Would you still do it?

[TripleDegree]

Medical students only please......

Kinda describes my situation

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[anothertbmember]

Dude, you've made your decision in life. By the time you finish school and residency you would be around 45. In that time you would lose 8 years of your children's lives and put a strain on your marriage that it doesn't need. I am not exagerrating, this thing is a huge time commitment.

Unless you have an utterly burning desire to go serve the orphans in Calcutta with an MD behind your name that you can't live without fulfilling then stick to your current career.

More importanly, why are you polling us? Shouldn't this be your decision coupled with counsel from your spouse? But, what do I know.

 

[Mike59]

Medical students only please......

Kinda describes my situation

Unless your job makes you miserable, stick with your 6 figure income and spend time with your family, it's so not worth it if you're already doing well in something else.

 

[DebDynamite]

Medical students only please......

Kinda describes my situation

Hi there. I had to vote "don't know" because this is such a huge question. If you have doubts about medicine BEFORE starting med school, there is a high probability you will be miserable for a number of years- because it is simply an MONDO committment for, at the VERY least, 2 years. By this I mean, if you are capable of skipping class during MS1 & 2, and then take as cush rotations as possible 4th year, then go for a field such as PM& R or Path, in "theory" you would only put in tremendous hours during MS3 & your intern year. But this is just "in theory", depends on you & what happens in your life, and kind of (IMO) sets you up to miss out on a LOT. You really should WANT this field or you will probably be in agony for a long time. That said, if your job now makes your life miserable and you have always wanted "REAL BAD" to be a doc- ie you will regret on your death bed that you never went for it-and you are prepared to miss out on "normal hours", events in your personal life (more than likely lots of them), etc... Then go for it. Dunno if you are having doubt by posting this poll, but felt compelled to post my opinion (and you know what opinions are like).

 

[automaton]

hell no

 

[fourthyearmed]

I don't think so. If you asked if I would do it over as the single, no kids, straight out of college person I was - definitely. But you've got a life and a good job, why start over? Plus I think it would be really hard to put in the hours we have to do at your age. As a 25 year old the hours are hard. I can only imagine what it would be like to be 10 years older and used to a normal lifestyle and suddenly change to studying 24/7 and later 36+ hour shifts in the hospital.

 

[SocialistMD]

It depends on how bad you want to be a physician. I assume that you work hard now if you have a six-figure salary (as in, 80-hour weeks wouldn't come as too much of a shock), so the work commitment won't be much different than you are used to now for the most part. It is a commitment to be sure, but people don't have salaries such as yours without already having made a commitment to work, so I don't really feel the adjustment will be as great as everyone seems to think it will. If your desire to be a physician is that strong or your unhappiness with your current life is that great, then I say go for it. However, go in knowing it will be a lifestyle change for sure and your family may have to make sacrifices (i.e. moving, monetary changes, etc...) that may be difficult.

 

[8744]

Dude, you've made your decision in life. By the time you finish school and residency you would be around 45. In that time you would lose 8 years of your children's lives and put a strain on your marriage that it doesn't need. I am not exagerrating, this thing is a huge time commitment.

Unless you have an utterly burning desire to go serve the orphans in Calcutta with an MD behind your name that you can't live without fulfilling then stick to your current career.

More importanly, why are you polling us? Shouldn't this be your decision coupled with counsel from your spouse? But, what do I know.

Um...er....cough...cough....hmmm....er...

I actually fit your criteria pretty closely except I only had a high "five-figure" salary (mid-seventies to mid-eighties depending on business).

Medical school is a huge time committment but you know, I've spent more time with my family in the last four years than I did in my previous career. At my school, during first and second year we usually only had lecture until two PM so I did manage to get home most days before six. In second year as I learned to study less and less for the same results I spent even more time at home.

There were some rotations in third year that ate up a lot of my time like Surgery, OB-Gyn, and medicine. On the other hand Psychiatry, Peds, and Surgical Sub-specialties were like a vacation. In fourth year I did a few tough rotations at the beginning but have been having a really, really low-stress fourth year. Last week I actually stayed at the hospital past four three nights in a row (cardiology) and I was outraged.

If you do a Family Practice residency, let's say, or Emergency Medicine (which has low residency hours, believe it or not) you will probably work no harder than any other motivated professional in any career.

