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Dropping out of medicine

I have just finished my second year of medical school and am really not enjoying it. I don’t know what to do about it because I don’t feel there is any point in me leaving now that I have finished 2 years. I could intercalate, but not until 4th year. And then are you able to leave? Will my iBSc count as a usual BSc? Or if I stick it out until the end of the degree would I be able to go straight into finding a new career, or should I do my foundation years to see if I change my mind about medicine? My main concern is that by the time I have completed the foundation years I will be 26. Is this too late to start from scratch on a new career? Seeing as I want children in my early 30s. If you switch career do you start from the bottom on a low salary or as you are 26 and not 21 like a lot of graduates, are there jobs where you can start on a higher salary? It’s a difficult decision and any advice would be very much appreciated as this year has been such a stressful time for me.

Reply 1

Ghotay

Original post by Anonymous

I have just finished my second year of medical school and am really not enjoying it

You've not really explained why you're not enjoying medicine so this may not be relevant, but you're still in preclinical years. I think the majority of people I know did not enjoy preclinical. Lots of lectures and very little of it feels connected to the actual job. Are you still interested in medicine and doctoring as a job? If so you may find things get a lot more interesting soon

In terms of changing careers, if you get your medical degree there are lots of industries you can move into without having to start over from scratch. There are websites, organisations, and facebook groups dedicated to doctors leaving medicine and lots of info on careers to look into. A few options include: technical writing, banking, medicolegal, insurance, managerial, charity work etc etc. You can easily move into one of these fields with just your medical degree, however if you also do your foundation years you are leaving the door open to return to medicine much more easily, and/or locum to support yourself while pursuing an alternative career

If you're really not enjoying it and want to leave part way through the degree I believe most medical schools will offer you an alternative degree called something like Medical Science that will count as a bachelors, but you will need to discuss with your medical school on what you need to do to be eligible for that

Reply 2

asif007

There are people out there much older than you pursuing Medicine and won’t be starting F1/F2 until well into their 30’s and 40’s. So I don’t really identify with your age being a reason for you to quit Medicine. If I was in your position I would stick it out until the end of 3rd year or intercalated year and get your BSc at the end. Then you’re free to go off and start on the ladder in another career.

Bear in mind that there are few careers (if any) that will pay you more because of your age when you’re starting at the bottom of the ladder. Some people who change careers later in life take a huge pay cut so they can pursue what they really want. If you wanted to graduate at 21, you should have done a 3 year Bachelors degree in any subject. Otherwise if you want to work towards the higher paying jobs, be prepared to do a Masters and/or spend time working your way up in a company or wherever it might be. You can’t walk into the best paid jobs straight out of university whatever field you choose.

Reply 3

Zorg

I'd stick it out for another year at least if not two. Your preclin years really are not illustrative of the career, not that a single clinical year is going to do that either but you will have a better feel for the job (especially the early years of post graduate medical training) once you've done a clinical year.

I think your best bet is to figure out what you want from work. What sort of thing do you want to do. Not in terms of specialty but what aspects of work life do you enjoy. Equally figuring out what you don't enjoy is just as important.

Finishing the medical degree, if you can stomach it, would set you up better for work though. Either do the foundation years if you have any inclination that you may return to clinical practice, or skip foundation years completely and just apply for jobs in other career tracks when you graduate. Medics are pretty high commodity. Clinicians even more so.

A couple of years here or there is not really going to make a difference to your long term life plans. Even having kids aged 31 and graduating aged 24, you have 7 whole years of finding yourself/career. Which is more time than you spend in med school or all of your secondary school education if you want to compare the timeframe to some thing you know.