why choose medicine?

[Ironshank]

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I saw this question on another thread and I really am curious as to some of our reasons for going into a changing medical field.

I will start, I love to see people's faces light up when they overcome emotional and mental trials. At first I thought I wanted to be a clinical psycologist and work with children from divorced families. But the more I thought about it the more I thought that I may be limited in my treatments for people in need. so now I want to be a psychiatrist, to be able to give both medical and psychological aid to those in need.

Man, this is a hard post to list because I look at my reason for joining medicine and it seems so inadequate to the way I feel in my heart. Does anyone else feel this way? Does anyone else already feel like they know where they want to end up after medical school?

I see a lot of number posting and a little of the competetive spirit that is in any Pre-med group of undergrads. But why do you want this difficult , arduous, and sometimes elusive field of medicine?

thanks for all who post and good luck to those applying this year.

😀

 

[isa]

I know what you mean about not being able to explain why. When I talk about choosing medicine, I somehow feel cheesy and that my words are inadequate, but I'll try for this post anyhow. (I've been trying for my personal statement the past couple of days anyway.)

I read somewhere that life is lonely but that it can be eased with service. This is exactly how I feel about medicine. I've always been a shy person but got involved in a peer advising service in college where I was able to help out students who were sometimes really, really down on themselves for whatever reason. I thought I found the secret to happiness when I realized giving back made others and myself happy, or at least eased some of our respective problems. Tie this is with the fact that I loved biology and that's when I figured-medicine! I've been a clinical volunteer for a while now and the sense of fulfillment I got from advising is still there but on a much different level. I feel like I'm giving a more lasting type of service because I'm doing something that might help improve their health. Imagine what more I could do when I know more about the human body and medications.

To answer your other question, no, I don't know what kind of doctor I want to be yet. Wouldn't that help in the Practice Vision Essay. =) I've always been interested in women's medicine, though. Primary care also looks appealing since it's broader than other specialties.

 

[monster2]

I know on this forum, and the premedical world in general, there is a lot of arguing about "why" a person should pursue a career in medicine. Some have even gone as
far as to claim that premeds solely interested in money, prestige, and power should not go into medicine because they would not only fail to meet their high expectations
but would also fail to be the kind of doctor patients deserve. The argument goes something like this: "If you were suffering, would you want a self-centered, arrogant,
power-hungery doctor who had his mind on the 12:00 golf round with the rest of his elitist pals at the yuppie country club attending at your bedside?" I must admit that
even I wouldn't want this. I would rather have a caring doctor who had his mind on me as a person and not some disease he had to usher out of his office so that he
could meet his HMO quota. This is ideal, but in today's world it is not very likely. So I ask you: Take away the prestige, the money, the power, and all the other perks
that come along with being a doctor...take it all away...now how many of us can truly say (without some resignation in back of our mind) that we would still take the
gruelling path to be this kind of doctor. Would we study for 10 exhaustive years after college to make an average salary, with no prestige, and no power? My answer is
no and I guarentee almost all premeds feel the same way I do. You say you want to be a doctor so you can help people...I say that is b.s. because you could just as
easily help people by being a nurse or respiratory therapist. So why are we not applying for these careers? Because we all know that nurses and respiratory therapists
take their orders from doctors, make less money than doctors, and do not have nearly the prestige that a doctor has. When was the last time a nurse got credit for saving
a life? Even if she did, the doctor would most likely get the credit. You as well as I know that to want to become a doctor you must be a little more arrogant and
goal-driven than the average person. Yet, some of us do a very good job at hiding their arrogance and down-play their efforts to pull the best grades they can. Why?
Because they don't want to be known as the typical "premed" student. So do you volunteer at a hospital? Work at a homeless shelter? Donate your time to the food
bank? Of course you do...because you know it will help you get into med school. But oh no you'd never admit that, so you instead say that you do it b/c you "care." Give
me a break. Fact is if it wasn't for med school you wouldn't be found anywhere near a hospital or homeless shelter. And that my friends is the bottom line...argue all you
want but all those arguments are masking the real reasons as to why you want to go into medicne.

 

[wooo]

you go monster!

 

[isa]

Sure, I want to be a doctor for the money, prestige, and power too. And I agree that if you take that away, there'd probably be less pre-meds and doctors out there. But if those were my primary reasons for wanting to be a doctor, I'd be a corporate lawyer or a stock broker. I meant what I said. I want to be a doctor PRIMARILY (though not exclusively) because I want to be of service. Contrary to your post, monster, I actually thought I was being a "typical 'pre-med' student" when I wrote that.

