"Why am i in med school?"

Date: 10 Aug, 2001



Why am i in medical school? Good question... I guess it just came naturally after high school. In high school, we were given a diagnostic test which would tell whether what field we might excel in. Questions like "Do you see yourself driving a big truck five years from now? (for future firemen or fed ex people)... Love to draw? (artists) Do you hate sleeping (for future doctors)?... were given to us. . It is a lot like those psychological tests ( do you hear voices telling you to jump off a building?) one takes during college entrance exams...I think they gave us around 200 questions to answer...I dunno, i cant remember. Am feeling groggy. Been awake since 2 am (yup i was burning the midnight oil) and it is now 4 p.m. So please excuse me if i jump from one topic to another....


Anyways, i love medical school but i cant help but wonder where would i have ended up if i took up architecture (this was my second choice for college as i always wanted to design buildings, skyscrapers, etc... i love to draw, paint, sketch, etc.) or the dramatic arts ( i find directing school plays, writing scripts, providing props and make up for the actors/actress a very demanding yet highly rewarding job).
Who knows? I could have been one great director or i could have been a fledging artist. Point is, i would have been different. You see, everyone in the family is either a lawyer or a doctor. Both of my parents are lawyers (jonni, imagine how colorful the arguments are in my household) and most of their brothers and sisters are "professionals". The choice to become a doctor was a safe one. It ensured me a job when i graduate and ensured me that someday i would be a consultant (that would mean "boss" in the medical field). With my other choices, i had no inkling whether or not fate would smile upon me...

Doctors are actually undercompensated. It's like we were born to study. Imagine going from preschool then to grade school then to high school then to four years of pre med then to five years of medical school. The keyword here is forever.
And how about the financial burden that med schools impose? That is another issue.
We would be reaching our prime in our 40s while our highschool classmates would be retiring as presidents of their respective companies. So with all these things working against being a doctor, the question still remains, why am i sticking to med school?


The answer is its not the financial thing. Sure i would perhaps earn lots of money when i become a surgeon and it would be hypocritical of me to say that this aspect won't delight me, it would actually make me ecstatic and perhaps a bit delirious...
In the hospital you meet a lot of scared people, people who thought they were in control until something hit them (by something i mean disease)... this makes them vulnerable, people after all, are scared of the unknown. And this is where doctors come in (where i will come in three years from now) , to allay their fears... to treat sometimes, to alleviate pain often, and to care always. The look on people's eyes when they thank you is more than enough compensation for your sleepless nights... The happiness that parents feel when their child is saved from the clutches of death... the tears of gratitude... the joy of seeing miracles everyday... the pain that comes with seeing people grieve over the loss of a loved one... the ever increasing awareness that life should be treasured since it could be easily taken away... the drama of it all. I guess those are the reasons why i want to become a doctor.