What medical science career is there, but also allows a family life?

[HoosierFan3]

So I need some advice from the medical community on what I should do with my life. I am only 22, a senior with a degree in Public Health. Throughout my studies at college, I became particularly interested in the Medical Sciences, so my very last semester I decided to pick up a 3rd minor in Med. Sci. I absolutely LOVE it! I now wish I majored in a science major earlier on, because now it's too late.

My dilemma is, I don't really enjoy my major classes, but all I know is that I love learning about the body (anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and the classes I'm taking for my minor). I've thought a lot about med school, but that would require me to take all the prerequisites for med school which could take a couple years and I'm still not dead set on the idea of not having a social life in med school. I've talked to doctors and it seems like they steer me away from that decision and I shouldn't go unless I'm dead set on it and am 100% motivated. I don't mind the years it takes, but I keep hearing "don't plan on getting married or dating." As a woman, I've always dreamt of starting a family and I don't necessarily want to after I'm 30.

Basically, starting a family and being involved with my family is equally important to me as becoming a doctor. I don't know what to do. I know medicine is what I'm passionate about, but I'm not sure that can go side by side with starting a family at the same time.

If I were to choose medical school, I'm not even sure what speciality I'd choose. Are there any other jobs that fulfill my passion for learning everything about the body, but still allow me to start a family in my mid to late 20s?

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[armybound]

There's plenty of time for a social life in medical school, residency, and as an attending. It's all about how you prioritize your time, and how much of a social life you think you need. If you want to hit the bars until 2am every day, yeah, medicine's not for you. But it will be easy to go out and have drinks with friends a couple of times a week, pursue a relationship, have kids, etc as a medical student.

You don't have to put your life on hold because you're in medical school. Several classmates had kids in medical school and I'm sure they don't regret it for a second.

 

[Lollygag]

Podiatry

Lol I giggled at first but that's actually not a bad idea.

Have you considered Physician Assistant? You'll do similar things that doctors do and theres a variety of settings you can work in. In addition, you don't have to worry about being on call and I've heard their lifestyle is overall much better-- they can have 9 to 5 work days. I think they do 2 years of medical school instead of the 4 so it wouldn't take as long either and you will make a decent living.

The downside is that if you want to be a surgeon or go into radiology or oncology then it may not be the best idea because PA's tend to do more family medicine/general practitioner type work. At least that's what I have seen and heard. For example, I heard there's PA's who assist in surgery but they'll never perform it on their own. You would need to have an idea of what career path you want to take and I believe PA school is more limited as to what fields you can pursue. I could be wrong though as I'm only going off what my friends have told me.

I'd also recommend Pharmacy and Optometry but only if you find those fields interesting.

 

[HoosierFan3]

Thanks for your reply! I have considered PA, but like you said all I picture is diagnosing sore throats and general practitioner things, which isn't something I'm interested in. I've thought about AA, but I don't want to learn just anesthesiology things, I want to learn everything! And I may feel the urge to do med school later on. I'm getting conflicting answers from people about the social life aspect. Many say forget it. Others say there's time for it. I just don't want to graduate med school being 32 or so with no husband or children.

 

[HSUReddie]

I don't think you completely have to give up anything. Social life, marriage, kids, whatever. I know someone who is finishing DO right now and just matched internal medicine - she's married and has two kids. Both I believe are under the age of 5.

 

[galaxyx]

Looks like there are a lot of PA residency options if you want to specialize as a PA.
http://www.appap.org/Programs/tabid/58/Default.aspx

Don't forget as a PA you'd have to work as an EMT, paramedic, CNA, or something similarly clinical for a year to get accepted. Many require 2000+ hours of active clinical time. Although it's still a faster track than medicine to "your own time."

What if you end up single and 32 with no kids and no MD. Would you be disappointed then too? No guarantee you're going to find a husband even without medical school.

 

[survivordo]

Social life is totally doable during medical school. As others said, you do not need to put your life on hold, just need to learn how to prioritize your time. I think the most disruptive aspect is the anxiety over where you will be next.. i.e. where will I do third year rotations, 4th year rotations, residency etc. Most people make it work though. Think about it, the vast majority of docs go through med school in their late 20's and early 30's and most of them find someone along the way. My class was particularly incestuous. I think we have 5 or 6 marriages either completed or pending.

Survivor DO

 

[LizzyM]

You really need to do some soul searching about what it means to you to be a mother and a wife and what your expectations are. Do you want to be home every afternoon when they come home from school, if you want to be there for every school play and every soccer game? Do you want to be able to work a part-time schedule when they are little and more intensely when they are older?

Mid-level providers such as nurse practioners, nurse midwives, physician assistants, and so forth have shorter (and therefore less expensive) training periods, more flexibility in terms of work hours, and more time for familiy. The trade-off is lower wages.

 

[goofball]

Psychiatry (also Derm and FP and EM some others).

Go look in the Psych Residents forum, they say that some Psych residencies can be pretty "cushy" too.


If you want to go into medicine but also be a mom, it's worth a look. But ask someone more senior than me for more info.