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

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Original post by 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:)


It's not a lie as such, it's just a bit of a lazy way of terming it, and yes it has been overused - but if an applicant were to explain in which specific ways doctors help people and why that appeals to them, I'd say fair play to them. Nothing wrong with wanting to provide support to someone, especially when they could be going through some of the toughest moments of their life.
Reply 41
Avatar for nombo
nombo
13
How do you answer 'Why doctor not nurse?'?
Original post by nombo
How do you answer 'Why doctor not nurse?'?


think about your work experience
Original post by nombo
How do you answer 'Why doctor not nurse?'?
Although I recognize that nursing is an interesting and rewarding profession, one thing that highly attracts me of Medicine, as a subject before and as a career after, is that it gives you the opportunity to study the functioning of the human body and to apply your knowledge in this field. What I mean is that, by studying Medicine, you are also a pro per science student, which is something I have experienced at high school and I want to pursue at a deeper level at your university. In addition, as I have seen when -insert something from your work experience-, being a doctor also means making ultimate decisions and carrying great responsibilies about the patient's health. I would not want to sound arrogant or pretentious, but I feel that my leadership capacities fits more with a career in medicine rather than one in nursing.more or less this is how I would go for that question. I would really appreciate If someone could provide a feedback/critics to this answer :smile:
Reply 44
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nombo
13
Original post by kolatytler
Although I recognize that nursing is an interesting and rewarding profession, one thing that highly attracts me of Medicine, as a subject before and as a career after, is that it gives you the opportunity to study the functioning of the human body and to apply your knowledge in this field. What I mean is that, by studying Medicine, you are also a pro per science student, which is something I have experienced at high school and I want to pursue at a deeper level at your university. In addition, as I have seen when -insert something from your work experience-, being a doctor also means making ultimate decisions and carrying great responsibilies about the patient's health. I would not want to sound arrogant or pretentious, but I feel that my leadership capacities fits more with a career in medicine rather than one in nursing.more or less this is how I would go for that question. I would really appreciate If someone could provide a feedback/critics to this answer :smile:


Sorry, I thought I already replied. Basically, this is a really good answer! I couldn't do it this fluently, I always sound like I'm up myself and you couldn't have done a better answer! It wasn't wishy-washy but you kept it so PC. Well done! :biggrin: I'm impressed!
Original post by kolatytler
Although I recognize that nursing is an interesting and rewarding profession, one thing that highly attracts me of Medicine, as a subject before and as a career after, is that it gives you the opportunity to study the functioning of the human body and to apply your knowledge in this field. What I mean is that, by studying Medicine, you are also a pro per science student, which is something I have experienced at high school and I want to pursue at a deeper level at your university. In addition, as I have seen when -insert something from your work experience-, being a doctor also means making ultimate decisions and carrying great responsibilies about the patient's health. I would not want to sound arrogant or pretentious, but I feel that my leadership capacities fits more with a career in medicine rather than one in nursing.more or less this is how I would go for that question. I would really appreciate If someone could provide a feedback/critics to this answer :smile:


you study the body in nursing, you still have to have knowledge of how the body works to be a nurse.
Original post by Hippokrates
you study the body in nursing, you still have to have knowledge of how the body works to be a nurse.
not at the same level as a doctor, correct me if i'm wrong
Original post by kolatytler
not at the same level as a doctor, correct me if i'm wrong


No but I'm just saying that you shouldn't just say I want to learn about the body you should say learn about it in more detail. The way you wrote the answer sounded like nurses don't learn any at all.
Reply 48
Avatar for Ephemera
Ephemera
Green Wing. That is all.

But in all seriousness, as it's such a vital part in people's lives, it's so diverse, so you pretty much learn something new everyday, and you get to interact with people who may be in circumstances different than yours and it does open your eyes a bit.

But... Green Wing. I wouldn't mind doing cartwheels around a hospital.
Because I really want to be like House, lonely and a drug addict :P But in all seriousness medicine is a great career if you can cope with the responsibility that it brings :smile:
Original post by kolatytler
not at the same level as a doctor, correct me if i'm wrong


You're not wrong, the anatomy and physiology in nursing textbooks is a touch above A level standard.
This is the honest reason why I'd like to study medicine, is there anything I should/shouldn't say?

I want to be a doctor because I want to be the one in control of a situation. I want to know what to do when I see someone suffering and I want people to come to me to ask what to do next. When you're a doctor people have faith in your judgement and trust you to make them better, I want that to be what I do for a living.
Original post by kolatytler
not at the same level as a doctor, correct me if i'm wrong


You're wrong, I have had A&P lectures alongside the medics and I know a lot of medics they learn similar stuff. This was A&P without disease processes and pathophysiology though I imagine medics go into more depth, nurses still learn in depth pathophysiology though.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by carolinekunft
This is the honest reason why I'd like to study medicine, is there anything I should/shouldn't say?

I want to be a doctor because I want to be the one in control of a situation. I want to know what to do when I see someone suffering and I want people to come to me to ask what to do next. When you're a doctor people have faith in your judgement and trust you to make them better, I want that to be what I do for a living.


This makes you sound power hungry like you just want to be important. You should say things like I want to be the person patients feel comfortable with talking about about their problems too rather than "I'll tell them what to do".
Reply 54
Avatar for LIzzieWoo
LIzzieWoo
6
Original post by nombo
How do you answer 'Why doctor not nurse?'?


