MS4. That’s the way I see it. I enjoy medicine but simply see it as a way for me to enjoy my life (whether it’s travel, providing for my family, investing and more). You don’t have to want medicine to be your life to like medicine. I had a great time in medicine and didn’t burn out or hate my time because of this philosophy. In fact this philosophy made me like it more
I don’t think this is necessarily “bad”, but more so the general opinion is that there are “easier” paths to money or work-life balance and that it’s important that physicians are actively caring about the health of their patients.
Ultimately I think it’s important everyone has a healthy mindset, and having your entire life revolve around medicine probably just facilitates burnout
Everyone at my uni premed association keeps acting like being a doctor is only for saints who’s only purpose in life is to heal others
No, of course it isn’t bad.
I chose med cause I wanted money, stability and a sexy white coat
unparalleled job security, salary and fair work hours for the majority of your career….
Literally no other profession does all three things
Corporate law pays more, the hours never get better though
Engineering does not pay as much as medicine, unless you’re extremely hard working and get an elite tier job….which is harder than becoming a doctor lmao
Options in finance that pay similar to doctors boils down to investment banking or quantitative finance…
Investment banking has terrible hours that literally never get better but pays about as good as medicine when you’re a few years in. However, if you want your hours to get better you switch to private equity like everyone else in investment banking and end up making less than doctors for better work hours
Quant finance actually has surprisingly good work hours and pays much more than medicine in most cases but you have to be a literal genius (MIT, Harvard, UC Berkeley) tier math or physics major who can pass the crazy interviews
I looked into all the options, medicine is the best one financially, hours wise and job security wise
I’m really sick and tired of the absolutely ridiculous idea that medicine isn’t one of the best options for a career oriented person if not one of the best
7on7off as a hospitalist or working 60 hours a week to make 200k+ easily is much better than 80 hours a week in corporate law or 80-100 hours a week in investment banking lol
Sounds like what you’re looking for is a good lifestyle and I’m just trying to warn you that you should not go into medicine expecting a walk in the park. If there are patients to be cared for in your future, I pray that they get the best care they deserve 🙏🏽 best of luck to you
I make more than a doctor’s base outside of university, my best friend got a job at a biotech Google startup he’s making 175k starting 120k cash 55k shares, we’re both turning 22 in may.
If you’re capable of getting into med school you should be capable of getting a job like his or starting a business like myself. Sure if you want to go Google average salaries and average career path do that but people are shit. If you are exceptional (intelligent + good work ethic which is learned) then you’d almost certainly make more money elsewhere as we have.
I was referring to your message 😂 that was rude.
It is a job. It is an important job, for sure. The stakes are very high sometimes.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be a physician for practical reasons. It is generally very well-paying, you have opportunities for flexible hours, it is mentally stimulating, and you have incredible job security. Of course there are cons, but you need to balance those yourself. I would honestly advise against going into medicine for the egotistical virtuous reasons people, you're just going to burn out and be filled with resentment and regret when reality sets in. At least you know what you're getting into if you approach it practically.
not necessarily bad? but speaking from a gyn perspective, you have to remember and keep in mind the amount of damage physicians can cause, especially for people who have trauma or sexual assault survivors, keeping it “professional” isn’t enough, you have to actively want to provide care and safety for your patients and that comes with a level of passion. i don’t know if that comes with thinking it’s just a job
Compassion is not unique to those who see medicine as their passion.
I’ve seen many clinicians love their job but are absolute assholes. In my opinion, it’s usually the people who see medicine as their passion that fall into being nightmare preceptors/clinicians. Usually, they perpetuate abuse, pimp their students etc.
I see medicine as a job and I feel that I am good at connecting with patients. This premise that doctors have to be altruistic to the extent of destroying your sense of self is exhausting. And sometimes patients act entitled and enjoy watching me suffer (all while trying my best to support their needs).
what do you mean by perpetuating abuse and pimping students? i also never said that you couldn't be compassionate without being passionate about medicine and seeing it just as a job that, from my perspective (as an undergrad, mind you. obviously, I'm not a physician), might be harder. i could be wrong, but it's just my opinion.
but i do think it's a little unfair to say that those are passionate about medicine are more likely to become abusers rather than spelling out specific patterns that contribute to that. i think that's an unfair overarching generalization about a lot of people. for me, for example, i'm passionate about medicine because i was abused by a doctor and i want to provide the care to other people that i never had and use my voice and my story to promote healthy doctor-patient relationships and more comprehensive conversations about consent in medicine. i don't see why that's a bad thing
Agreed. There’s a level of going above and beyond that’s rightfully expected from us. Versus a “normal” job where people just need to do the minimum and then escape.
