What are some other career paths besides being a doctor?

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JoyKim456

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I am currently getting a degree in biochemistry and I would say I am pretty good at it. I've wanted to become a doctor for a a long time now. But I realized now that I don't. I want a simple life. Can I achieve that by being a doctor? Have a simple life? I've learned that enjoying life is more important than success, and there are a lot of other doctors out there. What else can I do where I both help people and keep my life simple?
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JoyKim456 said:
I am currently getting a degree in biochemistry and I would say I am pretty good at it. I've wanted to become a doctor for a a long time now. But I realized now that I don't. I want a simple life. Can I achieve that by being a doctor? Have a simple life? I've learned that enjoying life is more important than success, and there are a lot of other doctors out there. What else can I do where I both help people and keep my life simple?
Click to expand...

teeth ftw
 
Go find a job in biotec


Sent from my iPhone
 
JoyKim456 said:
I am currently getting a degree in biochemistry and I would say I am pretty good at it. I've wanted to become a doctor for a a long time now. But I realized now that I don't. I want a simple life. Can I achieve that by being a doctor? Have a simple life? I've learned that enjoying life is more important than success, and there are a lot of other doctors out there. What else can I do where I both help people and keep my life simple?
Click to expand...

Primary care, dude. Doesn't get much simpler.
 
Last edited:
It is somewhat "what you do" and somewhat "where you work". It is possible to be in a field of medicine that is 8-4:30 M-F with no call. You are going to live a simple life because you are going to be paid a wage that will dictate that you will live simply.

You could earn a MS and/or PhD and teach in a community college. You will be living simply, out of the trunk of your car, as you try to cobble together enough teaching gigs to pay your expenses.

You could focus on some body parts containing two "e"s. (Feet, Teeth, Eyes) Podiatry, Dentistry and Optometry don't generally require nights and weekends although some do work Saturdays because that's when people can come in. You'll be helping people, using science to do so, and making a decent living.
 
Lab tech
Research tech
Clinical trial coordinator
Med tech

Get a MS where you learn some type of lab skills, and you're set.


JoyKim456 said:
I am currently getting a degree in biochemistry and I would say I am pretty good at it. I've wanted to become a doctor for a a long time now. But I realized now that I don't. I want a simple life. Can I achieve that by being a doctor? Have a simple life? I've learned that enjoying life is more important than success, and there are a lot of other doctors out there. What else can I do where I both help people and keep my life simple?
Click to expand...
 
Based on your experiences, would it be possible to have an 8-5 job M-F and take home 100K? I know that pods, dents, and optom all have better hours, but at the end of the day, many (at least in optom) take home 80K who work those kinds of hours.

In fact, the optom forums are kind of in uproar over the reimbursement issue now, as many do try and cobble together gigs to make enough to pay the minimum payment on their student loans. Do you foresee this happening with medicine for people who go into primary care?

LizzyM said:
It is somewhat "what you do" and somewhat "where you work". It is possible to be in a field of medicine that is 8-4:30 M-F with no call. You are going to live a simple life because you are going to be paid a wage that will dictate that you will live simply.

You could earn a MS and/or PhD and teach in a community college. You will be living simply, out of the trunk of your car, as you try to cobble together enough teaching gigs to pay your expenses.

You could focus on some body parts containing two "e"s. (Feet, Teeth, Eyes) Podiatry, Dentistry and Optometry don't generally require nights and weekends although some do work Saturdays because that's when people can come in. You'll be helping people, using science to do so, and making a decent living.
Click to expand...
 
GypsyHummus said:
Based on your experiences, would it be possible to have an 8-5 job M-F and take home 100K? I know that pods, dents, and optom all have better hours, but at the end of the day, many (at least in optom) take home 80K who work those kinds of hours.

In fact, the optom forums are kind of in uproar over the reimbursement issue now, as many do try and cobble together gigs to make enough to pay the minimum payment on their student loans. Do you foresee this happening with medicine for people who go into primary care?
Click to expand...

The biggest thing in medicine now and going forward is the change from private practice (the physician as owner of a small business) to corporate models where physicians are employees rather than owners or partners. If you are employed, your employer is going to tell you when and where you will work and will dictate how the work is to be done. There may be 8-5 M-F positions but it will all depend on what the employer wants.

It seems to me that anyone who does something with compensation in the forefront is almost never satisfied with the compensation.
 
LizzyM said:
It is somewhat "what you do" and somewhat "where you work". It is possible to be in a field of medicine that is 8-4:30 M-F with no call. You are going to live a simple life because you are going to be paid a wage that will dictate that you will live simply.