Sincerely,

P. Bear
Age 41 And Only the Second Oldest Guy in My Class
Match Day Minus Five


PS: I agree that if money is your only motivation, don't give up a six-figure salary for another six figure salary seven years in the future. There is an opportunity cost, after all. Of course, 100,000 is six figures just like 999,000 so it depends what kind of six-figures we're talking about

PPS: I'm going to propose that the moderators add "six-figures" to the list of obscene words to be "starred" out. It is such a flippant, meaningless cliche usually thrown about by people who have never made ***-******* in their lives and probably never will unless they go into medicine where even the starting salaries are ***-*******.

 

[8744]

I don't think so. If you asked if I would do it over as the single, no kids, straight out of college person I was - definitely. But you've got a life and a good job, why start over? Plus I think it would be really hard to put in the hours we have to do at your age. As a 25 year old the hours are hard. I can only imagine what it would be like to be 10 years older and used to a normal lifestyle and suddenly change to studying 24/7 and later 36+ hour shifts in the hospital.

Good Lord. I have observed that it is my younger classmates who usually complain the loudest and look the worst for not getting any sleep.

The two oldest people in my class, me and another guy, are both in our early forties and both eight-year veterans of the military. I was a Marine and the other guy was an Army helicopter pilot and West Point graduate.

Post-call, when our younger collegues are frazzled and unkempt from missing sleep for one night, we are always clean-shaven, alert, and ready for another day. We do not slack around the wards leaving furrows in the floor wax from our dragging asses or whine and complain how tired we are.

Not only have we both been through a lot more strenuous activities than medical school but we both have kids. You don't know stress until you have sick toddlers and babies at home, crying, crapping, and puking all night from some benign but miserable Rota virus. Repeat for three days while still making it to class or wards.

Additionally, when the trauma pager beeped it was usually me who got to the Emergency Room first alert, intelligent, and ready for action while my younger friends slouched in several minutes later looking shell-shocked to be out of bed at three AM.

I'll admit that I am a little heavier than I was when I was 25. I will never see 180 again, or even probably 200. And even though I run every day and do push-ups, I am not the lean, mean, Marine that my lovely wife married 14 years ago.

On the other hand, medical school and residency require more mental toughness than physical endurance and I think we older students have you young guys beat on that one.

And fer' crying out loud, nobody studies 24/7. Four hours a day are probably more than enough for most people assuming you also attend lectures. People who study ten hours a day probably don't go to lecture so it is a wash.

 

[Paws]

do it

 

[Pterion]

Good Lord. I have observed that it is my younger classmates who usually complain the loudest and look the worst for not getting any sleep.

The two oldest people in my class, me and another guy, are both in our early forties and both eight-year veterans of the military. I was a Marine and the other guy was an Army helicopter pilot and West Point graduate.

Post-call, when our younger collegues are frazzled and unkempt from missing sleep for one night, we are always clean-shaven, alert, and ready for another day. We do not slack around the wards leaving furrows in the floor wax from our dragging asses or whine and complain how tired we are.

Not only have we both been through a lot more strenuous activities than medical school but we both have kids. You don't know stress until you have sick toddlers and babies at home, crying, crapping, and puking all night from some benign but miserable Rota virus. Repeat for three days while still making it to class or wards.

Additionally, when the trauma pager beeped it was usually me who got to the Emergency Room first alert, intelligent, and ready for action while my younger friends slouched in several minutes later looking shell-shocked to be out of bed at three AM.

I'll admit that I am a little heavier than I was when I was 25. I will never see 180 again, or even probably 200. And even though I run every day and do push-ups, I am not the lean, mean, Marine that my lovely wife married 14 years ago.

On the other hand, medical school and residency require more mental toughness than physical endurance and I think we older students have you young guys beat on that one.

And fer' crying out loud, nobody studies 24/7. Four hours a day are probably more than enough for most people assuming you also attend lectures. People who study ten hours a day probably don't go to lecture so it is a wash.

You, Leatherneck, are officially my favorite SDN member.

To the OP: I second SocialistMD. If now sucks bad enough, and MD is that important to you (the career, not the letters) then do it. NEVER take advice on med school from someone >15 years younger than you.

 

[Revolution #9]

Ya, I'd vote for Panda Bear as Coolest Conservative.

 

[monstermatch]

I've gotten to know a few of the over-30-with-family students in my class and overall they tend to do better than your average 21 year old. The ones who had trouble are the ones who started med school with troubled marriages. Those folks were complete messes who probably should not have gone to med school - it just tore apart their families and really did a number on their lives. If you can honestly say to yourself 1) "My spouse supports me 100%, will not cheat on me when I'm taking call, will not sabotage my study time, and is prepared to make some time sacrifices for my career" and 2) "I will dedicate my free time solely to my family and do my utmost to maintain a normal relationship with my spouse and kids, plus I won't cheat on my spouse with other students/nurses/PT's/etc," then you will be fine. In fact, you will do better than most of the rest of your classmates because you will have the healthy support network that most of them won't have.

