Confused and Worried still

bluedevilmike
Mon, 19 Mar 2007 01:53:58 +0000

Link to previous thread for others’ reference:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=291508

Hi CV:

It’s good to see you back. (Not that I’m glad you’re still confused and worried, but you know what I mean.)

1.) Certainly I think you can afford to just dip your feet into the premed classes a little bit. Try your hand at General Chemistry (the first semester) and see how that goes. Do you have to swim twice as hard just to keep up? Then premed might not be right for you.

2.) BM is right, actually, and I was a little surprised when I first discovered this fact, too. There’s what we call post-bacc programs which will allow you to complete your premedical requirements after college. Many times these are offered through colleges. I know Harvard and Columbia, at least, both offer such programs.

3.) I really don’t think business requires as many ethical compromises as you think, and I do think medicine requires a lot more than you might think. One of the things we’re discussing, for example, is genetics: when to patients’ families have a right to know? Certain diseases are genetically inherited, and a patient’s sibling often wants to know that they’re at risk for such a disease – but can we tell them? What are the limits on our patient’s privacy? I could name eight or ten other moral dilemmas off the top of my head.

On the other hand, business is, at its core, the art of providing things that people value. It is, of course, possible to be a con man: to trick them into wanting those things in the first place. But I have found that very few of the major business careers leverage this possibility. Most firms are genuinely providing valuable services to their clients in exchange for money.

Where do real estate agents gain their money? From helping clients find and sell their homes. Consultants can be timewasters and moneysoaks, but they can also be good at their jobs and provide crucial insights and an outsider’s perspective. Even the hard things you have to do – say, impose pay cuts – are often done for a greater good, i.e. preserving your employees’ jobs at all.

Business has power to do harm, it’s true, but, then, medicine can be used irresponsibly too. Many studies, for example, have found that doctors routinely prescribe unnecessary care during slow years. These studies are controversial and flawed, in my opinion, but the possibility certainly exists.

4.) If your heart is in a medical service career and – hypothetically – the competition is too intense, then you should be aware that there are many, many allied health professions which pay quite a bit of money. But none of them will match an investment banking career. If your heart is in travel, then I really don’t think business is as unethical as many seem to think.