Why Medical School?

[doctordent]

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Hi there. I was pre-med for a VERY long time. I say that because, I could never bring myself to apply to medical school or even to take the MCAT. yet at the same time, I have this undying passion to practice medicine. So why not apply? Well, having been engaged to a physician, then eventually marrying a physician (not the same guy, I might add), I have come to see a side of medicine that scares me to pursue. Little sleep, constant reimbursement cuts from medicare and insurance companies, high divorce rates, more and more paperwork and less and less practice of medicine, 8 years+ of education, huge student loans...and throw in the pressures of having family one day---why would anyone do it? I have looked into other health professions and can't seem to be 100% satisfied with any of them..only medicine. Yet I can't justify going into it beyond my "passion". I hate being emotional about decisions. I want to make a smart decision here....anyone have similar experiences, thoughts, etc. Anyone been through this and still went for medicine..results of your choice? I hear most physicians say that had they been less naive about the medicine they wouldn't even have gone for it. Most people who go into it after college haven't the slightest clue as to what to expect. Should we be wiser than those before us? Looking forward to some feedback. 🙂

 

[soparu]

no! first tell us about the engagement and then the other doctor you married 🙂

 

[Charles English]

passion and pragmatism don't always coincide. sometimes you have to choose.

 

[doctordent]

The fiance - orthopaedic surgeon....family was a bunch of nutjobs though, so I couldnt marry him. They said no way to medicine for me...another reason he had to go! My husband is a radiologist - complains everyday about how his pay has dropped another 10%. 250k in student loans, he's in rads because you don't have to deal with the patients, and thinks that medicine is the WORST career choice. He can't come to terms with me going to med school - especially since he just finished his fellowship and is only in his 2nd year out....

 

[soparu]

off topic. i had a radiologist review my lumbar spine MRI. his name was John Gay.

that is all 🙂

 

[NonTradMed]

Hi there. I was pre-med for a VERY long time. I say that because, I could never bring myself to apply to medical school or even to take the MCAT. yet at the same time, I have this undying passion to practice medicine. So why not apply? Well, having been engaged to a physician, then eventually marrying a physician (not the same guy, I might add), I have come to see a side of medicine that scares me to pursue. Little sleep, constant reimbursement cuts from medicare and insurance companies, high divorce rates, more and more paperwork and less and less practice of medicine, 8 years+ of education, huge student loans...and throw in the pressures of having family one day---why would anyone do it? I have looked into other health professions and can't seem to be 100% satisfied with any of them..only medicine. Yet I can't justify going into it beyond my "passion". I hate being emotional about decisions. I want to make a smart decision here....anyone have similar experiences, thoughts, etc. Anyone been through this and still went for medicine..results of your choice? I hear most physicians say that had they been less naive about the medicine they wouldn't even have gone for it. Most people who go into it after college haven't the slightest clue as to what to expect. Should we be wiser than those before us? Looking forward to some feedback. 🙂

I had a different experience than you. I've spoken with many doctors and although they believe medicine have changed, many are quite happy to be in it. They enjoy what they do but accept the changes that have come. My school has a disproportionate high number of students whose parents are physicians as well (although that could be the Indian affect 😀).

I was a nontraditional candidate. I worked as a programmer for a couple of years. But growing up, I was surrounded by doctors and researchers (parents were biologists). To me, it's normal to study for years for a profession you are passionate about. Long years of schooling is fine with me. I knew plenty of people that spent upwards of six years of post-graduate education to attain a PhD so they can make $50k/yr.

As for paperwork....I'm not quite sure why people complain like doctors are the only ones who do them. I did them when I worked for corporate IT. In fact, I spend DAYS doing nothing but paperwork. That's just how our society functions. My parents do a ton of paperwork as biologists----especially now that they work for BigPharm and they have to document everything (for patent purposes I suppose).

I think the problem with people who complain about medicine is that they do not know what other professions are like and assume they are the only ones suffering. Other college graduates who come out with accounting or nursing degrees can change careers because their career goals at age 20 is different from their career goals at age 30. Physicians who go straight from college to medical school do not have that luxury. They've known medicine all their lives and they picked the career based on the career goals at age 18. I was fortunate (?) enough to try my hand at another career before doing medicine, so I kind of know what it is like to have a job one hates.

(Btw, it's miserable if you have to work Monday thru Friday at a job you don't like)

Does medicine have problems? Yes. Is there any jobs without headaches? I can't think of any. Are there any jobs that have less headaches than medicine? Sure. Would I want to do them? After much investigation on various other professions, including other health care professions. Absolutely not. I wanna be a doc. 😀

 

[Gobblox]

Ok...here we go 🙂

To be honest...its the same reason why one would be a teacher...you have to LOVE it. I tell this to all of the freshies who ask me about being pre med...if you dont LOVE science and LOVE medicine...NERD level(for example...i found out recently that there exists a form of acid called "Super Acids" and they are inorganic acids with metals in them. They are so strong...they can hydrate Alkanes!!!! I couldnt stop talking about how awesome that is for DAYS!)

(For those of you who haven't took Organic Chem yet...Hydrating alkanes is REALLY hard to do and makes the alkanes thoroughly unstable).

To those who are in it for the money out there...I PROMISE you there are ALOT easier and quicker ways to make alot of money.

I think one of the best questions to ask is...if you were given all of the money you would EVER need...would you still be a doctor? I have contemplated this question ALOT and i can safely say my answer is "Yes."