Why am I so Bipolar?

[4X4MD]

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Ok, so not really a symptom of manic depressive disorder (even though i may have this according to my brilliant PCP), but i simply cannot keep my mind set on pre-medical or pre-dental...every day i wake up thinking the opposite is perfect to me

what the hell...

thoughts/opinions
?

 

[dentalWorks]

Well... we can't really suggest anything to you cause... we made our decisions based on what we liked/hated about medicine and dentistry.

Im gonna go a head and say that 90% of pre-meds and pre-dents think about both choices ALL the time. But with good reasoning skills, we pick 1 and fly with it without changing back and fourth.

I initially wanted medicine until I volunteered at our local hospital for 1.5 years and realized that doctors don't spend too much time with thier own patients. That turned me off cause I want to work in an environment where I interact as much as possible with people / patients. Dentistry satisfys that for me more than medicine does. Simple.

 

[4X4MD]

Well... we can't really suggest anything to you cause... we made our decisions based on what we liked/hated about medicine and dentistry.

Im gonna go a head and say that 90% of pre-meds and pre-dents think about both choices ALL the time. But with good reasoning skills, we pick 1 and fly with it without changing back and fourth.

I initially wanted medicine until I volunteered at our local hospital for 1.5 years and realized that doctors don't spend too much time with thier own patients. That turned me off cause I want to work in an environment where I interact as much as possible with people / patients. Dentistry satisfys that for me more than medicine does. Simple.

id enjoy doing both careers, but i cant see myself working 60-80 hours a week...

to be honest id prefer medicine (as of now) and i keep trying to convince myself of that but i am a very social and active person and i just refuse to devote the majority of my waking time to medicine for the rest of my life...

also i love art and working with my hands, but i am afraid i may be developing early joint problems in my fingers

 

[dentalWorks]

id enjoy doing both careers, but i cant see myself working 60-80 hours a week...

to be honest id prefer medicine (as of now) and i keep trying to convince myself of that but i am a very social and active person and i just refuse to devote the majority of my waking time to medicine for the rest of my life...

also i love art and working with my hands, but i am afraid i may be developing early joint problems in my fingers

Well, thats the major difference between the 2 fields

Medicine = heavy work hours, alot of on calls, most don't own thier own practice and just work in hospitals (to me this is a turn off), some say its rewarding as hell to save a life (which I would agree with), you might not have much of an enjoyment of the large amount of living you'll be making cause... your litterally living so you can push those 60 hour weeks

Dentistry = light working hours, rairly on calls, some developse joint / back problems, you don't exactly save a life (like a heart surgeon would), however you WILL enjoy alot of good times with your family / friends on the weekends, and the occasional hawai trips. And the $$$ is just as good as medicine and if your a great bussiness person, you can potentially hit high 7 figure income (by opening alot of offices and managing them). Huge bussiness opportunities for this field

 

[ToothFairy88]

For me, it's never really been a matter of deciding. I began learning the basic dental anatomy and aspects of dentistry in highschool, and just fell in love with it. I can't explain why it is so fascinating to me, but it is lol. I guess you have to take into consideration how broad of a spectrum you want to work with.

 

[DudeDDS]

Become a stripper.😍😍😍

wait... you're a girl, right?😕

 

[ToothFairy88]

Dude... not cool

 

[psi169]

.

 

[4X4MD]

flip a coin!!!

haha

it may come down to this

im working on starting a professional relationship with a wealthy orthodontist (my gf's cousin is his hygienist)...hopefuly he will provide some realistic feedback

also, ive heard many doctors from the hospital i volunteer in tell me to quit medicine while im ahead

lol!

 

[dentalWorks]

also, ive heard many doctors from the hospital i volunteer in tell me to quit medicine while im ahead

A few summers ago, I shadowed my primary care doctor, hes known me for about 15 years now. When he first heard about me wanting to switch carriers to medicine, he laughed and goes "why? isn't your sister a dentist? go be like her, alot less work, and money is the same"

Then I started laughing cause I thought he was making a joke.... he stopps laughing and goes "no im serious, my 2 daughters are in medical school right now and I begged them to go into dentistry before, but they wanted to be like thier dad and prove something"

Obviously he wasn't the reason why I switched, but it was interesting to hear it coming from an MD

 

[4X4MD]

A few summers ago, I shadowed my primary care doctor, hes known me for about 15 years now. When he first heard about me wanting to switch carriers to medicine, he laughed and goes "why? isn't your sister a dentist? go be like her, alot less work, and money is the same"

Then I started laughing cause I thought he was making a joke.... he stopps laughing and goes "no im serious, my 2 daughters are in medical school right now and I begged them to go into dentistry before, but they wanted to be like thier dad and prove something"

Obviously he wasn't the reason why I switched, but it was interesting to hear it coming from an MD

yea...i want to "work to live" and not "live to work"

 

[Andrew324]

You may never be satisfied with either choice, they both have great things about them

 

[zsmilez14]

What year are you right now? I'd say if you're still a freshman/sophomore, it doesn't matter so much to make a decision right now...

The pre-dent/med classes are the same. Make sure to do well in all those and in the meantime, shadow a dentist and a doctor.

Soon enough, you'll find yourself leaning towards one and not the other. Sometimes these things don't come as a decision that you make at one specific moment, at least for me it wasnt. I just found myself going down the dental track based on what I found myself liking and not liking...