8 answers
Sofia
Student
La Libertad, La Libertad Department, El Salvador
8
Questions
Updated
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For people who studied or are studying medicine, what where the factors you considered when making the decision and what was it like the years of university, how did you balance your life?
Hi I'm a senior in highschool and I've recently felt a call for medicine but I have been feeling really doubtful about choosing it as a career. Time is ticking for applications now and I can't figure out if it's the right decision for me. I don't know if it's going to fit the lifestyle I want. In the future I want to be a mom and dedicate a lot of time to that, also I don't want to spend all of my time studying, I'm willing to study hard, but there has to be a time for a personal life. I don't know what information to trust regarding studying medicine, is it really that hard and does everybody regret it. For people who studied or are studying medicine, what where the factors you considered when making the decision and what was it like the years of university, how did you balance your life?
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7 answers
Kathleen Rezek
Laboratory and compliance
109
Answers
Stanwood, Michigan
Updated
Kathleen’s Answer
Sofia, you are wise to ask these questions and do some preliminary research. I would simply say that the field of medicine has many options and some offer better work-life balance, less time in school, and rewarding work. I can relate to your question because once upon a time long ago, I was in the same position. I thought about becoming a physician, but the amount of study and dedication to only the job were daunting. I thought about what I liked most to do: solving puzzles, studying nature, dabbling in the kitchen. I loved biology and chemistry in high school, especially doing experiments and looking at things under a microscope. That lead me easily to clinical laboratory science. It was a great fit; I never had trouble finding a job; the tasks were varied; interaction with people was just enough for an introvert and it server me well for over 40 years doing a variety of different lab-related jobs. So, consider your basic interests, what you love to do, and go from there. It may not be medicine at all, but if you love what you do, you will be satisfied. Best to you!
Kathie
Kathie
Thank you, this was very helpful! Can I ask what mayor you studied in university? I am also considering pharmaceutical science but I am scared I will end up not interacting a lot with people, I am also an introvert but I like to work in teams and some level of interaction with people.
Sofia
I received a BS in Medical Technology...in the 70's. I believe now it's called Clinical Laboratory Science. There is typically quite a bit of teamwork in large labs, like hospitals and large clinics and some patient contact too.
And it's actually a field that draws a lot of introverts, so there is teamwork but not a lot of pressure to continually interact, if that makes sense. Even in smaller clinics the teamwork is more between Physician to lab and nurse to lab, or all three, rather than just lab folk. There's a lot of cooperation, it's just mostly behind the scenes. I am not sure about Pharmacy, but it's a great career choice as far as good working conditions and plenty of options for flexible days etc.
Kathleen Rezek
Rita Chuang
Physician
253
Answers
Henderson, Nevada
Updated
Rita’s Answer
I don't know if you will want to hear my response but I'll let you make your own decision.
First, medicine is hard. There is a lot of studying. This is the minimum timeline unless you can finish college or medical school quicker:
4 years college
4 years medical school
minimum 3 years residency (depending on which field)
So, if you finish high school at 17-18 years old, if you do 3 years of residency, you will be 28-29 years old. Other residencies or fellowships are longer. During your rotations, you can have long hours of work but you will definitely have long hours of work during residency. You will be staying overnight in the hospital during medical school 3rd/4th year at times and during residency when you are on call. Medical school was very hard for me. There was a week I cried every day. There is so much to memorize and I'm not a fast learner. If you are a fast learner, it may be different for you. I recommend everyone interested in medicine to work as a medical scribe. With AI, there may not be as many jobs with scribing but basically, you are typing the doctor's notes while they see the patients. Why do I recommend this? First, you get paid (but not important). Second, you see first hand what a doctor does so you can see if you like the job. How do they handle difficult patients and believe me, there are a lot of difficult patients. Third, you start learning the language of medicine and you are now training how to think like a doctor so when you go to medical school, it will be a lot easier.
You will sacrifice a lot to be a doctor. When your friends want to get together, you are studying or working. You will lose a lot of friends but that's normal. You will have more physician friends because they understand what you have been through. To give you some background, I worked as a family medicine doctor. I worked for a company and later started my own practice. I burned out. I couldn't do it. I think you need to be able to put up boundaries with patients. For my own practice, I had to be available for patients at all hours so my cell phone was on the answering machine FOR EMERGENCY QUESTIONS ONLY. I would get called at 7:30 AM for an appointment when the machine says to call for emergencies only. The office opens at 8 AM. I was already driving to the office. I had text messages at 12AM. I start reviewing documents, refilling medications, and answering questions on the patient portals at 6:45-7:30 AM at home while eating. I start seeing patients at 8 AM. My friend works for Kaiser and when she sees patients, she is there about 12 hours. After seeing patients, she is documenting. She went to part time work because otherwise, it was too stressful. Everyone is different because maybe you can finish your notes faster.
