Should I rather pursue a master degree of my choice instead of finishing the Medicine degree (5th year out of 6) when feeling that practising medicine as a doctor (especially in a hospital) is not what I want to do anymore?

Dear Reddit Community,

I am writing this post in a situation, where I am finding myself quite disillusioned and sometimes even desperate considering my future and potential professional career and was hoping to find here some opinions and perspectives from outsiders.

I graduated with a BSc in Engineering Physics from a Middle- European Technical University. After graduating I went on to pursue a Master (2-year program) in the same field. During the first year though I started being more and more discontent with what I was studying and my perceived (!) perspectives in the job market. I noticed I didn’t want to stay in academia and do research and publish one paper after another, at least not in the scope of lab physics and the things I saw at my university. And as alternatives I only saw myself coding and modelling and cranking numbers the whole day for any tech company (typically Siemens, Bosch e.g. around here) or even the finance industry (some ex colleagues went into consulting, banking etc.).
Now, what was my inner conflict there? All of a sudden the idea of spending a major fraction of my time with only quantitative math/engineering/tech stuff in front of a screen for some company and their product seemed dull, boring and above all unfulfilling to me. I felt that I didn’t fit in there as I also saw myself as a very humanities- orientated personality with good talent for languages, writing etc. and next to that I have a deep passion for music and film, which I both do exercise as much as I can.

Before starting physics I also had a spot for studying Medicine, but didn’t go for it. And when I was in the situation described above, I hated myself for not having gone that route, saw the gras so much greener on the side of my friends who were already finishing their medicine degree and who were seeing and doing cool stuff I assumed. That’s when I thought “now or never” – I wanted to go this route aswell, I applied again, did the admissions test and got in – and so I started the Medicine degree at age 25 (6 year program here in Europe, it’s not like grad schools in the US).

Fast forward: Now I’m in the 5th year and really recognized, that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. Right now, I can’t stand the idea to work in a hospital and in the system which runs it. There are so many factors and aspects of the work as a doctor that repel me and studying the clinical content at this point like the ins and outs of medical conditions and their treatments doesn’t stimulate me intellectually either. And so, I find myself once again at a point where I feel I’m explicitly heading towards something I don’t want to do. The only specialty I’m still considering is psychiatry for a diverse set of reasons, but I feel closer to simply not wanting to practice as a doctor.

From 4th year on I was contemplating quitting and pursuing a Masters instead, ideally something more interdisciplinary and I would probably have been still faster with this than finishing Medicine. Now this is not necessarily true anymore as I’m already in my 5th year and I’m having a hard time deciding if I’d still rather go for a Masters or not.
I guess at this point I was hoping for advice or maybe some opinions of Insiders of diverse industries about my situation and educational background. Could graduating with a degree in Medicine and also having a degree in Engineering Physics (BSc) be viable enough to find interesting job roles outside of Medicine? Despite of my described feeling at the beginning I didn’t completely lose my interest for coding e.g. or other related skill sets. Of course, I also enjoy the interaction with other people and the entrepreneurship side of certain projects would appeal me. I don’t have a clear idea of what those jobs outside of medicine could be and I guess this is also part of my question here.
If I really feel and know that I would want to look for something outside Medicine, I’m wondering if finishing the Medicine degree plus having the degree in Physics and other interests are good and broad enough. Or should the consequence rather be to quite Med School and to pursue a Master degree instead (e.g. something Computer Science related, Data Science or maybe even something towards Management)?

Side Info about myself: Being completely honest and open I’d say that my real dream would actually be to make a living with producing projects that are passion related (music/film/media arts) – but ok, many people might feel similar and the odds are slim I guess. I am not seriously considering to study something art related – at some point in the middle of my doubts and desperation I did and I spent a lot of time looking at programs for film, multi media arts, music computing, media technology etc. (the last two would combine technical abilities in the context of arts or something creative let’s say). But so far, my conclusion was to work on my passion independently and not study them academically, as I also perceive that these industries don’t give so much f\*\*\* about degrees and quite some of those who inspire me don’t even have related degrees and ultimately, I know the odds of making it. Guess my point in telling this is to emphatise that my heart is actually here and in neither of the things I had mentioned before, but I know of the importance of a viable day job and I also want to be able to have somewhat satisfying options within a “day job”.

And in terms of the important and necessary day job I’m simply struggling with the question whether finishing Medicine or doing a Masters instead is the wiser thing to do when practicising medicine is an outlook that doesn’t excite me at all anymore.

You might think that I’m all over the place with my interests or wishes and not focused enough. I hope not to come across completely naïve and childish. I don’t expect that others take the decision for me, but rather hoped that I might find people from a range of industries here who could give me valuable opinions and insights of their experiences. I sometimes felt discouraged when reading different things about trying to get into jobs outside of Medicine (at least clinical med, but eventually completely outside) after graduating in Medicine, also when in my case I hold a BSc in Physics too.

I’d appreciate any opinion about my situation and decision dilemma and also thank you for the patience for going through the long text in case you did. Thank you!

Ps: Beside clinical internships I have experience in research based work in academic settings and in a centre for ion beam therapy, where I did some programming. Nevertheless, my programming and math definitely already got somewhat “rusty”.

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TL;DR : BSc in Engineering physics, started studying Medicine after graduating (6 year programm in Europe, no grad school), but being currently in 5th year feel totaly desilusioned and don’t want to practice medicine as a doctor anymore. Can’t stand the thought of working in hospitals anymore. I feel that I want to look for jop options outside medicine once I’m done, but dont know if finishing the degree in Medicine will help me there or if I should rather invest the remaining time in a master degree that could help me revive my programming and quantitative skills (data science e.g.).
When it comes to passions and dream jobs my heart is not in neither, but more in the artisitic realm (music, film) – independently of what my day jobs are, I would always want to try to eventually “make it” at some point.



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