Thinking of turning down medical school

Move the US?

No idea why anyone would go to med school. get into software dev or similar and make $300k right out of a grad program, basically write your own ticket. Graduate with some tiny amount of debt. Don't start your actually career after like 10 extra years of training. Insane

Turn down for what 🎶

As a numerate graduate, you'll have lots of options. Actuary, accountancy, teaching, civil service (eg ONS, DSTL, Met Office...). How's your coding? If you have an aptitude for that then there are a few options. Also consider random graduate programmes (aldi, tesco...). Sounds like you have the medicine option, too. If you want something completely different, law is only a two year gig from where you are now.

You’re clearly being quite thoughtful of this, and should be as it is a big decision. Sounds like you are at a crossroads, so the silver lining is you have the ability to create the life you want.

I’m 5 years into residency. It is a long, long path. I would say that if you are doing it for a “stable career” and “well paying”…..don’t. Unless you love the concept and practice of patient care, or research, or you have a plan in mind for how you would use the degree, don’t jump headlong into what will be the most grueling academic experience of your life (what you did before will feel like child’s play). I would advise you that there are many more efficient ways to have a stable, well paying career.

However, if you can’t see yourself doing anything else and feel “the calling”, then what are you waiting for? I don’t know your motivations and your personality, so can’t go too much deeper. I just know there are a ton of unhappy doctors, and it’s NOT a career you should do for the money, benefits, or career. It is a time suck, and will become your whole life, whether you want it to or not.

What were the factors/influences that led you to apply to medical school in the first place? Just looking for a way out of your current industry?

Your home country plays a big factor in this. Medical residents are limited to 48 hours in the UK. Sure they all lie and work more, but in the UK that might mean 60-70 hours compared to the Us where they are limited to 80 but lie and work 100-120.

Don’t pursue an MD unless it’s the only career that will satisfy you. Otherwise you will be a bad doctor and a miserable human being. I’m a little removed from it at this point in time but it seemed pretty easy to make decent money with some mathematical and/or software skills even with a decided lack of motivation.

I'm 6 years into software development. Teach me how to get up to 300k. I'm nowhere close to that :(

If you are having second thoughts, don’t do it. Medical school has to be an “all in” attitude. It’s hard enough as it is. Think about it like a marriage. If you were having these thoughts, would you go through with the ceremony?

Are you a software developer? Where are you coming up with this number of making $300k right out of a grad program? I didn't get a graduate degree, just bachelors. I've got several years experience and I'm making about $100k. But even with a graduate degree I'm pretty sure similar people to ma wouldn't be making much over $130k. Who the heck do you think is making $300k right out of a grad program? Only people making that money are doing very challenging stuff for major tech companies. No typical software developer at a corporate job is making $300k.

I graduated from college in 2015, a classmate got a job at Microsoft (without graduate degree) for $100k first year out of college and $25k signing bonus. That is still a far cry from $300k and that's for Microsoft, one of the top software jobs out there.

What training options in law do I have?

I tried graduate schemes in the past but I always got rejected. I honestly have no faith that I would get hired in actuary, civil service etc. Not because I can't work at that level, but other applicants have more experience and are just more competitive than me on paper. I have been rejected so many times I gave up. Teaching is an exception. I could walk into teacher training because the standards are very low, but most schools are terrible with behavioral issues and micro management.

Applying to medical school was relatively straightforward. I wrote a personal statement, scored well on an admissions test and got some interviews. I have basically fallen into this because I don't know what else to do. In comparison, when I applied to other jobs / graduate schemes, I had to do multiple rounds of assessment before I even got an interview. Usually I didn't get that far.

I'm sort of having an existential crisis and I don't know what I want. I am also tremendously cynical, which isn't helping.

I know, but right now it's literally go to medical school or work minimum wage.

If you want a job that pays similar wages and is a single location where you go home at 5, try pharmacy school instead. It's probably a more boring job but infinitely less stressful.

What would be best is if you found something you love. But most of us compromise for money or whatever the reasons are.

Actuary requires at least 3-4 years of pretty difficult exams. You can start as an analyst while you take the exams, but you’ll only be making $65K US or so to start. It’s also pretty boring for most people unless you love math and spreadsheets.

Accountants also don’t make much until you get real experience and even then, usually not as much as a doctor, unless you start your own firm or become a CFO, which doesn’t happen overnight.

I think you’ll regret not going to med school. Once you “make it”, it seems to be a great career. If you specialize in derm or radiology, you don’t typically have to deal with dying people, at least not directly.

That said, there are plenty of options for having a well paid fulfilling job if you put in the effort. Figure out what you would enjoy doing and go all in.

Are you stupid? 300k right out of a grad program?? I know tons of people who have been in the IT/software development field for 20+ years and don't make anywhere near 300k. Very few even make 200k, but most make 100-150k, which is still very respectable and high income.

To the OP: My personal opinion is that you should only go into medical school if that's your number 1 choice. Here's my experience: I went to med school and didn't have any interest in other fields (except a slight interest in PT, which has some similar components to medicine). I graduated about 10 years ago and now make about 400k per year. The money is great, the hours (surprisingly to most) are great (in my specialty), and I love what I do. If you can get through med school, it is really awesome. You can meet and help so many people in so many ways. If you have a passion for medicine, I suggest you follow it. There are so many different specialties where you don't have to always deal with sick people. Check them all out.

I'm 40 and just finished medical school, I don't know much about UK but it wasn't too bad to do in my late 30s and now I'm going into Psychiatry and that can be pretty dang chill here in the US with solid pay. Even the residency isn't nearly as bad as most of the specialties. Even if school, I never found a specialty that I had an unquestionable passion for. I like a lot of things enough and frankly the odds are you won't hate it more than anything else. So I wouldn't discourage you from it; however, be prepared to give 100% if you're gonna do it bcs it is a solid challenge for the first year at least.

If you do medical school, you can focus on forensic work after, which is quite interesting.

Not all doctors deal with the terminally ill on a regular basis. A specilzation such as sports medicine might be perfect for you.