10 Red Flags That Medical School Isn't Right for You
Even for students who have always dreamed about a career in medicine, medical school may not necessarily be the right path. These 10 critical questions can lead you to or away from sending in your applications and deserve serious consideration.
1. Does your partner or spouse understand the sacrifices you will be making and still want to support your decision? I remember breaking up with a serious partner when he could not accept the amount of time I had to study or be away nights, weekends and holidays. Only you and your partner or spouse know your values and can discover the right answer. Children also need to fall into the supportive category during your medical training.
2. Have you been honest with yourself about not scoring higher on too many repetitions of the MCAT? Despite thorough test preparation, some students repeatedly take the Medical College Admission Test and achieve the same scores. You will be taking standardized tests for years to come during med school and residency. If you are scoring in the lower 25% of the MCAT, I recommend considering other options.
[See: How to Decide if You Should Go to Medical School and Become a Doctor.]
3. How robust is your GPA? Will it stand up to the 3.7 average GPA of most medical students? There are a few students who have taken a 3.0 with them into a postbaccalaureate program and come out with grades that prove they have truly learned how to handle rigorous courses. However, not every school will look past that 3.0 GPA because it counts in their class average. Some will, and it may be worth that extra one to two years to prove it.
4. Is it what your parents want or is it truly your passion? Med school is too long and hard to push yourself if it isn't what you want. I have seen students drop out because they couldn't make themselves like it enough to sacrifice what is required.
5. Are you willing to follow rules and be extremely patient? These qualities are terribly critical to survival as a trainee. You will be taking orders from others for many years to come. That doesn't mean you can't think for yourself, but the supervising physician gets the last word in almost every case. You also will have to do the scut work and not the glamorous surgeries for a long time until it is your turn. Patience is important in knowing you don't control your time, your workday choices and sometimes the burdensome loans. Is patience something you can pull up when needed?
6. Will the inflexibility of medical training take away the control over your life that you don't want to give up? How about not getting adequate sleep when you are on call? Will it be OK that you don't get the vacation time you requested or the holidays off you wanted? This is really a burden when family support is far away.
[READ: How to Decide If Going to Medical School and Being a Doctor Is Worth It.]
7. Have you loved science and do you thrive in mastering it? Was it easy to get good grades in those courses? You will be spending a lifetime learning more about science.
8. What truly is your passion? Be honest with yourself. Is it making money? Investment banking, financial modeling, accounting or other professions can give you status and a firm financial platform a lot earlier than most doctors and give you more control over your lifestyle. Is it music, art or another creative venture that will have to be put on a back burner for a long time if you go into medicine and perhaps never get back to the level of accomplishment you once had?
9. Do you like volunteering or sacrificing for others? This is really important to see in a med school applicant over a long period of time, often from high school. You can tell when a student puts off volunteering until the end. "Oops, COVID came and I didn't get to do it." I am hearing and seeing that the strong applicants did it early because they knew it was important years earlier.
10. Do you really know how hard it is to be a doctor? Did you resist shadowing before the coronavirus pandemic because you didn't think it was important enough? Do you know the agony doctors have experienced trying to get insurance companies to take seriously appeals for their patients? Have you asked them how many hours they have to give up from their home life to deal with medical records, insurance claims and much more? Know about this and be ready to accept what lies ahead if you decide to become a physician.
[Read: Physician or Doctor Shadowing -- What Medical School Applicants Should Know]
The reasons for not choosing to attend med school are unique and not all centered around getting a high enough GPA or scoring well enough on the MCAT. A career as a physician is likely something you will do for a long time, particularly when you have to invest significant dollars and 11 to 20 years of training, if you count undergraduate years.
Think hard about each of these 10 questions before you commit to this critical decision.
