I’m a 21 year old who plans on going to med school soon. In these four years of med school, I’m going to have to pick my speciality that I will likely be doing for the rest of my life.
I recently shadowed a CT surgeon. This dude works insane hours. As in, he does one eight hour procedure (8:00 AM – 4:00 PM), does two hours of food and research (4:00 PM – 6:00 PM) gets called in for two 6 hour procedures over night (6:30 PM – 6:00 AM), then shows up for work at 8:00 AM for his next 6 hour surgery. All of the procedures are standing, too. The issue is… I kind of like it.
My family is telling me that I’ll want a family life and kids. Personally, the idea of dedicating the rest of my life to nothing except medicine is also kind of daunting. I already didn’t have a college experience because of graduating early and commuting in the two years I went to college, and I still have a little bit of FOMO over a lack of a social life. But the work looks cool to 20 year old me.
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As someone with a 30+ year professional career, you can’t really predict it. All you can go with is just interests, passions, and talents that you have now. As they say, life happens while you’re making plans.
Many people predict wrongly. Make of list of things you like, things you’re good at, and things they make a lot of money. Try to intersect all 3 to maximize your outcome
People also go through career changes all the time. It’s water to pivot to some than others.
If you really don’t know what to do, major in stem fields. At least you’ll have access to a high paying job
Assume that you will be burnt out and tired of working long hours by then. Do that in your 20’s to get yourself established financially, start trying to transition out of it in your 30’s and ideally have great work-life balance in your 40’s and 50’s.
No matter how much energy you have at work right now or how much you love what you’re doing, recognize that after doing it for another 10 – 15 years you’re going to be real fucking sick of it and will want to spend more time away from work and less time outside of work thinking about anything resembling your job/work.
The work in my industry looked cool to 20 year old me too and I couldn’t imagine a world where I wouldn’t be excited to do it everyday. 15 years later I’m actively investing and planning for passive income so I can get the fuck away from it and do something less intense and more laid back without sacrificing the high income.
Then again, I do corporate technical consulting work, I’m not saving lives and ultimately beyond how much money it puts in my pocket nothing I work on really matters or is remotely fulfilling. Maybe medicine would be different for you?
But I would be cautious about assuming you’ll feel exactly the same about work in your 30’s and beyond as you did in your 20’s. You aren’t saddled with over a decade of burnout and disappointment to stomp that excitement for the work out of you yet, nor are you far enough along in your career journey to understand the crushing weight of responsibility that your future holds for you.
You can’t.
You can’t really predict it. You’re going to be a different person in your 30s, 40s, etc
What you can do is put yourself in a position to make a change, down the line if needed.
I think med school is great because there is lots of options and medicine is a great base.
I’m thinking this question might be better suited to a medical subreddit. You are already locked in with medicine and are looking for clear career progression and avenues that you might want to follow? Ask a large pool of people who have already navigated these pathways
You don’t. I’m in my late 50s and have had three careers over four phases of my life. I’m back to my first career (which is different than the one I was formally trained for and got an advanced degree in) after spending a few decades in two others, and will be retiring shortly. Life is unpredictable.
That’s great that you found something you like and are willing to put in the work for. Not to sound harsh, but your family telling you you’ll want a family life and kids is simply their opinion — only you truly know what you want your future to be like. I know it’s not a whole lot of help with your initial post, but I wish you nothing but the best!
That’s the neat thing you can’t