Know what you’re getting into: “So many of my classmates have gotten this far only to realize that they have made a very expensive mistake. I know of at least two people who now openly admit that they dislike medicine. Unfortunately, they are now more than $150,000 in debt and cannot leave the profession. They are now stuck in this job field for no other reason than economics.”
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I came close to walking out early in my third year, but my intern talked me out of it. “You have come too far”.
I wish that I had. In reality, I was not even close to half way. If I had know what was ahead, I might of had the guts to walk out and try the other, less certain road.
Other thought about his post. My other big regret was gaining 50 pounds over the 4 years. There is no way that I could have kept up the exercise, but I wish I had kept my mouth shut instead of stress eating. But the cafeteria had an ice cream machine available free to med students on duty . . .
It is a very tough call. It is not too late to bail out in first or second year and not too much is lost. Problem is that you only start getting a clue how bleak and disturbed the practice of medicine is until you are well into third year and thus significantly closer toward the pint of no return.
I definately would have bailed if it was ruining my health. I started exercising MORE to defiantly show that medicine might break my spitit and bank account, it would not ruin my physical health.
The thing is, we always think we are beyond the point of no return, yet there are plenty of docs who have left to new ventures at every level of their career who have been highly successful in their new career.
I know one MD, who gave up opthalmology for optometry, because he had a young family and he was afraid of being infected with HIV during surgery.
(This was several years ago).
He probably did not go into Ophthalmology because, like you, he did not know how to spell it. He was slos not very brilliant if he did not go into it based upon the reason given.
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