Hi guys,
I need help choosing between medicine and Engineering.
I love math and science and I’m really good at both of them.
I like medicine because I want to help others and because you get to make a lot of money but the problem is I’m not sure if I can get used to the blood and the surgery and even delivering bad news to people.
Also, I like engineering because I like to build things, invent, program and my ultimate dream is to build shelters and help people in need by providing them homes and jobs. I want to start my own business, never ever do I want to work under someone else. But the problem is you don’t get paid as much money in engineering as you would in medicine.
Have you volunteered in a hospital? Have you shadowed a doctor or an engineer? Have you ever had an engineering internship? What about a summer program?
The way you decide what you want to do for a career is not really based on an abstract assessment of your interests. It’s based upon learning what tasks you do every day, what the career feels like, what an average day or week looks like in that career. You have to test things out and see what feels good to you.
Engineers may not get paid as much as doctors, but engineers generally have less debt than doctors, too. You can be a practicing, working engineer in less than half the time it takes you to be a functional doctor. Also, there’s far more to working than the amount of money you take home - and engineers take home plenty enough to be comfortable.
(Also, some engineers do get paid more than some doctors, especially if you compare engineers at top companies or with some years of experience to doctors in primary practice, like family medicine or ob/gyn).
There are lots of ways to “help others,” and wanting to help others + money together are not really good reasons to go into medicine - given that there are so many other careers that enable you to do that.