Medical School: Worth it or Forget it?

“When I grow up, I’m going to be a doctor.” How many of the people who have declared their plan to be a doctor when they were younger are actually practicing medicine today? Just a few. Many people developed a desire of becoming a doctor after watching Neil Patrick Harris frequented emergency rooms in Doogie Howser, MD, but all these changed when Dr. House and the Seattle Grace surgical interns presented a more realistic hospital setting. The truth is, you can’t obtain a medical license at 14 and you have to repeat your internship even if you only missed one point in your intern exams. So, the question remains: “Is medical school worth it?”

Getting accepted to medical school

Before becoming a part of the medical community, you first have to endure four years of medical school. Entry to medical school, like law school, is never easy. Acceptance to the medical school of your choice is not solely based on the completeness of your requirements. It is also based on your GPA, your pre-medical studies, and your sample personal statement essay. Medical school applicants must put much effort in writing their sample personal statement essay because it is greatly considered during evaluations. The best weapon of applicants with average-GPAs against their counterparts is an impressive sample personal statement essay that highlights their value and potential as a person and as a medical doctor, respectively.

One of the things that appeal to the admissions committee is community involvement. You can strengthen your chances of admissions by simply mentioning a few accounts of your participation in community projects or medical missions. Involvement in medical projects and other community activities will give the evaluators an impression that you are a man for others – exactly the quality they look for in a doctor.

Surviving in medical school

The challenges of becoming a doctor don’t end with getting accepted to the medical school of your choice. One of the biggest challenges that aspiring doctors need to face is medical school itself. Your stay in medical school is your chance to show the person you wrote about in your sample personal statement essay. Prove to everyone that you can stay up late just to read biochemistry textbooks and cut up cadavers just to pass anatomy class. Medical school is hard and your only defense against it is your determination.

Many medical students quit in the middle of the school year because they just can’t take the pressure of meeting the required grades or the stress of keeping up with the ever-changing shifts.  To survive medical school, you have to constantly remind yourself that it takes a lot of hard work and sleepless nights to achieve that precious “MD” title.

Becoming a full-fledged MD

After four stressful years in medical school, you need to have at least three years of hospital residency before you can specialize in your chosen medical field. Medical residency is the dusk to a medical attending’s dawn. Because it is the final step before being a full-fledged doctor, medical residency is also the most difficult phase to survive in. The stress of being a medical student is tripled by the time you become a medical resident. Aside from the inevitable sleepless nights, medical residency is also coupled with the pressure of applying everything you learned in medical school to medical practice. Your every decision is important and your move is crucial.

Being a medical resident may be one of the hardest phases you will ever go through in life but it can also be the sweetest. Aside from the very impressive salary, medical residency also gives you the chance to actually save other people’s lives. It is your chance to put everything you have learned to good use and give other people another shot at living healthier.

So, is medical school worth it? Absolutely.

Photo Credit : abardwell

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