicine is also such a vast profession that you can find a niche anywhere (from surgery to pathology to dermatology to radiology). The hours are long, but it's incredibly interesting and you'll never be bored. There will be times when what you've taken the time to learn well and remember will be called upon in an emergency, and you'll be part of saving a life. Those days are rewarding.

You're so young and time is on your side. Don't force it if you are not sure, but know that you'll be fine if you do. Many have gone before you and many will go after you.

Good luck!

 

[Quik]

You're not alone with those feelings of unsuredness. I'm in a similar boat, after finishing a master's in what I was once sure would be my lifelong career, but after finding boredom and problems too vast and politically fragmented to really help solve on my own, I began looking elsewhere for that career/job satisfaction I had hoped for. I finished grad school in Enviro Sci four years ago, and have built up quality, high-level experience but it really hasn't satisfied. I envy the health professionals in my family and who I met randomly and began to realize that I naturally want to help people. Pulling those thoughts together, I started looking into becoming a doctor (why I'm here really). Yes, the decade plus of school/training (not including post-bacc) is certainly intimidating, but the thought of accomplishing that goal and becoming a doctor is certainly enough light at the end of a very long tunnel to make me want to leave the job security and good income I have now, cash out my 401k to help finance it, and go for it. You're 24 now, so by the average standard you have roughly 30 years left in your career. You could spend 10 of that training yourself for 20 years of what will likely be career bliss, or spend that 30 eeking by mentally in what may or may not satisfy you at all.

For the record, I was an application away from becoming a lawyer, and despite the prestige, I couldn't see myself sitting at a desk all day for the rest of my working life reading case law. Besides, the world needs more doctors, we have plenty of lawyers already 😉.

Best of luck in your decision, and enjoy Ecuador.

 

[futureboy]

I think that if I completely dedicated myself, I'd be able to do this even though my undergrad GPA isn't stellar.

A 3.57 GPA is quite respectible and is a good starting point for your post-bacc classes. You don't need a 3.9 to get into med school...

 

[WellWornLad]

You don't take the leap until you show up for your first day of med school. If you don't think this doctor idea is a passing thought then you might as well start getting your pre-reqs out of the way.

If you hate your pre-reqs, fail out - whatever, no biggie, you can quit and thank God for the amount of aggravation you've avoided and put that nascent idea of medicine behind you. If you do well and start to like the idea of medicine, you can get more serious with volunteering, research, etc., and you'll be glad that you started the pre-req process because that is the bottleneck between you and medical school.

Of course, pre-reqs are going to be difficult to do in Equador. You could probably just do some volunteering or shadowing and feel it out some more to see if you like it, but every year you put off pre-reqs is one more year you're adding to a very long process if it turns out that you're really interested in medicine.

 

[Lil Mick]

I struggled with that around that age, as well. I was teaching in a juvenile detention center and was challenged to consider a career in medicine, which seemed asinine at the time (finishing a degree and working). However, the idea persisted, and I decided to take a neuroscience class, as it fascinated me and seemed like a good way to test my aptitude. I'd suggest testing it out with some volunteer work/courses to see if it is your passion and if it is something worth the extra time in school/cost/effort...

 

[202149]

It's been a little more than a year since I posted the above message about how I'm having a challenging time deciding upon pursuing medicine. Take a look at my post history, and it becomes obvious that I've been struggling with this on and off for the better part of 3.5 years. At first glance I would say "wow I could've been done with post-bacc classes by now," but the truth is that I am thankful for the experiences I've acquired over the past few years (working in an operating room for a year, living and teaching in Ecuador for two years, learning Spanish, having and losing a romantic relationship, and now working as a clinical research assistant in a rehab medicine dept).

I took physics last semester (while working full time) just to get my feet wet. I finished the class, did great in it, but toward the end of the course I went back to my plan B of "I should be a social studies teacher" and I am currently not taking courses. Most of my indecision about pursuing medicine (even though I currently love the hospital atmosphere that I work in as a research assistant, and even though I've shadowed a ton in various specialties and have always found doctoring interesting) --- is because I'm simply afraid of "losing my personality" while studying for pre-med classes and med school classes. After reading a ton of negative info I'm afraid that I'd simply be isolated for the next 7 years and that I'd become anti-social. Sidenote: I'm a person with a mild stutter, and so I'm somewhat afraid that studying alone for the better part of 7 years would make my stuttering worse due to lack of being social.