 

[Col_4:14]

Monster's comments not withstanding, I will give you some advice on how to answer this question in essays and interviews.
1.) SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE!!! – "I know I want to be a doctor after experiencing a taste of the life of a doctor." Please DO NOT SAY IT THE WAY I DID (unless you want to be laughed at)!!! You just can't say that "you want to help people" without backing it up with some experience in the medical field. Speaking from experience adds weight and conviction to your answer. Adcoms are all too familiar with students who enter medical school without a lick of actual medical experience, only to fall out because they didn't "realize" what it meant to be a doctor. They WANT to know that you know, within reason, what you are getting into!
2.) One correct answer to "Why medicine" is fulfillment!!! Once again, this draws from experience. It also addresses indirectly some of the "unmentionables" monster brought up (leadership, responsibility, dependability, financial blessings, etc). Helping patients ALONG with all the "unmentionables" fulfills you!! You should feel like you can't picture yourself doing anything else. Express that!!
I hope this helps, I must get back to my pre-matric workload UGH!!! 😀

 

[praying4MD]

Good advice Col, thanks. I have done what you suggested, but it still sounds very "rehearsed" and I fear that it sounds "mushy" (for lack of a better word), as well as NOT unique (other than mentioning my volunteer experiences, which does make it unique.) Any further suggestions on how to avoid the trap of sounding like every other applicant and very "practiced"? BTW, I know this is poor grammar, but I'm writing in a hurry. 🙂

 

[Col_4:14]

Praying4MD,
A buddy of mine on an adcom told me that they expect to some degree essays to sound a little rehearsed. Given the fact that the applicant has had so much time to prepare, the personal statement should be a refined piece of work. That is why they have the interview phase, so adcoms can get a better assessment of you. You may think that your essay is not unique because you are considering all the other applicants out there. Don't do that! Do your best with what you got. Yeah, you may share common characteristics with other pre-meds (you SHOULD 🙂 ), but the combination of all your interests and experiences do make you unique.
As far as not sounding rehearsed for interview, be prepared to answer common questions by point. In other words, know in your mind ahead of time the reasons for your interest in medicine. Have them arranged in your mind point by point, not memorized verbatim. That way, when asked you can speak freely without having to sound like you have practiced this 100 times. Interviewers will try to throw you off of your rehearsed questions anyway. They might invite you for walk around campus (happened to me) or ask you questions that may not have to do with medical school. They do this to avoid some of the canned answers. However, the question "Why medicine" is still very common. They expect you to have thought this out ahead of time.

 

[praying4MD]

COL: Thanks again for the excellent advice. It is comforting to know that adcoms realize the dilemma of having a "unique" reason to enter medicine and that it is ok to have *some* similarities between my essay and everyone else's, especially at this stressful time! Your suggestions are great and really help to direct me in where I need to improve. Take care. 🙂

 

[Tenesmus]

Why medicine?

Because I don't like working with people.

 

[kd]

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but, personally, money is an absolute non-issue to me... I've never had much of it, never cared much about it, and hope that never changes. I have 2 Master's degrees and could be making a fortune in IT if money were important to me. Instead, I'm starting medical school this fall and I can't wait! Heck, if medicine paid minimum wage, I'd work in IT just enough to pay my bills and run a free clinic at night. Just IMHO...

 

[electra]

hey monster2,

maybe you need to do a little more speaking for yourself about volunteer food. fact it, guy, I do work at a food bank, and I'm already in school. I work with the American Red Cross. And I tutor young children.

Lots of people do things for other people just because we enjoy it...not just to get into school. Let's face it, if you did it just to get in there, the school will see it.

electra

 

[Col_4:14]

Glad I can help. I KNOW how frustrating this is!!!

 

[colorado_1]

i gotta go with eveyone else here . . . don't say "to help people" unless you're ready to back it up. be ready for responses like, "then why didn't you want to be a teacher . . .you get out of school in less debt and more quickly." or "then why not be a nurse?"

in one of my interviews an interviewer fired back with , "you like to help people?then tell me about the last time you helped someone." good thing i really do try and help people out in life or i'd have had to say thanks for a nice interview and gotten out of there instead of getting into that school 🙂

 

[monster2]

