Why Do You Want To Be A Doctor Reddit

The best combination of job security and high income. I had other careers in mind, but with medicine any average joe possessing a good work ethic can become a physician. u/obamamd

“Why Do You Want To Be A Doctor?” (Reddit’s 19 Best Answers!)

As a place for (largely) anonymous commentators to answer any question they see fit, it’s got several useful communities for doctors, nurses, med students, pre-meds, and everyone in-between.

The platforms’ answer to the med school admissions staple; “why do you want to be a doctor?”, has lots of surprising, thought-provoking, and yes, not always serious, comments.

So I thought I’d document some of the more stand-out examples in one place.

But here’s what else we’ll cover:

Ready to learn more? Let’s go.

“Why Do You Want To Be A Doctor?” The Question

Before diving into some of the answers, you first might be wondering; “why the fascination?”

Almost all schools require prospective students to answer some form of the “why be a doctor” question. Or at least answer it in interviews.

It’s something that can help differentiate one candidate from another!

Coming up with something other than the obvious “chicks, money, power and chicks” (an answer epitomized in the TV show Scrubs), is apparently quite challenging though.

Which is why many pre-meds are desperate for more creative help…

“Why Do You Want To Be A Doctor?” Reddit’s Best Responses

1. You Get to Wear Scrubs and a White Coat

Scrubs are comfy and the closest I’ll ever get to wearing pajamas to work.

u/therealcaptaink

In people’s minds, doctors who wear scrubs with a white coat and a lanyard are thought to be more trustworthy, caring, knowledgeable, and approachable. Doctors need to show their ID regularly with lanyards. The lanyard seems to be the only accessory in the doctor’s gear. Customized lanyards will make our doctor’s outfit a little different. They can be designed in different colors, materials, images, or functions. Personalized but perfect for the scrubs with a white coat.

2. You Get to Be a Medical Detective

Medicine is like being a science detective, which just sounded like the most awesome thing to me. People may say research could do that too but in research I don’t get as quick gratification as in medicine, nor would I get to interact with different people all day.

u/theJexican18

3. Leadership

I see one of the biggest differences [between nursing and medicine] as the leadership role. Physicians have to coordinate and lead the care team and make decisions about how to proceed, who to consult, and take into consideration the input from all of the other members, as well as the patient, when forming a treatment plan. There is also often an expectation of a leadership role in the community, and a level of respect that comes with a lot of responsibility.

u/seagreen835

4. Autonomy and Responsibility

You want more autonomy and responsibility because having the patients life in your hands is a humbling and rewarding experience for you. Nurses don’t always get to follow the health of a patient completely.

u/SpartanPrince

5. Reward

The money and prestige are definitely there, but I want to become a doctor because its rewarding.

My mom told me become a doctor because you’re smart and you can help people and make lots of money. But biomedical and stem cell research sounded increasingly interesting to me. After going to uni and seeing for myself that the process of research is utterly slow and painful I realized that as interesting as research was it wasn’t for me.

u/trollwarIord

6. You Get To Teach

My fundamental drive to do healthcare is about helping people, but I also want to maximize the impact that I can have. If I can teach residents, conduct research, and help change protocols that non-physician providers use daily, I can have a much bigger impact than I can as any other kind of healthcare provider.

u/teehee257

7. Deep Knowledge

I want to be the person in charge of formulating a plan, and I want to have the deepest knowledge of a particular subject. In school, I hated reading stuff like, “…X is beyond the scope of this course”.

u/steve_enoki

8. Give Back to the Community

I grew up in a rural community where the physicians and health care providers did a lot to serve our schools and sports teams. Coming from a small town, everyone looks out for one another and it was something I want to emulate in my career pursuits.

u/TheRealistDill

9. Connection

The chance to connect with people over things that actually matter to them, every single day.

u/oddlebot

10. Flexibility and Diversity

A perk of being an MD specifically is that you can do whatever you want in terms of science. You can practice, do clinical research, start a basic science lab, work for pharma and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I view MD as an all access pass to the amusement park that is the world of medical sciences.

u/youngpremedandbroke

You can also start interesting businesses in med school too. Here are 10 business ideas for medical students that could help inspire you.

