2 answers
umay
Student
Middletown, Delaware
1
Question
Asked
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I just want to ask if I really choose medical profession then will it required all my time? and i will be unable to do extracurricular activities?
like i heard that the people who choose medical they can't enjoy their life like they can't go on parties o birthdays they can't visit their friends all they need is to compromises
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2 answers
Julia Pulgini
Medical Assistant
20
Answers
Wilmington, Delaware
Updated
Julia’s Answer
I believe this is a myth. Balance is key when it comes to success. You can’t be happy if you’re only school focussed and vice versa. You need to be disciplined on balance and maybe every day at 5 pm you turn the computer off and enjoy family/friend time.
Perry Zuckerman
Psychiatrist
26
Answers
Los Angeles, California
Updated
Perry’s Answer
Hello Umay,
I will speak here about being a MD - physician. I can't say nearly as much about other medical-related fields.
It is universally known that a decades-long lifetime medical career, preceded by about 7 to 11 years of medical training [the sum of medical school and then specialty training = residency], is a significant commitment of your time on a day-in-day-out and week-to-week basis.
Now, medical school is medical school, 4 years of roughly the same experience for everybody. It will consume a huge chunk of your time. But even here you can seek a little bit of balance and some free time to at least a little degree. I elaborated more on this in an answer I recently gave to another student, Aaliyah. Maybe you can find it if you're interested.
Nobody here needs much more elaboration on the significant time consumption that a medical career brings, including medical school to begin with. It's a given.
=============================================
Now, that said, things are not absolute. There are variations. Other factors to consider. Some things that are under your control to some degree while maintaining the given that you are a physician. Factors that you may ultimately think about as you make your life choices throughout your years. You want to go to parties, doctor? Read on:
---First, let's not forget that working for a living consumes a lot of time anyway, pretty much no matter what you do. This is life, for most of us. In choosing a medical career, you are not tearing yourself away from what would have otherwise been a lifetime of laying on a beach 24/7. The choice here is not 60 hours of work per week for you versus 0 hours for everyone else. Maybe more along the lines of 50 hours versus 40 hours? So yes a medical career is a lot, but is it that much of a relative sacrifice when compared to other careers? If you look at it this way, perhaps not. Are you really giving up that much relatively? And here's the clincher: Even within a medical career it depends, and including on choices you will make.
---Now, here is perhaps the biggest factor affecting lifestyle: medical specialty. There tends to be significant variation between the different medical specialties and the time demands that go with each specialty on average. So, surgical specialties, and obstetrics & gynecology are well known for being a major time consuming life commitment. They will probably be able to go to fewer parties in their lives [but this may not matter to them]. Next, a large number of other medical specialties are not quite as demanding of your time for the most part. Let's call them the "middle-of-the-road" majority. Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, and so on. Maybe some more parties. Then there are a few specialties that are known to usually have a built-in work-life balance with as much free time as most average jobs and careers. This was one factor in my choosing psychiatry. So you will be choosing the specialty you want and you will decide how much having a given amount of free time will be important to you in making your choice.
But remember, on the other hand, you will fall in love with a medical specialty and maybe the time demands of that specialty will fade in importance to you in making your choice. Do not discount much less ignore this. Many of my classmates loved surgery or ob/gyn. The thrill of being in an operating room or delivering babies will grab some people. Time commitment no longer entered their minds. It simply did not become part of their radar. This could end up applying to you, who knows. But let me stress that these people made life choices that made most of them happy, as much as mine did for me.
---Moreover, even within many of the specialties that there are to choose, you will have considerable leeway over your work-life balance. First of all, there is the dichotomy of private versus public work. On average, private practice arrangements [solo or group] tend to offer greater income but longer hours. Public jobs usually offer less income, but more stable, predictable and shorter work hours. This was the path I chose. But beyond even that, within all of these you will have personal control as to what specific work niche you place yourself in, and the free hours that come as a part of the package that you select, again, if that enters your mind.
---Supply and demand varies between specialties. You may or may not factor that into your specialty choice. A specialty with a higher demand will obviously give you some more control over getting the priorities that you want.
---Throughout your life you will never lose the opportunity to make changes of many kinds, including even possibly changing specialties.
---And of course, there is always money. Income. How relatively important that is to you will affect your work-life balance to a degree.
========================
Let's not candy-coat this. Choosing a life in a medical field will demand a huge amount of your time through the years. Chances are however, that you will love the work that you do, and the longer hours may not seem so important.
