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Why is there such negativity with becoming a surgeon?

When telling people that I want to be a surgeon i get a lot of weird looks.

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Waseem’s Answer

If you want to become a surgeon
You have to work hard and be patient. One day you will be a successful person
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Keith’s Answer

Who knows? But, I would not suggest determing your future goals based on the reaction of others. Weird is one of those words. Don't define your value and life choices by other people. "Whether you can or can't, you're right." - Henry Ford
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Midwest’s Answer

There are many perceptions from medical individuals about choosing surgery as a specialty out of medical school as well as outside perceptions about surgery from non-medical people. The most common negative perception in my experience is the that the training is very long and as a career it will take so much of your time. This is partially true. In reality, all surgical and also medical subspecialties require many years of training (oftentimes between 6 and 9 years), while training to be a generalist in surgery (5 clinical years) is slightly longer than a generalist in medicine (3-4 years). No matter what path you choose, the more specialized you are the longer you will train. The best advice in evaluating becoming a surgeon or any other path is that by and far the most important factor is pursuing a career that you enjoy. If you end up in a role simply to collect a paycheck but it is not enjoyable, a 40 hour work week will feel more difficult than 80 hours doing what you love. This has been true time and time again.

Another element of the "weird looks" you may receive could be a form of sexism either overt or subtle to communicate that it is more difficult for women to be surgeons or that women may not want to be surgeons. This is completely false. Some of my closest colleagues are female surgeons who are key members of the team and more times than not exceed my male colleagues in ability and value to the team.

If you've determined this is what you want to pursue, please join us!

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Pursue what you love and use this to guide your decisions
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