I hate my science classes. Not so much because they are poorly structured, or poorly set up to enable learning and comprehension, but because of my classmates. They are constantly competing, frequently mentioning that they are “pre-med” a major that doesn’t even exist at this university.
Yesterday in bio lab I overheard two students talking about all the work required to become a doctor, and one student said two the other “Why don’t you become a physicians assistant it is two years instead of four for the MD?” The response was one I’ve frequently heard “The money!” And they began to talk about how much money they expected to make as doctors. It pisses me off. Why would you go into a nurturing, caring, healing career if you are doing it for the money? Go be an engineer where you don’t have to deal with real people (sorry Carlos).
I also really dislike the students who volunteer for their resume. They go and volunteer at free clinics only to beef up their resumes and network. I’d rather they not come at all, how deceitful to be taking advantage of someone’s illness for your own benefit, and really long term monetary benefit?
Everyone gets asked the same question when applying to medical school “Why do you want to be a doctor” and of course most will answer “because I want to help people” but I don’t believe most of them.
I really do want to help people. I want to help raza, I want to help the underprivileged. I want to improve lives and the world.
I wish I could brand all the deceivers put big glittery stencil on their forehead with the word “FAKE”.
These greedy, deceitful fakers will become terrible doctors. They will become the doctors that never listen, that insult, that fail to understand the patient and misdiagnose because they cannot connect on a humanistic level. They don’t need to be in this profession. I’d give up my dream of being a doctor if I could dedicate myself to eliminating obtuse medical practitioners.
Don’t forget that some people have other reasons for becoming doctors… namely that mommy and daddy told them to. Those were always the people I pitied.
Hopefully all the stress and work it takes will filter out most of those mo fos before they get into the real world. I think its the same with most professional degrees. People who are there for the wrong reasons really pollute the environment for those who want to save the world ;-) But be hopeful! You won’t be a good doctor in spite of those guys, but because of them. It will drive you.
I agree with Anne, you have to be so dedicated to become a doctor that anybody who’s in it just for the money won’t be able make it that far. They’ll be weeded out because you need that passion to get thtough it all. At least that’s what I hope.
Um. Sigh.
I should mention that back when I decided to go into engineering (my starting salary was below what a junior Costco cashier makes today), there was no money to be had. It was only years later, with the Bubble, that you started seeing people get into computers for reasons other than geekiness. And with the economy going the way it’s going, the money is disappearing again.
Then again, Rich MDs are an American phenomena – in Europe, doctors are respected, but don’t make insane amounts of cash. It’s part of the reason our healthcare system is out of whack.
I do think fields that are *hard*, like science, engineering and medicine, should be encouraged by society. Of these three, only science is ‘optional’, and the salaries reflect it ($35k starting salaries for PhDs? ouch – kinda tells you what we value).
And engineering is *all* about dealing with other people – mostly engineers, to be sure (which may or may not fall under your ‘real’ people definition). Projects I work on routinely require 10-20 person-years to complete, so you need big teams working closely. The main difference is that the members of the team tend to be more rational than the average person :)
right on. i hate charity, and i hate when the well-to-do feel so generous.
Joel/Anne: Hope is a wonderful thing! Unfortunately in my experience (and when it comes to working with, and going to doctors i have it in spades) the majority of docs are like elena says: in it for the money, the presteige, or for research (and really have no business interacting with any person, let alone a sick one). I think that the opposite is true: instead of weeding out the ones in for the “wrong reasons” med school tends to weed people out who actually want to help.
IF YOU WANT TO HELP THE UNDERPRIVELEDGED, YOU HAVE TO MAKE MONEY. YOU CAN’T HELP THE BROKE IF YOU’RE BROKE YOURSELF. YOU NEED TO HAVE A FAT PAYCHECK IN ORDER TO REACH THOSE THAT CAN’T AFFORD YOU…GET IT?
SOMETIMES THE MOTIVATION IS OFF, BUT IF YOU CAN MAKE A CHANGE BY BEING AN HONEST, DECENT MD, YOU CAN STILL LOOK FORWARD TO MAKING AN HONEST BUCK WITHOUT COMPROMISING YOUR VALUES.
I don’t know if you’ll see this comment, Elena, but lots of folks get into teaching to coach (which is fine, but an extremely limited way to interact with kids) or because “you get the summers off and leave work at 3!”. Some view it as glorified babysitting. I feel like it’s the same mentality at work, and it drives me fucking crazy. These are the teachers who need to leave, who are trotting out the same tired busy work year after year. Some jobs require a committment beyond just showing up.