Anyway, I could go on and on about this, but basically it comes down to this: I just found out that I was accepted into a really great teacher's college which would train me in a year to teach high school social studies. Of course, though over the past month my intermittent desire to go into medicine came back full force (it hasn't really ever left me since I started thinking about it circa 2008). I'd attribute some of this return of my "doctor desire" to the fact that after teaching ESL for two years, I realized that although I loved living abroad, learning Spanish, and helping my students learn a new language...I didn't really enjoy actually standing in front of students day in and day out teaching. Actually, right now I'm also teaching ESL part-time in addition to the research job and I find I have these same feelings of "I find it rewarding that I'm helping fairly low-income students get a better grasp of English, but I don't enjoy actually teaching." The truth is though that I might actually enjoy teaching social studies as opposed to ESL because I genuinely enjoy reading about history.

Bottom line: there are a lot of "what if" variables here, and the truth probably is that it's impossible to know what a profession is actually like (doctor, social studies teacher, whatever) until you're actually living that daily life.

So, on one hand I'm telling myself: "Just go try teaching for a few years. Maybe you'll enjoy it, and if not, you can still start the road to medicine even if you're in your early 30s (I'm 25 now btw)."

On the other hand I keep coming back to: "Obviously this desire to study and practice doctoring is not ephemeral. Maybe I should try giving it a go with pre-med classes that I'd probably enjoy more than physics (example: biology)."

Obviously, I know that the only person who can answer this question is me. I think I just wanted to vent a bit in the non-trad forum. Maybe there's someone out there who can identify with my late-night rant? 🙂

 

[202149]

I realize that my last post was a bit long-winded. A more specific, more accessible question that has been on my mind for a while is for any non-trad who has been through most or all of medical training (post-bacc pre-reqs + med school + residency):

Were you still able to be somewhat social throughout the process? Were you able to stay friendly with your best friends? Did you ever feel like you were "losing your personality" because all you ever had time to do was study?

I realize the "losing your personality" question might sound strange, but I think a major fear that is keeping me from continuing with pre-reqs is that over the past decade I've come incredibly far with overcoming stuttering (more specifically: overcoming my stuttering-related fear of speaking to people I don't know). I've realized that simply meeting new people and talking as much as I can despite my tendency to stutter is very important for me and for my ability to manage my stuttering. And basically, I'm afraid that studying to be a doctor would force me to be solitary, isolated and that it would set back my speech therapy-related progress.

 

[ChemMed]

I realize that my last post was a bit long-winded. A more specific, more accessible question that has been on my mind for a while is for any non-trad who has been through most or all of medical training (post-bacc pre-reqs + med school + residency):

Were you still able to be somewhat social throughout the process? Were you able to stay friendly with your best friends? Did you ever feel like you were "losing your personality" because all you ever had time to do was study?

I realize the "losing your personality" question might sound strange, but I think a major fear that is keeping me from continuing with pre-reqs is that over the past decade I've come incredibly far with overcoming stuttering (more specifically: overcoming my stuttering-related fear of speaking to people I don't know). I've realized that simply meeting new people and talking as much as I can despite my tendency to stutter is very important for me and for my ability to manage my stuttering. And basically, I'm afraid that studying to be a doctor would force me to be solitary, isolated and that it would set back my speech therapy-related progress.

Is medical school socially isolating? It can be. I find that I'm more social here though then when I was doing my previous degree. Students want to be social here and they make the effort to try and do things with each other that have nothing to do with school. I think that this is really important. You do find ways to deal with the schedule because you simply have to. You can make it work, but you also spend a lot of time studying.

I'm glad your thinking about this route carefully, but if this medicine idea sticks with you it may never leave. It didn't for me so here I am in medical school even with all the reasons not to be a physician these days. Its hard and it can suck, but over all I'm happy I'm doing it.

Keep asking yourself what you want out of your life and not just in sociability. Ask everything (family, time, kids, time off, other activities other then work, friends, events) and then decide what you are willing to give up to become a physician. Your on the right path, just keep asking questions. This isn't an easy thing to decide. Good luck.

 

[startoverat40]

On the other hand I keep coming back to: "Obviously this desire to study and practice doctoring is not ephemeral. Maybe I should try giving it a go with pre-med classes that I'd probably enjoy more than physics (example: biology)."

There is definately something to be said for the voice in your ear which refuses to go away. For me medicine was a calling, which grew louder and louder, until I could do nothing else other than take the plunge.