Undecided on medical career

[loverofalldogs]

Hey everyone, I'm new to this website so if I'm posting this in the wrong section please forgive me. I am interested in a career in medicine but I'm having a lot of trouble deciding what I want to do and I'm running out of time. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or ideas for me.

I'm currently a college junior and I'm a public health major. I had plans of applying to either physician assistant or medical school and currently have half of my pre-requisites done for both, but haven't taken the MCAT and I have minimal patient care experience, so either way, I would probably have to wait a year or two after graduation before applying to med school or physician assistant school to strengthen my application. I'm interested in medicine because I love learning about science, the human body, and being able to diagnose and treat a patient. I'm particularly drawn to psychiatry because I've always wanted to work in the mental health field, but don't think I would enjoy doing therapy alone, or working as a social worker. I've had this plan in mind since I've started college, however, I keep second guessing myself and I'm not sure if this is the right profession for me, for a couple of reasons:

1. I would love working with patients, however, I'm more of an introvert and get drained by constant interaction with people all day. I'm interested in medicine more for the science and diagnostics aspect, but would not be content with working in a lab all day.

2. I have current mental health issues that affect my ability to function in everyday life. I'm getting help for it and going to therapy regularly, but I still have a long way to come. It hasn't affected my grades much (GPA ~ 3.9), but on some days I have trouble concentrating, or have really depressive episodes that makes it difficult to get things done and interact with people. I know this is something I can fix over time, but it's hard for me to imagine that in this moment and know what the future will bring.

3. Finances are an issue for me, and I'm currently paying part of my tuition through undergrad, but will still be graduating with about 40-50k in debt, before entering medical school or physician assistant school.

I know my post is all over the place, but I really want to get some suggestions. Does PA or MD/DO sound like a good choice for me? Is there any other career in the healthcare field that I might be better suited for that has decent pay and employment outlooks? Any and all comments are appreciated. Also, if there's another thread I could post on in addition to this that would reach a wider variety of people, please let me know. Thank you

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[eteshoe]

Hey everyone, I'm new to this website so if I'm posting this in the wrong section please forgive me. I am interested in a career in medicine but I'm having a lot of trouble deciding what I want to do and I'm running out of time. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or ideas for me.

I'm currently a college junior and I'm a public health major. I had plans of applying to either physician assistant or medical school and currently have half of my pre-requisites done for both, but haven't taken the MCAT and I have minimal patient care experience, so either way, I would probably have to wait a year or two after graduation before applying to med school or physician assistant school to strengthen my application. I'm interested in medicine because I love learning about science, the human body, and being able to diagnose and treat a patient. I'm particularly drawn to psychiatry because I've always wanted to work in the mental health field, but don't think I would enjoy doing therapy alone, or working as a social worker. I've had this plan in mind since I've started college, however, I keep second guessing myself and I'm not sure if this is the right profession for me, for a couple of reasons:

1. I would love working with patients, however, I'm more of an introvert and get drained by constant interaction with people all day. I'm interested in medicine more for the science and diagnostics aspect, but would not be content with working in a lab all day.

2. I have current mental health issues that affect my ability to function in everyday life. I'm getting help for it and going to therapy regularly, but I still have a long way to come. It hasn't affected my grades much (GPA ~ 3.9), but on some days I have trouble concentrating, or have really depressive episodes that makes it difficult to get things done and interact with people. I know this is something I can fix over time, but it's hard for me to imagine that in this moment and know what the future will bring.

3. Finances are an issue for me, and I'm currently paying part of my tuition through undergrad, but will still be graduating with about 40-50k in debt, before entering medical school or physician assistant school.

I know my post is all over the place, but I really want to get some suggestions. Does PA or MD/DO sound like a good choice for me? Is there any other career in the healthcare field that I might be better suited for that has decent pay and employment outlooks? Any and all comments are appreciated. Also, if there's another thread I could post on in addition to this that would reach a wider variety of people, please let me know. Thank you

Med school will be a harrowing fire trial if constant interaction is draining. If you're interested in the 'science' in the mental health field then I would suggest looking into what a PhD in psychology would entail (it should meet some of the goals you had mentioned in your post).

P.S: I am not quite as well informed in this topic but I think it's a solid starting point.

 

[loverofalldogs]

Ive looked into it, they're more competitive than med school and its a 6 year program for a 50k starting salary:/ It sounds like an interesting job but it's a bad ROI, if I even get in.

 

[eteshoe]

Ive looked into it, they're more competitive than med school and its a 6 year program for a 50k starting salary:/ It sounds like an interesting job but it's a bad ROI, if I even get in.

A lot of psych PhD programs are paid for and the students get a stipend (competition is comparable to med school IMO, but it's institution dependent). Therefore, any starting salary (and clinical psychologists are around the 50-60K range), would be a decent return on your investment. Of course you could go to a top business school (3 yrs) and make an insane ROI in finance or consulting. What I'm trying to emphasis is that the ROI for medicine is good but the training will take 7-9 yrs (med school+residency) compared to the 5-6 yrs of a psychology PhD. Therefore if you are strictly talking about economics - medicine is not the way to go.

 

[darkjedi]

Take your time. There is no rush to get started with MD or PA school. Plenty of people take many years out from college before applying for med school, myself included. You really do have to make sure this is the right career for you before you even get started. If you have any doubts, explore them. Get more exposure to what being an MD or PA is like, and their day-to-day, to see if it's something that fits with your life.

Every industry has successful people who may have struggled with mental health issues, medicine included. As long you you seek appropriate treatment for it, there's no reason why it has to impede your career goals.

