What if your reasons for medical school are financial reward and bringing a good image to family?

[Richanesthesiologist]

I just had a friend send me his personal statement and I found his motivation for medicine very inspiring and heartwarming. A family member died of cancer and another suffered from alcoholism, and that inspired him to do research, etc. However, I have not gone through the same experiences he has had. Rather, my motivation is a combination of financial incentives, family pressure, and the reward/ pride of having an MD attached to my name. How do I craft a personal statement if these are my inspirations? Do I just say I want to be a doctor so I can live in a mansion, drive a Rolls Royce, travel the world, find a hot girlfriend, and make my family proud?

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[Chelsea FC]

You lie thats what you do............. I dont agree with doing it but thats what you have to do .

 

[Lawpy]

I just had a friend send me his personal statement and I found his motivation for medicine very inspiring and heartwarming. A family member died of cancer and another suffered from alcoholism, and that inspired him to do research, etc. However, I have not gone through the same experiences he has had. Rather, my motivation is a combination of financial incentives, family pressure, and the reward/ pride of having an MD attached to my name. How do I craft a personal statement if these are my inspirations? Do I just say I want to be a doctor so I can live in a mansion, drive a Rolls Royce, travel the world, find a hot girlfriend, and make my family proud?

Use this as a source of inspiration

 

[rufflev]

How do I craft a personal statement if these are my inspirations? Do I just say I want to be a doctor so I can live in a mansion, drive a Rolls Royce, travel the world, find a hot girlfriend, and make my family proud?

Definitely not. Think deeply, there must be more than these things that attracts you to wanting to become a physician. Even though it might not be your number one (or even your top ten) motivational factors, there must be something that makes you want to pursue medicine over PA, dentistry, etc. Even at it's simplest, you could love competition, which could sublimate to your desire to be in a competitive career, like surgery, always striving to do better, be it procedures, incisions, timing of operation, etc.

That said, I honestly don't think you should pursue a career in medicine if you can't think of a reason as to why you want to pursue a career that you'll be spending hours on end working at, for 30 or so years.

 

[Gilakend]

I just had a friend send me his personal statement and I found his motivation for medicine very inspiring and heartwarming. A family member died of cancer and another suffered from alcoholism, and that inspired him to do research, etc. However, I have not gone through the same experiences he has had. Rather, my motivation is a combination of financial incentives, family pressure, and the reward/ pride of having an MD attached to my name. How do I craft a personal statement if these are my inspirations? Do I just say I want to be a doctor so I can live in a mansion, drive a Rolls Royce, travel the world, find a hot girlfriend, and make my family proud?

Just from a logistics standpoint, most doctors can't afford that lifestyle. A Rolls is about 300k or pretty much a years salary, maintenance would be outrageous as well most likely. I assume if you drive a Rolls you want a HUGE mansion which is probably well over a million (maybe even a couple million). Then add on traveling to that which is time off of work (no work no money). This is excluding most of life's costs as well. I read a line on here before: "Being a physician you can afford almost anything you want. But not everything you want." You want everything.

Look into entrepreneurship.

 

[BombsAway]

Crush the Gmat----> top B school--->wall street--->Stacks on stacks on stacks---> wake up one day feeling numb and empty inside, realize it was all worthless.

Or whatever.

 

[Turkishking]

I just had a friend send me his personal statement and I found his motivation for medicine very inspiring and heartwarming. A family member died of cancer and another suffered from alcoholism, and that inspired him to do research, etc. However, I have not gone through the same experiences he has had. Rather, my motivation is a combination of financial incentives, family pressure, and the reward/ pride of having an MD attached to my name. How do I craft a personal statement if these are my inspirations? Do I just say I want to be a doctor so I can live in a mansion, drive a Rolls Royce, travel the world, find a hot girlfriend, and make my family proud?

There are better/faster ways to make money.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Username checks out.

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[LizzyM]

I just had a friend send me his personal statement and I found his motivation for medicine very inspiring and heartwarming. A family member died of cancer and another suffered from alcoholism, and that inspired him to do research, etc. However, I have not gone through the same experiences he has had. Rather, my motivation is a combination of financial incentives, family pressure, and the reward/ pride of having an MD attached to my name. How do I craft a personal statement if these are my inspirations? Do I just say I want to be a doctor so I can live in a mansion, drive a Rolls Royce, travel the world, find a hot girlfriend, and make my family proud?

