Four Real Reasons to Reconsider Medical School

Jamie Terran
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read

I recently saw an article by US News magazine written in June 2016, entitled: 6 Red Flags You Should Not Go To Medical School. Written by a current doctor, I found it insulting and inaccurate, so I have decided to share a much more reasonable approach to the process.

I was a pre-med at Brown University, a particularly challenging place to be pre-med, if I do say so. I did well in most of my classes (damn you Orgo 1!) and took the MCAT. I got a job in clinical research after college — like a good pre-med — and got ready planning to apply. Over the next three years of my life, I worked in research and ultimately decided that my dream since I was 9 years-old was no longer for me. While it was overwhelming and somewhat disappointing to move away from my dream, I realized the time had not been wasted. At this point, I had multiple peer-reviewed publications, spoken at international scientific conferences, and discovered what it was like to live a real life. I positioned myself to succeed in the business of healthcare without even realizing it and throughout my journey, I learned to identify my genuine, adult priorities and what I wanted my life to look like. You can learn more about my professional life on linkedin, but I wanted to share that story with you to show that if you have been wavering, you are not alone, and that there is life after pre-med, if that is the way you decide to go.

Four reasonable reasons to re-consider your medical school plans

1. You don’t feel the light at the end of the tunnel

When you are planning to go to medical school, it will be a very hard journey. Med School and residencies tend to have a culture of hazing. It takes at least seven years after college to actually practice medicine and along the way and you will take a series of exams to prove and reprove your competency. If you don’t feel the warmth of the light at the end of the tunnel, if you feel you are stuck focusing on the challenging journey, this may be a sign that you want to reconsider the journey. A surgeon once told me, you need to start out medical school positively, because it will beat you up along the road. You need to FEEL the light at the end of the tunnel, more than the pain of the process.

2. You don’t enjoy scientific learning

Do you not enjoy your science class? Do you not feel intrigued to learn more? Do you have to force yourself to study or just dread showing up? This might be a point to consider in a medical school education. You will essentially have two full years of science education before you even see a patient — in many situations — after which you will still spend the rest of your life studying anatomy and scientific development.

3. The debt feels suffocating

As of 2013, the average debt of a medical student leaving school is $166,750, which paid over 30 years will ultimately cost nearly half a million dollars with interest. This, of course, doesn’t include student debt from undergrad. You can find a multitude of articles explaining the numbers of why not to go to medical school. I do not believe that money (or any of these examples) should be the sole reason to decide against medical school, though I believe it would be naïve to disregard the topic.

4. You never reconsidered going to medical school.

Hear me out. I am not trying to give you the final YES or NO. I want to help YOU consciously go to medical school. I speak to people often who decided not to go to medical school. Most of them say they didn’t know they had options, or had never stopped to consider the alternative. Becoming a doctor is a dream for many from when they are a child. While most of the future astronaut ballerinas move on to find more financially-stable jobs, the doctors push on. It becomes an identity. They become a pre-med, for many people, above all other identities. A quick look at Instagram can show you how true that is. There are many of people — mainly women — who had Instagram usernames including premed/future doctor/doctor in training. For these people, a change has been considered, and I believe that it is essential to make the choice, logically and from your heart, as an adult.

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