11. Longevity

Longevity of career. You have the option of working until you’re physically incapable without the fear of being irrelevant or traded in for younger/less expensive hire (happens in many industries)

u/apanda320

12. To Improve the Image of Doctors

I want to be a doctor because I want to treat people in a way that no doctor has ever treated me or my family.

u/saltsugars

13. Security and Income

The best combination of job security and high income. I had other careers in mind, but with medicine any average joe possessing a good work ethic can become a physician.

u/obamamd

14. Opportunity to Work Anywhere

It’s one of those jobs that’s in high demand and there are opportunities to practice all over the world.

u/HFpEF

15. Education and Challenge

Why doctor over pharmacist, nurse, PT/OT, dietician, or any other healthcare provider? I enjoy learning and the high cognitive demand of medicine. I want to have as much as possible a significant impact on patients.

u/anonymous

16. Better Than An Office Job

I recently had this conversation with a friend of mine – it feels more like life’s work than an office job. I know many people work to live and support their preferred lifestyle, but I want to have a larger purpose. I’m sure that’s why they call medicine a practice and an art; similar to artisan’s, your life is dedicated to its pursuit. I imagine many healers in tribal cultures embraced this feeling and understand it.

u/anonymous

17. Inspired By Family and Friends

I’ve been stuck on it for my entire life to be honest. When I was very young, my dad would tell me stories about his dad (who was a paediatrician), and from that I was completely inspired to be a doctor. Additionally, every interaction I had with doctors (as a patient) reaffirmed my belief that doctors were awesome, and that I wanted to be one.

u/applemazzle

18. Satisfies the Morbidly Curious

19. Useful In A Zombie Apocalypse

There are a lot of reasons, but my first and weirdest reason is that it seemed like a really solid skill set to have in case of a societal collapse and emergence of a barter economy.

u/filliamhmuffin

And if you’re really stuck for ideas here are even more answers from a bunch of UK students…

Final Thoughts

You can always count on Reddit to be a real source of both genuine (and sarcastic) answers. But even the sarcasm has some truth to it!

Hopefully, some of these responses can help give you a more interesting take on the question.

How should I answer the question; “why do you want to be a doctor?”

The best way to answer it is to be as honest and real as possible. Think deep about all the potential reasons it appeals to you and focuses on those that are unique and personal. Avoid the stereotypical and superficial answers (more on these later)

Why it’s important

Answering the question well can really help differentiate you from other candidates. Your job is to look for a narrative that shows you’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the career. And that you’ve openly examined your suitability for it.

Communicating these things can go a long way to convincing admissions committees to choose you over the next candidate.

Bad Reasons

Clearly, you’ll want to avoid the common pitfalls. Even if they’re partly influential in your decision, it’s probably best to stay away from the following reasons:

• Power
• Politics
• Reputation/Status
• Money
• Family Duty
• Boredom

These reasons don’t really express that you’re empathetic or well-balanced enough to be a fundamental part of a healthcare team. They’re also rather obvious.

Thinking outside the box, and being as personal as you can, will always make for a better approach.

What to think about

Some things that often work well when helping you come up with your answers:

1. Meaningful encounters (with doctors, or as a patient etc.)
2. Sources of inspiration/fascination
3. A deep understanding of the role (and the importance of doctors)

It’s often a good idea to think about all periods of your life when weighing up the question. Not just your recent experiences.

Why did I choose the medical profession?

My own personal reasons for choosing medicine are complex and fairly unconventional. I came to the decision later in life, after thinking it was off the table to me for most of my academic years!

My story is detailed in the article below…

Why do you want to be a doctor and not a PA?

Being asked this question, admissions committees are expecting you to know the difference between the two roles and have considered both carefully.

Expect to be asked about each’s individual roles, what their typical day looks like and why that is (or isn’t) a “good fit” for you.

Why do you want to be a doctor and not a nurse?