Be yourself. If these are your motivations, give examples of the family's pressure on you and why medicine is prestigious in your eyes. Essays about dead and dying friends and relatives are quite common but a really honest PS about your reasons for applying would be a breath of fresh air. Try starting your essay with a "day in the life" as to how you picture yourself driving home in your Rolls after a short day at the clinic and stepping into your mansion with your hot girlfriend ready to hand you your favorite beverage and you'll be well on your way.

 

[Gryffindor20]

Be yourself. If these are your motivations, give examples of the family's pressure on you and why medicine is prestigious in your eyes. Essays about dead and dying friends and relatives are quite common but a really honest PS about your reasons for applying would be a breath of fresh air. Try starting your essay with a "day in the life" as to how you picture yourself driving home in your Rolls after a short day at the clinic and stepping into your mansion with your hot girlfriend ready to hand you your favorite beverage and you'll be well on your way.

 

[JimmyJimJim]

You need to explain your motivation through song and dance. Get yourself a white coat and rent a Mercedes, then blow the ad-comms away with a music video personal statement. This song was made for you:

 

[BKNbkn]

 

[Kgizzle]

Bruh it's lambo or bust.. Stop thinking like a peasant.

 

[RogueBanana]

I feel like every post you make is intentionally obtuse.

 

[Neuroplasticity]

I have no experience in finance or physician financing, but this is just a back of the napkin calculation. Comparing the route to anesthesia vs. a job making 100k/year.

Results: 1. Earnings+debt are equal for both paths 11 years after undergrad (~age 33 for trad.), 2. Debt payed off 22 years after undergrad (~age 44 for trad.)
My Conclusion: Anesthesia seems like one of the best ways to 'get rick quick' in medicine, but can you say that knowing you are working your butt off in your prime years when you could have good money, and are paying off debt for 20 years.
Assumptions: 1. 0 debt before med school, 2. Average med student debt of 166k, 3. 4 year anesthesiology residency earning 52k/year, 4. 6% loan interest, 5. Through residency you are paying off interest, 6. Anesthesia attending salary of 360k/year

 

[Future.miss.doctor]

Leave medicine to those who don't imagine themselves doing anything else. Sure everybody enjoys the cash, but that is a bonus, not an objective. Whats the point of money you can only spend over the weekend when you spend your daily life 8-5 (assuming ideal work hours, which is rare in medicine) doing something you absolutely hate? I'd feel so sorry for you. Your life would be a living hell. I couldn't handle working 3 hour shifts at my previous job that I disliked.
Also, I think any respectable job in any field can grant you a big beautiful house and a fancy car.

 

[freak7]

Crush the Gmat----> top B school--->wall street--->Stacks on stacks on stacks---> wake up one day feeling numb and empty inside, realize it was all worthless and snort some blow

Or whatever.

FTFY

 

[You're My Boy Blue]

There are easier ways to make a 6-figure salary. I have multiple friends in business/accounting that are my age and have either reached that income or a near it. If you are going into medicine purely for extrinsic rewards I fear you will be very unhappy

 

[Dr.Kat]

Try starting your essay with a "day in the life" as to how you picture yourself driving home in your Rolls after a short day at the clinic and stepping into your mansion with your hot girlfriend ready to hand you your favorite beverage and you'll be well on your way.

LOL

 

[Turkishking]

Be yourself. If these are your motivations, give examples of the family's pressure on you and why medicine is prestigious in your eyes. Essays about dead and dying friends and relatives are quite common but a really honest PS about your reasons for applying would be a breath of fresh air. Try starting your essay with a "day in the life" as to how you picture yourself driving home in your Rolls after a short day at the clinic and stepping into your mansion with your hot girlfriend ready to hand you your favorite beverage and you'll be well on your way.

 

[jcorpsmanMD]

Just from a logistics standpoint, most doctors can't afford that lifestyle. A Rolls is about 300k or pretty much a years salary, maintenance would be outrageous as well most likely. I assume if you drive a Rolls you want a HUGE mansion which is probably well over a million (maybe even a couple million). Then add on traveling to that which is time off of work (no work no money). This is excluding most of life's costs as well. I read a line on here before: "Being a physician you can afford almost anything you want. But not everything you want." You want everything.

Look into entrepreneurship.

I'm sure he was exaggerating..

 

[Eurus_Holmes]

I think money is as good a reason to practice medicine as any, so long as you are good at what you do. The narrative of medicine as a calling is a myth, the vast majority of pre-meds have a romanticized idea of medicine and therefore their reasons may not even match the real world. Although I played the game to get into med school, I find it arrogant to write about small anecdotes and conclude from that that we know for a fact that medicine, one of the hardest professions in the world, is our passion. Many of us will look back at our PS with bewildered eyes wondering what they hell we were thinking. Furthermore, it is a luxury to do what you love, certainly not the norm. People tend to love what they're good at and what they're familiar with because your mind will attempt the justify the time spent doing activity X. Sometimes your calling finds you, other times you find something you don't hate pursuing and work hard to master it and maybe you fall in love with it.