You are still young and you do not need to decide now. Just get into college and you can decide later. Will you be older? Yes, but sometimes, that's good. My cousin went to medical school starting in his late 20's. I had a professor in my medical school class who was 33 years old with 3 years when he started medical school. The oldest person in my medical school class was 41 years old and after medical school, she went to law school! It is more difficult when you are older but you are also more mature. Life is a learning process so there are no wrong decisions.
If you want to be a mom, you will need to sacrifice. If you plan on working full time as a doctor, it will be difficult as a mom. I had a medical student with both parents as doctors and she was basically raised by a nanny. Most women work part time to take care of the kids. You can be a doctor and not see patients in the clinical setting. You can do clinical research which is less stressful but probably not as much pay. You can do telemedicine and answer questions from home and maybe set up your own hours. The list is endless.
Does everyone regret going into medicine? NO. Would I do it again? I don't know. I've thought about this question a lot. Medicine has helped me a lot but I've paid the price. I retired at age 53 which sounds old to you but it's not. Medicine allowed me to invest my money so I can retire early. At the same time, I'm not married and I don't have kids but I'm ok with that because I could not do medicine and have kids. Something has to give. Because I'm a doctor, I have helped several family members and I've been able to get into the ER quicker because they knew me. I got free samples of medicine, had had several free meals, and several of my patients are now my friends. But believe me, every doctor has paid the price.
Why do you feel a calling to medicine? Is it to help people? You can do that as a PA, nurse, therapist etc. Why medicine? I think the problem is that most people do not know what they are getting themselves into when they become a doctor unless they have friends/family in medicine. I wish you luck. You are young. You don't need to make a decision now.
First, medicine is hard. There is a lot of studying. This is the minimum timeline unless you can finish college or medical school quicker:
4 years college
4 years medical school
minimum 3 years residency (depending on which field)
So, if you finish high school at 17-18 years old, if you do 3 years of residency, you will be 28-29 years old. Other residencies or fellowships are longer. During your rotations, you can have long hours of work but you will definitely have long hours of work during residency. You will be staying overnight in the hospital during medical school 3rd/4th year at times and during residency when you are on call. Medical school was very hard for me. There was a week I cried every day. There is so much to memorize and I'm not a fast learner. If you are a fast learner, it may be different for you. I recommend everyone interested in medicine to work as a medical scribe. With AI, there may not be as many jobs with scribing but basically, you are typing the doctor's notes while they see the patients. Why do I recommend this? First, you get paid (but not important). Second, you see first hand what a doctor does so you can see if you like the job. How do they handle difficult patients and believe me, there are a lot of difficult patients. Third, you start learning the language of medicine and you are now training how to think like a doctor so when you go to medical school, it will be a lot easier.
You will sacrifice a lot to be a doctor. When your friends want to get together, you are studying or working. You will lose a lot of friends but that's normal. You will have more physician friends because they understand what you have been through. To give you some background, I worked as a family medicine doctor. I worked for a company and later started my own practice. I burned out. I couldn't do it. I think you need to be able to put up boundaries with patients. For my own practice, I had to be available for patients at all hours so my cell phone was on the answering machine FOR EMERGENCY QUESTIONS ONLY. I would get called at 7:30 AM for an appointment when the machine says to call for emergencies only. The office opens at 8 AM. I was already driving to the office. I had text messages at 12AM. I start reviewing documents, refilling medications, and answering questions on the patient portals at 6:45-7:30 AM at home while eating. I start seeing patients at 8 AM. My friend works for Kaiser and when she sees patients, she is there about 12 hours. After seeing patients, she is documenting. She went to part time work because otherwise, it was too stressful. Everyone is different because maybe you can finish your notes faster.
You are still young and you do not need to decide now. Just get into college and you can decide later. Will you be older? Yes, but sometimes, that's good. My cousin went to medical school starting in his late 20's. I had a professor in my medical school class who was 33 years old with 3 years when he started medical school. The oldest person in my medical school class was 41 years old and after medical school, she went to law school! It is more difficult when you are older but you are also more mature. Life is a learning process so there are no wrong decisions.
