<p>“I believe that it is a difficult reason to translate into words because its just something you know deep down.”</p>
<p>Well, you’re going to have to be able to articulate your motivations for entering medicine in both written and oral form if you want to get into med school.</p>
<p>You know, though, I was always surprised by the metaphor. And then I stumbled across takotsubo cardiomyopathy… was the weirdest thing.</p>
<p>Goldshadow,</p>
<p>Here are a few crowning achievements from a company I work for - </p>
<p>Cephalosporins which revolutionized medicine and made transplantation possible to thousands 2) Gleevec 3) cholinesterase inhibitors which help alzheimer’s disease 4) angiotensin receptor blocking agents to name a few.</p>
<p>It’s really funny how premeds and doctors all make a fuss about the thanklessness of the medical profession. Almost ALL professions are thankless. I never heard a student thank a teacher after he got a nice lecture. In fact, in the typical US school, students are incredibly rude (sometimes violent) to teachers, just as some patients will be rude to doctors. So why expect doctors to be get a special treatment?</p>
<p>On the other hand, even though there’s some thanklessness in the profession, my shadowing experience showed me that doctors get MUCH more respect than most professions. I mean, people come to the office for trivial procedures as if they were BEGGING the doctor. Wow, as BDM once said, a doctor is not a ‘demigod’!!</p>
<p>
My class makes it a point to applaud every lecturer afterwards.</p>
<p>“My class makes it a point to applaud every lecturer afterwards.”</p>
<p>At the high school level? That surprises me.</p>
<p>? ?</p>
<p>BDM, are you in medical school?</p>
<p>Watson&Crick obviously doesn’t know BDM is already in med school.</p>
<p>why be a doctor?
the power to dictate the health of a person’s life; it’s is like playing god</p>
<p>well unless you get sued for malpractice</p>
<p>If you give that sort of answer (“playing God”) at an interview, that school will throw your file out immediately.</p>
<p>haha i know
i was watching the hannibal series again</p>
<p>its a BS question that requires you to come up with a unique, competent response…I was told by an anesthesiologist herself that the reason she wanted to be a doctor was to use drugs that could change a person’s body in seconds. It made sense to me, but try using that in a medical school interview…I know i sure as hell won’t say it.</p>
<p>for the record she was a very well respected one too, its not like she was straight out of scrubs…and i dont believe she was joking with me haha</p>
<p>it kinda made her sound like a nut when she first said it. But it really is a cool part of being an anesthesiologist.</p>
<p>“Watson&Crick obviously doesn’t know BDM is already in med school”</p>
<p>I have been acquainted with the premed forum for a few months now so, I obviously noticed that BDM as well as BRM are in med school. But that doesn’t mean he can’t refer to his education from high school. I am in high school right now, so obviously, when I refer to “US school” students being rude, I refer to US high schools.</p>
<p>Now, if you wan’t to compare the respect a university professor gets to that of a doctor, then it’s clear that the university professor deserves much more respect. Do you realize how hard it is to get your PhD? Do you realize how hard it is to go through post doc with a penurious pay? Do you realize how hard it is to get tenure? Do you realize how hard it is to conduct inovative research? All those accomplishments require talent, not just devotion.</p>
<p>The schooling, devotion and talent required to stick up with an academic life far surpasses the schooling, devotion and talent required to stick up with med school. It’s just normal that professors get more respect than doctors.</p>
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<p>That wasn’t obvious to me at all. Thanks for clearing a bunch of things up.</p>
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</p>
<p>That’s a ridiculous argument because you’re not comparing similar things. You’re comparing an entire career (grad school, post doc, tenure, research) to four years of medical school (grad school). That’s not a fair comparison.</p>
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</p>
<p>Do you realize how hard it is to get into medical school in the US? Do you realize how hard it is to go through residency with a penurious pay while dealing with debt from medical school? Do you realize how hard it is to get tenure at a university or medical school? Do you realize how hard it is to conduct innovative research? All those accomplishments require talent and a good deal of devotion.</p>
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<p>I’ve heard that in Europe, professors get more respect than doctors. Doctors are seen more as tradesmen, like plumbers and electricians. A professor I know at SJSU introduces himself as “Dr. So-and-so” in the US but calls himself “Professor So-and-so” while in Europe.</p>
<p>Seriously. Both are great accomplishments that require a lot of work. For doctors, the hard part is getting into medical school. The majority of med school matriculants have the credentials to get into grad school. The opposite is not true. Most of the bio majors at my school use grad school as a backup. For grad school, the hard part comes after you enter. It’s hard to get a phD and even harder to get tenure. 10 years from now, whether you’re a newly minted phD or a newly minted MD, you’re both going to be broke (although the phD will have substantially less debt).</p>
<p>
In the present tense?</p>
<p>And “far” surpasses? At the very least, I think the longer hours worked by physicians makes a pretty solid go of it.</p>
<p>this was the worst argument ever haha…I am actually shocked a few of you guys humored this statement.</p>
<p>Here’s sth I wanted to point out to those med/premed students who constantly bicker about lack of respect and economic disaster of going into medecine.</p>
<p>"The prestige and respect is still there for the most part. If you’re a doctor in my particular family and community you are GOD. I’m not even joking when I say that the day I graduate medical school I’ll be able to marry any girl I want from my community and country. Hell, the day I get into medical school my life will be set. </p>
<p>As a doctor I won’t have to deal with the truly ****ty low level workers I work under as a pre-med student. Sure their’ll be irritating patients but I can deal with that. Everyone else can go to hell. When I’m a doctor, I am in charge and won’t have to work with those tools"</p>
<p>Now, this comes from another post on another forum, so it isn’t reliable. However, my personal experience showed that doctors are treated pretty well. </p>
<p>Another source would be "<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2005-05-23-prestige-usat_x.htm">http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2005-05-23-prestige-usat_x.htm</a>"</p>
<p>Doctors are listed as equal in prestige to scientists, each with 52% (2nd place).</p>
<p>“I remember asking on SDN if they had a system similar to the PhD one in which you got a stipend to go to med school so you won’t have the 200k debt. However, you would only get payed around an average of 75k a year.
As I expected, people said they would not want that system because they “deserve” the six figure salary after the hard work put in. I mentioned the PhD students also put in hard work yet they can’t even be sure they will get the job they want. Instead of answering my question, they just went on to attack me and had to lock the thread.”
From another poster of that forum.</p>
<p>Instead of bickering on the poor fate of physicians, did you think about those academic superstars PhD graduates who never finds a job?</p>
<p>Yes, med school is hard to enter, but at least there is a guarantee that you will end up with a splendid job security (and a 6-figure salary). PhD’s from top schools get NO guarantee at all. In fact, getting to even teach High school is hard for them. Thus, arguing that MD’s should be on par (in term of respect) with scientists (PhD’s) is seemingly ludicrous.</p>