Ignorance usually comes from a lack of knowledge and that's why I'm here, to inform you about questions to consider before committing yourself to medicine. You do not want to be 5 years deep and then realize medicine is not for you.
Some of you might have read my previous blog posts about my life during my first block of medical school and might have gotten scared or discouraged or even encouraged. I like to give blunt answers (and questions you should consider) and tell you the truth because medical school and medicine because it is not like a fairytale that most make it out to be and I wish that someone had told me these things.
However, there are many good parts to medical school that I would like to address first which might encourage you to pursue medicine. (If you would like a whole post about this, let me know!) You might also want to think about whether you might enjoy these things!
1) You are learning things that you are passionate about (aka medicine). The beginning might be quite fundamental but you will learn about things that will be important for your future career such as anatomy, bacterias, drugs, and etc.
2) One of my favorite things is working with standardized patients. It makes you feel like a real doctor and gives you a taste of what it'll be like in the future
3) You gain a sense of self worth. Throughout undergrad, you are working for these exact moment so once you get there, it proves to yourself that you made the right choices.
Now, here are some questions you should consider before pursuing medicine.
Do you truly want to help people in a medical setting? Do you have the ambition and purpose?
A lot of people might think this question is extremely easy to answer, especially if you're a pre-med. However, there are many complex parts to this question. I think a lot of times, people see the "help" part and think medicine is for them. They do not consider that the medical setting part completely changes this question. Do you think you can handle telling (and emotionally supporting) a family when their loved one has passed away? Can you handle telling a family that one of their loved ones have cancer? People might be like "this is not helping people" but in medicine, honesty and transparency is "helping people". Furthermore, can you handle blood, bodily fluids, and injuries that you might see only once in a life time. From parasites such as tape worms to gangrene to car accidents, you must be able to handle all of those conditions so that you can help your patients. If you're not able to handle these situations, you might want to consider another field where you can help people! But always remember, the feeling of being able to safe someone's can not be replaced but can you handle the rest? You need to be ambitious WITH a purpose.
Can you see through the corruption of medicine?
This question is extremely important to consider, especially for people who might not have as much exposure to the health care industry. Medicine can be an extremely corrupt system where patients won't get the needed treatment due to insurance problems, patients might sue doctors even if they do everything right, and doctors might do unnecessary procedures. As future doctors, we want to fix and change the system for the future generations and betterment of our community but that takes time so at one point, you must accept the corruption of medicine BUT with the intent of bringing change as well.
Are you able to handle the stress and pressure associated with medical school? (Along with intense competition AND BURN OUT)
As I mentioned before, 12+ hour study days will become the norm. However, can you handle being burned out after almost every single week? Can you handle feeling emotionally drained throughout the week while still completing all of the necessary work? Do you have a coping mechanism that can help you deal with these situations? I will talk more about burn out in a future post.
Are you able to adapt extremely quickly to uncomfortable circumstances?
Can you quickly adjust to a professor's teaching style? Are you able to handle medical problems that you might not be completely comfortable with? Can you ask questions that might be uncomfortable?
Are you resume and grades adequate or do you need to look into another program to get to the state of "being ready" for medical school?
This one might seem obvious but only YOU can know when you're ready. Don't let society tell you that you're ready or not. You can have the grades but not feel like you have the maturity to be a doctor and would rather complete a master's program before applying. Or you might need to build up your resume and grades and a masters program might help you like that. You MUST be brutally honest with yourself.
Once you can answer yes to all of the questions above, only then are you are ready for medical school and medicine in general. Remember, the struggle will be worth it at the end for those who BELIEVE it will be. You must have faith in the process!! Stay tuned for a post about burn out!
I don't know why you're acting like you're such an expert on med school admissions. You barely got in and are going to CMU for med school tf