I dunno what to do...

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>right now, I'm a business major. I've been obligated to do business by my family for a good 6~ years now. </p>

<p>The thing is, I don't want to, I generally don't like it. I'm not too big on putting my ethics / morals on the line for a few bucks. I do this only because I have an obligation to my family back home in Asia. Basic jist, they need money and I'm the best hope for money. </p>

<p>That being said, I've always wanted to become a doctor. I love helping people, and while it's really an idealized dream that I won't get sued, it seems fun. I don't mind working long hours, and really; I just need enough money to get by. </p>

<p>that being said, I've already invested a lot into business. I'm only a freshmen, but I've got many internships lined up and a few done already. I've taken most of the hardest business classes as a freshmen and I've just realized, it's not something I really wanna do for the rest of my life. That being said, if I was doing business related stuff for the rest of my life, I wouldn't really complain.</p>

<p>Now, my choices really are</p>

<p>1) drop business, do pre med
2) do business, no relation to med at all
3) do business, and become a hospital administrator (i've heard you don't really need prior training)</p>

<p>so I'm kinda... yeah opinions plz!!</p>

2

<p>I know this is a very personal decision for you, and I certainly don't mean to intrude -- but in your position, the first thing is to evaluate how badly your family needs that money. Are they obsessed with yachts and golfing and want your IPO to fund it? Or, at the other extreme, do you have a younger sibling with MS and a family trying to feed itself on Nike-sweat-shop wages?</p>

<p>Medicine is a financially comfortable field, but you can see that the return is not nearly so high as it would be should you successfully pursue what my mother refers to as "capitalist" careers -- consulting, investment banking, venture capital, etc. It's also not as high as it would be if you were able to attend one of the top few law schools.</p>

<p>So while I would usually say, "Follow what you want to do", sometimes money really does have to come first. If it really is a question of supporting several people (i.e. a very large family) and/or a sibling with a chronic illness, then the reality is that a medical career might not be able to do it.</p>

<p>Two important things now. The first is that I certainly do not expect you to answer these questions on a public bulletin board. I just mean that they're important questions for you to ask yourself.</p>

<p>The second, of course, is that I highly doubt your family is at either of the extremes I mentioned. They're used hypothetically. You have to evaluate where on the spectrum you think your situation lies.</p>

<p>With that, of course you can continue to be a business major while being a premed. Where the two paths come into conflict -- sort of -- is your extracurriculars. Medical school dominantly wants experiences in research, patient care, and community service. Business does not value these three as much. Some physicians end up assuming mostly administrative roles. (I am not sure how many administrators are not physicians.)</p>

<p>If you enter business because you really feel your family needs that money, then I would not recommend a hospital "administrator" position.</p>

<p>In fact, as I have discovered, many of these "capitalist" job positions highly covet physicians.</p>