To those who took medicine just for the sake of helping people PERIOD, I just want to emphasize that there is an air of hypocrisy here. Everyone knows that with the workload you get in practising such a career, there will be very little room to "feel altruistic." Seriously though, isn't
altruism just an excuse we give to others to justify our deep, unspoken reasons for pursuing such an exhausting career? There are thousands upon thousands of ways to
help people, and I find it hard to believe that people would put themselves through the rigors of medical education just to "help others." I just don't buy that lame line about
having a "calling to medcine" for the sake of humanity. Thing is people may want to help others, but they do not want to JUST help others. No, that is not enough. They
want to help others and have the PRESTIGE to go along with it (i.e being a doctor). Ask these phonies on this forum if they would be willing to receive a medical
training and then be shipped off to some underserved area where they would only receive enough money to cover their needs and would provide medical care and "help
others" and I guarentee not one would do it. Why? Because people who are doctors WANT other people to know they're doctors. They desire the feeling of being
needed by other people and relish in their position by placing themselves "above" others (buying top class cares, homes, etc.). Why do you think so many doctors
correcte you if you call them Mr. instead of Dr. Because they harbor that arrogance that comes with medical training that goes something like this: "I didn't spend 15
years of my life to become a doctor so you could call me Mr." Same reason people don't want to get a D.O. degree but only want an M.D. Why? Because they know
other people (including those in the medical community) don't respect a D.O. like an M.D., although both doctors are equivalent. I'd even say a D.O. is better trained for
he/she also knows about holistic and manipulative medicine. But people only see the D.O. and think "not an M.D." So I say all these future Albert Schweitzers can talk
all they want about the ideal kind of doctor they will become, but we all know they'll end up just like the rest of the doctors in this country and be driving their classy cars,
living in their posh suburban homes, sending their kids off to some private school to "follow in daddy's footsteps", and be signing M.D. after their name whenever they
have the oppourtunity to do so.

In conclusion, the difficulty lies on many pre-meds' denial... which I find onion-skinned. It may also be there to mask those that have "low GPA/MCAT credentials". Otherwise, none of the advices that Col and others gave are helpful... they in fact only add to that secret guilt many a pre-med bears.

 

[monster2]

From Isa

I read somewhere that life is lonely but that it can be eased with service. This is exactly how I feel about
medicine. I've always been a shy person but got involved in a peer advising service in college where I was able to
help out students who were sometimes really, really down on themselves for whatever reason. I thought I found
the secret to happiness when I realized giving back made others and myself happy, or at least eased some of our
respective problems. Tie this is with the fact that I loved biology and that's when I figured-medicine! I've been a
clinical volunteer for a while now and the sense of fulfillment I got from advising is still there but on a much
different level. I feel like I'm giving a more lasting type of service because I'm doing something that might help
improve their health. Imagine what more I could do when I know more about the human body and medications**********************************


What a load of b.s. I really think people are forgetting that being a doctor is just a job
that demands a lot of responsibility and sacrifice. Everyone wants to make it bigger than it is, as if its some freakin' "spiritual" thing. I admit that being a surgeon takes
more intelligence and drive than almost any other job, but let's not forget that it is still just a job you have to wake up in the morning and go to like any other job. And just
like any other job I'm sure it will eventually get routine and maybe even down right boring...people claim that they're going into medicine as if they'll never get bored of it
after 10 or so years of practice...trust me, much like everything else in life, the excitement wears off with time. But even if i do get bored, I still know I'll be pulling in
enough money to do whatever I want. So love for biology and service to others are less likely primary reasons. You'll see in the long run.

 

[Jonesy]

I feel that someone here is a pessimist. Some people do have good intentions and hearts. I feel sorry for those people who live their lives for the next dollar. Let's face it people it's just paper with ink on it. Yes, it can buy you nice things, but at the end of the day when you are tucked away in bed how many of you think about your possessions. You should own things and not let things own you. As for power... how much power do you think you have being a doctor. Are you going to save the world, if you believe so, I would say the Anti-Christ has arrived. Here is some help determining when to chase new endeavors:
Wrong Motivation:
1) Acceptance
2) Pressure
3) Financial Gain
4) Fear of Consequences
Motivation due to Love:
1) Highly motivated
2) Enthusiastic
3) Energized
4) You make time even when you are without any
5) Feel fulfillment

Power and money often motivate us to do the wrong things. Search yourselves and consult your savior. If it is supposed to be it will be. Good Luck in your search! 😎

 

[praying4MD]

MONSTER IS RIGHT. Come on. If you really wanted to JUST help people, why not pursue Social work, right? You don't go into medicine for the SOLE Purpose of JUST "helping others." I personally wouldn't want a doctor whose sole purpose was to help people. I would want the physician who craves mental stimulation and is knowledgable as well; I'm sure many of you would agree.

