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Kunal Patel: Students should explore options before pursuing medical career

Maggie Zheng/Daily Bruin

By Kunal Patel

Dec. 15, 2014 3:19 a.m.

We all attend college for different reasons, but an underlying goal for me was to achieve some form of success. For a while, my definition of success meant a highly prestigious and financially rewarding career as a doctor.

But after working at hospitals and interacting with doctors over the last three years, I am convinced that the path to medicine and the lifestyle of a doctor is not worth the personal sacrifices for me.

Students who have ambitious career plans – plans to be doctors, lawyers or engineers, for example – should seriously consider other career options before locking themselves into their projected career. Often, students choose these paths for no other reason than that they sound like solid positions that afford social status and financial stability.

But instead of asking whether a certain career sounds “right” for them in terms of prestige and salary, students should actively seek careers that will provide them with a balance of both personal satisfaction and wealth.

Before delving into the core of their class requirements for their major, students should take courses outside of their intended disciplines. Students should try to find other subjects that interest them more than what they are currently studying, especially if they’re doubtful about their career plans.

Even though it may be difficult to deviate from a financially stable career path such as medicine, factors such as job satisfaction should be considered in greater regards to salary when considering career paths.

For pre-med students’ undergraduate years, students are forced to compete mercilessly against other students for higher grades against the curve, internships and research opportunities to remain competitive for medical schools. And despite this, roughly half of UCLA graduates that apply to medical school do not gain acceptance to a single school.

For those admitted to medical school, students again compete against each other for grades and recommendations for specific residency programs that usually determine where doctors receive their first job offers.

Residency on top of undergraduate and graduate studies adds up to about 10 years of education before earning a real salary.

Now, I am not against working hard to reach difficult career goals. What I am asking is whether a decade of education and all the financial and personal sacrifices are always worth the benefits of becoming a doctor.

Even though doctors will still be make a stable salary in the coming years, they are expected to make less than they do now due to expected government cuts in Medicare and increased costs in health care, according to the American Medical Association.

A 2008 survey conducted by The Physicians’ Foundation found that only about six percent of doctors are happy with their jobs. Furthermore, 46 percent of doctors regret becoming doctors and would choose different careers if they could, according to a 2012 survey conducted by Medscape.

Considering the evidence from doctors regarding their incredibly low personal satisfaction with their jobs, it becomes even harder to justify choosing a career after nearly a decade of higher education that may be filled with a lack of satisfaction and regret.

For me, that mounting pile of evidence was enough to lead me away from medicine, despite my initial determination to become a doctor. However, I think the same sentiment applies to other students who select prestigious and lucrative careers.

At the end of one’s educational career, it would be a shame if one’s career choice brought mainly a pay check and little satisfaction.

The great thing about college is that there are so many different disciplines, classes and resources available to students to explore their interests.

Students should take advantage of all their resources to figure out how they want to spend the rest of their of their working lives because it is nonsensical to hold steadfast to a career decision made in high school without exploring other career options.

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