Med school prep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in healthcare and I’m curious to see how this plays out. I wonder if these college kids who are trying so desperately hard to get into medical school really understand what they are signing up for, and what their reasons are. Most doctors don’t have remotely glamorous jobs and the highly paid fields are years and years of additional training. Healthcare feels broken on the inside just like it does on the outside and the burnout rate is high. I hope these kids find what they are looking for in a career but…I do wonder.

I've practiced and taught medicine for several decades (as well as being on the board of several medical organizations) as has my spouse and all my siblings so I've had a front row seat to the changes in healthcare over the years. I won't elaborate on what the changes are as they are well known. No, medicine is not glamorous - you get your hands dirty for sure. But it's a deeply satisfying job and I would never trade it for so-called "glamorous jobs," whatever they may be. I'm always learning - the advances in diagnosis and treatment (e.g. personalized/genomic medicine) have been incredible. I've learned to roll with the punches, adapt, and thrive. Training is much longer than other jobs but as the saying goes, its the journey not the destination. The younger generation coming out of training now may have a different mentality about work-life balance than my generation and that's perfectly okay. Healthcare organizations will have to adapt to their needs. Medicine offers so much flexibility in how and where you want to work. Even to this day, I get multiple emails daily from recruiters all across the country and internationally. If I ever wanted to slow down and see the country, I could do locum tenens for example. The delivery of healthcare does have problems for sure with its overly burdensome administrative issues but you learn to work with the system (or perhaps as many young docs are doing, to improve the system). Teaching medical students and residents I guess the sense that the vast majority of them fully understood what they were signing up for and would not change it for the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in healthcare and I’m curious to see how this plays out. I wonder if these college kids who are trying so desperately hard to get into medical school really understand what they are signing up for, and what their reasons are. Most doctors don’t have remotely glamorous jobs and the highly paid fields are years and years of additional training. Healthcare feels broken on the inside just like it does on the outside and the burnout rate is high. I hope these kids find what they are looking for in a career but…I do wonder.

We were taken by surprise about this 180 of our friend's kid too. Kid had a true artistic talent and got into the VCU Arts program. But then came off the WL for Virginia Tech and got a biology degree.
I guess once a Dr. there is better job security, but not sure it the true strength. Still, hope kid finds it fulfillment in their pursuit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The requirements ( research, shadowing, grades, high MCATs, volunteering and a good story) have not changed persay but the levels have changed. At my T10 institution, we now interview candidates who are named authors ( not first or last but named) in major journals ( not just those that did research and presented at regional meetings), in addition to significant shadowing with EMT experience and in gap years doing pretty amazing things that I did not do as a med school applicant years ago.
The most important variable IMHO is the story- why the candidate wants to go to medical school and how the application supports their story. This is the one thing that has not changed over the years..

Doubtful.

Exactly my thought!!!!!!!