Would you would not have done med school if you knew it was this hard?

[winthug]

I knew it was going to be hard so I'm not one to complain, but I know a few people who would not have gone to med school after having experienced it (first few years at least). Do you guys know people like that?

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[Inuranic]

Life will suck anyway. At least this isn't boring.

 

[H_Caulfield]

Life will suck anyway. At least this isn't boring.

 

[Kedan]

I'd still do it but I like medicine (and suck at almost everything else, but that's not the point). The people who I know that wouldn't do it again are the ones who didn't want to be here in the first place. They're doing it because of parents or whatever. In their situation it's understandable but I think if you really want it then you become your own worst enemy and you'll sort of put up with anything in order to get to your goal.

 

[8mile]

the real world is hard and harsher than med school, food for thought.

 

[winthug]

I'd still do it but I like medicine (and suck at almost everything else, but that's not the point). The people who I know that wouldn't do it again are the ones who didn't want to be here in the first place. They're doing it because of parents or whatever. In their situation it's understandable but I think if you really want it then you become your own worst enemy and you'll sort of put up with anything in order to get to your goal.

I agree w/ that. The people I've encountered didn't have a hard enough undergrad or "thought" they wanted to become a doctor w/o knowing the implications of it. Too much TV i guess.

 

[Studebug]

I agree w/ that. The people I've encountered didn't have a hard enough undergrad or "thought" they wanted to become a doctor w/o knowing the implications of it. Too much TV i guess.

I come from a 10 year chemical engineering career. I am an MSO. I know it is going to be challenging but there are so many positive aspects to Private Practive versus Corporate World.

I do have a friend who is PP prediatrician. She said that she is not sure she would do it again. However, she got married and had a child in med school. Thankfully- been there done that.

 

[indo]

The first and second years of medical school seem much worse in hindsight. You couldn't pay me to do that crap again. Think about this; there are 10,000 pages of information you need to memorize in two years but they haven't firgured out how to teach it to you yet.

 

[DoctorPardi]

I am almost done with first year and it has been a lot of studying but I am enjoying myself right now and honestly don't think I'd rather be doing anything else.

Would I do it again? I mean if I failed and had to repeat a year, I probably would. If I could go back in time and advise a younger self whether to go or not, I would definitely tell myself to go to medical school.

 

[silas2642]

I knew it was going to be hard so I'm not one to complain, but I know a few people who would not have gone to med school after having experienced it (first few years at least). Do you guys know people like that?

Yes, I definitely know people who have said that. I think that you have to take it with a grain of salt-- some people really do mean it, while others don't. I think that if you can picture yourself doing anything else but medicine, then you should definitely pursue that career-- this is a really hard path and very few people understand what you're going through.

But if you're a first year, I can tell you that it does get better. Second year is way more interesting (probably, depending on your med school's curriculum) and you feel a little less stupid. Sometimes you actually even understand what's going on when you're in physical diagnosis-- an amazing concept and an amazing feeling. Hang in there, even has felt the way you have at one point or another.

 

[spicedmanna]

Yeah, I know lots of folks who sort of feel that way (sort of, because they mostly like where they are at, but feel that the path significantly shorted their life and robbed them of a lot of good times; what they probably mean is that they wouldn't do it again...too much pain to go through). Most of them tried to scare me away and advised me to stay clear of medicine, if medicine wasn't absolutely the only career I thought I'd enjoy. Not only did I not listen to their advice, I added military commitment on top of it.

Anyway, the path is pretty painful, I must say, and I know I haven't even gotten to the most painful parts yet, but it's moving along faster than I might have anticipated and there have been some good moments. It's tolerable on most days, and some days are just great. Hopefully, I will wake up one day, doing what I think I will love doing, and all of this will seem like part of some horrible dream I was having.

Few people attend medical school because it's a fun thing to do. Many of us know it's going to be ******* hard, but know that it's going to lead us to where we want to be, so it's worth the effort. That's pretty much where I stand right now. Sometimes I think it hasn't been worth all the blood, sweat, and tears, but every once in a while, by some miracle, I happen upon a circumstance where I am called to use what I've learned so far, and it makes me happy that I made the choices that I did. Hopefully, when I enter into rotations in a matter of months I'll feel that way more often.

