<p>I'm currently in medical school, and I've been obsessing in the last few months whether I should leave to pursue a Ph.D in computational neuroscience.</p>
<p>I don't dislike medicine.. I like some aspects of it (particularly the problem-solving and the sheer challenge of knowing so much information) but dislike others (this is not a field where you actually contemplate. Everything needs to be quick and much more memory-based), but I have found in the last summer that I'm more naturally inclined towards the quantitative disciplines, and I enjoy a lot sitting and thinking through a mathematical concept or solving a mathematical problem. To the point that, after I finish my med school classes, I feel that I need to spend at least an hour a day just to go through over some math problem/concept... it's sort of now like a necessary hobby and it would be painful to me if I just let it aside. The things that are preventing me from switching at the moment:</p>
<p>1) If I do end up going to grad school, I'll be 26. This is not a young age. I have to be prepared to live up until my early 30s (31.. if everything goes straightforward) on a measly grad student stipend. OTOH, if I do stay in medicine I'll be done with my training at 32, and likely making big bucks afterwards (and get paid pretty well by 28).
2) As you all know, the job security in science is not there. I cannot go to grad school having just in mind to become a professor. This is not realistic, as the competition is intense. Would it be relatively easy to find a job in industry if I have done my Phd in a quantitative/programming field? Or else I'd have to survive consecutive postdocs with again not very good qualitiy of life. OTOH, I'm almost certainly assured a secure job in medicine.
3) My chances at landing a tier I school admission are slim, but I'm assured to join a respectable name. Here are my stats:
a- GPA: 3.89, Major: bio. No name school.
b- GRE: 1450 (Q:800, V 650, AW 4.5). I can take the subject GRE in biology and I expect so score very well.
c- Research: first author publication, not in a prestigious journal. So decent LORs.
d- international student currently outside the US, so that will complicate things a little bit.
4) guts to actually make the switch, but I think I can get over that.</p>
<p>Just to make things clear, I am not under any loans, as my medical education is funded on a scholarship.</p>
<p>Appreciate your input. I haven't been able to resolve this in my mind for the last two months, so hopefully someone can have some insight into my situation. It's the classic sense vs sensibility debate to put it in one way.</p>