 

[libertyyne]

Bruh it's lambo or bust.. Stop thinking like a peasant.

 

[mistafab]

If you have the shadowing hours done, and have seen a lot of different types of medicine, I think it is fair to write that you think doctors are cool and that their work is interesting. People have lots of reasons for "why medicine." Your reason for wanting to become a doctor doesn't have to be very compelling - it just has to be honest.

 

[814965]

Everyone does it at least in part for these reasons whether they want to admit it or not.

 

[drmantistobbogan]

I think it is worth noting that this is a screen shot of a Tai Lopez ad playing before a Tai Lopez video. Knawledge.

 

[cactusman]

Everyone does it at least in part for these reasons whether they want to admit it or not.

OP said their motivation is a combination of reasons, but all of them are prestige or finance related.

 

[RogueBanana]

KNAWLEDGE

 

[Mednight]

You lie thats what you do............. I dont agree with doing it but thats what you have to do .

But how do you lie? My mom is epileptic but that's not my reason for wanting to go into medicine. Why should a family illness determine your passion for medicine?


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[RogueBanana]

But how do you lie? My mom is epileptic but that's not my reason for wanting to go into medicine. Why should a family illness determine your passion for medicine?


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You know how you usually tell the truth?

Don't do that.

 

[Promethean]

Everyone does it at least in part for these reasons whether they want to admit it or not.

No. Not everyone. Some of us are looking at breaking even or even losing money when you figure in tuition / lost wages / opportunity costs.

And some of us have the experience / wisdom to realize that whenever prestige is part of the compensation for doing a job, there are likely some serious downsides involved.

Doing it anyway doesn't make my reasons inherently better than anyone else's. It just proves that there are valid reasons that have nothing to do with making bank and gaining clout.

 

[Mad Jack]

Financially medical school isn't worth it. unless you have very little debt and end up in a well paying field. You don't believe this, but it's true. And the kind of woman that'll date you because you're a doctor is the kind of woman that'll run and take your alimony.

 

[Mad Jack]

I have no experience in finance or physician financing, but this is just a back of the napkin calculation. Comparing the route to anesthesia vs. a job making 100k/year.

Results: 1. Earnings+debt are equal for both paths 11 years after undergrad (~age 33 for trad.), 2. Debt payed off 22 years after undergrad (~age 44 for trad.)
My Conclusion: Anesthesia seems like one of the best ways to 'get rick quick' in medicine, but can you say that knowing you are working your butt off in your prime years when you could have good money, and are paying off debt for 20 years.
Assumptions: 1. 0 debt before med school, 2. Average med student debt of 166k, 3. 4 year anesthesiology residency earning 52k/year, 4. 6% loan interest, 5. Through residency you are paying off interest, 6. Anesthesia attending salary of 360k/year
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Many graduate medical school with a lot of debt- remember that the 182k (the most recent average I can recall) debt includes almost a third of people with zero debt. If you don't have parental help, you're looking at 250-400k post-residency. And if you want to work in the Northeast, you're looking at 290k for a starting anesthesia job, not 360k. After tax, compared to a person making 100k with no debt from undergrad that is investing, you don't catch up for around two decades.

I know because I did the math of my RT career (zero debt with a CC degree making OT for up to 120k a year because we had unlimited OT) versus going to med school. I wont break even until I'm in my 50s (I'm going into a lower paying field), but I chose to do it because...





I'm ****ing crazy.

Don't do this unless you love it or you're nuts, because it isn't worth it.

 

[Cigar]

... financial incentives, family pressure, and the reward/ pride of having an MD attached to my name. How do I craft a personal statement if these are my inspirations? Do I just say I want to be a doctor so I can live in a mansion, drive a Rolls Royce, travel the world, find a hot girlfriend, and make my family proud?

Maybe find a different career?



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[814965]

No. Not everyone. Some of us are looking at breaking even or even losing money when you figure in tuition / lost wages / opportunity costs.

And some of us have the experience / wisdom to realize that whenever prestige is part of the compensation for doing a job, there are likely some serious downsides involved.

Doing it anyway doesn't make my reasons inherently better than anyone else's. It just proves that there are valid reasons that have nothing to do with making bank and gaining clout.

So if it only paid $40k a year would you still do it?