You could earn a MS and/or PhD and teach in a community college. You will be living simply, out of the trunk of your car, as you try to cobble together enough teaching gigs to pay your expenses.

You could focus on some body parts containing two "e"s. (Feet, Teeth, Eyes) Podiatry, Dentistry and Optometry don't generally require nights and weekends although some do work Saturdays because that's when people can come in. You'll be helping people, using science to do so, and making a decent living.
Click to expand...

For the record, the average salary of a community college professor is $72k - probably close to yours as a senior academic administrator. Judging by the honorific you've given yourself I assume you're not living out of your car.
What you're describing is an adjunct instructor- but there is no reason to assume he will be denigrated to that role, especially with a graduate degree in a science field.

OP- technically you can do anything. You can get an MBA (few-to-no prereqs) and become the director of panty sales at victoria's secret lol. Point is, just because you have pre-reqs done for something doesn't mean it's your only, or best, option.
 
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JoyKim456 said:
I am currently getting a degree in biochemistry and I would say I am pretty good at it. I've wanted to become a doctor for a a long time now. But I realized now that I don't. I want a simple life. Can I achieve that by being a doctor? Have a simple life? I've learned that enjoying life is more important than success, and there are a lot of other doctors out there. What else can I do where I both help people and keep my life simple?
Click to expand...
http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/home
 
fancymylotus said:
-I don't handle death very well

-My dads a dentist too

-(perceived) prestige factor in the brown people community
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How seriously did you consider medicine?
What else were you attracted to besides dentistry? optometry?
Is the prestige real? Do you care about it? Does it matter?
 
karayaa said:
How seriously did you consider medicine?
What else were you attracted to besides dentistry? optometry?
Is the prestige real? Do you care about it? Does it matter?
Click to expand...

Pretty seriously considered medicine. I was a biochem major in undergrad and was all set on going to med school and becoming a physician until I really thought about what I was able to handle and what I wanted out of life. I know people say you become desensitized to it, but I didn't think I would ever be fully capable of handling death and/or very sick people---even if I decided to do something like derm->cosmetic stuff all day, I didn't think I would be able to make it through the rotations of med school. Also, I had a family business to consider and all those things together are what made me choose dentistry over medicine.

The perceived prestige factor is real in the indian community, I was halfway joking when I brought it up because there is not much that aggravates me more than gossipy indian people comparing what their kids did to the kids of their friends(which happens all the time). It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you are happy with the career choice you made because really, if you aren't, what's the point of the money and nice stuff? You'll still go home miserable everyday, and it's just not worth it. That miserableness inevitably spills into relationships with others, daily life, etc.

Edit- to answer your other question, the 2 career options I considered were medicine or dentistry, never really looked into anything else
 
freemontie said:
For the record, the average salary of a community college professor is $72k - probably close to yours as a senior academic administrator. Judging by the honorific you've given yourself I assume you're not living out of your car.
What you're describing is an adjunct instructor- but there is no reason to assume he will be denigrated to that role, especially with a graduate degree in a science field.

OP- technically you can do anything. You can get an MBA (few-to-no prereqs) and become the director of panty sales at victoria's secret lol. Point is, just because you have pre-reqs done for something doesn't mean it's your only, or best, option.
Click to expand...

Sorry if you missed the tongue in cheek nature of that response. Don't confuse average and entry level. Also don't disregard the changes taking place in the industry as full-time and tenured faculty are being phased out and adjunct faculty with no benefits and no pension are becoming the norm.
 
LizzyM said:
The biggest thing in medicine now and going forward is the change from private practice (the physician as owner of a small business) to corporate models where physicians are employees rather than owners or partners. If you are employed, your employer is going to tell you when and where you will work and will dictate how the work is to be done. There may be 8-5 M-F positions but it will all depend on what the employer wants.

It seems to me that anyone who does something with compensation in the forefront is almost never satisfied with the compensation.
Click to expand...
As an academic do you agree with this shift? Should doctors be the ones who run their own practices or should they be employees ? It seems a lot of physicians I've talked to entered medicine at least partly because of the autonomy it could provide them.
 
I was considering biomedical engineering before I became 100% set on becoming a physician
 
Does anyone know how life as a pharmaceutical scientist is? I'm considering doing that
 
JoyKim456 said:
Does anyone know how life as a pharmaceutical scientist is? I'm considering doing that
Click to expand...

My cousin married a guy who did this after earning an MS in chemistry in the late 1960s. He had stock in the company as part of his retirement fund and when a huge blockbuster drug came along he found himself sitting on a small fortune. YMMV
 
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