But, as I hope you see from all that I said here, you will have a wide range of opportunities and control over assigning your priorities in choosing your medical work niche. And if also spending a decent part of your life with friends and going to parties is high on your priority list, you will ultimately be able to incorporate that into your years. You will be able to do it if that is important to you. It was important to me and I have.
I said a lot. But I could not think of all that there is to say. Others here will give you other things to consider.
I hope this helps.
Perry
I will speak here about being a MD - physician. I can't say nearly as much about other medical-related fields.
It is universally known that a decades-long lifetime medical career, preceded by about 7 to 11 years of medical training [the sum of medical school and then specialty training = residency], is a significant commitment of your time on a day-in-day-out and week-to-week basis.
Now, medical school is medical school, 4 years of roughly the same experience for everybody. It will consume a huge chunk of your time. But even here you can seek a little bit of balance and some free time to at least a little degree. I elaborated more on this in an answer I recently gave to another student, Aaliyah. Maybe you can find it if you're interested.
Nobody here needs much more elaboration on the significant time consumption that a medical career brings, including medical school to begin with. It's a given.
=============================================
Now, that said, things are not absolute. There are variations. Other factors to consider. Some things that are under your control to some degree while maintaining the given that you are a physician. Factors that you may ultimately think about as you make your life choices throughout your years. You want to go to parties, doctor? Read on:
---First, let's not forget that working for a living consumes a lot of time anyway, pretty much no matter what you do. This is life, for most of us. In choosing a medical career, you are not tearing yourself away from what would have otherwise been a lifetime of laying on a beach 24/7. The choice here is not 60 hours of work per week for you versus 0 hours for everyone else. Maybe more along the lines of 50 hours versus 40 hours? So yes a medical career is a lot, but is it that much of a relative sacrifice when compared to other careers? If you look at it this way, perhaps not. Are you really giving up that much relatively? And here's the clincher: Even within a medical career it depends, and including on choices you will make.
---Now, here is perhaps the biggest factor affecting lifestyle: medical specialty. There tends to be significant variation between the different medical specialties and the time demands that go with each specialty on average. So, surgical specialties, and obstetrics & gynecology are well known for being a major time consuming life commitment. They will probably be able to go to fewer parties in their lives [but this may not matter to them]. Next, a large number of other medical specialties are not quite as demanding of your time for the most part. Let's call them the "middle-of-the-road" majority. Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, and so on. Maybe some more parties. Then there are a few specialties that are known to usually have a built-in work-life balance with as much free time as most average jobs and careers. This was one factor in my choosing psychiatry. So you will be choosing the specialty you want and you will decide how much having a given amount of free time will be important to you in making your choice.
But remember, on the other hand, you will fall in love with a medical specialty and maybe the time demands of that specialty will fade in importance to you in making your choice. Do not discount much less ignore this. Many of my classmates loved surgery or ob/gyn. The thrill of being in an operating room or delivering babies will grab some people. Time commitment no longer entered their minds. It simply did not become part of their radar. This could end up applying to you, who knows. But let me stress that these people made life choices that made most of them happy, as much as mine did for me.
---Moreover, even within many of the specialties that there are to choose, you will have considerable leeway over your work-life balance. First of all, there is the dichotomy of private versus public work. On average, private practice arrangements [solo or group] tend to offer greater income but longer hours. Public jobs usually offer less income, but more stable, predictable and shorter work hours. This was the path I chose. But beyond even that, within all of these you will have personal control as to what specific work niche you place yourself in, and the free hours that come as a part of the package that you select, again, if that enters your mind.
---Supply and demand varies between specialties. You may or may not factor that into your specialty choice. A specialty with a higher demand will obviously give you some more control over getting the priorities that you want.
---Throughout your life you will never lose the opportunity to make changes of many kinds, including even possibly changing specialties.
---And of course, there is always money. Income. How relatively important that is to you will affect your work-life balance to a degree.
========================
Let's not candy-coat this. Choosing a life in a medical field will demand a huge amount of your time through the years. Chances are however, that you will love the work that you do, and the longer hours may not seem so important.
But, as I hope you see from all that I said here, you will have a wide range of opportunities and control over assigning your priorities in choosing your medical work niche. And if also spending a decent part of your life with friends and going to parties is high on your priority list, you will ultimately be able to incorporate that into your years. You will be able to do it if that is important to you. It was important to me and I have.
I said a lot. But I could not think of all that there is to say. Others here will give you other things to consider.
I hope this helps.
Perry