 

[Dedikated2liftn]

As others have alluded to above, medical school isn't really that difficult. Now before I get jumped on for sounding like an arrogant ass, my statement really boils down to having a relative perspective for other life situations. For example, if one knows what it's like to be financially self-sufficient (not talking about living on loans here), raise a family, put up with a boss you hate day in and day out, work two or three jobs to make ends meet...at the end of the day, medical school really doesn't look that hard. In short, the path of medicine, no doubt, takes dedication, intelligence, and a good amount of resiliency; however, so do many other potential pathways in life. Personally, I feel blessed to have been lucky enough to be given this opportunity and plan to make the most of it.

 

[spicedmanna]

As others have alluded to above, medical school isn't really that difficult. Now before I get jumped on for sounding like an arrogant ass, my statement really boils down to having a relative perspective for other life situations. For example, if one knows what it's like to be financially self-sufficent (not talking about living on loans here), raise a family, put up with a boss you hate day in and day out, work two or three jobs to make ends meet...at the end of the day, medical school really doesn't look that hard. In short, the path of medicine, no doubt, takes dedication, intelligence, and a good amount of resiliency; however, so do many other elements of life. Personally, I feel blessed to have been lucky enough to be given this opportunity and plan to make the most of it.

I know what you are getting at. I'm no spring chicken, either. I worked for nearly 10 years before entering medical school. There are always going to be significant challenges, with or without medical school. I've dealt was some in my time. Nevertheless, I must say that medical school ranks pretty high in difficulty relative to all of the challenges I've ever experienced in my life. It's hard to quantify challenges, though, because each one has it's uniquely crappy element that makes it seem like the most difficult. So far the hardest part for me hasn't really been the workload, since I'm well-accustomed to working intensely for long hours (although as I get older, it's not nearly as easy to spring back from these periods of intensity). The hardest aspect has been watching all of my friends, who are now mostly all happily married, with 7-8 y/o children, live their lives as I close my door and sit by myself, on my ass, studying insane amounts of minutiae for the nth time. This isn't living, but I guess it's the price I have to pay to do what I love doing, so I guess I really have nothing to gripe about. It just sucks a little, that's all. I'm pretty much over it now, though, and looking forward to rotations.

 

[winthug]

For me it's tolerable but sometimes the amount of material is so incredibly stupid, especially if it makes no sense at all yet we're tested it on it (eg. psych and psych drugs, UGH). I'm glad my Wii makes me happy during study breaks. :-D

 

[Pinkertinkle]

It's not that hard to pass, pretty hard to honor.

 

[Dral]

Second semester of second year can burn. The rest was fine.

 

[Tiger26]

Sometimes that fact that it's so f-ing hard is actually the best part . . . kinda makes you appreciate all of it

FWIW, I'm sort of an educational masochist

 

[Trismegistus4]

I have to admit, from where I am now, if I could advise my past self, I would say "don't do it." However, it's not that I didn't know it was going to be this hard. The difficulty has pretty much matched my expectations. What I didn't know was how much or how little I'd actually be willing to do the work once I was in the thick of it. I had thought I'd want to rise to the challenge, but it turns out I really just don't feel like working this hard.

 

[mjl1717]

As others have alluded to above, medical school isn't really that difficult. Now before I get jumped on for sounding like an arrogant ass, my statement really boils down to having a relative perspective for other life situations. For example, if one knows what it's like to be financially self-sufficent (not talking about living on loans here), raise a family, put up with a boss you hate day in and day out, work two or three jobs to make ends meet...at the end of the day, medical school really doesn't look that hard. In short, the path of medicine, no doubt, takes dedication, intelligence, and a good amount of resiliency; however, so do many other potential pathways in life. Personally, I feel blessed to have been lucky enough to be given this opportunity and plan to make the most of it.

Yes, that is one of the initiations/ rituals/ jabs about med school (however you want to say it)
There is ALWAYS at least one unconscientious guy alludding that its a "piece of cake"..

 

[mjl1717]

It's not that hard to pass, pretty hard to honor.

Agree, any knucklehead may pass.. Being "Osler of Hospital" is a totally different thing! [because mediocrity is actually kind of lame]

 

[Kedan]

I agree w/ that. The people I've encountered didn't have a hard enough undergrad or "thought" they wanted to become a doctor w/o knowing the implications of it. Too much TV i guess.

