Deciding whether to pursue a career in medicine is a significant decision for any student. You might have first considered being a doctor on career day in kindergarten, or had a formative experience during your college years that sparked your passion. Following a traditional path to medical school, but it’s essential to take a moment to reflect on your deeper interests, motivations, and the various paths the medical field offers. Even beyond the actual decision to attend medical school, there are way more routes to admission than most students realize.
Here are some things to consider when making a decision about medical school:
Explore the Different Paths in Medicine
One of the first things to recognize is that medicine is not a one-size-fits-all career. It encompasses a broad range of options, from direct patient care—like being a doctor or nurse—to more research-driven positions that focus on medical advancements, innovations and policy both in the USA and around the globe. Many students do not take adequate time to explore these different avenues and think critically about where personal interests lie. For some, medical school is not actually right route.
Are you more passionate about working directly with patients, diagnosing and treating health issues? Can you see yourself spending hours a day dealing with patient’s medical charts, corresponding with patients and their families and in many cases, doing similar repetitive daily tasks? Do you see yourself in a laboratory? Are you interests more public health or policy focused, do you want to make change on a broader level than you can via one on one patient interactions? Alternatively, perhaps you're drawn to public health, policy-making, or even being a part of medical education. Each of these paths has unique rewards and challenges, so consider what excites you the most.
Identify Your True Interests
It’s easy to feel pressured to pursue medical school when the path seems so clear-cut, especially with encouragement from family, friends, or advisors. I often joke that “I’m a doctor/medical student” is the perfect response to the question of “What do you do?” at a dinner party. At it’s core, medical education is like a high speed, intercity train and for most, once you board that train you can’t financially or logistically hop off until you reach your final destination. Medical school is a major time and financial investment, even for students with ample resources. While there are a few critical points where it may make sense to depart or change course—after your four years of medical school, when choosing a residency, or pivoting to apply your medical training in a new way after residency—but these are not common or frankly, not easy to achieve. Before you board this train, it’s crucial to determine if this choice aligns with your true interests or if it’s a decision driven by external influences. Reflect on what genuinely excites you about medicine: is it the prospect of working one on one with people every day? A sense of future career of financial stability? It can be difficult, particularly for highly educated, highly motivated students in elite academic environments to ask and answer these questions honestly.
For me, the decision to pivot from applying to joint MD/PhD programs to a joint PhD/MPH program was driven my my passion for research. After college, I worked as a research coordinator learning from the inside how medical research and clinical research is executed. Spending most of my workdays with medical providers, I knew that it would be difficult for me to write prescriptions or complete a surgery and send patients out the door. Not being able to follow patients home and continue to support them on their health journey—whether I was a primary care provider or a surgeon—would have been a constant frustration. Create an honest list of reasons for considering medical school and examine how each aligns with your passions. If you have the opportunity, take the the time to shadow different kinds of medical providers and see what a day in the life really looks like. This practice can help you turn down the noise of external expectations from your genuine aspirations.
Be Creative in Your Thinking
Don’t forget that the journey to a career in medicine doesn't have to follow a traditional timeline. Take your time! For most students, there is no rush—even if you were premed as an undergraduate and knocked the MCAT out of the park. Test scores and grades are good for several years, and medical school will still be there. Allow yourself some flexibility in how you approach your educational journey. Increasingly, medical schools are interested in admitting diverse classes with a range of experiences—from English majors who spent years in the Peace Corps to folks in their 40s who used to be sports journalists! Postbaccalaureate premedical programs or “postbaccs” allow students with non traditional backgrounds to complete premedical requirements and perp for the MCAT—you don’t have to be premed as an undergraduate to reach your goal of medical school admission. I completed a very successful, quite prestigious postbacc program, which actually helped me clarify that medical school was not the right fit for me. If I hadn’t taken that extra time and a nontraditional route, I may not have ended up with a career I love.
Consider volunteering in different health-related areas, shadowing professionals, or engaging in research projects to gain exposure to various aspects of the field. You might discover an unexpected passion along the way!
Ultimately, the decision to pursue medical school should be a reflection of your deepest interests, aspirations, and values.
It’s a personal journey that warrants thoughtful consideration. Remember to stay true to yourself and be open to exploring the many pathways within the field of medicine. Whatever you decide, ensure that your career aligns with what you find fulfilling, meaningful, and, most importantly, exciting.
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