Your notion of control of your schedule is one, among others, of the reason I became a psychiatrist. My father was a pulmonologist before he became an attorney. Talk about lack of schedule control and workaholism! He would have to get up in the middle of the night frequently to do bronchoscopies on smoke inhalation patients as it had to be done within 6 hours of the exposure.

I believe that control of one's schedule is maximal when you are your own boss rather than at a job per se. In private practice I work 4 days a week by choice. My wife, a child psychiatrist, works 3 days a week in private practice. If control of your schedule is a high priority, I think psychiatry is very realistic.

Thanks so much for answering. I have another question for you. I am feeling a little nervous about making this huge commitment to go to medical school and I feel like I need to investigate a little more how do I do that? I want to meet people in the population I want to work with i.e. people with mental illness. How do I go about doing that? What kind of experience should I get before I commit? I'd also like to meet some medical students. Do you think if I visited a campus I could do that. Do I need to make an appointment with someone? I just really need to feel it out a little. Another thing, how about time in medical school. Did you have any and did you have a relationship? How about a family? Thanks again. I just really want to inquire about the effect this has on a persons life.

It helped me to work in a psychiatric hospital during a one-semester leave of absence from college. This is an option, although you will encounter primarily patients at the more ill end of the spectrum.

Perhaps others are more equipped to suggest ways of meeting medical students and doctors. I'm guessing your college does not have an associated medical school.

The lifestyle questions hit very close to home for me, as they were crucial to my coping with the medical education process, and presented problems that required ongoing management. I happen to be someone who is VERY unhappy if I don't have alot of free time. I have alot of interests that are important to me, and I have always grappled with the amount of time that needs to go into career versus the amount of time I need for all ther many other things that are important.

Here are some of my thoughts and suggestions for someone concerned about balancing a medical/psychiatric career with personal needs (and I believe I am near the extreme end of the spectrum in regard to this) : be determined not to give in to the medical culture of overwork, keep an open mind about the choices you will make, recognize that there ARE choices, consider whether you are willing to make sacrifices in the nature of your career activities for the sake of your personal life and which sacrifices are acceptable to you.

You also can't get around the fact that there is a limit to how much control over your time you can realistically have during the training process compared to after. Frankly, I was quite unhappy during the third and fourth years of medical school (especially during the more demanding core rotations), bacause there was no way around long hours on clinical rotations. As an inveterate nightowl, there is little I am able to enjoy at 8 AM let alone 6. The first two years for me were a piece of cake: I just needed to master the material, and as my medical school had an excellent note service corrected by the professor and I learn better from reading than listening, quite a few classes did not require, er, my actual physical presence. But that's just me.

So I made time during training as best I could, which was pretty good some of the time, less so at others. To some extent I was able to deal with the time restriction by reminding myself that it was temporary, a short time compared to the rest of my life. Good old delayed gratification. No question for me that the most difficult years were the third and fourth years of medical school and the internship year, strictly because of insufficient balance and time. Many will tell you they liked the third and fourth year better than the first two. I suspect those people have less difficulty tolerating lack of free time than I do.

I was in a relationship before med school. I had time to get married in med school. While I got divorced during residency, I can attest to the fact that thereafter I had more than enough time to meet, date and marry my wife of the last 12 years!

Hey there...

I know that my school is very welcoming to potential applicants, and they will hook you up with both a tour and some medical students to rap with if you are in the area. (University of New England, Biddeford, Maine). Feel free to contact them, if you are around. Many other schools are also helpful in that regard.

Clinical experience (of all kinds) can come through either paid or volunteer efforts, and it can be very helpful in determining that this is what you are wanting to do.

I am a married medical student, and there are several married (or otherwise involved) students in my school. Many even have kids. It is hard, and it is a challenge, but it IS do-able if you have a solid relationship. If there are major problems, medical school is a catalyst and it will amplify them.

My wife is expecting our first child (a bit of a surprise, but a good one!), so I have taken a temporary official leave of absence from classes because she has had a tough pregnancy. My medical school has been supportive and helpful during this time. They are big into family and support, which I think is tremendous.

One of my female classmates had a baby during finals last year, and she is doing well. She has transitioned to a five-year program, but she is kicking butt in school and will be a great doctor. Not to mention the fact that her baby is the cutest thing in the Western Hemisphere.

Bottom line: Medical school is really hard and very challenging, but it is do-able. Most of my friends who are in their third and fourth years seem to have the opposite take of Dr. Polymath, in that they are enjoying the clinical training a lot more than classes all the time. But as he pointed out, that is an individual thing... and some clinical rotations are a LOT more demanding and time consuming than others.

Good luck in your decision making process!

🙂

Hi there,
I have been reading your exchanges. I am unsure if the responders are women or men. But I am a married woman and MSII. I must say med school is demading but belive it or not at my college in the 2nd year classroom there sit more married women than singles. Most got married just prior to matriculation, others on the month off b/w 1st and 2nd year and some more will be married b/w 2nd 3rd year month break. We have many students that have children mostly men of course but we do have a couple of moms. I have one friend who is expecting. It is totally do able. However, you say having a family is #1 then you may want to think long and hard about med school. Because while family may be #1 in your heart it may not be #1 on the to do list for each day. I am unsure how all med-schools are but mine is super demading... manditory class most days 8am -5pm some days longer. I don't know how many tests and we only get 1 month totally off each year. We have week breaks at the end of each block but that is it. I hate to tell you but if family is really what you want the most out of life... while psych may not have the hours of some other feilds you are still a Doc and will have to go through Med school and residency. If the Biological clock is ticking.... you are looking at no less then approx. 7 years before you are done with training. This is fast becoming an issue for many of my female coolleagues. Ask any female Physican "When is it a good time to get preganant and have children?" the resounding answer NEVER, you just do it. I hope this doesn't rain on your parade but you did ask for realism. However, on the flip side there are tons of true Dr. Moms out there and they have all seemed to make it workout just splendidly. I think the thing you really need to ask yourself..."What do I really want out of Life? and why do I want to go to med school instead of purusing Psychology ect...? I must say I am a work-aholic as are most med students it is unavoidable if you want good grades. I cannot say about being able to manipulate your schedule for sure but as far as I know you really don't get that luxury until you are an attending or a cheif. Best of Luck!