If you want to be a mom, you will need to sacrifice. If you plan on working full time as a doctor, it will be difficult as a mom. I had a medical student with both parents as doctors and she was basically raised by a nanny. Most women work part time to take care of the kids. You can be a doctor and not see patients in the clinical setting. You can do clinical research which is less stressful but probably not as much pay. You can do telemedicine and answer questions from home and maybe set up your own hours. The list is endless.
Does everyone regret going into medicine? NO. Would I do it again? I don't know. I've thought about this question a lot. Medicine has helped me a lot but I've paid the price. I retired at age 53 which sounds old to you but it's not. Medicine allowed me to invest my money so I can retire early. At the same time, I'm not married and I don't have kids but I'm ok with that because I could not do medicine and have kids. Something has to give. Because I'm a doctor, I have helped several family members and I've been able to get into the ER quicker because they knew me. I got free samples of medicine, had had several free meals, and several of my patients are now my friends. But believe me, every doctor has paid the price.
Why do you feel a calling to medicine? Is it to help people? You can do that as a PA, nurse, therapist etc. Why medicine? I think the problem is that most people do not know what they are getting themselves into when they become a doctor unless they have friends/family in medicine. I wish you luck. You are young. You don't need to make a decision now.
Thank you, I really appreciate your advice and yes I feel the call because I want to help people.
Sofia
Madison Buchman
doctor
160
Answers
West Hartford
Updated
Madison’s Answer
HI there, I love that you are starting to consider all the factors that weigh into the decision/pros and cons of applying to/going to medical school. You are so right that medical school/being a doctor is a big decision, it is a long and hard and even expensive road.
Being a doctor takes so so many years of training/studying/time away but it is worth it if you WANT it and you can't think of/want anything else more. you have to want it (and remember that) for a really really long time.
There are MANY other careers that help people, that can be in the realm of healthcare/medicine/medical supplies/medical technology/research/leadership roles/advocacy/social policy/engineering and business even. I would also note that you don't HAVE to decide before going to college, or even after you pick a major. Take the first year of college to decide maybe even a few years of college. you can ALWAYS change your mind. Talk to a pre-med advisor. Talk to friends/family in and out of the medical field about their jobs/career paths. You do NOT need to know for sure you want to apply to medical school before or even right when you start college. Many many people have experiences that change their mind later on and that is always ok.
You need to throughout this process lean on friends/family. Always ask for support when you need it. Prioritize your own physical and mental health in big and little ways on a daily and weekly basis. Always have a support system in place for when it gets hard. Take things one day, one exam, one step at a time!
Being a doctor takes so so many years of training/studying/time away but it is worth it if you WANT it and you can't think of/want anything else more. you have to want it (and remember that) for a really really long time.
There are MANY other careers that help people, that can be in the realm of healthcare/medicine/medical supplies/medical technology/research/leadership roles/advocacy/social policy/engineering and business even. I would also note that you don't HAVE to decide before going to college, or even after you pick a major. Take the first year of college to decide maybe even a few years of college. you can ALWAYS change your mind. Talk to a pre-med advisor. Talk to friends/family in and out of the medical field about their jobs/career paths. You do NOT need to know for sure you want to apply to medical school before or even right when you start college. Many many people have experiences that change their mind later on and that is always ok.
You need to throughout this process lean on friends/family. Always ask for support when you need it. Prioritize your own physical and mental health in big and little ways on a daily and weekly basis. Always have a support system in place for when it gets hard. Take things one day, one exam, one step at a time!
Michelle M.
Actress
3276
Answers
Updated
Michelle’s Answer
Hello, Sofia !
I am not a doctor nor am I in El Salvador, but I wish to advise you so you can alleviate some of your worry or indecision. You have apparently explored the medicine/doctor career enough to already know a bit about the education and lifestyle afterward, so I will address that.
While in Medical School, people do not have the freedom to choose how much personal life they get to have. It is indeed a lot of studying, but people have to really understand what they study, be able to retain it and also be able to demonstrate it in clinicals and rotations. You can't really predict how it would be once you are practicing because different specialties, surgery or where you'd work would have different requirements for your schedule. It's okay to set a goal to have a family and dedicate yourself to that. You can explore other health related careers that don't require medical school now and while you are in college for your Bachelors Degree.
So right now, you would choose a college, think about a health care or non-health related career and choose a Major when you decide on a career because your Bachelors Degree will have to align with your career so you can be employable for that field of work. The medically related positions are a bit different in your country than they are in mine, so I will leave the exploring up to you. In your country, you do have Medical Assistants so look into that one first and see what other positions your country has a demand for.
