Why Medicine - A new Discussion

**lalaloo** · 17-11-2007, 05:09 PM

I wanted to post this in the mature student forum because many of us are in a similar position.

Having been through different careers or lifestyles - why do so many of us say medicine is our 'dream'. Why do so many of us keep returning to his idea? What makes other career's pale in comparison?

Is it the pop culture view of a doctor? Is it the need to make a difference etc? Is it money or the prestige of medicine?

I don't want this to be a critique of different people's view on the career, or reasons why I should choose - just a discussion really.

I think for me I have always been fascinated with the idea of health and people really and nothing is really quite the same...I do want to make a difference but I also want a career where its a continual learning process...

**Dr Noodle** · 17-11-2007, 05:16 PM

Oi, are you looking for things to say at an interview.

**lalaloo** · 17-11-2007, 05:26 PM

No *lol* sorry I haven't even got that far I just wanted to discuss it with like minded ppl hehe

- Didn't think of that tho - good call

**Dr Noodle** · 17-11-2007, 06:20 PM

Sorry, didn't mean to be patronising there. Just I thought of posting that too cos I was curious. I know why I want to do medicine but I realised people might think I'm just looking for things to say

**Victoria09** · 17-11-2007, 09:45 PM

I'm having difficulty formulating my reasons into a nice little concise sentence to say at interview. I know why I'm applying but it's a bit of a long and personal story... maybe I'll post it later -it'll be good practice for when I 'go public' and people start asking me!

**chris5656** · 18-11-2007, 12:05 AM

Im worried about the same thing. I know why I want to do medicine and im going to prepare for this question but I don't want it to sound like im just regurgitating a pre-learnt speech.

Also...

Why is it forbidden to talk about money as an incentive to study medicine!?!? I think that medicine is a dream career, but the fact of the matter is that I would not be applying to go on another 5yr/4yr degree just after graduating with Bsc Economics if Docs were only paid £20k a year....

**yazoo** · 18-11-2007, 02:27 AM

Most people, if they were honest, pick medicine cos:

They want to do something useful, they think they like working with people, they find disease/biology quite interesting, they want a varied job, they want to do a well-respected job and they want to have a reasonable standard of living. Each of these things will be more or less important to each of us, but generally all are important, IME...

Clearly, this is not the interview answer.

**Gizmo says -** · 18-11-2007, 02:34 AM

many med students ave picked medicine becos they were told to pick it (or sumfing similarly perceived as lofty by a skool/teacher/social circle), or similarly forced to pick it.

in some med skools, i wuld say this was the majority.

if we were being really really 'onest!
but onesty really wont do!

**Catatonic** · 18-11-2007, 09:39 AM

To OP - great question.

To be honest, one of the biggest reason for me it's because I know I won't get bored in this field. It's challenging intellectually and it's a very dynamic field so I won't lose interest. I've tried other fields since graduation but they haven't been able to keep my interest because it wasn't challenging enough. I've always considered medicine but wasn't sure if I wanted to commit to it until I tried other options.

Of course helping people and having a transferable career/degree are huge pluses.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and what Gizmo said is true but for me it had the opposite effect. I seriously got sick of hearing it all the time and I think it actually made me rebel/run the other way. Kind of resented being pressured actually.

**Kookaburra** · 18-11-2007, 02:52 PM

I've been giving this q lots of thought lately too! So far i've concluded that I can't imagine not working with people - firstly, i actually have always wanted to do something useful (cliched but true), but they're also the most interesting thing ever, biologically, psychologically... The whole learning thing is important too I think. I wouldn't want to be doing the same thing every day for the rest of my life - especially if I couldn't see any positive effect in it (which you can if you're a doctor

- hopefully some of the time anyway...)

I know it's your basic, bog-standard reason, but I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of! I can't see any better reason to go into medicine either! lol! Imagine if your GP *wasn't* interested in people...

scary stuff!