The second point is a little likelier here since most students enter straight out of high school. Even then once they leave pre-clin then it becomes infinitely more tolerable. The only good thing about pre-clin is you can skip school and no one cares once you pass but beyond that it has no redeeming qualities. And for all the stuff we are "taught" we truly learn very little useful information but that's what you get for letting research scientists teach medical students. They teach "pure science" when we should really learn "applied science".

 

[Dedikated2liftn]

I know what you are getting at. I'm no spring chicken, either. I worked for nearly 10 years before entering medical school. There are always going to be significant challenges, with or without medical school. I've dealt was some in my time. Nevertheless, I must say that medical school ranks pretty high in difficulty relative to all of the challenges I've ever experienced in my life. It's hard to quantify challenges, though, because each one has it's uniquely crappy element that makes it seem like the most difficult. So far the hardest part for me hasn't really been the workload, since I'm well-accustomed to working intensely for long hours (although as I get older, it's not nearly as easy to spring back from these periods of intensity). The hardest aspect has been watching all of my friends, who are now mostly all happily married, with 7-8 y/o children, live their lives as I close my door and sit by myself, on my ass, studying insane amounts of minutiae for the nth time. This isn't living, but I guess it's the price I have to pay to do what I love doing, so I guess I really have nothing to gripe about. It just sucks a little, that's all. I'm pretty much over it now, though, and looking forward to rotations.

I understand and agree what you're saying, and I think that you'd have to be insane not to have those kinds of thoughts surface in your head as a medical student/resident from time to time. However, SDN seems to be filled with all of these threads about pre-meds/medical students pissing and moaning about how hard they've got things. Ultimately, I think it boils down to the fact that a lot of pre-meds/medical students know nothing outside of school (they've gone straight from HS to undergrad and from undergrad to medical school). To the OP, I understand that everyone needs to vent from time to time, but damn, take the time to think about how much worse things could be (and conversely, how lucky you are to be entering one of the most well-resepected, highest-paying, personally-rewarding professions out there). Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox...just offering a little food for thought.

 

[ChichiMD]

As others have alluded to above, medical school isn't really that difficult. Now before I get jumped on for sounding like an arrogant ass, my statement really boils down to having a relative perspective for other life situations. For example, if one knows what it's like to be financially self-sufficient (not talking about living on loans here), raise a family, put up with a boss you hate day in and day out, work two or three jobs to make ends meet...at the end of the day, medical school really doesn't look that hard. In short, the path of medicine, no doubt, takes dedication, intelligence, and a good amount of resiliency; however, so do many other potential pathways in life. Personally, I feel blessed to have been lucky enough to be given this opportunity and plan to make the most of it.

Very well said!

 

[Studebug]

I understand and agree what you're saying, and I think that you'd have to be insane not to have those kinds of thoughts surface in your head as a medical student/resident from time to time. However, SDN seems to be filled with all of these threads about pre-meds/medical students pissing and moaning about how hard they've got things. Ultimately, I think it boils down to the fact that a lot of pre-meds/medical students know nothing outside of school (they've gone straight from HS to undergrad and from undergrad to medical school). To the OP, I understand that everyone needs to vent from time to time, but damn, take the time to think about how much worse things could be (and conversely, how lucky you are to be entering one of the most well-resepected, highest-paying, personally-rewarding professions out there). Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox...just offering a little food for thought.

Well said. My corporate employer just announced an accross the board paycut and they are laying off 10% of the work force. So all of these people (mostly engineers) that have children and house payments will be in the unemployment lines. We have know idea who it will be. We just know it will happen the week of April 6th. That is the reality of the REAL world. It has happened 3 times in the last 10 years where I work.

I feel for the single mom's, breadwinners, and people that have dedicated their entire life to that company. We have been told that a good chunk of it will come from upper management. I just can't imagine finally making it to the top at ($200K) so you can live a comforatable life with your family. Then out of the blue-boom unenployment line.

Oh and just to let your know more of the real world. My husband is an engineer (on the rocket to the top list). He has worked for the company for 15 years and just broke 6 figures. Had he gone to med school he would have been out for about 7 years already making twice that at least. Med school is painful but it is worth it!

I am really looking forward to private practice where you work "with" your partners instead of for someone who can kick you out the door if they don't like the color of your shirt.

