Why does everyone want to do med?

[qshyrn]

virtually all the asians i know and most of the other people i know want to do medicine!
is it because of the high salary? pressure from parents?? or is it because you want to genuinely help people?
to those who are doing medicine right now: is there a paticular reason you chose to do medicine?
i dont think people know what theyre gettin themselves into if theyre applying for the high salary....

[mystikal]

probably because of stable and reasonably high income.... social status .....  <<<(these reasons are from parents perspective i guess)

note: im  still doing vce but ive known people who have chose to do med for those reasons and a major influence is definately the parents

[IntoTheNewWorld]

My friends who want to do med

High Salary

Already lead towards it by Asian parents/influences from birth

Genuinely want to help people

High Salary

If you get high 99s...may as well use it

[d0minicz]

because i wanna do something useful with my life

[TrueTears]

I'm guessing mainly parental influence and high salary.

[EvangelionZeta]

The ironic thing is that my parents are Asian and are both doctors, and yet amidst my indecision about my future the only thing I'm certain about is that I DON'T want to do Med.

[Toothpaste]

What about being genuinely interested in the health system; enjoyment from interacting with people from diverse backgrounds - including other health professionals; the need to exercise altruism within a broad community in a stable yet developing career through continued learning; joy in making sense of problems for other people and being able to explain things/make people feel better by giving them information (let's say you wake up one day and your arm is gone, I think you'd freak out and want someone you can depend on to give you a reasonable run down on why you have no arm); having extensive curiousity about the biological/anatomical/physiological (etc) sciences behind human function and want the intellectual stimulus that comes with it; and wanting to make an impact on the well-being of people with health conditions through a respected role?

No? Your parents want you to so that they can brag to your aunts that their kid is suddenly "pro at life" and has lots of money? Ah, okay.

(Do interns get bullied? Curious.)

[shinny]

What about being genuinely interested in the health system

Naw.

enjoyment from interacting with people from diverse backgrounds - including other health professionals

To some extent, but not my main motive.

the need to exercise altruism within a broad community in a stable yet developing career through continued learning...and wanting to make an impact on the well-being of people with health conditions through a respected role

Definitely my main motivating factor.

joy in making sense of problems for other people and being able to explain things/make people feel better by giving them information

Part of the reason why I'm actually still on VN helping people I guess.

having extensive curiousity about the biological/anatomical/physiological (etc) sciences behind human function and want the intellectual stimulus that comes with it

Well I've definitely got an interest in the field so yeh.

And on top of that, just the fact that it's an awesome course to be in. I honestly don't know anyone who actually hates the Med course atm. And about the whole money thing, honestly, you'd be pretty stupid to do Med for the money. After the 5 year course, you've still got 4-5 years through being an intern, resident and registrar, until you finally pass your specialist exams. It's probably only until this time that you'll start earning more money than the kids who grab an accounting cadetship and jump straight into comm/law or even straight comm, and start earning this amount of money like 3 years after beginning uni. Seriously, there's much better ways to get money than Med.

(Do interns get bullied? Curious.)

Yes.

[dejan91]

Med is an overrated albeit important profession IMO. Same with law... The pressure parents place on their children only limits their choices in doing what they are truly interested in, only because THEY want a type of "respect by association" and bragging rights to friends. Money definitely plays a major role too. Some people are honestly interested in helping people, but others could care less...they're interested in the paycheck. Then again, isn't that what VCE is about? Getting into your desired Uni to either do what you like, or (most likely) to do what brings in the cash. Personally, I would rather pursue a skiing related profession, but the money just isn't there... So I have to settle for second-rate - something that I enjoy (but not necessarily love), that has a large salary.

Just my perspective.

[IntoTheNewWorld]

Med is an overrated albeit important profession IMO. Same with law... The pressure parents place on their children only limits their choices in doing what they are truly interested in, only because THEY want a type of "respect by association" and bragging rights to friends. Money definitely plays a major role too. Some people are honestly interested in helping people, but others could care less...they're interested in the paycheck. Then again, isn't that what VCE is about? Getting into your desired Uni to either do what you like, or (most likely) to do what brings in the cash. Personally, I would rather pursue a skiing related profession, but the money just isn't there... So I have to settle for second-rate - something that I enjoy (but not necessarily love), that has a large salary.

Just my perspective.

Sigh at reality. It's possible to become rich from almost anything, it might just be significantly more difficult.

[squance]

Well, my sister told me that she wanted to do med because she wanted to be in a career where she got to help people. She wants to become a doctor so she has the opportunity to offer voluntary medical aid to the many disadvantaged people back in my parents' home country.
I guess, she was influenced by my parents when she was young (eg: they would always tell her that when she grew up, she would become a doctor)...and yeah, now she wants to do med (or anything in the medical field, for that matter).

And my parents...yeah, they see medicine as being a prestigious degree which hence leads to a prestigious career which could be viewed as "heroic" by others (and yeah, i bet my parents want my sister to become a doctor so they have something to brag about to their friends (most of their friends, by the way have children that have become doctors..)).

[ninwa]

I wanted to do med for similar reasons to TinyApple's sister. I was never in it for the money - I wanted to eventually work for Doctors Without Borders, which is volunteer work - completely unpaid AFAIK, after I'd saved up enough money to feed and clothe myself.

Funnily enough neither of my parents wanted me to do med. My mum was a doctor and knew how stressful and exhausting intern life is, and didn't want me to go through all that. Dad was set on me doing engineering or IT (NO EFFING THANKS!)

So I compromised and did law. =\