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Should I study to be a doctor?

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  • 23-01-2017 9:49pm
    #1
    FloraBrice
    Registered Users Posts: 1 ✭


    I'm 17 and a Leaving Cert student.
    I was thinking about studying to become a doctor but I honestly don't know if I'd be able for it. I'm grand at studying-don't push myself but everyone around me says I'd be capable of 550 points... I want a career that's flexible and that I can travel with but all of my interests point me back to the health/caring sector. I was thinking about Occupational Therapy also but I've heard it's not a stable job or income?! ANY suggestions would help..A LOT.
    Thanks


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    #2
    user53
    Closed Accounts Posts: 97 ✭✭user53


    Medicine - a lot of study, a lot of shift work, quite poor lifestyle in early years but great lifestyle when a consultant, stable.

    OT - average amount of study, no shift work, good lifestyle from the get go, decent salary and stable.

    Both are rewarding careers, personally I'd go for OT as I feel like it would be a nice work/life balance but only you know what you want!

    P.S. where did you hear OT had a poor income and wasn't stable? I'd disagree..


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    #3
    feckthisgenie
    Registered Users Posts: 181 ✭✭feckthisgenie


    FloraBrice wrote: »
    I'm 17 and a Leaving Cert student.
    I was thinking about studying to become a doctor but I honestly don't know if I'd be able for it. I'm grand at studying-don't push myself but everyone around me says I'd be capable of 550 points... I want a career that's flexible and that I can travel with but all of my interests point me back to the health/caring sector. I was thinking about Occupational Therapy also but I've heard it's not a stable job or income?! ANY suggestions would help..A LOT.
    Thanks

    You have received poor advice. OT is a very stable job. OT is the exact same payscale as physiotherapist, speech & language therapy and all the other allied health professions. It's a 9- 5 Monday to Friday job with an abundance of different areas to work in I. E. Acute hospital and all the different specialites (orthopaedics, medical, stroke, amputees, burns and plastics, rheumatology etc), mental health, paediatrics, community the list goes on. You can also travel the global and get work as an OT.
    You can also do private work if you specialise in an area like paediatrics.
    Jobs in OT are as easy come by as 15-20 years ago when there was more jobs then OT's to fill posts.


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    #4
    Avatar MIA
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,750 ✭✭✭Avatar MIA


    FloraBrice wrote: »
    I'm 17 and a Leaving Cert student.
    I was thinking about studying to become a doctor but I honestly don't know if I'd be able for it. I'm grand at studying-don't push myself but everyone around me says I'd be capable of 550 points... I want a career that's flexible and that I can travel with but all of my interests point me back to the health/caring sector. I was thinking about Occupational Therapy also but I've heard it's not a stable job or income?! ANY suggestions would help..A LOT.
    Thanks

    To become a doctor requires a long slog. There's also the interview stage. And I don't see enough in the above to suggest it'd be a good fit - what does flexible even mean and how does being a doctor cater for that?

    With that said, you're only 17.


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    #5
    A Neurotic
    Registered Users Posts: 3,779 ✭✭✭A Neurotic


    FloraBrice wrote:
    I'm 17 and a Leaving Cert student. I was thinking about studying to become a doctor but I honestly don't know if I'd be able for it. I'm grand at studying-don't push myself but everyone around me says I'd be capable of 550 points... I want a career that's flexible and that I can travel with but all of my interests point me back to the health/caring sector. I was thinking about Occupational Therapy also but I've heard it's not a stable job or income?! ANY suggestions would help..A LOT. Thanks


    The only advice I'd give you is that a medical degree opens up a whole load of wildly varying career paths. People tend to just think of hospital physicians or GPs when they think of a career in medicine, but you could end up becoming anything from a surgeon to a public health specialist to a microbiologist to a psychiatrist. Loads of variety in medicine, outside of the traditional slog/shift work.

    I don't know as much about OT but it also seems like a varied, rewarding job, especially mental health OT in my experience.


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