Why a doctor?

[NYYk9005]

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Here is an easy, but interesting question that people always ask pre-meds:

Okay, you want to be a doctor, but why not a dentist/OT/PT/nurse/etc.
You love science? You want to help people? Why not those other professions?

Is it really just all about the fortune and fame?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Dent : I don't particularly find teeth very interesting nor is the pathology involved with them something I find interesting. Not to mention the work you do to solve them isn't very interesting.
OT : Considered this, found in interesting, but not particularly my area of interest.
PT : It's actually something I'm interest in, if med fails I'd call this back up number 3.
Nursing : I have male genitalia. Enough said.

My back up has always been either clinical psychology with concentration in neuropsychology or neuroscience research trying to understand the origin of consciousness. I choose medicine because of its high ability to specialize and scope of both research and practice. I also personally enjoy being taught more treatment methodology and along with pharmacy which psychology does not provide ( exception to this rule is Dent which allows some prescribing power).

 

[Lunasly]

I think saying something along those lines sounds to cliché. I mean don't get me wrong, I love science and I enjoy helping people, but there are really three things that make me want to become a doctor one day.

First and foremost is the satisfaction. I personally believe that there is no other career out there that I can have that would give me the satisfaction I am looking for. I mean, what is more satisfying then saving someone's life? You can make such a large impact on someone's life and they will be grateful forever.

Second, I enjoy the respect. I am a doctor and I am a leader. People (or should I say my family, ha-ha) would look up to me. It would be my small amount of fame. Everyone enjoys a bit of fame. 😛

And third, I want to be able to prove that I have what it takes to become a doctor. It's a goal I always thought I'd never be able to accomplish, but I want to prove to myself that this goal is not out of my reach and that one day I will become a doctor.







.... this is just a joke btw >.<

 

[texahn]

two reasons

 

[muhali3]

I think saying something along those lines sounds to cliché. I mean don't get me wrong, I love science and I enjoy helping people, but there are really three things that make me want to become a doctor one day.

First and foremost is the satisfaction. I personally believe that there is no other career out there that I can have that would give me the satisfaction I am looking for. I mean, what is more satisfying then saving someone's life? You can make such a large impact on someone's life and they will be grateful forever.

Second, I enjoy the respect. I am a doctor and I am a leader. People (or should I say my family, ha-ha) would look up to me. It would be my small amount of fame. Everyone enjoys a bit of fame. 😛

And third, I want to be able to prove that I have what it takes to become a doctor. It's a goal I always thought I'd never be able to accomplish, but I want to prove to myself that this goal is not out of my reach and that one day I will become a doctor.

Those are horrible reasons and saying that would get you outright rejected. So you want to be a doctor because 1) you want to show-off your MD and 2) because its hard? I hope you're joking...but maybe my sarcasm detector isn't working right now.

 

[Lunasly]

Those are horrible reasons and saying that would get you outright rejected. So you want to be a doctor because 1) you want to show-off your MD and 2) because its hard? I hope you're joking...but maybe my sarcasm detector isn't working right now.

Yeah haha I was joking I was curious to see how people would react. 😛

 

[addo]

The second part of this question came up pretty often. I have reasoned something along the lines that a doctor has an added level of responsibility, which I am willing and according to such and such experiences, able to undertake.
The part that really makes this answer is the "such and such", which is your own personal experiences, and will hopefully show that you will likely be able take the responsibility that comes with being a doctor.

 

[hiyaman]

A criminology student tried grilling me about this. He innocently asked why I wanted to become a doctor. I said basically because I like to help people and I like biology. Then he started getting in my grill and a pain in my ass. He asked me why not dentist / lawyer / any other job you can think of. I told him basically it was because I have an intrinsic interest in the human body. That combined with my desire to help others steered me towards wanting to pursue medicine. I also told him one of my other major influences. I'm not sure how bad that answer is...it certainly is honest at least.

 

[morning]

I don't think it's a good idea to even entertain "why not THIS or THAT profession?" questions, because there's an infinite amount of different careers to choose from, and you can't answer "why not?" for ALL of them. Better to enumerate WHY you want to be a doctor, and try to make it something unique to the physician profession, so they can't trip you up with a "why not this?" retort.

(Which, of course, means you answer with "because I want to help people" at your own peril.)

 

[ReptarBar]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[WorldChanger36]

All the other fields never appealed to me but I did seriously consider nursing for awhile. In the end I found nursing to be close to what I was looking for but just not it. I want to be top of my game and I don't just want to help people, I want to heal people. I want to be the person that helps heal broken lives. I want to be the mind that leads the family in need to a better fuller life. I wanted to be a leader in medicine. I want to be a life saver and heart breaker. To me that is what a doctor is, the center piece of health and healing.

Pay is good too, which I can also use to help others as well.

 

[IvyHopeful20]

This is why:

[YOUTUBE=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYAkRBD9rSw]This is why[/YOUTUBE]

 

[orthomyxo]

IMO this is a stupid question. Don't get me wrong, obviously one needs to have reasons for wanting to go through years of education to become a physician, but it's a shame that an honest answer is generally a "bad" answer. Adcoms are nuts if they think that every single person they interview should have a unique and original answer to "why medicine?"

 

[morning]

IMO this is a stupid question. Don't get me wrong, obviously one needs to have reasons for wanting to go through years of education to become a physician, but it's a shame that an honest answer is generally a "bad" answer. Adcoms are nuts if they think that every single person they interview should have a unique and original answer to "why medicine?"

LizzyM said they AREN'T looking for a unique and original answer, or at least, they don't EXPECT one. What they are looking for is to weed out people who want to become doctors for money, or to please their parents, etc.

 

[circulus vitios]

Process of elimination and money.

Being a doctor is just a job.

 

[orthomyxo]

LizzyM said they AREN'T looking for a unique and original answer, or at least, they don't EXPECT one. What they are looking for is to weed out people who want to become doctors for money, or to please their parents, etc.

True, but the general consensus around here is that if you say "because I want the satisfaction of being able to help people," or "because I have strong interests in science/the human body," you will be instantly rejected. These aren't bad reasons, however they are generic.

Obviously nobody is going to straight up say "because I want to get rich lolol," so there must be more to it than that.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

True, but the general consensus around here is that if you say "because I want the satisfaction of being able to help people," or "because I have strong interests in science/the human body," you will be instantly rejected. These aren't bad reasons, however they are generic.

Obviously nobody is going to straight up say "because I want to get rich lolol," so there must be more to it than that.

i pretty much said "because i want to help people" and it worked out ok. it's not a huge deal..

 

[XeReX]

Those are horrible reasons and saying that would get you outright rejected. So you want to be a doctor because 1) you want to show-off your MD and 2) because its hard? I hope you're joking...but maybe my sarcasm detector isn't working right now.

👍yeah
👍

 

[VikingLegacy]

baleeted