Another thing to consider is that whether or not you know or don't know right now whom you will start a family with, the support factor will be a crucial part of it. There's no way to tell if you don't know the person yet how your life will be. You can't even tell what your work schedule will be at this time. It's very hard to predict and all paths are a journey, cause and effect, and we get surprised sometimes.
So for right now, live in the moment, explore various health related and non-health related careers in El Salvador and take it a step at a time. You still have more discoveries to make while you are enrolled at University, so give it some time. Try not to make decisions based on what you "think" will work, find out what works.
Your doubtful feelings about a medical career are there for a reason, so assess what you really want your life to be in the future and know that you have made the decision independently on your own.
I hope this helps and I wish you all the best !
I am not a doctor nor am I in El Salvador, but I wish to advise you so you can alleviate some of your worry or indecision. You have apparently explored the medicine/doctor career enough to already know a bit about the education and lifestyle afterward, so I will address that.
While in Medical School, people do not have the freedom to choose how much personal life they get to have. It is indeed a lot of studying, but people have to really understand what they study, be able to retain it and also be able to demonstrate it in clinicals and rotations. You can't really predict how it would be once you are practicing because different specialties, surgery or where you'd work would have different requirements for your schedule. It's okay to set a goal to have a family and dedicate yourself to that. You can explore other health related careers that don't require medical school now and while you are in college for your Bachelors Degree.
So right now, you would choose a college, think about a health care or non-health related career and choose a Major when you decide on a career because your Bachelors Degree will have to align with your career so you can be employable for that field of work. The medically related positions are a bit different in your country than they are in mine, so I will leave the exploring up to you. In your country, you do have Medical Assistants so look into that one first and see what other positions your country has a demand for.
Another thing to consider is that whether or not you know or don't know right now whom you will start a family with, the support factor will be a crucial part of it. There's no way to tell if you don't know the person yet how your life will be. You can't even tell what your work schedule will be at this time. It's very hard to predict and all paths are a journey, cause and effect, and we get surprised sometimes.
So for right now, live in the moment, explore various health related and non-health related careers in El Salvador and take it a step at a time. You still have more discoveries to make while you are enrolled at University, so give it some time. Try not to make decisions based on what you "think" will work, find out what works.
Your doubtful feelings about a medical career are there for a reason, so assess what you really want your life to be in the future and know that you have made the decision independently on your own.
I hope this helps and I wish you all the best !
Elyse Crotty
Certified Surgical Technologist
42
Answers
Jacksonville, Florida
Updated
Elyse’s Answer
What about becoming a nurse? You can be involved in medicine in so many ways. You can start as a RN and then go back to school to become a NP, and be able to see patients, diagnose, order tests, and prescribe meds all on your own (or with a supervising MD or DO, depending on where you live).
Prisca Nsan
Final Year Dental Student
2
Answers
Calabar, Cross River, Nigeria
Updated
Prisca’s Answer
Medicine is actually a beautiful profession, but it requires your time and patience, and yes, the long hours of studying are a major factor, cos it is human lives you'll be dealing with. In a case where you are contemplating if it's a good career choice, I will advise you to keep your head up and study the course. You can always pick a specialty that is not too demanding.
babitha asha
Internal medicine physician
15
Answers
Mount Laurel, New Jersey
Updated
babitha’s Answer
If you’re looking for a similar, less intensive, and shorter medical career path, you might consider becoming a Physician Assistant (PA).
Many colleges now offer combined Bachelor’s + PA programs that can be completed in about 5–6 years. For example:
• Some schools offer 4 years of Bachelor’s study + 2 years of PA training,
• While others offer accelerated tracks with 3 years of Bachelor’s + 2 years of PA.
Alternatively, you can complete your Bachelor’s degree and apply to a PA program separately.
You can start practicing after completing the program and passing the PA National Certifying Exam (PANCE). PAs work closely with physicians or independently and can specialize in various fields, including surgery, internal medicine, and emergency medicine. They earn competitive salaries while gaining valuable hands-on clinical experience.
Many colleges now offer combined Bachelor’s + PA programs that can be completed in about 5–6 years. For example:
• Some schools offer 4 years of Bachelor’s study + 2 years of PA training,
• While others offer accelerated tracks with 3 years of Bachelor’s + 2 years of PA.
Alternatively, you can complete your Bachelor’s degree and apply to a PA program separately.
You can start practicing after completing the program and passing the PA National Certifying Exam (PANCE). PAs work closely with physicians or independently and can specialize in various fields, including surgery, internal medicine, and emergency medicine. They earn competitive salaries while gaining valuable hands-on clinical experience.