All my friends are going to become doctors....i feel so unsuperior?

Question

all my friends are going to become doctors. one is going to become a pediatrican one an cardiologist one a dentist an other an ob/gyn and other an neurosurgeon and i decided that i was going to become an anesthesiologist. and dont get me wrong I AM SMART. so i can become one if i want to, the only problem is it takes 12 years. thats like elementary junior and high school all in one. i dont want to be in school that long so is there something else that i can become that deals with anesthesia just not as long? or do u think i should just swallow my pride and become an anesthesiologist? i know that i should be what i want to be and dont base my LIFE CHANGING DECISIONS based on what my friends are becoming but from where i'm from if your not some type or doctor or judge or something in an high postion of work then your dont have an upperhand. so what i need is some really heartfelt advice. i mean REALLY HEARTFELT. i've asked my parents and they told me to follow my heart. PLZ NO NEGATIVE

Answer 1

Take comfort in the fact that for the rest of their lives your friends are going to be telling people to:
- Lose weight
- Stop smoking
- Stop drinking
- Exercise
- Eat property
And spend the rest of their time looking at people's piles and infected toenails.

Anaesthetics could be interesting. I know we need more practitioners.

Answer 2

I completely get where you are coming from! I now live in an area where people seem to think that excessive years of education is the be all and end all. Don't get me wrong! Education is VITAL and valueable in this world's growing and changing economy. It seems as though there isn't much you can do anymore without a super huge education and massive salary to back it up. The problem is, what if some of your friends are becoming doctors without really understanding what they truly want to do... and are becoming doctors for status and money? You don't want to get to the end of a decade of education only realize how miserable you might be! (I had a friend who went to school for education, graduated and realized she hated it! It was only four years, but look at the time she wasted...)

Do you really want to be an anestesialogist? (I don't recall anastesiology requiring 12 yrs. But if you have researched it, I guess it is...) Do you find that you will like that field? Have you read up on it? Do you love chemistry? Do you feel as though you want to care for people? The reason I ask these questions is because you would have such a drive for this career that 12 years wouldn't seem to be a bother. Maybe you have other loves you should explore.

I looked up career quizzes on line and found the site below for you. Maybe what you need right now is to seriously analyze whether you want to do this career out of love, or out of wanting to complete with your friends. (It sounds like your parents are really supportive and that is wonderful. :) )

Good Luck!

Answer 3

Lisa, I see you are in the ninth grade. You don't have to make these momentous decisions at this point in your life--all you need to do is do really well in high school so that you are able to do whatever you want. I can guarantee you that some of those friends are not going to follow through with their plans, which is OK too because you are all still so young. Go ahead--think about anesthesiology as there are many areas of science to explore along the way!

Be sure to take math and science every semester/year in high school, and take some AP (any subject). As a junior you can start thinking about colleges, and there will still be several years before you have to declare a major (most likely chemistry or biology).

So have fun, do well, and don't sweat it!

Answer 4

Well there is Nurse Anesthist, but that's still a 6 year college routine.

You only actually go to school room college for 4 years (pre med)

Med school is in three parts. Research (on a real project as a junior member), advanced school room and rounds at the clinics, labs and hospitals.

You go to get your GP training

Last two years is almost all rounds in hospitals.

Then internship

Then you generally need to resident in Internal Medicine for a year before switching to Anthesiology.

This is not always a requirement, but some departments want you more familiar with the internal workings.

Then it's 4-5 years as an antehsia resident.

As a resident you get stipend about 25K a year

It's all rounds work.

You sit and watch the first year and then you start gassing and intibating.

You will do like 5 surgeries a day several days a week and do pre and post checks

Your last two years you are on call and sometimes work alone with the night surgical staff.

It's up to you to network and make friends with staff doctors and get them to refer you to jobs

You might affiliate with a hospital and become and on call anesthiologist.

yu make friends with surgeons who like to use you.

These days you probably get close to $1,000 per operation.

You need mal practise insurance and a secretary/billing clerk and a small office. You never see patients at the office.

You go to them before surgery and maybe once after.

you will be heavily trained in drugs of all kinds. In my most recent surgery the anesthisologist had to get my blood pressure under control wtih drugs before putting me under.

Modern anthestia is wonderful. I came out of it with no after effects.

So, again

5 years fulltime classroom work
3 years split research project and hospital work
1 year internship

That qualifies you to be a licened MD

Then 5-6 years low paid on the job training in a hospital doing the actual work.

Once you finish you can make $125K to 200K gross

be nice if you culd find a research project team doing work in an anthesisia related field. You need to think on that one

Heart rhythms, high blood pressure, pain medications or actual gasses project for the research end.

it's also about who is doing what research at the university you are attending.

Answer 5

It sounds like your parents gave you the best advice possible, to follow your heart. I know it is difficult, but it shouldn't matter to you what your friends are doing and what people expect of you. What made you decide that you wanted to be an anesthesiologist? Do you know what you want to persue in life? These are questions that you should be asking yourself. If you really wanted to be one, the amount of school shouldn't matter too much. You can find other things do to keep you happy while you are at school.

Answer 6

Follow your heart. When all is said and done the upperhand in life really isn't all its made out to be. You can be popular, schmooz with the mucky mucks and still be miserable or plug along like the rest of us and be happy. Just remember this...no matter what your station in life or how much money you have we all end up the same and take the same thing with us...nothing. You do what is best for your peace.

Answer 7

Until your friends are actually in med school and doing their residencies, you can't say that they "are going to become" anything. That's what they want to do right now. Some of them may. Others may end up specializing in a different field, or deciding they hate medicine and want to be something else entirely. Listen to your parents, and trust your instincts while you have the freedom to follow them.

Answer 8

your question really happened in my life. all my friends became doctors and i was the only one left without the "upperhand" profession.

i went to pre-med together with my friends. and i used to be academically on top of my friends and the class. but i wasn't able to push through with medicine because of an unwanted pregnancy. i decided not to push through with medicine especially that i already had a baby to attend to singlehandedly (since i dind't like to get married just bec i was pregnant - which was not so in vogue in my country back then). so i chose to become a community development worker among the tribal villages in serving and working so the indigenous peoples could have their legal rights over their ancestral lands, help the women with their livelihoods and also implement environmental programs that arrest forest degradation. presently, i could not be any happier. i am so proud of my work! am glad i didn't became a doctor. lately, one of my doctor friends enrolled in a nursing school because he wants to go abroad. nurses have more chances of migrating in the US than any other profession in my country.

Answer 9

why don't you become a nurse ... you can get you AA or BSN degree...... you can statrt making 4,000-8,000 a month...... you can work as a Nurse and go to medical school....

another option is to become an anesthesiologist Nurse......

you can still become a doctor.........but you can work as a nurse while going to medical school

Answer 10

do what you feel comfortable doing and making the money you need to survive and be comfortable as well with. dont' worry about titles, worry about happiness and security.