Medical interest
My reasons for going to medical school
HASAN PIRZADA
One thing that I don’t think I’ll ever understand is my interest in the medical field. I mean, seriously, medicine is all about blood and guts, hearing people’s problems, and lots of money, right?
It seems that many people think this, but it isn’t true. So, why does one want to get into this profession? What am I going to say when they ask me “So, why do you want to be a doctor, son?”
So here it is, an interesting, truthful look at why someone trying to get into medicine goes through it all.
Helping the world
It’s that deep-down feeling we all get when we’ve done something that will change someone’s life (for better or for worse). We’ve probably all felt it at some point or another, but to have a profession in which you are constantly “doing the right thing,” well, it’s just awesome, no matter how lame that sounds.
How does being a health-care professional actually help you help the world? For starters, an organization known as Doctors Without Borders currently specializes in signing up doctors to go to remote parts of the world and lend a hand (or two, from surgery for the extremely poor, to simple flu treatment).
Whether it’s through the heat of the African desert, the cold of the Canadian North, or simply in the numerous research facilities around Winnipeg, being a doctor will allow you to positively affect the people around you in a way you may have never thought possible.
Mental Expansion
One of the things about getting into med school that has always fascinated me is that once you get in, you never really leave. Sure you graduate, start your career, and no longer have to come to class, but the learning is never over. Working in a field in which research is being performed around the world, while new drugs and new side effects are revealed every month, and with patients who are becoming more and more learned about their own afflictions all create a situation in which doctors must be up-to-date on the advances in medicine at all times.
I have a friend who once told me that he thought that the smartest guys in any room are the doctors.
First, they have to get the grades to apply for med school. Then, they have to convince the admissions committee they aren’t just trying to get in because of the money. After that, they have to keep dealing with the fact that they are in medicine, and have to be able to perform complex procedures half-asleep. Then, they have to keep reading and learning about their work, or patients might start to think they know more than their doctors. Granted, this friend of mine is in med school, but his profound words do make one think. Is lifelong learning and a chance for an everexpanding mind something that’s right for you?
Opportunity
Once you are in medicine, you can just concentrate on getting your degree and entering the work world. However, there are other options as well. Medical school is a door to many different opportunities that are technically available through other career paths, but medicine makes it far easier.
For instance, one can look at everyone’s favorite future: business. It’s a way to capitalize and make money off of ideas (everybody likes that thought). Medicine as a career can be looked at as a business. Clinics, especially walk-in clinics, work quite like a business and function (and make money) in the same way as everyday businesses. Clinic owners can even rent out space to small pharmacies.
Medicine, medical supplies, and medical knowledge are things that will be important forever, to every single person on Earth. Business opportunities can involve medical supplies (from research into more affordable, functional prosthetics, to the advancement of technology in hospitals), medicines (teaming up with pharmaceutical companies to
produce the next wonder-drug), or medical knowledge (founding info centers and websites devoted to patient information regarding common afflictions). The ideas are endless, and the wonderful thing about business is that if the ideas are endless, so is the opportunity for success.
When I was a child, much like every other kid around seven years old, my elder relatives asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, what I wanted to do with my life (did they really expect a profound, thought-out answer?). My response shocked them all, and actually, if I think back, it was a shocking thing to say. I told them I wanted to be “just like my dad.” I told them I wanted to be doctor. Most kids like to envision themselves as heroes (i.e., firemen, policemen). They want to grow up and save the world. Well, I was no different. In fact, I feel the same way today. I want to be a hero, and I want to save the world. I choose medicine.