Again, you’re going to want to communicate in your essay or interview that you’ve thought about the two roles carefully and know the details of each.

The following article has some good ideas if you need further inspiration!

If you enjoyed this post, you might find the following articles useful:

How to Answer “Why Do You Want To Be A Doctor?”

It might seem obvious—even self-evident—but the question “Why do you want to be a doctor?” is an essential part of your medical school application. Admissions officers at institutions give this question immense weight, and your answer is not only indicative of the research you have done or the grades you have earned.

These are the usual aspects you’d expect, but it also speaks to your commitment to medicine’s art and science. Beyond MCAT scores and your GPA, your answer to this question gets at the heart of your commitment to being in the healthcare world and can improve your chances of getting into med school.

This guide will provide advice that should help craft an excellent response and give a sample answer that you can use for inspiration.

Get The Ultimate Guide on Writing an Unforgettable Personal Statement

Thank you! Look for the downloadable guide just sent to your inbox. Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Purpose of the “Why Do You Want to Be a Doctor?” Interview Question‍

The reason medical school admissions officers ask this question goes beyond checking off a box or making small talk. It is not the same as a friend or relative being polite and inquiring after your education.

Instead, this interview question is used to gauge your commitment to the art and science of medicine, the hard work ahead of you, and the reasons why you want to be in medicine in the first place. This question can show up in any type of med school interview, from traditional to MMI.

Studying to be a doctor means long nights, hard days, countless unforeseen obstacles, setbacks, and unexpected events. This is not to dissuade you but to get you thinking about your true motivations and inner drive.

Then you must consider the actual being a doctor part. What do you envision your future practice looking like, and who would be your prospective patients?

It’s this thinking and follow-through that the question is designed to gauge. Admissions officers want to see your passion and commitment to becoming a doctor.

Unlike other jobs or careers, this field is truly a calling and requires you to understand the duty of care. Honesty and integrity are vital to being a doctor. This question is designed to see if you are answering truthfully and have considered your decision to attend medical school.

Sign up to our Newsletter

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

How to Answer “Why Do You Want to Become a Doctor?” Interview Question

That is, what can you do to make patients’ experiences better? What can you bring to medicine that makes care better, more empathetic, considerate, or thoughtful? Your answer should go beyond clichés and consider that patient care can be demanding, so your commitment to medicine must go beyond platitudes.

You must consider the context and environment you will be in— much like the points discussed above. Picture a busy emergency room or a crowded waiting area: these are the places and people you will face and who will be relying on you. ‍

2. Focus on Patients and What Drives You to Care for Them‍

Let us set up another thought experiment: say you were ill as a child—a broken bone or a bad case of tonsillitis, perhaps—and you had to spend many days or weeks in the hospital. This experience weighs heavily on your mind as you apply to medical school.

This is a good start, but again we must go beyond the surface level here. What did the doctors do that stood out to you? Why do they remain in your mind even now? How did they affect you as a patient? Why not the nurses or technicians?

In considering these answers, we can understand why this question is essential: what is the impact you want to make? What will learning new medical science and technology mean for the care of your patients?

Focus on the patients and their needs, and frame your thinking and responses to these sub-questions around that idea.‍‍

Speak about how you developed your curiosity for medicine and the specialty you aim to be in when you are a doctor.

For instance, if you had a great family doctor, speak about why that impacted you and what it means for how you will help take care of patients. Remember to tie back these experiences to how they inspired you to help patients and enter healthcare to further that goal.‍

4. Share Your Experiences and How You Explored Your Interests

After you have spoken about your first instances of contact with medicine and your initial sparks of inspiration, you can move on to how you took your passion further and began your education.

Speak about what you did to learn more about the world of medicine and being a doctor. That includes any hospital or other healthcare volunteering experiences or extracurricular activities related to healthcare.

You can also include other clinical experiences, research involvement, or times you’ve shadowed a physician. Be specific and highlight one or two instances in particular. Again, focus on how and why they inspired you to pursue medicine and how they inspired you to take care of experiences.

