It’s great that you’re thinking so carefully about how you can use your career to help others! And it’s important to note that this is a good problem to have: you have multiple promising paths ahead of you. I think asking for thoughts here could be useful, plus getting advice from other sources (e.g. your family and friends, people from the different paths you’re considering, 80,000 Hours, Probably Good, etc.).
I finished my MD last year, and spent the final few years knowing that I did not want to clinically practice. I knew there were higher impact paths, and very little of the content I was learning in those years helped me for those paths. At that stage though I concluded it was best to finish off the degree. I sympathise with feeling compelled to continue having gotten over the hurdle of getting in, but would warn against making a Sunk Cost fallacy—what is in the past can’t be changed. What matters for making a decision is how your future goes based on your current situation, not how well it justifies your past actions.
I’m not saying medicine is or isn’t the right call for you—I really don’t know. But if you strongly believe you won’t clinically practice, there are probably faster, cheaper, easier, and more direct pathways to pursue to wherever you want to get to. Cheap/quick tests can be handy here—maybe you could try internships at organisations that excite you, or short-term research projects mentored by someone you look up to. That could give you a taste of other options.
You’ve got a great problem on your hands, and you don’t have to solve it all straight away! Talking with someone can be super helpful for these things, even just as a sounding board for you to work out what you think and feel. If you need someone for that, I’d be happy to listen! Just send me a DM. Cheers!
It’s great that you’re thinking so carefully about how you can use your career to help others! And it’s important to note that this is a good problem to have: you have multiple promising paths ahead of you. I think asking for thoughts here could be useful, plus getting advice from other sources (e.g. your family and friends, people from the different paths you’re considering, 80,000 Hours, Probably Good, etc.).
I finished my MD last year, and spent the final few years knowing that I did not want to clinically practice. I knew there were higher impact paths, and very little of the content I was learning in those years helped me for those paths. At that stage though I concluded it was best to finish off the degree. I sympathise with feeling compelled to continue having gotten over the hurdle of getting in, but would warn against making a Sunk Cost fallacy—what is in the past can’t be changed. What matters for making a decision is how your future goes based on your current situation, not how well it justifies your past actions.
I’m not saying medicine is or isn’t the right call for you—I really don’t know. But if you strongly believe you won’t clinically practice, there are probably faster, cheaper, easier, and more direct pathways to pursue to wherever you want to get to. Cheap/quick tests can be handy here—maybe you could try internships at organisations that excite you, or short-term research projects mentored by someone you look up to. That could give you a taste of other options.
You’ve got a great problem on your hands, and you don’t have to solve it all straight away! Talking with someone can be super helpful for these things, even just as a sounding board for you to work out what you think and feel. If you need someone for that, I’d be happy to listen! Just send me a DM. Cheers!