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Career Qualm: Follow Your Heart Or Satisfy Parent’s Dreams?

By admin Posted in: alternative medicine

Bottom line: I have been searching for a suitable career to study in University. For the past year I have narrowed it down to science-based careers. Lately, I’ve had a big interest holistic/alternative medicine, especially things like osteopathic medicine. The problem is that my father is a snobby, spoiled, social-status conscious and terribly conservative parent, who claims he “wants the best for me” and that this would NOT be the right path for me. Instead, I should become a doctor that specializes in “conventional” medicine branches like Cardiology, Neurology, etc. To me, that path is not the one I must take, because I am strongly against industries like the pharmaceutical industry, which many of these areas support. With holistic medicine, there is a strong emphasis on things that I tend to be drawn to, something which regular medicine ignores.
Bottom line, what to do? Nod my head and do what my Dad says, or follow my heart and passion and study alternative medicine?

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  1. Diocleti Says

    If you are not yet into a university, then that means you’re still in High School, is that correct? You need to study what YOU want to study, NOT what someone else wants you to study. Unless YOU are interested in it, then you’re not going to give it your best shot. And unless you give it everything you’ve got, then you will NEVER, EVER get through medical school (or Osteopathic School, for that matter. I wuld suggest you just go to college, take some general interest courses, and explore a little. You’re going to need the fundamentals no matter what you study later on, so take some math and chemistry, but also take history and English and Sociology and Psychology and anything else that interests you. After you’ve gotten the first year or two under your belt, THEN you’ll know whether you want to buckle down and go for a pre-med course and pursue medical school or not. Who knows? You might even decide you’d much rather be an Investment Banker, or an Accountant.

  2. Anonymous Says

    do what YOU want to do. you will not be happy otherwise. you will actually end up resenting your dad for making you unhappy and you need to tell him that this is YOUR life, not his. you need to become independant and make your own choices.

  3. chafarm1 Says

    Jack,
    The decision as to what specialty and focus you will have in medicine is a long way off. The decision as to what residency you will do in medicine occurs following medical school and during your inrernship year. Your talents, grades and professors recommendations will determine which specialties you are offered.
    I know intrernists, psychiatrists, gastroenterologists, and family practitioners who are willing to consider alternative medicine practices in some of their patients. In fact, so many of our patients are self medicating with everything from vitamins and Melatonin, to l-arginine and l-ornithine. A physician with a personal interest in alternative medicine would do well, regardless of the specialty.
    Tell your parents you will consider their preferences, and then let the path you find direct you, just as it would anyway. Very best wishes.

  4. Maria Kamrath Says

    Allopathic medical school is too big a commitment to embark upon for anyone but yourself–don’t try it if you’re half-hearted, because it demands your absolute dedication. Osteopathic medical school is just as demanding, and you learn legitimate medicine there, as well, even how to perform certain surgeries. You’ll still be able to work in a hospital as a doctor, and at least you’ll be doing what you are passionate about. Honestly, you need doctors who are not too scalpel-happy. I say follow your dreams. You’ll be able to apply to both allopathic and osteopathic med schools when the time comes (same pre-requisites, and both require the MCAT), so you can aim for your goal but give dad some lip-service at the same time; at the moment of truth/matriculation, you’ll be able to revisit this issue, no worries.

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