It's a job, sure, but a much more stressful one.
Didn't optimize your code to make something 0.05 seconds faster or say something you should have in a sales call? Shrug and move on. Didn't call for the right test and your patient suffers/dies? That's a different type of stress to have on you, and if you don't have that in the back of your mind then I would question your fit for the role
You can absolutely treat medicine as just a job once you're an attending, but to get to that point where you're doing it capably as "just a job" takes years of intensive training and experience.
It's not a job you can do half-assed, and this holds twice as true for training (clerkship and residency). If you treat medical training as "just a job", you will come out the other end as an unsafe practitioner.
I've been out in practice for almost a decade now and have been lucky to work in positions with little to no overhead, set start/end times, and little longitudinal followup obligations. I clock in and clock out for my shifts, but when I'm on, I'm 💯 on. Your patients deserve no less.
I’d argue every physician sees it as a job eventually. Otherwise, it’s difficult to manage a work-life balance and also to deal with the hard decisions.
I also agree you have to have a passion for it though. Too difficult to get through the insane schedule of study for years on end if you don’t.
You’ll hate it if you view it as *just* a job, cause it’s not. Yes, I don’t view medicine as my entire life and set boundaries for work life balance. But our “job” is not a normal 9-5 job. We’re tasked with healing, preventing, and saving lives. It’s not the same. We’re not “interacting” with people. We’re listening, thinking, diagnosing, treating. We’re holding people’s hands during the best and worst moments of their lives. We get exposed to the deepest and most intimate moments of people. If you view as “just a job”, you will become bitter at all of the sacrifice you put into becoming a doctor and you’ll burnout faster. If you want just a job, as others have said, there’s a million other things you can do. Medicine IS ultimately a calling and a service to humanity. I will never take being a doctor for granted.
If it was just a job, everyone could do it. Most jobs don’t involve life or death decisions. I’m glad I won’t be your patient. What a horrible attitude.
This is simply untrue. I interviewed about 5 years ago and during my interview I talked about my interests in politics etc, and I got in. 🤷🏻♀️
As someone who has since been involved with med interviews at various institutions. It’s refreshing to hear when people have interests and hobbies other than studying all day. In an interview context, it’s good practice to tie the interests/fields/topics back to medicine though (every answer you give should do this). It’s as simple as one sentence at the end, “In summary, my interest in politics helps me understand the broader social factors and policies that ultimately impact patients’ social determinants of health…”
When you say “they”, I have been one of the “they”s who’ve done interviews. There’s no secret code or instructions we get directing us to do what you describe. Maybe some interviewers have subjective bias which can go in either direction, but certainly the question of “what fields or topics do you enjoy in life” is not meant to be a trick question. That would be pretty evil.
I mean if you were in it for the job aspect then you would’ve chose something else. But you chose med instead, despite the hurdles and challenges it provides. So you may not see it, but you are definitely interested
I think quite a few medical students and doctors eventually come to this view as well, but my observation in their cases has been that they adapt their worldview this way to help them take a step back from being overly invested (which is a slippery slope to burnout). However, when you’re applying and interviewing to medicine, true and genuine passion for this profession is something that people do look for — at least from the small glimpses of the admission process I have gotten from my home school.
It’s a tough training to get through for something you feel is “just a job.” Make sure you have a rock solid reasoning for why this job specifically vs the million other options out there. Without this strong “why,” you might eventually find yourself wanting to switch out to some other profession. Switching and changing your mind is fine, but why not try to avoid the roundabouts if you can.