 

[Mednight]

It doesn't have to be a family illness or a sob story. Is there literally anything you like about the job itself beyond the material benefits? Talk about that.

Well, helping people, but that's too cliché for them and saying that it's rewarding is also cliché.


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[sarahjoy]

If those really are your reasons, maybe you don't really want to be a doctor. There are easier ways to make money.


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[SmileItsLife]

So if it only paid $40k a year would you still do it?

LOL. If you want to go down that path of logic, how much is school tuition....? I agree with you though, we would have more of a doctor shortage if it didn't pay well. Everyone who becomes a doctor does care at least a little about the prestige and money.

But I think they are trying to say that financial motives should not be the 100% be all, end all of reasons, and it usually isn't for most people. They either like helping people, doing complicated procedures, knowing that they have special knowledge that can save a person, competitiveness, intellectual curiosity, etc....

 

[Medic741]

You'll be broke for 7 years FYI. While your friends taking more lucrative paths are buying houses you'll be deep in debt and not even having the $ to eat out often

 

[RogueBanana]

You'll be broke for 7 years FYI. While your friends taking more lucrative paths are buying houses you'll be deep in debt and not even having the $ to eat out often

Jokes on you I meal prep

*sobbing internally*

 

[asw95]

So if it only paid $40k a year would you still do it?

If 40k a year meant medical school was paid for, you earned said 40k throughout medical school/ residency, and you only worked 15-20 hours per week then yeah.

Not fair to pay anyone that salary though who is undergoing the most rigorous schooling in the US for a minimum of 7 years while likely incurring >200k of debt and not having substantial income until their 30s. It'd be especially asinine to then turn around and expect this highly qualified individual to work for $19/hr (assuming a highly unlikely 40hr work week) the rest of their life.

 

[RogueBanana]

If 40k a year meant medical school was paid for, you earned said 40k throughout medical school/ residency, and you only worked 15-20 hours per week then yeah.

Not fair to pay anyone that salary though who is undergoing the most rigorous schooling in the US for a minimum of 7 years while likely incurring >200k of debt and not having substantial income until their 30s. It'd be especially asinine to then turn around and expect this highly qualified individual to work for $19/hr (assuming a highly unlikely 40hr work week) the rest of their life.

The problem is people only see the situation as "why does someone who makes 300k annually deserve more money!?"

They don't see the extenuating factors. The physician pay issue is a debate for another day though.

 

[SmileItsLife]

If 40k a year meant medical school was paid for, you earned said 40k throughout medical school/ residency, and you only worked 15-20 hours per week then yeah.

Not fair to pay anyone that salary though who is undergoing the most rigorous schooling in the US for a minimum of 7 years while likely incurring >200k of debt and not having substantial income until their 30s. It'd be especially asinine to then turn around and expect this highly qualified individual to work for $19/hr (assuming a highly unlikely 40hr work week) the rest of their life.

Let me preface by saying that I don't believe doctors should be paid way more than $40K/ year, but going down this hypothetical situation.

The average person making $40000 has either an associates degree or a bachelor's. It would be unfair to expect no debt making $40000 since it already takes debt to get to that level....

Of course you can then argue that the 4-6 years of extra schooling are worth the unpaid school tuition, but that argument is kind of weak considering in the end the doctor only works 1/2 or 1/3 the amount of hours a regular person would work to get that $40K paycheck. Thus, some form of tuition should be expected in this scenario.

Again, I do think doctor's deserved to be paid more because they are essential to society and most take on a lot of training to get there, but you can't expect no student debt in this hypothetical situation.

 

[814965]

Let me preface by saying that I don't believe doctors should be paid way more than $40K/ year, but going down this hypothetical situation.

The average person making $40000 has either an associates degree or a bachelor's. It would be unfair to expect no debt making $40000 since it already takes debt to get to that level....

Of course you can then argue that the 4-6 years of extra schooling are worth the unpaid school tuition, but that argument is kind of weak considering in the end the doctor only works 1/2 or 1/3 the amount of hours a regular person would work to get that $40K paycheck. Thus, some form of tuition should be expected in this scenario.

Again, I do think doctor's deserved to be paid more because they are essential to society and most take on a lot of training to get there, but you can't expect no student debt in this hypothetical situation.

The very high salary is a big reason why many of the best and brightest of our society become doctors, and if they're going to go through an extra decade of school and do an extremely hard job to earn it they deserve it. It just shouldn't be taboo to want it like it seems to be here.

 

[SmileItsLife]

The very high salary is a big reason why many of the best and brightest of our society become doctors, and if they're going to go through an extra decade of school and do an extremely hard job to earn it they deserve it. It just shouldn't be taboo to want it like it seems to be here.

I agree...

 

[Promethean]

So if it only paid $40k a year would you still do it?

Netting $40k after expenses and loan repayment, sure. I would still do it.

I don't expect that everyone else would have the same answer as me. But there really are a few people whose motivations are not financial at all. I've done the math and it will take at least 10 years as an attending (FM) to even start to break even on how much I could have earned in my previous profession, without putting myself and my family through all the trouble and expense of medical school. And I'm cool with it if those figures are off and if I never do make up the opportunity costs.

I don't judge people who don't feel the same way. But I've had money before, or at least enough to find out that, once I have enough for survival, the only value it has for me is in what it can buy in terms of education and the capacity to help other people. Beyond that point... it just piles up and makes trouble.

I don't think it is necessary or even desirable for everyone who is pursuing a career in medicine to share my motivations. It takes all sorts. I do think it is very inefficient for anyone who does completely lack compassion to go into medicine just for money and prestige. Someone who is truly ruthless could get those things with a lot less trouble by going into business (for instance, in corporate healthcare administration. =)

 

[Dagrimsta1]

So if it only paid $40k a year would you still do it?

Hell ****ing no. I'd rather sell. I'd be happier, richer, and my clients would actually thank me instead of thinking I'm full of ****.

 

[libertyyne]

Netting $40k after expenses and loan repayment, sure. I would still do it.

I don't expect that everyone else would have the same answer as me. But there really are a few people whose motivations are not financial at all. I've done the math and it will take at least 10 years as an attending (FM) to even start to break even on how much I could have earned in my previous profession, without putting myself and my family through all the trouble and expense of medical school. And I'm cool with it if those figures are off and if I never do make up the opportunity costs.

I don't judge people who don't feel the same way. But I've had money before, or at least enough to find out that, once I have enough for survival, the only value it has for me is in what it can buy in terms of education and the capacity to help other people. Beyond that point... it just piles up and makes trouble.

I don't think it is necessary or even desirable for everyone who is pursuing a career in medicine to share my motivations. It takes all sorts. I do think it is very inefficient for anyone who does completely lack compassion to go into medicine just for money and prestige. Someone who is truly ruthless could get those things with a lot less trouble by going into business (for instance, in corporate healthcare administration. =)

There is a lot more stability in medicine compared to the other paths. I think the surest way to to end up a millionaire was become a dentist and invest in index funds with earnings. We like to point towards x business person and say " see that guy is making a killing, should have done business" what that kind of observation lacks is attrition bias associated with those jobs. There are probably 100 other people with similar drive and work ethic that only earn a fraction of those winners. On the flip side if I look at any physician that works full time as a physician . I can with almost certainty say that Person clears 150k gross. There is also another fact that gets left off of these discussions about lost earnings on investments. It assumes people earning lower wages have the free funds to invest, it takes a baseline level of spending to live comfortably and after that you can invest, median income earners are not putting away 20k in 401k accounts each year.

But I agree with your general point that the income associated with becoming a physician is a secondary consideration for some people. And as long as the work is being done who cares what people's motivations are. There is no evidence to indicate that a person who is motivated by money to go into medicine provides less quality healthcare compared to a mother Teresa type. Atleast none that I am familiar with.

 

[cactusman]

But I agree with your general point that the income associated with becoming a physician is a secondary consideration for some people. And as long as the work is being done who cares what people's motivations are. There is no evidence to indicate that a person who is motivated by money to go into medicine provides less quality healthcare compared to a mother Teresa type. Atleast none that I am familiar with.

I would guess, however, that Mother Teresa is more likely to choose a path within medicine which helps address healthcare disparities, meaning the AMA has a good reason to want people who are not just motivated and capable, but are motivated by specific things.

 

[Fdsa2495]

I just had a friend send me his personal statement and I found his motivation for medicine very inspiring and heartwarming. A family member died of cancer and another suffered from alcoholism, and that inspired him to do research, etc. However, I have not gone through the same experiences he has had. Rather, my motivation is a combination of financial incentives, family pressure, and the reward/ pride of having an MD attached to my name. How do I craft a personal statement if these are my inspirations? Do I just say I want to be a doctor so I can live in a mansion, drive a Rolls Royce, travel the world, find a hot girlfriend, and make my family proud?

You honestly don't have to become a doctor to do all this and if you really think about it you'll be wasting almost 8-10 years of your life thinking that you'll be rich when you finish. Why not go into business or become an entrepreneurship to make money fast easy and not lie to yourself