What Qualities Does One Need To Be A Doctor?

[Darkknightlt]

Hello, I am not in United States, I grew up in Eastern European country and people take national exams in high schools after 12th grade and universities use this to sort out people who will get either fully-funded by government for their studies or get to pay their own way. People who score in top 10% in the competition for each major get to study for free, that includes medicine, dentistry and other competitive positions.

I am writing here a few years since me finishing high school due to gnawing doubts of whether I made a right choice and realistic expectations from what is required to be a doctor.

In high school, I had inclination towards biological sciences and performed at top 1% nationally in state exams, giving me almost a perfect score to get fully-funded degree for any major I want that I took exams for. I had a few people tell me that my intense interest in biological sciences would provide a good foundation to become a doctor. Basically, most students in the country who score the best exam results choose to go to medicine. Here is what happened: I did not know what it was I wanted to study and experienced a lot of stress during considerations. I ended up choosing medicine as my first choice (second being biochemistry, third systems biology). I was accepted among 100 students that year and had 5th best score in the country. Everything looked ok but a few months into medical school, I started feeling severely depressed and really anxious, tired and questioning what I am doing. I realised that my choice was based on what other people wanted from me, so I chose to leave the degree and spend a few months considering what I want. I remember being scared looking at the thickness of books I was given at the library and being surrounded by people who were sternly determined to push through the medical school, I literally met no one with doubts like mine.

I ended up finding a different degree to study (I went to a completely different country as well) and am OK with my choice. Over last 3 years, I noticed that my anxiety and feeling unwell got worse (I am on psychiatric drugs and was diagnosed with deep depression, anxiety and feel lack of purpose in life). I find myself questioning if leaving medicine was a right choice. I talked with a few doctors and they know me well. One of them said that while I have needed qualities and deep interest in the field, it is not good enough to be a doctor. I don't have stress resilience, I am always anxious, hypochondriac and have psychiatric issues (I inherited all of this from my mother). In other words, that doctor thinks that in reality, I would not be able to withstand the workload of medical school and that me running away was instinctual and the right choice. I know that I am smart enough for medicine but looks like my stress resilience is not there and this dooms my chances as that doc told me.

I also have a higher interest in research and figuring out how things work instead of dealing with patients daily. I studied computer engineering and am working as a software engineer for the last 2 years. I feel like such skills could be applied in medical sciences to help the humanity with advancement of medicine indirectly.

Finally, I also met another girl (both her parents are doctors). She went to medical school but got an autoimmune kidney disease and was feeling too tired and ill to continue the studies...sounds very similar to the story of mine and that is what that doctor probably meant: people need good health to push through med school and I simply don't have it in me ever since leaving. Is this a realistic assessment or am I being put down by others opinions?

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[theKingLT]

Hello, I am not in United States, I grew up in Eastern European country and people take national exams in high schools after 12th grade and universities use this to sort out people who will get either fully-funded by government for their studies or get to pay their own way. People who score in top 10% in the competition for each major get to study for free, that includes medicine, dentistry and other competitive positions.

I am writing here a few years since me finishing high school due to gnawing doubts of whether I made a right choice and realistic expectations from what is required to be a doctor.

In high school, I had inclination towards biological sciences and performed at top 1% nationally in state exams, giving me almost a perfect score to get fully-funded degree for any major I want that I took exams for. I had a few people tell me that my intense interest in biological sciences would provide a good foundation to become a doctor. Basically, most students in the country who score the best exam results choose to go to medicine. Here is what happened: I did not know what it was I wanted to study and experienced a lot of stress during considerations. I ended up choosing medicine as my first choice (second being biochemistry, third systems biology). I was accepted among 100 students that year and had 5th best score in the country. Everything looked ok but a few months into medical school, I started feeling severely depressed and really anxious, tired and questioning what I am doing. I realised that my choice was based on what other people wanted from me, so I chose to leave the degree and spend a few months considering what I want. I remember being scared looking at the thickness of books I was given at the library and being surrounded by people who were sternly determined to push through the medical school, I literally met no one with doubts like mine.

