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(08-18-2013 11:35 PM)Jazzman92 Wrote:  

Thanks for all the info guys I really appreciate all of your opinions. At the moment I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go for medicine. I've had the time to take a good look at the medical profession from an unbiased perspective since I first made this thread, and Ive come to the conclusion that it most likely would not be right for me. The theoretical aspect may seem really cool, but the practice of medicine is far from that. My dads a dentist and ive seen his lifestyle and it seems like a good path for me as well. Hes making 6 figures, working 4-5 days a week, and gets to choose the hours he wants to work because he owns his practice. Dentistry is a 4 years program after your BSC and doesn't require any extra rotation work so you can begin working immediately after graduating and specialization takes less time than it does in medicine. With my dads advice i could have a good transition into the field. Right now however, im just focused on making sure i can get good grades, lift weights and approach women in my spare time. Ive dropped about 22 pounds in the last 3 months and hopefully I can get down to single digit bf % by February or March. The exams and pressure really got to me last semester but im more experienced now from it and back on track in many ways.

Excellent choice.
Dentist provides a sweet lifestyle. And with your Dad having a practice waiting for you? That is pure gravy.
Dental school is also highly technical and challenging, and anyone who doesn't know that is simply uniformed and probably thinking of an old Seinfeld episode.
You can also make a significant difference in people's lives and go on medical missions if that's your thing.

Re medical school.
I almost went down this path a few years back. I spent almost 4 years of my life deciding. After becoming an EMT, and finishing a post bacc pre med program (dropped 50 k on it), and getting into med school, I stopped and said no. It was not an easy decision due to the sunk cost.
Guys like that poster's uncle who went to a Carib school and ended up as a 48 yo multi millionaire plastic surgeon with a hottie Polish wife 20 years younger? That is not a typical result to put it mildly. Someone like that will be a rockstar no matter what they choose to do.
After thinking everything over, I decided the only good reason to become a doctor was a deep interest in the science of medicine, combined with the capacity to tolerate an enormous amount of bullshit. A doctor is a service professional. And at the core, I discovered that I just wasn't very interested in the basic science. I liked patient contact, I liked some aspects of being an EMT, and also when I was shadowing at a hospital, hanging with doctors, and also in the post bacc program, being around smart and motivated people was fun...but that isn't the core of the profession/job.
I do have a lingering doubt in my mind about helping people or not. I guess its an ego thing.
My solution to that is to at some point in the future fund the medical studies of a couple of Africans. I figure training two african doctors should cost about 10% of what I would have spent on my own medical education.