Originally posted by monster2:
•... people may want to help others, but they do not want to JUST help others... They want to help others and have the PRESTIGE to go along with it... Ask these phonies on this forum if they would be willing to receive a medical training and then be shipped off to some underserved area where they would only receive enough money to cover their needs and would provide medical care and "help others" and I guarentee not one would do it.•

Actually, in answer to this, I would have to answer YES, I WOULD DO IT. I would actually like to concentrate on the specific type of medicine you described. If I didn't get into a med school (God forbid) I would do social work, and that is my completely HONEST answer. However, I have worked in both fields enough to know that this is not how the majority feel. Look at the premeds around you and you will find out that helping others is the usually the last thing on their minds... unless, of course, it counts towards their application. 🙄 I see more social workers "helping others" in more productive ways than physicians, and all of us, deep down inside, know this is true.

Originally posted by monster2:
•... the difficulty lies on many pre-meds' denial... they [the advice of others] in fact only add to that secret guilt many a pre-med bears.•

All Monster is asking you to do (IMHO) is be honest with yourself and admit that there is more to your motivation to go into medicine than just altruism. This is not a bad notion. After all, YOU should get some satisfaction out of your profession and it should NOT simply be for others. If it were, you would not be a good physician because you would have no incentive to perform well at your job. Just admit that you are not in this tiresome profession for others ALONE. You are also in it for YOURSELF, even if just a little. This is true of everyone, including me.

I don't believe I have this "secret" guilt. I am in touch with the side of me that wants to pursue medicine for myself as well. Anything less, and I would consider myself a hypocrite. Physicians are not Mother Theresa-like figures, so full of purity to not enjoy prestige. I will admit that. But more importantly, that is NOT my primary reason to enter the field (far from it, as you can see by my second choice of profession-- Social Work).

Reading back on this it may look as if I just gone in circles, but I'm sure I made a point in here somewhere. 🙂 Oh yes, here it is: It does not have to be one OR the other. Your motivation for medicine can be a mixture of wanting to "help others" and also a certain "affinity" for the prestige that comes along with the title, "MD." And realistically, it IS both. Even if "helping others" may take precedence, you must admit that there is something else compelling you to enter into this arduous process.

 

[Smoke This]

Well said, praying4MD...couldn't have said it any better myself.

For me, of course I've thought about the remuneration of a physician. Honestly, who makes career decisions with no thought whatsoever of salary? Engineering graduates, for example, who receive multiple job offers naturally would use the salaries and perks each position offers to help them make a decision on which to accept. It is also likely that many budding engineers choose this field of study with a knowledge of the average salaries they should earn. In the same way, premeds have, to some degree, a conception of the earnings and lifestyle they can look forward to as a physician.

What is wrong is that in medicine, there seems to be the perception that any interest at all in the finances or prestige of it taints the individual or makes him or her somehow less fit to practice medicine. I believe, as praying4MD does, that a true humanitarian interest and self-serving motivations are not mutually exclusive. However, I do feel extremely guilty to have thought about the latter. For those of you who can truly say that you only have altruistic motivations, I applaud you and hope that you make it. For the rest of us, I can only hope that you believe as I do that you'll make a good doctor. Will I be a lousy doctor because I have some thoughts of compensation? Of course not! If I make it, I will recognize that I have been entrusted with a very crucial job to do, and I'll discharge it to the best of my ability, each and every time I'm called on. Why? Because I have a genuine interest in the well-being of others and a sense of duty, as I'm sure almost everyone here also does. Consider my neighbor, an internist and endocrinologist. He lives in a big house and drives a Navigator. I recently shadowed him and met several of his patients who truly owe this man their lives. One patient of his began having a heart attack in his office and he had him rushed across the street to the ER. Another patient of his had a nasty case of pericarditis. Another man had his thyroid cancer diagnosed by this doctor in time to beat the cancer and recover. This doctor spends quite a bit of his time in the hospital and in his office, and is dedicated to his patients, despite judgments of others who see his house and SUV and figure that ostensibly, he's in it for the money. In sum, there's a wide range of motivations that may be expressed differently.

Finally, let me hit the assertion that you can do just as much good as a nurse or social worker. I know this is getting long, so I'll try to be brief. This assertion may certainly be true in some situations, but I believe that a physician has much more opportunity both to help people and to do so in a more significant way than a nurse or PT or that sort of thing. Nurses are invaluable in medicine and I think they are the ones who provide the "caring" side of medicine. However, doctors can do more. My brother, for example, shattered his elbow last October. The PTs certainly helped him regain his range of motion, but without the intervention of his orthopedic surgeon, his arm would have been disabled for life. I may be biased in favor of the doctor, and do not intend to dispairage the PTs, but I believe that it was the surgeon who had a greater impact on my brother's life.