Medical career is such that it sucks you in and never lets you go. Basically, once a doctor, you are always a doctor. It is very rare for somebody to be both a doctor and a high achiever in any other field, be it another profession or even a hobby.
The thing is, medical education demands so much of your time and attention that there is hardly any time left for you to upskill yourself in any other field. If you do manage to achieve this, it is often through compromise; you might have to cut down on your medical practice significantly to attend to your other interests, or vice versa.
Students are often misled into believing that the medical profession is glamorous (as shown in films or media) and/or one can get name, fame and authority just by becoming a doctor. First of, it is anything but glamorous. If anything, it involves getting your hands dirty and being ready to attend to a person in distress at any time of the day or night. This means being groggy eyed, disheveled, harried, and running around like a headless chicken most of the times.
Name and fame are to be gained; they will only come to you after you have been through the grist and worked your way up to a position of some authority, if at all. I have had instances during my days as a junior doctor when patients have refused to see me because I was not a consultant.
I also believe that many enter the medical field due to false notions of grandiosity; just to prove to their extended family and friends how special and intelligent they are. These people typically hanker after multiple PG degrees to put after their names, and to spruce up their CV, and to exert authority over their hapless juniors and nurses. It wouldn't be farfetched to suggest that their ego is directly proportional to the number of letters they put after their names!
Students also make the mistake of assuming that they will go on to become neurologists, cardiologists, pediatricians, orthopedicians or radiologists, even before they enter the medical field. Such preconceived notions are bound to lead to disappointments because only a small percentage of them get such coveted specialties; the rest have to 'compromise' and settle for other less lucrative specialties.
I have seen parents becoming depressed because their son did not get the coveted seat even after several years of studying for PG entrance exams. Finally the family had to sell off property to fund his higher educational desire.
Actually, MBBS is the easy part. Even though you might think that cracking the NEET/COMED exams is challenging and the subjects taught in the UG course are difficult, you are likely to breeze through the 5-6 years of MBBS course because you are so involved with friends, studies and extra-curricular activities. It is what happens after MBBS that is most daunting; that's when the harsh realities of medical life sink in, and you will be caught between the opposing prospects of working in a medical setup on the one hand, and studying for PG entrance exams on the other.
Please also be open about the possibility of NOT getting to work in a clinical field. That is, you may not get to work with patients in a clinic or a hospital. Depending on your performance in the PG entrance exams, you may end up in a pre- or paraclinical field, such as Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Pharmacology, Community Medicine or Forensic Medicine. In that case, you might have to take up faculty/teaching post in a medical college, or do lab/research work, depending on the field.
Mind you, pre- and paraclinical careers are equally respectable and rewarding, but it's just that students never consider these when they think of entering the medical field. I am reminded of a friend who had to give up his ambition of becoming a surgeon only because he was a Hep-B non-responder; that is, he was prone to contracting hepatitis from his patients.
I often recommend a trimurti, or a holy trinity, of entry criteria that aspiring medical students should consider before taking the plunge into the medical field: super rich, super intelligent, and from a family with a medical background.
It helps immensely if your family is already endowed with wealth to fund the seemingly never ending and financially draining medical education. This wealth will come in handy particularly when 'management seats' are the only options left after your underwhelming performances in the entrance exams.
You can alleviate this financial burden somewhat if you happen to be super intelligent, or, as is required for medical exams, if you are smart enough to learn the study techniques necessary to ace the PG entrance exams, and can walk through the seat selection process with a plum specialty. Easier said than done.
At the very least, it is helpful if you have an understanding father, mother, brother or a sister who is already an established doctor and is able to understand your predicament, and is willing to support you through the tough post-UG phase until you make it. It is much easier to explain why you need to burn the midnight oil studying for PG entrance exams after finishing MBBS to a family member who is a doctor than to one who has no idea of how medical education/career works.
If you feel that you are deficient in these criteria, please look for an alternative career. Do not go through decades of struggle only to realize that this profession is not for you. And don't ever listen to anybody, not even your family, when it comes to your course/career: your career, your life, your decision! Nobody is going to come to your aid later on when you are disillusioned and despondent and stuck in a career that they wanted you to take up.
I have raised these issues in this video in English with text in Hindi and Kannada:
Quite apart from the issues mentioned above, I have also written about a couple of other bugbears of this profession: assaults on doctors and draconian rules and regulations that govern the profession. Read them too, just so you are aware what you are getting into.
Having said that, not for a moment am I suggesting that nobody should become a doctor. If you are absolutely passionate about the medical field, if you genuinely care about the human condition, if you have the aptitude to deal with the issues discussed above, if you can put your ego behind and prioritize your work and career development for the sake of patient service, you can do wonders in this field (note the key words/phrases in red).
If you are confused, seek professional help from a career counsellor. Also consider taking an aptitude and/or personality test to see if you are cut out for this profession.
If, in spite of doing all that, you still have an iota of doubt about entering the medical profession, my sincere advice is: DO NOT!
