Why are people choosing to pursue a career in medicine? (1 Viewer)

[Medman]

Out of my curiosity, I just want to ask why school leavers are choosing medicine as their future career amongst so many careers out there. I remember when I was in high school, I had no fricken clue. So what are the reasons (yes you can give a list) to why you're choosing medicine? Be honest and no judgement will be made.

 

[OzKo]

$$$ & prestige

 

[rumbleroar]

$$$$
prestige

(not my reasoning bc i have 0 interest in med, but i know a lot of people who are in it for the rep and dollaz)

 

[rumbleroar]

$$$ & prestige

damn you beat me haha

 

[iStudent]

Not to help people?

Wow all the med students must be lying when they were interviewed !

 

[Rhinoz8142]

pressure from ethnic parents..

 

[OzKo]

damn you beat me haha

Admin privileges

 

[fatassmcfat]

i like the atmosphere of hospitals
especially smell of hospital toilets........hnnng.....
And its just amazing the idea that all you need is this certain amount/type of knowledge and you can save a billion peoples lives
Its like the closest thing to a superhero

 

[Squar3root]

Admin privileges

|0|; this is clearly more than mild superpowers

 

[Squar3root]

and yeah as above pretty much money and they can say "I'm a dockta, bow before me". IMO i hate doctors

but there are some real genuine doctors but they're all trying to save the world in 3rd world countries - good doctors

EDIT: generally hate doctors

 

[Fade1233]

Help people. Lets see if I can even get in the course though/

 

[enoilgam]

$$$ & prestige

There are way better options out there than Medicine if this is what you want.

I have no idea why I was interested in Medicine - I watched RPA when I was 13 and thought "Wow, this job is perfect for me". I wont deny that money was a factor, but it was more of a checklist item as opposed to a main factor.

 

[Medman]

Interesting responses but I would prefer people who are actually thinking of applying into medicine to comment rather than people who have no inclination to do medicine.

i like the atmosphere of hospitals
especially smell of hospital toilets........hnnng.....
And its just amazing the idea that all you need is this certain amount/type of knowledge and you can save a billion peoples lives
Its like the closest thing to a superhero

I used to like the atmosphere of hospitals until I saw Google offices and went wtf this place is a shit hole. In addition, human excrement doesn't have a nice smell to it when it is all over the floor. Sorry to bust your bubble but as a doctor you don't really save anyone.

Help people. Lets see if I can even get in the course though/

Tonnes of jobs help people why medicine?

 

[enoilgam]

Why do you do it then?

 

[ChristineL]

You get paid more money than working at a nursing home or in a factory.

 

[enoilgam]

You get paid more money than other jobs

Looking at it purely from a money perspective, there's better. Like, the training for Medicine takes 10 - 15 years and in that time you wont be earning a great deal of money. Add to that the difficulty of getting into the degree, the long hours and the like I just feel that there are better alternatives. You can definitely make good money in Finance/Accounting, Law or Engineering provided that you do the right things - these careers have smaller training times and the money isnt too bad either.

 

[Medman]

Why do you do it then?

I chose to do medicine originally because I found science more easily understandable than commerce. I didn't like the research aspect of science so hence did not pursue that path. Now after getting some life experience I am having second thoughts with my career path. Many people in medicine seem absolutely passionate about it and are involved in research which is essential for career progression. In addition, I did not appreciate how much memorising was in medicine which is not my forte. I hate memorising and sitting down learning; preferring to be hands on. Intelligence in medicine seem to stem from how much you can recite the textbook rather than using logical deductions to come to an answer (although people are still extremely gifted in both areas in medicine). Thinking back perhaps I should have picked the dentistry pathway but now I'm starting to be more interested in pursuing a leadership or teaching role. Don't know from this point on what I will be doing but I don't want students to have preconceived false expectations before they enter medicine.

You get paid more money than other jobs

So do you know how much doctors get paid? And what other jobs are you comparing to?

 

[ChristineL]

I chose to do medicine originally because I found science more easily understandable than commerce. I didn't like the research aspect of science so hence did not pursue that path. Now after getting some life experience I am having second thoughts with my career path. Many people in medicine seem absolutely passionate about it and are involved in research which is essential for career progression. In addition, I did not appreciate how much memorising was in medicine which is not my forte. I hate memorising and sitting down learning; preferring to be hands on. Intelligence in medicine seem to stem from how much you can recite the textbook rather than using logical deductions to come to an answer (although people are still extremely gifted in both areas in medicine). Thinking back perhaps I should have picked the dentistry pathway but now I'm starting to be more interested in pursuing a leadership or teaching role. Don't know from this point on what I will be doing but I don't want students to have preconceived false expectations before they enter medicine.



So do you know how much doctors get paid? And what other jobs are you comparing to?

Full time doctors earn around $2,862.30 per week.
Website where I got the info from: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20April+2013

 

[Kiraken]

I chose to do medicine originally because I found science more easily understandable than commerce. I didn't like the research aspect of science so hence did not pursue that path. Now after getting some life experience I am having second thoughts with my career path. Many people in medicine seem absolutely passionate about it and are involved in research which is essential for career progression. In addition, I did not appreciate how much memorising was in medicine which is not my forte. I hate memorising and sitting down learning; preferring to be hands on. Intelligence in medicine seem to stem from how much you can recite the textbook rather than using logical deductions to come to an answer (although people are still extremely gifted in both areas in medicine). Thinking back perhaps I should have picked the dentistry pathway but now I'm starting to be more interested in pursuing a leadership or teaching role. Don't know from this point on what I will be doing but I don't want students to have preconceived false expectations before they enter medicine.



So do you know how much doctors get paid? And what other jobs are you comparing to?

from the experience i have had in the clinical environment, logical deductions become more important than just simple memorising even though i agree that in med school a lot of it comes down to the latter

 

[flashyGoldFish]

So many stereotypes.

The most common reasons would be to help people, a deep fascination for the human body

And if it was just the $$$, surely theyd be doing commerce where they could make more without the gruelling training of medicine