Doctor's diagnose, nurses cure!

I wil not argue one over the other but suggest some of their differences.

On a more serious note doctors have more patients to look after, they approach things form a medical and technical perspective. the ultimate decision lies with them, if a nurse feels the medication is not working they have to consult the doctor and only the doctor has the final say. Unless if it is the opinion from an advanced nurse practitioner over an F1/F2 doctor??

Nurses carry out the doctors orders, design care plans, approach patients from a holistic point of view and provide personal care. Form my own personal experience, junior doctors find it more difficult to communicate with patients as supposed to a newly qualified nurse, because there is less communication skills emphasised in the medical programme. But there is no reason why anyone shouldn't be able to communicate effectively, just feel confident and be more approachable. Anyway, that was the impression I got. Nurses have less patients to manage so they spend more time with each patient and report patient response to medication to the doctors during ward rounds. Yes, doctors learn much more in depth in, obviously, since it is a longer degree. For instance a student nurse is taught that warfarin is an anti-coagulant but a medical student will be expected to know the pharmacokinetics and and pharmacodynamics.

feel free to add more ...
Im applying for postgraduate nursing after my biomedical sciences degree, but plenty of my friends are applying for medical school. I admire anyone aspiring for a career in healthcare xx
Reply 55
Avatar for Sherbet
Sherbet
8
Original post by kolatytler
Although I recognize that nursing is an interesting and rewarding profession, one thing that highly attracts me of Medicine, as a subject before and as a career after, is that it gives you the opportunity to study the functioning of the human body and to apply your knowledge in this field. What I mean is that, by studying Medicine, you are also a pro per science student, which is something I have experienced at high school and I want to pursue at a deeper level at your university. In addition, as I have seen when -insert something from your work experience-, being a doctor also means making ultimate decisions and carrying great responsibilies about the patient's health. I would not want to sound arrogant or pretentious, but I feel that my leadership capacities fits more with a career in medicine rather than one in nursing.more or less this is how I would go for that question. I would really appreciate If someone could provide a feedback/critics to this answer :smile:


-Give evidence that you have seen/experienced both during work experience.
-Nurses still study the human body in quite a lot of detail, don't bash them down, you could have one interviewing you! Don't say you want to be a proper science student, why not go study biomed? Say that you want the challenge and stimulation.
-For a long time in medicine you will not be the leader, say that you'd like to develop your leadership skills further and that managing a team as a doctor is something that appeals to you.
-Don't mention that you don't want to sound arrogant, what you're saying should be polite and respectful so that it doesn't need to be justified :smile:.
-You could say you're interested in a wider variety of specialities, e.g. paeds or psychiatry rather than child nursing or mental health nursing.
-Acknowledge the role of nurse practitioners and prescribes.
-You can also talk about autonomy.
Reply 56
Avatar for Sherbet
Sherbet
8
Original post by carolinekunft
This is the honest reason why I'd like to study medicine, is there anything I should/shouldn't say?

I want to be a doctor because I want to be the one in control of a situation. I want to know what to do when I see someone suffering and I want people to come to me to ask what to do next. When you're a doctor people have faith in your judgement and trust you to make them better, I want that to be what I do for a living.


A MASSIVE part of medicine is work as part of a multi disciplinary team, it's essential that you demonstrate that you understand this. And also that it will be a long time before you're top dog consultant with total responsibility.

You could say you are interested in diagnosis, doctors diagnose whereas nurses have more of a caring role. E.g. you're interested in the pathology of disease and the mechanisms for drug actions. That you're considering surgery etc etc.

People can trust you to make them better, but sadly you won't always be able to. Just be careful not to sound like you're on some sort of power trip :smile:.
Reply 57
Avatar for Sereni
Sereni
14
As someone who doesn't have to worry about the interviewers response to my answer I can answer totally honestly when I say:

1) my strengths have always been in the sciences so when considering what to do next I wanted a career I could get into with those strengths

2) I love the straight forwardness of it, yea it's a brutal journey, but its a pretty safe road for life, yea you can take different routes to different specialisations etc but at the end of the day it's pretty safe career.

3) It is a very satisfying career, you are doing good, helping people and making a difference, and at the same time being intellectually challenged constantly.

4) the salaries are really quite good. Pre med school there was this taboo about the financials of it all. If you mention money in Your interview then you immediately are dismissed as only caring about the money and should go be an investment banker etc. The fact is though that there is nothing wrong about wanting an altruistic job that also pays quite decently, and yes there are better paid jobs, but there are also loads of worse paid ones.

5) scrubs

I think this is a mean interview question as honestly most applicants don't know that much about what it means to be a doctor and almost all of them are at an age where they could do anything with their lives. I liked and agree with all of the reasons why people want to be doctors, and all of them are true. At the end of the day it's a great career, what more really needs to be said?
Reply 58
Avatar for Sereni
Sereni
14
Original post by Hippokrates
This makes you sound power hungry like you just want to be important. You should say things like I want to be the person patients feel comfortable with talking about about their problems too rather than "I'll tell them what to do".


/agree there is a lot of emphasis in our course about moving from the old fashioned paternalistic model of healthcare 'docs always right' to the mutualistic model of working with patients, had a whole lecture on it
Being a doctor is very demanding. There is a teacher in my school who quit medicine because it got to her emotionally and the amount of stress was tiring.but the again, nobody said it was gonna be easy.

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