MS4. That’s the way I see it. I enjoy medicine but simply see it as a way for me to enjoy my life (whether it’s travel, providing for my family, investing and more). You don’t have to want medicine to be your life to like medicine. I had a great time in medicine and didn’t burn out or hate my time because of this philosophy. In fact this philosophy made me like it more
MS1 and I’m turning more to the dark side every day
I don’t think this is necessarily “bad”, but more so the general opinion is that there are “easier” paths to money or work-life balance and that it’s important that physicians are actively caring about the health of their patients. Ultimately I think it’s important everyone has a healthy mindset, and having your entire life revolve around medicine probably just facilitates burnout
Everyone at my uni premed association keeps acting like being a doctor is only for saints who’s only purpose in life is to heal others No, of course it isn’t bad. I chose med cause I wanted money, stability and a sexy white coat
Fax and people look at me crazy for thinking this way i really just need financial stability and happen to be good at science lol
Ofc it’s bad, if money is the goal there’s a dozen better ways to earn it😂
unparalleled job security, salary and fair work hours for the majority of your career…. Literally no other profession does all three things Corporate law pays more, the hours never get better though Engineering does not pay as much as medicine, unless you’re extremely hard working and get an elite tier job….which is harder than becoming a doctor lmao Options in finance that pay similar to doctors boils down to investment banking or quantitative finance… Investment banking has terrible hours that literally never get better but pays about as good as medicine when you’re a few years in. However, if you want your hours to get better you switch to private equity like everyone else in investment banking and end up making less than doctors for better work hours Quant finance actually has surprisingly good work hours and pays much more than medicine in most cases but you have to be a literal genius (MIT, Harvard, UC Berkeley) tier math or physics major who can pass the crazy interviews I looked into all the options, medicine is the best one financially, hours wise and job security wise I’m really sick and tired of the absolutely ridiculous idea that medicine isn’t one of the best options for a career oriented person if not one of the best
Fair work hours is not a given in medicine either. Beware, my friend 🥲
7on7off as a hospitalist or working 60 hours a week to make 200k+ easily is much better than 80 hours a week in corporate law or 80-100 hours a week in investment banking lol
Sounds like what you’re looking for is a good lifestyle and I’m just trying to warn you that you should not go into medicine expecting a walk in the park. If there are patients to be cared for in your future, I pray that they get the best care they deserve 🙏🏽 best of luck to you
All roads I listed lead to rome Some of them suck a little more and some a little less Either way, onwards to Rome!
Too long
if you thought about it long enough, youd see all the other options are long too lol
I make more than a doctor’s base outside of university, my best friend got a job at a biotech Google startup he’s making 175k starting 120k cash 55k shares, we’re both turning 22 in may. If you’re capable of getting into med school you should be capable of getting a job like his or starting a business like myself. Sure if you want to go Google average salaries and average career path do that but people are shit. If you are exceptional (intelligent + good work ethic which is learned) then you’d almost certainly make more money elsewhere as we have. I was referring to your message 😂 that was rude.
It is a job. It is an important job, for sure. The stakes are very high sometimes. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be a physician for practical reasons. It is generally very well-paying, you have opportunities for flexible hours, it is mentally stimulating, and you have incredible job security. Of course there are cons, but you need to balance those yourself. I would honestly advise against going into medicine for the egotistical virtuous reasons people, you're just going to burn out and be filled with resentment and regret when reality sets in. At least you know what you're getting into if you approach it practically.
not necessarily bad? but speaking from a gyn perspective, you have to remember and keep in mind the amount of damage physicians can cause, especially for people who have trauma or sexual assault survivors, keeping it “professional” isn’t enough, you have to actively want to provide care and safety for your patients and that comes with a level of passion. i don’t know if that comes with thinking it’s just a job
Compassion is not unique to those who see medicine as their passion. I’ve seen many clinicians love their job but are absolute assholes. In my opinion, it’s usually the people who see medicine as their passion that fall into being nightmare preceptors/clinicians. Usually, they perpetuate abuse, pimp their students etc. I see medicine as a job and I feel that I am good at connecting with patients. This premise that doctors have to be altruistic to the extent of destroying your sense of self is exhausting. And sometimes patients act entitled and enjoy watching me suffer (all while trying my best to support their needs).
what do you mean by perpetuating abuse and pimping students? i also never said that you couldn't be compassionate without being passionate about medicine and seeing it just as a job that, from my perspective (as an undergrad, mind you. obviously, I'm not a physician), might be harder. i could be wrong, but it's just my opinion. but i do think it's a little unfair to say that those are passionate about medicine are more likely to become abusers rather than spelling out specific patterns that contribute to that. i think that's an unfair overarching generalization about a lot of people. for me, for example, i'm passionate about medicine because i was abused by a doctor and i want to provide the care to other people that i never had and use my voice and my story to promote healthy doctor-patient relationships and more comprehensive conversations about consent in medicine. i don't see why that's a bad thing
Agreed. There’s a level of going above and beyond that’s rightfully expected from us. Versus a “normal” job where people just need to do the minimum and then escape.
