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Should I even consider med school?
Is the money and time for medical school worth it to become a Physician?
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Jesse’s Answer
Hi Allison,
I’ve asked myself this same question. I’ve spent 10 years in undergrad, I’m active duty Air Force, separating after 8 years of service, now almost 30 years old.
All my peers will be 23-26 years old. I still have 1.5 years of undergrad, 4 years of medical school, 3-4 years of residency, 2 years of fellowship….so like 10 years that puts me at 40 years old while my counterparts are 27-30 years old starting their Doctor careers.
I could go Physician Assistant and be done in 4 years. Or go back and do Nursing to become a Nurse Practitioner or Nurse Anesthetist for less pay, less respect.
You have to do the rocking chair test….when you’re 80 years old, sitting in your rocking chair, will you:
A) be proud you were a Doctor
OR
B) always wished you became a Doctor.
If neither, then you’re probably not very passionate about being a Doctor and try focusing your efforts into something else.
For me, I don’t want to sit in my chair wishing I had always became a Doctor.
Best,
JB
I’ve asked myself this same question. I’ve spent 10 years in undergrad, I’m active duty Air Force, separating after 8 years of service, now almost 30 years old.
All my peers will be 23-26 years old. I still have 1.5 years of undergrad, 4 years of medical school, 3-4 years of residency, 2 years of fellowship….so like 10 years that puts me at 40 years old while my counterparts are 27-30 years old starting their Doctor careers.
I could go Physician Assistant and be done in 4 years. Or go back and do Nursing to become a Nurse Practitioner or Nurse Anesthetist for less pay, less respect.
You have to do the rocking chair test….when you’re 80 years old, sitting in your rocking chair, will you:
A) be proud you were a Doctor
OR
B) always wished you became a Doctor.
If neither, then you’re probably not very passionate about being a Doctor and try focusing your efforts into something else.
For me, I don’t want to sit in my chair wishing I had always became a Doctor.
Best,
JB
Thank you so much for the advice.
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Updated
Midwest’s Answer
Allison, the answer to this question will always be personal and it is an extremely important question to ask! My answer is yes - definitely. However, you have to approach this question from the perspective of honest self assessment.
A good place to start is why do you want to become a physician? If the reason is for an enjoyable life style and high pay, then my advice would be don't do it! There are numerous other careers for bright students like you through which you can generate a high salary without the various sacrifices required to be a physician. In my opinion, there must be "something more" than a mathematical calculation to determine whether it is worth it. For me, I looked at many different careers and thought that there were multiple potential pathways to financial success. In addition, like most occupations, there are different politics at play between physicians, hospitals, patients, etc. This can sometimes disillusion people from the career. However, I was highly attracted to the core mission of being a physician which is helping people. This central truth drives me to fulfil this role on a daily basis, despite the long hours, student loan debt, difficult working environments, etc. Beyond this, I specifically chose surgery because there is no other profession where you can accept tremendous responsibility for a person's life and make a profound, life changing impact in a very short period of time. This opportunity combined with the hands-on aspect of surgery was an attractive career pursuit which has made the hardship along the way all worth it!
Specifically in response to your question, I believe the money and time required in medical school is worth it, but you must realize that the money through lost potential income and most importantly your time are substantially impacted during residency training even more so than medical school! Thankfully, there are so many different type of physicians which vary substantially in residency length. Whereas emergency medicine, internal medicine, family medicine, and others are generally only a few years, general surgery is 5 years and if pursuing a subspecialty in either medicine and surgery (including heart surgery), one can generally expect approximately 6 to 9 years of required training and ultimate completion in one's mid 30s or later.
Having completed 4 years of medical school and 8.5 years of training, I can unequivocally say yes, it was absolutely worth it for me!
Next steps include a few points of self reflection:
Why do you want to be a physician? (Write out)
What are some alternative careers?
Will these alternative careers make me happy?
A good place to start is why do you want to become a physician? If the reason is for an enjoyable life style and high pay, then my advice would be don't do it! There are numerous other careers for bright students like you through which you can generate a high salary without the various sacrifices required to be a physician. In my opinion, there must be "something more" than a mathematical calculation to determine whether it is worth it. For me, I looked at many different careers and thought that there were multiple potential pathways to financial success. In addition, like most occupations, there are different politics at play between physicians, hospitals, patients, etc. This can sometimes disillusion people from the career. However, I was highly attracted to the core mission of being a physician which is helping people. This central truth drives me to fulfil this role on a daily basis, despite the long hours, student loan debt, difficult working environments, etc. Beyond this, I specifically chose surgery because there is no other profession where you can accept tremendous responsibility for a person's life and make a profound, life changing impact in a very short period of time. This opportunity combined with the hands-on aspect of surgery was an attractive career pursuit which has made the hardship along the way all worth it!
Specifically in response to your question, I believe the money and time required in medical school is worth it, but you must realize that the money through lost potential income and most importantly your time are substantially impacted during residency training even more so than medical school! Thankfully, there are so many different type of physicians which vary substantially in residency length. Whereas emergency medicine, internal medicine, family medicine, and others are generally only a few years, general surgery is 5 years and if pursuing a subspecialty in either medicine and surgery (including heart surgery), one can generally expect approximately 6 to 9 years of required training and ultimate completion in one's mid 30s or later.
Having completed 4 years of medical school and 8.5 years of training, I can unequivocally say yes, it was absolutely worth it for me!
Next steps include a few points of self reflection:
Midwest recommends the following next steps: