At one point in my life, I wanted to become a doctor for the respect and well-paying job it offered. But I needed more than just the desire to help people to justify going to medical school. There are many ways to help people, and medical school requires a special kind of discipline and mental strength. Nowadays, I'm exploring OTHER OPTIONS and realizing that the world is not limited to doctors, lawyers, nurses, and researchers.
Having a medical degree allows you to volunteer your time in a meaningful way on behalf of those who need your unique skills. The material you learn in medical school is no more academically challenging than what you'd see in pre-med courses. However, it requires a lot of time and money, so it can be disappointing to graduate and struggle to find a good job. In a Reddit post, user YeraWizardGandalf shared a Humans of New York Facebook post where a medical student spoke about a demoralizing experience with a professor.
This serves as a reminder that even if you don't have the power of a doctor yet, you can still treat others with respect and professionalism. I went to medical school because I wanted to build things and thought that fixing humans would be more rewarding than building machines. But I found myself having to keep up with everyone else by memorizing material by heart. Although medical school develops your critical thinking skills, it's mostly about memorization.
The opposite is true for engineering, where the material is academically hard but you learn to derive anything you need using the tools you learned in high school. Medicine is satisfying but it's not always the first thing that comes to mind. Sure, some doctors work 80 hours a week while others work 50, but if you started medical school at 20, you also have the option of retiring at 50. The future of medicine is uncertain as technology and private healthcare can take over, reducing autonomy and increasing the cost of a medical degree.
It's important to get all the information you can about the experience and value of medical school before making a decision. Follow-up and clinical experience can provide valuable insight but they don't guarantee that medical school would be worth it.