 

[dr.zeus]

no regrets... if you have a nagging realization that medicine is all you ever wanted to do, go for it.
If you want to be a doctor so that you can get a title, more money, or to show off to your college buddy, forget it because none of that is worth making medicine a career.

 

[8744]

I've gotten to know a few of the over-30-with-family students in my class and overall they tend to do better than your average 21 year old. The ones who had trouble are the ones who started med school with troubled marriages. Those folks were complete messes who probably should not have gone to med school - it just tore apart their families and really did a number on their lives. If you can honestly say to yourself 1) "My spouse supports me 100%, will not cheat on me when I'm taking call, will not sabotage my study time, and is prepared to make some time sacrifices for my career" and 2) "I will dedicate my free time solely to my family and do my utmost to maintain a normal relationship with my spouse and kids, plus I won't cheat on my spouse with other students/nurses/PT's/etc," then you will be fine. In fact, you will do better than most of the rest of your classmates because you will have the healthy support network that most of them won't have.

Amen. My wife is behind me 100 percent in this, our latest endeavor. Not too many women would let their husbands give up a perfeclty decent but boring career to pursue a new career who's payoff is (or was at the time we started) a minimum of seven years in the future without complaint and with enthusiasm that is almost as great as my own.

The only thing that has ever stressed her out in the last four years is waiting to find out if and where I friggin' matched so we can go ahead and start looking for a house already. The suspense if killing her. I just hope I match somewhere but my wife is seriously hoping for me to match at my number one rank (Baton Rouge Emergency Medicine).

 

[NotShorty]

Probably depends on how old the kids are. No doubt, you'll be missing some important milestones if they're young now.

I actually read "Life Strategies" by Dr. Phil and found it helpful in deciding to leave my previous career. Didn't do all the quizzes and stuff, it just crystallized the way I already felt about some things.

I'd reccommend trying to nail down exactly what it is about your current situation that you want to change, and does medicine solve that problem. For me, I didn't have enough of a mental challenge before getting into medicine. Problem solved.

Well, there's probably no polite way to ask this, but is this a mid-life crisis kind of thing for you? (don't respond to me, just ask yourself). If so, you very well may outgrow that phase long before you earn a dime in medicine.

NS

 

[MD'05]

Medical students only please......

Kinda describes my situation

It sounds like you have spent ZERO time shadowing a medical student, resident or attending. Get out there and see what it is like. No one here can tell you. Even if you see it for yourself you will not know. You have to experience being a medical professional to realize what it is.

Here's an easy way to get a better perspective. Get EMT basic certification and spend some time on a volunteer ambulance or fire service. Or become a certified nurse's aide and spend time in the hospital. You can do this in your free time on the weekends. If you can't make this sacrifice and endure the humiliation now, forget about giving up your career.

Sorry to sound gruff, but your family should come first.

 

[Mike59]

It sounds like you have spent ZERO time shadowing a medical student, resident or attending. Get out there and see what it is like. No one here can tell you. Even if you see it for yourself you will not know. You have to experience being a medical professional to realize what it is.

Here's an easy way to get a better perspective. Get EMT basic certification and spend some time on a volunteer ambulance or fire service. Or become a certified nurse's aide and spend time in the hospital. You can do this in your free time on the weekends. If you can't make this sacrifice and endure the humiliation now, forget about giving up your career.

Sorry to sound gruff, but your family should come first.

That's a good suggestion (in theory)....I spent 2 years working directly with doctors as they saw patients before I went to med school- Only after going through this in the first person have I acquired a real perspective of what is wrong with medicine and why it's not all it's cracked up to be. Unfortunately for many, no matter what you do and who you shadow, idealism remains until you hit the wards and start dealing with the crap yourself from the bottom of the hierarchy.

 

[IlianaSedai]

I voted No, I wouldn't do it under those circumstances.

BUT... you have to understand why. I "fell into" medicine sort of by accident. It was never my "calling." I could have done many other things and been happy.

Not everyone is like me. Many people are. There *is* a degree of realism that kicks in once you begin pursuing medicine, start medical school, etc. That doesn't mean that EVERY medical student would say "No, I wouldn't do it" under your circumstances. It means that many, or most, would not.

But many, or most, of us also don't feel that medicine is a special "calling." It's a small handful of people who feel that way strongly. The rest of us average folks just do what we do and get on with it.

 

[Blade28]

Yes. Absolutely.