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Biomedical Engineering or PreMed?
I'm a BME student right now, but I've always been on the premed track. This is because I didn't want to just get a biology degree, and I'm also into the hands on stuff. I'm a rising junior, and now, I'm not sure what path to take. Residency sounds like torture, but I fear being in BME is not going to make me money because the job market is smaller and more niche.
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Rita’s Answer
I think what is important is what you enjoy doing. Medical school is difficult. Residency is difficult. Medicine is not easy...people can be difficult.
As a physician, I had a very good salary but my wealth was not from medicine. It's what I did with that money that helped me be financially stable. I invested in the stock market and I purchased houses. I also sacrificed a lot. I had my own practice, worked at least 10 hours a day. At 6:30 AM, I would eat breakfast while reviewing labs and refilling medications. Then, I would go to work. Between seeing patients, you are refilling more medications, reviewing labs, radiology reports, specialist notes, patient questions, etc. I worked on the weekends. I never did the math but I should have calculated how much money I made divided by the number of hours I worked. Medicine is not a 9-5 job. Not only you, but your family will make sacrifices. Every vacation I took, I brought my laptop to refill medicines, review documents, answer questions etc. I've been called in the middle of the night for critical lab results. Patients would call me and some calls were legitimate but others were annoying... I had to repeatedly tell a patient not to call me 30 minutes before work start for an appointment.
Medicine can also be very rewarding. Some patients are so appreciative. You will never know it all and so this job will be stimulating. You get benefits. When my dad was sick, the ER staff knew me and saw my father before others.
My thought is if you enjoy medicine, people, etc, then I would go to medical school. I suggest that you work as a medical scribe...even if you work for free. This gives you the chance to see what doctors do. I challenge you to come in when the doctor comes into the office...not when s/he starts seeing patients. Leave when the doctor leaves. If you still enjoy medicine after this, then go to medical school.
Medical training is very long and expensive. My mom made a comment once if it would have been better to invest the money that was spent in medicine than to be a doctor. You have 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school and a minimum of 3 years of residency. The pay in residency is not a lot.
Instead, maybe do something you enjoy and invest any money you have into the stock market or save up for a house. When I was in residency, I started investing $50 a month in a stock and then I increased that amount when I made more money.
I had a patient who worked at the busiest Cheesecake Factory Restaurant. He started out a server and then he was promoted to manager. The next time I saw him, I asked him how he was doing. He told me, I'm better now because I went back down as a server. The stress was not worth it. He figured he could make more in tips. For him, time was more valuable. Although he made more money as a manager, he spent more time working. He had a salary job, not an hourly job and he figured it wasn't worth it.
Take time to figure what do you enjoy doing. Don't do it for the money because it's not worth it. You can probably make more money as a plumber or air conditioning repair person.
As a physician, I had a very good salary but my wealth was not from medicine. It's what I did with that money that helped me be financially stable. I invested in the stock market and I purchased houses. I also sacrificed a lot. I had my own practice, worked at least 10 hours a day. At 6:30 AM, I would eat breakfast while reviewing labs and refilling medications. Then, I would go to work. Between seeing patients, you are refilling more medications, reviewing labs, radiology reports, specialist notes, patient questions, etc. I worked on the weekends. I never did the math but I should have calculated how much money I made divided by the number of hours I worked. Medicine is not a 9-5 job. Not only you, but your family will make sacrifices. Every vacation I took, I brought my laptop to refill medicines, review documents, answer questions etc. I've been called in the middle of the night for critical lab results. Patients would call me and some calls were legitimate but others were annoying... I had to repeatedly tell a patient not to call me 30 minutes before work start for an appointment.
Medicine can also be very rewarding. Some patients are so appreciative. You will never know it all and so this job will be stimulating. You get benefits. When my dad was sick, the ER staff knew me and saw my father before others.
My thought is if you enjoy medicine, people, etc, then I would go to medical school. I suggest that you work as a medical scribe...even if you work for free. This gives you the chance to see what doctors do. I challenge you to come in when the doctor comes into the office...not when s/he starts seeing patients. Leave when the doctor leaves. If you still enjoy medicine after this, then go to medical school.
Medical training is very long and expensive. My mom made a comment once if it would have been better to invest the money that was spent in medicine than to be a doctor. You have 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school and a minimum of 3 years of residency. The pay in residency is not a lot.
Instead, maybe do something you enjoy and invest any money you have into the stock market or save up for a house. When I was in residency, I started investing $50 a month in a stock and then I increased that amount when I made more money.
I had a patient who worked at the busiest Cheesecake Factory Restaurant. He started out a server and then he was promoted to manager. The next time I saw him, I asked him how he was doing. He told me, I'm better now because I went back down as a server. The stress was not worth it. He figured he could make more in tips. For him, time was more valuable. Although he made more money as a manager, he spent more time working. He had a salary job, not an hourly job and he figured it wasn't worth it.
Take time to figure what do you enjoy doing. Don't do it for the money because it's not worth it. You can probably make more money as a plumber or air conditioning repair person.