I ended up finding a different degree to study (I went to a completely different country as well) and am OK with my choice. Over last 3 years, I noticed that my anxiety and feeling unwell got worse (I am on psychiatric drugs and was diagnosed with deep depression, anxiety and feel lack of purpose in life). I find myself questioning if leaving medicine was a right choice. I talked with a few doctors and they know me well. One of them said that while I have needed qualities and deep interest in the field, it is not good enough to be a doctor. I don't have stress resilience, I am always anxious, hypochondriac and have psychiatric issues (I inherited all of this from my mother). In other words, that doctor thinks that in reality, I would not be able to withstand the workload of medical school and that me running away was instinctual and the right choice. I know that I am smart enough for medicine but looks like my stress resilience is not there and this dooms my chances as that doc told me.

I also have a higher interest in research and figuring out how things work instead of dealing with patients daily. I studied computer engineering and am working as a software engineer for the last 2 years. I feel like such skills could be applied in medical sciences to help the humanity with advancement of medicine indirectly.

Finally, I also met another girl (both her parents are doctors). She went to medical school but got an autoimmune kidney disease and was feeling too tired and ill to continue the studies...sounds very similar to the story of mine and that is what that doctor probably meant: people need good health to push through med school and I simply don't have it in me ever since leaving. Is this a realistic assessment or am I being put down by others opinions?

It sounds like a fair assessment to me. Medicine is not a profession for those that struggle to handle stress. If you want to enter medicine again you need to be able to manage the stress healthily or it will be a risk to your patients and yourself, and put simply, you won't be happy. If you like research and computer science then consider a masters or PhD to help advance your career. There are plenty of areas applicable to medicine such as machine learning, bioinformatics, genomics, any sort of biotech; whatever peaks your interest really.

 

[Goro]

Hello, I am not in United States, I grew up in Eastern European country and people take national exams in high schools after 12th grade and universities use this to sort out people who will get either fully-funded by government for their studies or get to pay their own way. People who score in top 10% in the competition for each major get to study for free, that includes medicine, dentistry and other competitive positions.

I am writing here a few years since me finishing high school due to gnawing doubts of whether I made a right choice and realistic expectations from what is required to be a doctor.

In high school, I had inclination towards biological sciences and performed at top 1% nationally in state exams, giving me almost a perfect score to get fully-funded degree for any major I want that I took exams for. I had a few people tell me that my intense interest in biological sciences would provide a good foundation to become a doctor. Basically, most students in the country who score the best exam results choose to go to medicine. Here is what happened: I did not know what it was I wanted to study and experienced a lot of stress during considerations. I ended up choosing medicine as my first choice (second being biochemistry, third systems biology). I was accepted among 100 students that year and had 5th best score in the country. Everything looked ok but a few months into medical school, I started feeling severely depressed and really anxious, tired and questioning what I am doing. I realised that my choice was based on what other people wanted from me, so I chose to leave the degree and spend a few months considering what I want. I remember being scared looking at the thickness of books I was given at the library and being surrounded by people who were sternly determined to push through the medical school, I literally met no one with doubts like mine.

I ended up finding a different degree to study (I went to a completely different country as well) and am OK with my choice. Over last 3 years, I noticed that my anxiety and feeling unwell got worse (I am on psychiatric drugs and was diagnosed with deep depression, anxiety and feel lack of purpose in life). I find myself questioning if leaving medicine was a right choice. I talked with a few doctors and they know me well. One of them said that while I have needed qualities and deep interest in the field, it is not good enough to be a doctor. I don't have stress resilience, I am always anxious, hypochondriac and have psychiatric issues (I inherited all of this from my mother). In other words, that doctor thinks that in reality, I would not be able to withstand the workload of medical school and that me running away was instinctual and the right choice. I know that I am smart enough for medicine but looks like my stress resilience is not there and this dooms my chances as that doc told me.

I also have a higher interest in research and figuring out how things work instead of dealing with patients daily. I studied computer engineering and am working as a software engineer for the last 2 years. I feel like such skills could be applied in medical sciences to help the humanity with advancement of medicine indirectly.

Finally, I also met another girl (both her parents are doctors). She went to medical school but got an autoimmune kidney disease and was feeling too tired and ill to continue the studies...sounds very similar to the story of mine and that is what that doctor probably meant: people need good health to push through med school and I simply don't have it in me ever since leaving. Is this a realistic assessment or am I being put down by others opinions?

Read htis:

What Medical Schools are Looking for: Understanding the 15 Core Competencies

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