my dad, aunts, and grandfather are doctors, and they love it. yeah, it’s difficult, and there’s like 10 years of extra school, but it pays off.

i’m sure it’s difficult, but not impossible.

RE:
What are some pros and cons of becoming a doctor? Is it REALLY REALLY difficult to get through med-school?
I'm an honors student who is intrested in going into the medical field. What are some good colleges (other than Stanford) for this? Is it as stressful as people say to be a doctor? What are the pros and cons? Is med-school really that bad?

PROS: The world will always need doctors. Personal fulfillment of being able to help people is one of the most charitable and gratifying feelings for both patient and doctor. You will the ability to help heal the sick, and have opportunities to contribute to the medical world.

If you are good at consulting, this is a great field. Also, you will have a steady clientele if you are friendly and well-recieved as a doctor. Remember, patients will trust doctors who are in it to genuinely help people – not those who are in it for the money.

CONS – I know many more nurses and physicians assistants who make much, much more than doctors. Inquire with local nursing and/or medical schools. It is also difficult to not attach yourself emotionally to your patients if you have a compassionate heart, and even more so, you’re the “messenger.” You’re responsible for giving the news, whether it is good or bad. Also, consider that malpractice is very real and scary. You will also be working long nights and days, depending on your specialty.

Medical school takes a lot of heart and dedication. Say goodbye to your social life. Studying hard and networking will be key in your med school years.

Also – note this: getting into med school is difficult, but staying IN medical school is even tougher.

Another note: it is much easier to get into medical schools in inland-set states rather than coastal states, i.e. California, Washington, etc. Why? Because people want to be on the coast. Medical schools in Arizona, Utah Nebraska and the midwest states are less difficult to get into, though they are all hard.

Best advice is to ask a doctor and a med school student if you can shadow them for not a day, but a week, to see their typical routine. Ask them about their experience and keep a log of what they do on a daily basis and see if that is something that you can generally see yourself doing in the future.

Best of luck to you! 🙂

The human body is the same throughout the world and you can practice anywhere.

You need not seek employment, people will be after you if you are good enough.

There is no retirement age for practice

The cons are

Now IT pays you much more. A lot of patients also expect you to be more service minded than money minded.

There is a definite risk of contracting disease like AIDS from patients unless you are careful.`

Medical courses are tough and it is usually the top of cream of students who even make into it.

As for Medical Schools most Govt Colleges in India give you the best by way of clinical experience and teaching.

There is a 6% attrition rate in medical school, most of it occuring in the first two semesters. About half of that number are students who are overwhelmed and performing poorly (the remainder leave largely due to financial issues). One can easily construe that if accepted into medical school there is a greater than 90% chance that you will succeed.

I sometimes feel like I’m a lone voice in the woods on this topic, but there is no such thing as one medical school being better than another. All medical schools in the U.S. and Canada are accredited by the same authority (The LCME). All U.S. medical students have to pass the same licensing exams and the test results are monitored very closely. If there was a difference in the quality of education (as reflected by the testing) there would be intense scrutiny of the lesser school(s), with a possibility of loss of accreditation. That has never happened. Every year, U.S. World and News Report magazine ranks medial schools (and the medical schools loathe this). Most people don’t bother to read the criteria for the ranking, but it includes items that have nothing to do with the education, such as the number of parking spaces. The bottom line is that if you attend an accredited medical school in the U.S. you will receive a quality education.

As far as pros and cons of medicine, I think that becomes a very personal issue. Most of my clinical career was spent in trauma and critical care medicine. I loved the intensity, the constant demand of your complete knowledge and skills and the satisfaction of truly saving lives. The down side was that the hours sucked. There were periods of time that I never got to leave the hospital for days in a row. Broken dates, missed events and an unpredictable life can irk some people. After 16 years, I decided I wanted normalcy, so I had to forgo my clinical career. Was I typical? Nope. It may surprise you that the vast majority of physicians have fairly normal business hours. Today, the majority of physicians work in HMO’s, clinics, private offices or have assigned shifts in hospitals. The days are gone when a doctor gets a 3 a.m. call about a problem with a patient (of course, there are some exceptions depending on specialty…and of course, location. If you’re the only doctor within miles, you’re on call 24/7). If you talk with a number of physicians I think you’ll hear that most of them are satisfied with their social life.

There are two factors that should be considered if you are planning on becoming a physician. The first is that you need to accept your role as a perpetual student. Medical is evolving on a daily basis and you need to remain current, not just in your specialty, but in medicine as a whole. The second factor is litigation. Patients will sue if they don’t like their outcome. You may have done everything right, but the patient doesn’t know it…and attorneys exploit that. In the 70’s and 80’s, a physician was sued, on average, once for every ten years he/she practiced. That number is now down to 7.

But when you factor everything into it, I know of no other career that is as rewarding as medicine. Knowing what I know now and having experienced what I have, I’d still do it all over again.