Is anyone on SDN actually happy with their decision to go to medical school?

[Instatewaiter]

I am a cards fellow finishing up in a few months so I have a bit more insight as I am further down the road than some.

I personally thought the first 2 years of medical school were pretty great. In retrospect, at the time, the volume of material and Stress associated with tests made it seem much worse than it was. This peaked at step 1 and I assumed it would get better when clinical Medicine started.

You think that 3rd year of medical school should be some life changing, wonderful paradigm shift where it all comes together and it all makes sense. I though, and I think this is common, that third year was a let down. It is the constant feel of being in the way (because you are) and the constant waiting. I mean it always felt like you were rushing all the time just to wait around for 30 minutes. This alone was kind of stressful in and of itself. Add to that the feel that you are constant being evaluated and te fact that your time is no longer your own and I thought third year was super stressful. My third year was probably more stressful than many because I was in the process of realizing that my longtime girlfriend was bat-**** crazy. Once she was dumped and I met my future wife, life got drastically better.

Third year, At times it felt like you were writing notes no one would read, doing physicals no one cared about and studying minutia that was useless. However, 7 or 8 years later your realize just how informative and transformative that year was. Despite these critiques the change in your abilities is astounding during third year.

Fourth year was awesome. Not only did you kind of know what you wanted to do and how to do it, but your time was freer and you got to travel all around and figure out where you wanted to do residency. I have few negative critiques about 4th year other than the fact that internship is looming over you like an angry loan shark. You know you're going to get pummeled and there is nothing you can do.

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[Instatewaiter]

Internship was a completely different beast. I also went to a program (intentionally) that was known to kick your ass. Nonetheless, what I thought was stress and what i thought were long hours in third year were not. You realize quickly that your decisions and actions have reprocussions which if bad enough leads to the death of someone's mother or brother or son. That alone was soul crushing. Add to that little sleep, a new system, sick people and you get one stressful situation. I can honestly say this was the most stressful time in my life and I've been through some sh.t.

But oh my god does it get better. By the end of internship you really are a doctor. You get comfortable in your skin and your decisions as a doctor. From there it gets better and better. You knowledge continues to grow, your in security fades and you find a niche within your specialty where you are very happy.

The transition frOm residency to fellowship is a relatively easy one. Yes you have to learn a new system but you know what to do already.

All in all, I can say despite all the hardship, long hours, stress it has thus far been worth it. I like what I'm doing. It is hard but rewarding, stressful yet lucrative and constantly changing keeping me interested. I would, without a second thought, repeat the journey.

For those unsure or stressed out, realize that literally everyone in medicine has been in your shoes.

 

[Yadster101]

It's been a little over a year since I quit med school and I still maintain that attending medical school for one semester was one of the worst ideas and experiences of my life. To anyone who followed my posts, I went back to my awful manual labor job that I worked between undergrad and med school -- a job that despite sucking unimaginably hard, is still more tolerable than med school ever was -- and I am currently waiting to start a masters program in accounting this coming Fall semester.

I mean, I regret quitting. I thought (and still do think) that being a doctor would be really cool, and I enjoyed patient contact more than I thought I ever would have. Unfortunately, I don't have the capacity to sit down and study at 100% efficiency for hours a day, 6-7 days a week, for years of my life -- doing so makes me absolutely miserable.

Hey man, hope you do well in accounting. J/c but what led you to pick accounting? 3 of my friends that were premed/predent are now going into IT/Comp Sci. Seems like the ceiling is much higher in that field. There are 1 year MS/BS in Comp Sci for those that already have a Bachelors. I also know a couple of people that got ~60k jobs after self studying IT for a few months.

 

[circulus vitios]

Hey man, hope you do well in accounting. J/c but what led you to pick accounting? 3 of my friends that were premed/predent are now going into IT/Comp Sci. Seems like the ceiling is much higher in that field. There are 1 year MS/BS in Comp Sci for those that already have a Bachelors. I also know a couple of people that got ~60k jobs after self studying IT for a few months.

I enjoyed taking an accounting course in high school and more in-depth research showed me that it really suits my personality because I enjoy organization, using and understanding systems and frameworks of logic, understanding how a business operates from a transaction level, etc. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that accounting at the CPA level is expected to have strong job growth throughout the next decade and money is good as public and industry both offer $45-60k/yr starting salaries for CPA eligible accountants and reasonably straightforward pathways to $100-150k/yr salaries. I'm also attracted to accounting because it offers the opportunity to start my own public accounting firm, once I have gained some experience working under someone else.

Like you said, comp sci is another great field of work. I considered getting a masters in comp sci since I already have a bachelors in math and know some programming. I don't think, however, that I would enjoy doing it for 40+ hours a week, so I decided to go with accounting instead.

 

[pre med 2014]

The only hard part about med school is the potential to fail the usmle and ending up living in a van down by the river.

Other than that it's not too bad.