 

[Law2Doc]

You are not "running out of time" and you shouldn't even consider medicine until your mental health issues are behind you. Med school and residency are isolating, intense, stressful and emotionally charged places and frankly hard on even the most centered people, so that's not the place to launch yourself while still struggling with depression and interpersonal interaction issues. Fix this first, even if it changes the timeline. I don't know much about the PA route but I suspect it's similar albeit to a lesser degree.

Second, medicine is not about "science" in the college sense, and interacting with and about patients is most of the job. It's a service industry. You'll use science as foundation, but really very little on a day to day basis. So if you are actually interested in "science", you won't find most medical fields satisfying.

 

[allantois]

A lot of psych PhD programs are paid for and the students get a stipend (competition is comparable to med school IMO, but it's institution dependent). Therefore, any starting salary (and clinical psychologists are around the 50-60K range), would be a decent return on your investment. Of course you could go to a top business school (3 yrs) and make an insane ROI in finance or consulting. What I'm trying to emphasis is that the ROI for medicine is good but the training will take 7-9 yrs (med school+residency) compared to the 5-6 yrs of a psychology PhD. Therefore if you are strictly talking about economics - medicine is not the way to go.

Your financial assessment makes no sense. One can become a high school teacher and make the same money as a PhD psychologist.

 

[zaztong]

Being an introvert and shy are 2 different things. Deal with your shyness. I think you are possibly confused on what the problem is. I talk to people all day and I'm an introvert - so deal with it. I just avoid large groups of people and prefer 1 on 1 or small groups. Plus, there are specialties such as anesthesiology and radiology that have minimal patient contact. But first, why medicine? Have you shadowed doctors? Do you have a strong passion for medicine? It seems like you don't fully understand the medical profession. If you're in it just for money, you should go for quant finance/day trading/investment banking seriously. No contact with people all day and tons of money. Much more than medicine can ever offer and it requires simply analytical and scientific skills that you already have. If you are looking for a stable job with the degree you already took, look into health IT, nursing, biostatistics, pharma, clinical research associate etc.

However, if you still really want to go into medicine and can solve your mental health issues:

If you're worried about loans, start saving money now! It's really not that hard and you don't need to be a finance PhD to make your personal finances work.

Move in your parents place, make all your meals at home, avoid all expenditures (except absolutely 100% necessary) and get a part-time job already. It's not that hard to find something where you can do your studies at the same time - such as staying at a desk in the library. My expenses are less than 1k a year by eating organ meats (that I get from local farmers for free) and frozen mixed veggies, it's not that hard to save with a great nutritious diet. I have another friend who works as a full-time bike courier making $20-25/hr (including tips) for 20 years. He is homeless, eats leftovers or from the dumpster and has a million in the bank from wise investments. Alternatively, if you can't handle some hardship, you should also consider defaulting on your loans and move to Europe or Asia if it proves too much.

If you are really worried about your finances and you took a government loan, you should look into taking more government loans on a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. My friend took 400k in loans (to the max!) to pay for a nice house, sports car and school (Although I wouldn't recommend that you waste your money on a sports car). He paid minimum payments for 10 years at a 501c hospital through a lengthy residency, which cost him 70k. The government forgave all his student loans at more than half a million after 10 years of work as a pediatric neurosurgeon resident and taking on extra low-paying volunteer work. Now he makes 800k/year before taxes, debt free.

I used to be out of state in Texas, I waited a year to estabilish domicile and got in-state tuition in Texas, run a rental business, have several streams of passive income, and saved up for 2 years expenses, before being accepted into medical school. It's going to be all expenses paid ride with my own self-made money. Although money is not the primary reason why I went into medicine (it would be faster as a quant finance guy in a hedge fund), I will be a millionaire no matter what I choose (even PCP) before 35.

If you are a top student, do the best you can on the MCAT and get a scholarship full ride. Alternatively, you could join the military to work for a free ride with a 20k sign on bonus to pay off your current loans. Otherwise, go to PA school so you can pay off your loans quick after 2 years school and you'll still be doing the same things a PCP is doing. You'll be miserable paying off loans from an expensive medical school if you are in primary care or pediatrics assuming your college was expensive. (Although the 2 choices are rewarding in their own way, IRR sucks. You should not take these 2 choices unless you have your finances in order.)

Note you CANNOT write off your student loan interest on your taxes on a physician's salary.

 

[Goro]

The bolded statement is contradictory. Unless you go into Hospital Administration, Radiology or Pathology, you're going to be seeing lots of patients for the next 30-40 years.

Don't even think about a medical career until you have your mental health issues under control. Medical school is a crucible and I've seen it break even healthy students. The #1 reason my students either fail out or withdraw is due to mental health issues.

I would love working with patients, however, I'm more of an introvert and get drained by constant interaction with people all day. I'm interested in medicine more for the science and diagnostics aspect, but would not be content with working in a lab all day.

2. I have current mental health issues that affect my ability to function in everyday life. I'm getting help for it and going to therapy regularly, but I still have a long way to come. It hasn't affected my grades much (GPA ~ 3.9), but on some days I have trouble concentrating, or have really depressive episodes that makes it difficult to get things done and interact with people. I know this is something I can fix over time, but it's hard for me to imagine that in this moment and know what the future will bring.

3. Finances are an issue for me, and I'm currently paying part of my tuition through undergrad, but will still be graduating with about 40-50k in debt, before entering medical school or physician assistant school.

I know my post is all over the place, but I really want to get some suggestions. Does PA or MD/DO sound like a good choice for me? Is there any other career in the healthcare field that I might be better suited for that has decent pay and employment outlooks? Any and all comments are appreciated. Also, if there's another thread I could post on in addition to this that would reach a wider variety of people, please let me know. Thank you