 

[montessori2md]

The second point is a little likelier here since most students enter straight out of high school. Even then once they leave pre-clin then it becomes infinitely more tolerable. The only good thing about pre-clin is you can skip school and no one cares once you pass but beyond that it has no redeeming qualities. And for all the stuff we are "taught" we truly learn very little useful information but that's what you get for letting research scientists teach medical students. They teach "pure science" when we should really learn "applied science".

This isn't really true for my school. Most of us had a life outside of school for at least a year, and many of us spent several years in the "real" world before med school. While I agree that first semester seems like a lot of BS we don't need, the truth is, that without all that crap from biochem and anatomy, physiology and immunology would be intolerable right now, and the coursework feels important and relevant to practice (I suppose that's curriculum dependent to some extent, so varies).

I don't think med school sucks that much, but then, I have 3 brothers who are currently struggling to stay employed and pay their bills. And as a former teacher, I was used to having people pick apart petty details (whether my wardrobe, facial expression, or paperwork) in order to judge my performance. What I dislike is sitting on my *****, which will change in July 2010, so no big deal.

 

[Kedan]

This isn't really true for my school. Most of us had a life outside of school for at least a year, and many of us spent several years in the "real" world before med school. While I agree that first semester seems like a lot of BS we don't need, the truth is, that without all that crap from biochem and anatomy, physiology and immunology would be intolerable right now, and the coursework feels important and relevant to practice (I suppose that's curriculum dependent to some extent, so varies).

I don't think med school sucks that much, but then, I have 3 brothers who are currently struggling to stay employed and pay their bills. And as a former teacher, I was used to having people pick apart petty details (whether my wardrobe, facial expression, or paperwork) in order to judge my performance. What I dislike is sitting on my *****, which will change in July 2010, so no big deal.

Oh no it FEELS important and relevant but is it really? Of course I can only talk from my experience so your mileage may vary.

And the random petty picking apart will start in 3rd year, just give it time.

 

[45408]

I have no regrets at this point. I was warned a thousand times that it would be hard. The hardest parts of med school definitely lived up to the reputation (some 18 hour study days, 90 hour weeks on trauma, brutal biochemistry exams, studying for Step 1), but some of it has been easier than I thought (some outpatient rotations, lol).

I definitely see now why everyone says that M3 has longer hours, but it's much better than M1/M2. I'm never jealous of the M1/M2 classes when I walk past the library after a long day in the hospital.

 

[Bcblazer]

It's all too easy to fall into the "grass is always greener on the other side" mentality, and nearly everyone is guilty of this. I'm sure it is easy to feel sorry for yourself during an exam week, when you're sleep deprived and your face has been in a book for 10 hours straight.

But the people that you're then envious of - those who are out playing sports or playing poker or watching hours of television (who seem to have it easy) - have their own issues, and their lives are probably far from being lovey dovey.

Being future doctors, we are incredibly privileged in more ways than one, and it would do us well to remember this more often. And I've found that even when life is tough, it is much more enjoyable when I'm upbeat and optimistic.

 

[Trismegistus4]

It's all too easy to fall into the "grass is always greener on the other side" mentality, and nearly everyone is guilty of this. I'm sure it is easy to feel sorry for yourself during an exam week, when you're sleep deprived and your face has been in a book for 10 hours straight.

But the people that you're then envious of - those who are out playing sports or playing poker or watching hours of television (who seem to have it easy) - have their own issues, and their lives are probably far from being lovey dovey.

Being future doctors, we are incredibly privileged in more ways than one, and it would do us well to remember this more often. And I've found that even when life is tough, it is much more enjoyable when I'm upbeat and optimistic.

No offense, but you're a premed. The OP is asking medical students if they'd do it over now that they've experienced how hard it is. I would have said what you said when I was still a premed; in fact, I did, if you search my posting history from 3 years ago you'll find threads where I said the same thing. Now that I've experienced medical school, I've realized I was wrong.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

No offense, but you're a premed. The OP is asking medical students if they'd do it over now that they've experienced how hard it is. I would have said what you said when I was still a premed; in fact, I did, if you search my posting history from 3 years ago you'll find threads where I said the same thing. Now that I've experienced medical school, I've realized I was wrong.

I dunno, everyone's got their problems.