Hi! I have a huge passion for community service, volunteering, but overall, just helping anyone or anything. I honestly thought I had my whole life plan figured out. I was gonna go to college, go to vet school, return to the vet clinic( where I currently have an internship), then go off to help one of my personal heros in LA, and then eventually open up my own clinic. I love animals and I want to make sure every animal receives the adequate medical care, however, this might sound as a bad reason for possibly not going to vet school, but I don’t know if I’m satisfied with what veterinarians make as a salary. I am thinking of switching to medical school because they earn more money. I have experience in volunteering at a hospital, working at a homeless shelter, and being involved in various humanitarian clubs at my high school. My passion is truly for medicine and helping others, however, my dream has always been to be super wealthy and live the life that I wished I had growing up, so I want a career that will not only make me feel passionate, but that will also leave with a good amount of money because I’m worried about paying for student debt, housing, cars, traveling, taxes, and other bills. Anyone please feel free to criticize or just give your honest opinion. Thank you!
Go into Oral Surgery. That way you won’t be a casualty of the healthcare debacle (not sure in your lifetime where this is headed and what doctors will truly be able to earn). You can make a boatload of money and do dental charity work on the side. I see so many people who need the dental work and implants but I know they don’t have the work done because they can’t afford it. This breaks my heart. You could do both - earn a huge salary and help those in need.
It’s not bad to realize that your chosen career path doesn’t offer the kind of lifestyle you want and to reconsider. That’s a mature realization to make, actually. I would, however, urge you to consider whether you are overestimating the amount of money you need to live the lifestyle you want. I mean, clearly if you want a small yacht and want to send your kids to fancy private schools and buy a house on the hill, becoming a doctor (and potentially partnering with another wealthy professional) is the way to go there. Vets do make a decent salary - the median is nearly $90K, although of course they tend to have a lot of student debt.
Consider, also, whether your dream to be super wealthy is just idle daydreaming or a real concrete goal. Most people, I think, dream about what it might be like to be super wealthy. Realistically speaking, most people don’t get there - but most people are pretty content with that. There’s some research providing evidence that once you hit around $75K your happiness level doesn’t improve much beyond that. It’s OK if it really IS a concrete goal of yours, but think hard about it before you settle on that as a decision.
Consider also that if you have a huge passion for service and volunteering that it is really difficult to set that impulse to the side for the pursuit of more money. I mean, medicine will allow you to help people and such, but the most lucrative specialties also are sometimes not the ones (and not in the locations) where you are really having the greatest impact.