Why you should not go to medical school
blogs.law.harvard.edu
Why you should not go to medical school
1–10 of 186 posts
Re: Why you should not go to medical school
#2One could say the same for any given field from sports to programming to business to pet-sitting. It's a hard knock life for us all. None of these reasons should have stopped any decent doctor from taking the path. The single reason would be: Don't go into medical school if you care more about money and an easy-going life than the actual field and people involved. And the same applies to every single field.
Re: Why you should not go to medical school
#3One could say the same for any given field from sports to programming to business to pet-sitting. It's a hard knock life for us all. None of these reasons should have stopped any decent doctor from taking the path. The single reason would be: Don't go into medical school if you care more about money and an easy-going life than the actual field and people involved. And the same applies to every single field.
I agree with you to an extent but this article is especially relevant to the medical profession. There is a tremendous commitment to entering it. You must go to undergrad, medical school and residency (with standardized exams throughout) whereas for programming, there is no "traditional" path that you must follow. Moreover, although there is a tremendous reward—financial, societal and perhaps even moral—at the end, that end only comes after 8+ years of extremely hard work. Compare that with programmers, athletes and businessmen who could make millions before they turn 30. I know this number is very tiny but such a prospect is virtually impossible for any med students.
I'm not disparaging the medical profession; I actually go to a school where most students (I'm guessing about 30%) are pre-med majors. If anything, this article makes me appreciate just how much sacrifice doctors and doctors-to-be make just to help people.
Re: Why you should not go to medical school
#4So, surprisingly, this rant is more or less accurate, imo. (I went to med school, residency, fellowship)
I mean some things stronger than others, but it hits on the major negatives as you go through training. I know a lot of these rants tend to romanticize how hard people's own professions are in a "no one else has it this hard" type stance. We see similar "how hard it is to be a programmer" type rants as well. But, I'll pull out the one aspect that I've always felt I lost.
"3) You will spend the best years of your life as a sleep-deprived, underpaid slave."
I do feel like I missed being young (20s) and just having a regular job, enjoying life with my friends. 4 years of medical school, and 3 years of residency pretty much wipe out age 22-29. So I do regret that.
Re: Why you should not go to medical school
#5One could say the same for any given field from sports to programming to business to pet-sitting. It's a hard knock life for us all. None of these reasons should have stopped any decent doctor from taking the path. The single reason would be: Don't go into medical school if you care more about money and an easy-going life than the actual field and people involved. And the same applies to every single field.
I agree with you to an extent but this article is especially relevant to the medical profession. There is a tremendous commitment to entering it. You must go to undergrad, medical school and residency (with standardized exams throughout) whereas for programming, there is no "traditional" path that you must follow. Moreover, although there is a tremendous reward—financial, societal and perhaps even moral—at the end, t…
I'd argue that this sort of article applies mostly to the "glamourous" professions -- things that kids want to be when they grow up, jobs that will impress your nephews. Actor, musician, doctor, certain varieties of lawyer, physicist cough, athlete, artist, airline pilot.
These sorts of professions have a ready supply of suckers wanting in, which means that the competition is tough, the work is hard and the compensation is minimal at the lowest levels. For all of these professions, the advice is the same: there are definitely some cool bits to the job if you can reach the top, but it's a really tough slog, so don't go into it unless you just can't think of anything else you want to do with your life.
But then you've got the less glamourous professions. Accountant. Actuary. System administrator. Management consultant. Less glamourous varieties of law. Pet sitting. Running a lawnmowing business. And hundreds of other occupations which don't readily spring to mind because they don't impinge much on the public consciousness, but which exist and pay well and are good jobs for folks who can't think of anything else in particular that they'd like to be doing. Since there aren't huge masses of people clamouring to become actuaries, junior actuarial positions are actually well paid and generally reasonable jobs. On the downside, your nephews won't brag to their friends about their uncle the actuary.
Figuring out where programming jobs fit into this classification is left as an exercise for the reader.
Re: Why you should not go to medical school
#6So, surprisingly, this rant is more or less accurate, imo. (I went to med school, residency, fellowship) I mean some things stronger than others, but it hits on the major negatives as you go through training. I know a lot of these rants tend to romanticize how hard people's own professions are in a "no one else has it this hard" type stance. We see similar "how hard it is to be a programmer" type rants as well. But,…
I'm dental myself (waay easier than med in my opinion), but I do have friends in med. (Well, people I used to spend time with before they got socked with residency). So, I'm curious: were you _relieved_ to be able to take a different path than working as a doctor?
Re: Why you should not go to medical school
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with you to an extent but this article is especially relevant to the medical profession. There is a tremendous commitment to entering it. You must go to undergrad, medical school and residency (with standardized exams throughout) whereas for programming, there is no "traditional" path that you must follow. Moreover, although there is a tremendous reward—financial, societal and perhaps even moral—at the end, t…
I'd argue that this sort of article applies mostly to the "glamourous" professions -- things that kids want to be when they grow up, jobs that will impress your nephews. Actor, musician, doctor, certain varieties of lawyer, physicist cough , athlete, artist, airline pilot. These sorts of professions have a ready supply of suckers wanting in, which means that the competition is tough, the work is hard and the compensa…
Being a doctor doesn't take 8+ years of education just because it's a competitive field.
Re: Why you should not go to medical school
#8So, surprisingly, this rant is more or less accurate, imo. (I went to med school, residency, fellowship) I mean some things stronger than others, but it hits on the major negatives as you go through training. I know a lot of these rants tend to romanticize how hard people's own professions are in a "no one else has it this hard" type stance. We see similar "how hard it is to be a programmer" type rants as well. But,…
I'm dental myself (waay easier than med in my opinion), but I do have friends in med. (Well, people I used to spend time with before they got socked with residency). So, I'm curious: were you _relieved_ to be able to take a different path than working as a doctor?
It's the sort of thing you aren't fully aware of while you are in it. After I quit practicing, it really felt like an enormous weight had been lifted. Just due to the responsibilities involved.
People ask me if I miss it. I do not. That said, I don't want to make it sound like it was terrible. There was a fair amount of job satisfaction and rewards as well, like most things, and at the time I felt like I enjoyed it.
Re: Why you should not go to medical school
#9So, surprisingly, this rant is more or less accurate, imo. (I went to med school, residency, fellowship) I mean some things stronger than others, but it hits on the major negatives as you go through training. I know a lot of these rants tend to romanticize how hard people's own professions are in a "no one else has it this hard" type stance. We see similar "how hard it is to be a programmer" type rants as well. But,…
... pretty much. I'm doing med school now, and it's been fun. How does one balance this stuff with hackery and such? "You don't" is the answer I've been getting, but I suspect/hope that it takes some clever time management.
Re: Why you should not go to medical school
#10So, surprisingly, this rant is more or less accurate, imo. (I went to med school, residency, fellowship) I mean some things stronger than others, but it hits on the major negatives as you go through training. I know a lot of these rants tend to romanticize how hard people's own professions are in a "no one else has it this hard" type stance. We see similar "how hard it is to be a programmer" type rants as well. But,…
... pretty much. I'm doing med school now, and it's been fun. How does one balance this stuff with hackery and such? "You don't" is the answer I've been getting, but I suspect/hope that it takes some clever time management.
I started MacRumors.com in my 4th year of medical school, which is a very light year. And it grew in the following years. I quit in 2008 to do it (and other sites) full time.