The "Why do you want to study medicine and be a doctor?" megathread

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Never really thought about this properly until recently, I suppose for me its the knowledge and understanding I will have of the human body during and after my studies. Also, I imagine there is a massive amount of job satisfaction working as a Doctor, as well as a lot of pressure that would be challenging, yet enjoyable to deal with, and successfully overcome.

Has anyone else got any definite reasons why they want to, or why they chose to study medicine ?

I wish someone would give a real answer, not an interview parrot, to one of these questions. Whenever I see an answer like this, I think the person saying it hasn't done enough work experience. (To be honest, I was like this as an applicant)

Why did I choose medicine? It was either this or being a pilot. September 11th came along and after that, sponsored flight training was scrapped and it suddenly cost about 100,000 with no guaranteed job after that. I then looked at what I was good at (science), watched some ER and thought it looked cool, had a good paying stable career so I thought what the hell and went for it?

Reply 21

Glia

It checks off a lot of "wants" in my dream job. It's science based, I can help people, and learn a ton; but I can also set my own hours (I want a "lifestyle" specialty) and earn enough to support the standard of living I want to provide to my future family.

Reply 22

hoonosewot

Secure job, good pay and an interesting work environment were major factors for me.

Plus i'd just done a year working as a BMS in a lab and realised pretty rapidly that automation had taken all the skill and knowledge requirements out of the job, and i figured i'd at least get to use my brain a bit in medicine.

Oh, and i had a bit of a hero complex as well and (somewhat foolishly) thought medicine might satisfy that urge. Should have just been a firefighter instead.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 23

GreatGrace

I decided to study medicine because I was stirred in my soul by a prophetic book on things to come, written by an end-time prophesy scholar describing the peaceful messianic reign on earth, (1000 years). He highlighted that if you have ever wanted to study for a profession during the church age( our present era) and you couldn't, because there is a supposed limit to mortal body intellectual capacity and what you can know, or lay your hands on;if you dedicated your life to something during this time and age, at that prophetic Christ millennial reign, you will now have a 100% upgraded brain and system function (immortality) to go fully into pursuing your interest without any hindrance... and lots more, including attending to mortals earth then...I do not want to waste any time further, now is the time to pursue my first love that won't go away... else I am assigned as a less interesting role or an onlooker which will be disappointing.

Reply 24

tallen90

Original post by GreatGrace

What.

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-I9100

Reply 25

hoonosewot

NM, just realised i already posted in this thread lol.

Reply 26

Tzarchasm

Before I got an offer, my reasons were:

1) Help others
2) It's a science and an art
3) Be a combination of Goku/Superman/Batman and save a lot of mother****ing lives
4) The unique relationships (particularly with patients) I'll form within the medical field

After I got my offer, I realised that it was Scrubs/House that encouraged me. Thought it looked like an alright job; respectable, money, job safety and hoes! J.D made it seem so cool.

And I'm Asian.

Reply 27

Zedd

1- Because I want to know how the human body works, how it can go wrong, and how it can be treated.
1.1- This derives mainly from treatment that I required when I was born and my curiosity regarding why these things happen.

2- To have as great a capacity in my given field to improve the health and life of others.
2.1- No offence to the further healthcare community (that would include my mother and brother) but it occurs to me that doctors have the greatest capacity for diagnosis and treatment for the benefit of the patient.

3- Personal experiences in which a doctor or team of doctors have endeavoured to save my life or the life of a loved one.
3.1- Firstly, I am thankful to the doctors for what they have done to help me but in asking myself what it is that I want to do with my life I've decided that if I could help others as those doctors did me then I'll be doing something of worth.

Reply 28

spacepirate-James

zzzz

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 29

Zedd

Original post by spacepirate-James

I think for a lot of people, whether they know it or not, medicine is quite a lazy and easy choice. In my experience people who choose medicine are often very good across the board in various things (they don't have that clash of excelling in one area and lacking in a lot of others), hence why you'll get a lot of 'fascination with science' or vague phrases.

Medicine is the kinda go-to career if you're fairly good at sciences, sport, music whatever. The process to get an offer is not even that complicated. It's a series of hoops that you sort of need to jump through (good UKCAT, personal statement mentioning a, b, c, long term volunteer work etc...). This even carries onto the career hierarchy if you think about it. You're almost guaranteed a job and a life plan once you hit that accept offer.

Part of this was the reason for me personally. I didn't excel in one area so needed to choose something that was a bit more universal. A number of things also impacted on my view of medicine and its work environment, work experience being one of them definitely but I would be lying if I didn't think medical TV shows/books impacted me in some ways. Also it was either this or becoming a piss-poor novelist and I'd take job security, decent salary any day.

I get quite vocal whenever a discussion on 'reasons' behind wanting to do a job occurs because I don't think it's as clear-cut as some of the reasons make it out to be. If you really take the few core reasons people say: love science; love the human body; want to understand the human body; mixture of art/science; help others etc... and dissect them then you'll find that they're very vague and flawed. What's more interesting, I feel, are the reasons behind these reasons... GOD, I would love to be an interviewer. :colone:

You would love Derrida's Post-Structuralism. Basically it states that when you analyse and deconstruct (you said dissect, close enough imo :tongue:

) the a proposition (particularly those relating to philosophy and metaphysics) you will find that it is inconsistent or entirely contradictory.

