Why Do You Want To Be A Doctor

[hsperson]

So lately, I've been a bit turned off by the nature of many premeds at my school and I guess everywhere else. No one cares about medicine as a career and a major life decision. It's all about "yeah, yeah, yeah, how do I get in?" But then when u ask why they want to be doctors, they spit out the typical: "I don't know," "I always have," "I like to help people," etc.
And why are there so many premeds anyway? Are all these people really going to be doctors? Do all these people really want to be doctors? It causes me to question people's motives. Sure there will be a few that have solid reasons but certainly this isn't as many as those who declare themselves premed. It's funny cuz some people blatantly say: "My parents made me," or "MONEY," or "I have low self esteem and telling everyone I'm a doctor will give me the validation I need to feel better about myself." But are these good reasons? So yeah, I'm just wonderin, what are your motivations for becoming doctors?

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[gujuDoc]

I know what you mean.

But here's some food for thought.........

Most of those people who you have spoken to, will most likely not be the ones to get in.

Remember that old saying:

Look to your left and look to your right.......Because at least one of you will not remain here in the future.

A lot of people get weeded out and only the serious ones remain.

Even some of the most brilliant minds eventually get weeded out when it really comes down to it, because they realized that it was not the place for them.

As per my own reasons of why I want to go into medicine, there are quite a few:

Besides Job security, etc.......I have been on the patient side of things when I was younger, cuz I was real ill then, and I remember what it was like to be on that end of things, so I can empathize with patients. I have also witnessed my dad deal with things like diabetes, so things like that affected my decisions.

Then I volunteered at a hospital or two, where my interest in medicine was also furthered.

There are a few others, but I think those are some of the few influences that have brought me towards medicine.

 

[Pose]

A shockingly large portion of freshmen undergrads declare pre-med. However, from my experiences, 8 out of 10 change their mind by semester three.

 

[RayhanS1282]

So lately, I've been a bit turned off by the nature of many premeds at my school and I guess everywhere else. No one cares about medicine as a career and a major life decision. It's all about "yeah, yeah, yeah, how do I get in?" But then when u ask why they want to be doctors, they spit out the typical: "I don't know," "I always have," "I like to help people," etc.
And why are there so many premeds anyway? Are all these people really going to be doctors? Do all these people really want to be doctors? It causes me to question people's motives. Sure there will be a few that have solid reasons but certainly this isn't as many as those who declare themselves premed. It's funny cuz some people blatantly say: "My parents made me," or "MONEY," or "I have low self esteem and telling everyone I'm a doctor will give me the validation I need to feel better about myself." But are these good reasons? So yeah, I'm just wonderin, what are your motivations for becoming doctors?

Try ro find these people after organic chemistry 😀 .

 

[jhrugger]

So lately, I've been a bit turned off by the nature of many premeds at my school and I guess everywhere else. No one cares about medicine as a career and a major life decision. It's all about "yeah, yeah, yeah, how do I get in?" But then when u ask why they want to be doctors, they spit out the typical: "I don't know," "I always have," "I like to help people," etc.
And why are there so many premeds anyway? Are all these people really going to be doctors? Do all these people really want to be doctors? It causes me to question people's motives. Sure there will be a few that have solid reasons but certainly this isn't as many as those who declare themselves premed. It's funny cuz some people blatantly say: "My parents made me," or "MONEY," or "I have low self esteem and telling everyone I'm a doctor will give me the validation I need to feel better about myself." But are these good reasons? So yeah, I'm just wonderin, what are your motivations for becoming doctors?

Sometimes, the motivation is not as important as the execution. What I mean is that as so long as an individual performs well in his or her chosen career and becomes competent or excellent in that role, the motivations that brought the individual to that point are secondary. There are MANY motivations for why people enter medicine, and I have found that while some of these motivations may seem more "pure" than others, they are all valid so long as they drive the individual to succeed in medicine.

I can definitely see where you are coming from though. I've heard motivations such as "My parents want me to" or "All I want is an MD". And while at the time I really disliked those answers (and still kindof do), now I figure to each his own, and if the adcoms like that individual and place trust in that individual to become a competent physician, then that is cool by me.

When I began thinking what I wanted to do with my life, I found that my interests and motivations intersected on medicine:

a. I want to be productive and genuinely useful
b. I enjoy the feeling I get when I help someone in a tangible way
c. I am very interested in the human body and how it works and doesn't work
d. I am kindof a workaholic and would like a career in which I am constantly thinking and working and kept busy
e. I enjoy the hospital setting, especially the OR
f. I like to be a decision maker rather than just a doer
g. I would like job security and the ability to maintain a relatively high standard of living

So while each of these reasons interests and motivations may not lead one to pursue a career in medicine, for me at least the combination of them pointed me toward medicine.

Bottom line: don't let others' motivations hamper your own. Let them do their own thing and you do your own.

wow, this is probably the longest post I have put on SDN... sorry bout that (I guess this was pretty much a stream of conciousness response)

jhrugger

 

[Hoberto]

A shockingly large portion of freshmen undergrads declare pre-med. However, from my experiences, 8 out of 10 change their mind by semester three.

Do you think this has something to with not knowing about a lot of careers? When you are little you learn about nurses, doctors, firemen, policemen and teachers. All the other careers are rarely explained even through high school except perhapsfor those students in the college track. So, when it comes time to choose a path, students are going jot down something they've heard of and know a little something about. This is probably going to be pre-med/biology. It looks good and sounds good and requires very little thought into what that little x on a form somewhere means for their future.

 

[wolfram241]

Money and lifestyle - yeah that's right. Impugn my reasons all you want, but I'll be right there competing with you for a spot 😛 .

 

[BaylorGuy]

When I began thinking what I wanted to do with my life, I found that my interests and motivations intersected on medicine:

a. I want to be productive and genuinely useful
b. I enjoy the feeling I get when I help someone in a tangible way
c. I am very interested in the human body and how it works and doesn't work
d. I am kindof a workaholic and would like a career in which I am constantly thinking and working and kept busy
e. I enjoy the hospital setting, especially the OR
f. I like to be a decision maker rather than just a doer
g. I would like job security and the ability to maintain a relatively high standard of living

jhrugger

Money and lifestyle - yeah that's right. Impugn my reasons all you want, but I'll be right there competing with you for a spot 😛 .

Say what you will, but these are great responses. I don't necessarily think you need to have to have a motivation to be a physician. It may be a little harder if the rigors get you down and you need a pick-me-up, but there are a lot of tangible and intangible reasons to pursue medicine (job security, payment, honor, etc.) other than pure motiviation or an altruistic view of life (wanting to cure cancer, rid the world of needle sticks, etc.)

People have different reasons for doing it....some cut it out some dont. I personally wouldn't ask anyone what their reasons for going pre-med/med if they were a freshman or sophomore in college....ask an upperclassmen (they've gone through the basic crap and are willing to put themselves through the harder crap). They have reasons for wanting to subject themselves to such torture.