Nearly 20% of Harvard freshman come to college preparing for a career in medicine: only about 7% of them actually end up going to medical school. The number of pre-med hopefuls is even higher at other schools.
Prior to coming to college, most students have little concept of the wide world of potential careers available to them—realizing only when they come to college that medicine isn’t the be-all and end-all for students with an interest in science.
So, why should someone become a doctor?
In order to get there, we have to be honest about the many perks that come with a career in medicine. Medicine is a career that’s ostensibly about “helping people.” But, then again, lots of careers are about helping people—just not as obviously as medicine is. What makes medicine different is that society associates doctors with helping people: Doctors are seen as noble minders of the sick, which can be a great thing if you’re a doctor—people aren’t always second-guessing your career choice, or the value of your work, and you reap the many rewards of implied nobility.
Second, medicine a prestigious field with good pay.
Doctors are well-respected in society (in part because of what we discussed above, and in part because they are highly-educated professionals), and they certainly bring home the bank. Forbes’s list of the highest paid professions features some sort of doctor at nine out of the top ten spots!
Third, the path is relatively easy.
While it may be difficult to jump through all of the hoops, like the pre-med coursework, the MCAT, and the medical school application process, the path is well-trodden, and guidance is relatively easy to find at most schools. Unlike those who want to be, say, entrepreneurs, there’s a tried and true way toward become a doctor.
So a career in medicine does have many perks—but that’s the problem.
Most students don’t move past these perks—society’s congratulations, the prestigious title and the big paycheck, the straight and manageable path—to think deeply about what the day-to-day looks like and what they really want out of their careers.
At its core, medicine is about using science and technology to take care of sick people. That means taking the time to both learn the science and the technology, but more importantly to listen to people’s stories, to empathize with them and their families, and to deal with their often-challenging social realities. That’s what medicine is fundamentally about—not the prestige, the money, or the nobility.
Many students go down the path for the other reasons—they jump through all of the hoops, and in the end, they realize all the perks. But they never really wanted to do the work in the first place—they don’t really want to deal with people, to listen to their pain, or to manage the difficult social realities that shape their experiences with health and disease. They find that, in the end, they hate the work.
By contrast, one of the common characteristics to almost all doctors who really love their work is a love for people and their stories. These doctors would do the job without the money, the prestige, or the nobility—just to have the privilege of tending to the sick and injured in their times of need.
So, when you’re thinking about the career you want to lead—think about it like this: do I love taking care of people who need me?
That’s the only question that matters—the money, the prestige, the nobility can be had elsewhere. The opportunity to tend to people, though, that’s the one benefit that is uniquely medical.
If you’re answer is yes—than medicine is the career for you. If not, there are lots of cool jobs out there for you—and you’ll find one. It just may not be this one.
Good luck with your decision.
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