I believe that you'd love philosophy, although I imagine that you'd not be so hot about the career prospects...

And yeah, in general my reasons for wanting to do something are inconsistent, or in some way- unsatisfactory. In the end I just have to accept that I'm not entirely sure why but that the reasons I give (and gave above) are satisfactory in everyday life.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 30

Fission_Mailed

I really can't remember anymore, it's probably because I could not think of anything I'd rather do when I was 16 and these kinds of decisions get forced upon you. Fortunately I'm still enjoying it, so fingers crossed the younger me made a decent call.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 31

HotCoco.

Original post by digitalis

Why did I choose medicine? It was either this or being a pilot.

Same here! :rofl:

I even still think about it sometimes on a bad uni day.

I also share the same feelings about rehearsed, oversimplistic answers at interviews.

I think at the end of the day every applicant shares the core reason to why they want to study medicine e.g love of science, love of humanity. But for every applicant there will be different underlying influences that brought them to that conclusion. It is those influences that are special and unique to the applicant that are omitted far too much at interviews by the applicant. Perhaps the applicant does not feel they are suitable or appropriate for the interview, and maybe they are not! But I believe as long as it's a thoughtful, well worded explanation and true reflection of one's reasons, anything is better than the bog standard blah you usually hear.

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 32

spacepirate-James

Original post by Zedd

You would love Derrida's Post-Structuralism. Basically it states that when you analyse and deconstruct (you said dissect, close enough imo :tongue:

I do love philosophy and Derrida! His deconstruction particularly when related to literary theory and hermeneutics is something that I think about a lot. It's funny because in the past year there have been a number of times when I've skived medicine lectures just to go to my friend's philosophy lectures. :rofl:

It's a great sadness that medics aren't allowed to choose outside courses.

(I am a terrible medical student :nooo:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 33

Zedd

Original post by spacepirate-James

(I am a terrible medical student :nooo:

Edinburgh has a decent philosophy programme so you're lucky (the philosophy of time stuff is always fun), I doubt you'd be skiving medicine lectures for UoA lectures :tongue:

Although my final year looks to be fairly bitchin' for applying to med. :biggrin:

Reply 34

Hippokrates

You can on about how you love science and you want to help people all you like but everybody has much deeper reasons and you shouldn't be ashamed to admit that.

Here's my honest answer and the one I would give at an interview if asked:
A few years ago I had a friend who was self harming. I would stay up with them all night just talking to them so they wouldn't self harm. I could prevent them cutting if I was talking to them when they were really down but I couldn't stop the urges they had. I was watching a film about a girl with an eating disorder and it had a really big impact on me because the psychiatrist got her to trust people and food again. It wasn't even a real story but I realised that was the job I wanted to do. So when I looked into psychiatry I realised you had to do medicine first and started looking how you got onto the course, so I did some work experience. I realised that I was being naive and that many specialities of medicine appealed to me. So I have dedicated the last few years of my life to becoming a doctor. Obviously the fact that doctors are well respected and get a comfortable salary appeals to me but the very first thought I had about being a doctor was so I could connect with people.

Reply 35

Hustler-1337

Because I have Asian parents.

'nuff said

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 36

Sic

Funny, all the people who want to study medicine I know either:

1. Have no idea what else to do in life
2. Just want the money (the lawyer or doctor kind of decision)
3. "It's because I like helping people." (lie)

I want to study medicine too, for reasons unknown. :smile:

It's still a close tie with some other professions though (not law :tongue:

)

Reply 37

hoonosewot

I don't think people are lying when they say they want to help people, I think that's a pretty common motivation amongst students, even if it does get sneered at.

It wasn't the only reason I chose medicine (salary and academia played a role as well), but it was certainly one of them.

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Reply 38

username1002040

Witnessing people dying beside me during a hospital admission made me reflect about the real value of life. Prior to my incident, I already wanted to be a doctor, but just because I had always been an extremely competitive person and I thought that being an excellent doctor was not something for all, but I wanted to show myself that I could succeed in a clinical enviroment before, and in research/academia in my 50s/60s. Then my incident came; it was not an inspiring, illuminating moment, but I realized that being a doctor is not just being an academic monster, it is also about being the line of communication that frustrated,scared,injured people are looking for; at times being a doctor is smiling at someone and telling them that they will be ok, but I knew that other times being a doctor is not crying too much when science is not advanced enough to save a new born, at times it is telling someone that their grandpa won't make it til next morning. Beside the love for people and the involvement with science, knowing that, as a doctor, you carry the responsibility, even if for a small part at times, of other people's lifes and you have the opportunity to bring hope, treat others and, in worst cases, give explanations to those who have nothing else to claim, is something that means much for me and I hope to do for the rest of my life.