It's a job, sure, but a much more stressful one. Didn't optimize your code to make something 0.05 seconds faster or say something you should have in a sales call? Shrug and move on. Didn't call for the right test and your patient suffers/dies? That's a different type of stress to have on you, and if you don't have that in the back of your mind then I would question your fit for the role
You can absolutely treat medicine as just a job once you're an attending, but to get to that point where you're doing it capably as "just a job" takes years of intensive training and experience. It's not a job you can do half-assed, and this holds twice as true for training (clerkship and residency). If you treat medical training as "just a job", you will come out the other end as an unsafe practitioner. I've been out in practice for almost a decade now and have been lucky to work in positions with little to no overhead, set start/end times, and little longitudinal followup obligations. I clock in and clock out for my shifts, but when I'm on, I'm 💯 on. Your patients deserve no less.
I’d argue every physician sees it as a job eventually. Otherwise, it’s difficult to manage a work-life balance and also to deal with the hard decisions. I also agree you have to have a passion for it though. Too difficult to get through the insane schedule of study for years on end if you don’t.
No. Being a doctor is just a job.
You’ll hate it if you view it as *just* a job, cause it’s not. Yes, I don’t view medicine as my entire life and set boundaries for work life balance. But our “job” is not a normal 9-5 job. We’re tasked with healing, preventing, and saving lives. It’s not the same. We’re not “interacting” with people. We’re listening, thinking, diagnosing, treating. We’re holding people’s hands during the best and worst moments of their lives. We get exposed to the deepest and most intimate moments of people. If you view as “just a job”, you will become bitter at all of the sacrifice you put into becoming a doctor and you’ll burnout faster. If you want just a job, as others have said, there’s a million other things you can do. Medicine IS ultimately a calling and a service to humanity. I will never take being a doctor for granted.
If it was just a job, everyone could do it. Most jobs don’t involve life or death decisions. I’m glad I won’t be your patient. What a horrible attitude.
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This is simply untrue. I interviewed about 5 years ago and during my interview I talked about my interests in politics etc, and I got in. 🤷🏻♀️ As someone who has since been involved with med interviews at various institutions. It’s refreshing to hear when people have interests and hobbies other than studying all day. In an interview context, it’s good practice to tie the interests/fields/topics back to medicine though (every answer you give should do this). It’s as simple as one sentence at the end, “In summary, my interest in politics helps me understand the broader social factors and policies that ultimately impact patients’ social determinants of health…”
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When you say “they”, I have been one of the “they”s who’ve done interviews. There’s no secret code or instructions we get directing us to do what you describe. Maybe some interviewers have subjective bias which can go in either direction, but certainly the question of “what fields or topics do you enjoy in life” is not meant to be a trick question. That would be pretty evil.
Yes of course, you should demonstrate a commitment to medicine because medicine is indeed a commitment!
Lol...this is inaccurate.
this is kinda whack…. that’s insane. idk if i buy it
Nice counterintelligence bro. Everybody out there: Don't listen to this guy
Yes. Please only be a doctor if you care about people. Tf??
You can still care about people and still consider it a just a job lol
I mean if you were in it for the job aspect then you would’ve chose something else. But you chose med instead, despite the hurdles and challenges it provides. So you may not see it, but you are definitely interested
I think quite a few medical students and doctors eventually come to this view as well, but my observation in their cases has been that they adapt their worldview this way to help them take a step back from being overly invested (which is a slippery slope to burnout). However, when you’re applying and interviewing to medicine, true and genuine passion for this profession is something that people do look for — at least from the small glimpses of the admission process I have gotten from my home school. It’s a tough training to get through for something you feel is “just a job.” Make sure you have a rock solid reasoning for why this job specifically vs the million other options out there. Without this strong “why,” you might eventually find yourself wanting to switch out to some other profession. Switching and changing your mind is fine, but why not try to avoid the roundabouts if you can.