Medical School Introduction: Sacrifices of Being a Doctor

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Medical School Introduction: Sacrifices of Being a Doctor
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The medical school introduction covers the most important reasons against medical school. If you can overcome the objections, medical school could be in your future.

Most likely, if you are reading this, you are considering to be a doctor. Maybe this is what you want, or what your parents want for you. Either way, before you plunge in, it would be wise to find out what you are getting yourself into.

When I was first considering medical school, I tried to find as many pros and cons as possible. I browsed forums, read blogs, and talked to people to get their perspectives on their experience as medical students.

This is what I found:

Most doctors were happy that they went through medical school, but they would not want to do it all over again. Surprisingly, there were even a few doctors who felt it was not worth it. The two main arguments against medical school are its price in money and its price in time.

Medical School Will Cost You a Pretty Penny (One Made of Pure Gold)

The first major cost is money.

Medical school is very expensive. In fact, most of America’s post-high school education is very expensive, and medical school is one of them. As of now, medical tuition per year (not including living expense) is between $30,000 to $50,000. Most, such as Harvard Medical School, are private and therefore would cost around $50,000 per year. The state schools, such as UMDNJ, would cost $30,000 per year.

The numbers above are just for tuition. If the living expense, such as rent, transportation, and food, are included in the equation, the cost per year is much higher. It is not uncommon for medical school students to graduate with over $200,000 in educational debt. I would probably graduate with about $200,000 in student loans.

Total Harvard Medical School cost for 2011 – 2012
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A screen shot of Harvard Medical School’s website detailing the projected cost for one year is shown above. I did the math for you. The total for one year is $73,000. Now if you multiply that number by four, for the total years in medical school, the cost is quite large.

Medical School Will Suck Away Your Time

The second major cost is time.

There is a large amount of information to memorize on your path to doctorhood. Some people describe it as drinking from a gushing fire hydrant. The flow of information is unrelenting.

To swallow all that information takes a lot of time. You can expect to study 8 to 12 hours every day. It is very common for medical students, including myself, to study past 10:00 PM.

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Mr. Onionhead is experiencing the pains of drinking from a fire hose. Welcome to medical school.

Some of my classmates spend all their waking hour in the library. Although I do not do so, it is also common for medical students to pull one or more all-nighters in preparation for an upcoming exam.

Think Long and Hard Before Attending Medical School

If you are willing to pay the high price in terms of money and time, medical school could be for you. But remember, if you continue down the path, you will find it is hard to go back. There may be times you may want to quit, but you can’t. The cost is just too high. You would have invested too much money and too much time.

Click on the links below if you are interested in more introductory information regarding medical school. They’ll give you additional insight about what you can expect.

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