It would also help to explain how these experiences reinforced or challenged your initial assumptions and how you adapted to these circumstances.

Remember, being a doctor is full of unexpected experiences, so if you have specifics to highlight that show how you can adapt and change, be sure to mention those specifically. Everyone pursuing medicine has initial reasons for entering the field challenged; keep that in mind and explain how you overcome adversity.‍

5. Have Confidence and Show Your Commitment to Medicine

Once you have explained your initial spark of inspiration and your first steps into the world of healthcare, you can go on to speak about the reasons you are committed to going further. Use this time to emphasize how you came to know this choice was right for you.

This includes specific reasons and examples that showed you medicine was the path you wanted to pursue, specifically being a doctor rather than, say, a nurse or aide. Explain what drives you to care for patients and why being a doctor will help you do that, and why medical school is the path to reach this goal.

Remember to mention the introspection you have to do and the things you have learned about yourself. Be sure to speak about what you have learned about yourself, the assumptions you made that were challenged, and how you adapted to changing circumstances and experiences.

Whether your interview is online, in person, or follows a different format (such as an MMI), remember to make eye contact and exude confidence! This also includes dressing to impress; you want to show the admissions committee that you’re driven and professional.

Sample Answers For “Why Do You Want to Be a Doctor?”

The following are sample answers to help inspire you and get you thinking about how you can prepare for this question in your interview. Make your answer unique and specific to you and your experiences, and do not feel you have to follow these examples directly.

Example #1

In my first year of high school, I had gotten a little ambitious with my soccer playing and decided to go for a new move I’d watched a pro player do. Unfortunately, I tore my ACL. I remember feeling so anxious before my reconstructive surgery and assumed I’d never run or live an active lifestyle again. The surgeon I met calmed my worries, and I’ll never forget the gentle way he spoke before and after my surgery was complete.

After recovering, I left the hospital with a newfound fascination for gratitude for the man who had given me another chance at sports, running, and activity. I used that fascination to dive into books; I wanted to know how the human body works, especially our musculoskeletal system. One bad play in high school paved the way for me wanting to become a surgeon who could also improve or restore the quality of life of my patients — every time I put on my cleats, I remember why I have a second chance at the hobbies I love.

Example #2

I was in the middle of dissecting a frog and encouraging my peers to participate (although most looked a little green at the prospect) when I was awestruck by the complexity of the inside of living things. Exploring the intricacies of life during that one biology class ignited my curiosity and led me to start consuming more media about the human body, its systems, and disease.

This exploration only further fuelled my passion for science. As I see the rapid progress of medical technologies, I know that I want to conduct research to ultimately better the lives of those in my community and the world. I yearn to be part of this transformative journey, applying my knowledge and skills to improve lives.

Ultimately, my longing to merge my love for biology with cutting-edge medical advancements propels me toward a career as a doctor. I believe that through medicine and research, I can contribute and make a meaningful difference while always putting patient care at the forefront of every interaction.

Example #3

When I was eight, I had to go in for a routine checkup with my family doctor. While I was not a child afraid of the doctor, I did not really enjoy these checkups. Once, when he measured my height, he mentioned that the average raccoon standing straight up would be shorter than me. I found this quite funny as a child, and it showed me that doctors were people too and understood what it was like to be there in a cold office when you did not want to be.

‍On that particular appointment, an X-ray showed a strange lump near one of my ribs. Instead of trying to deflect attention away from it, my doctor calmly explained what happened. He covered what an X-ray was and the various reasons they might see something unusual. It turned out to merely be a blemish on the film, but the experience stayed with me.

After this initial spark of curiosity was triggered, I wanted to learn more. In high school, we had a field trip to a local hospital, and while other students seemed to have found it boring, I was excited at the chance to ask the doctors there even more questions and find out more about what it was like in their day-to-day lives. These experiences.

One day, I hope to be like that family doctor who inspired me while improving medical care for all of those that I come into contact with as a medical school student and as a doctor.

Keep your answer succinct yet detailed. Also, don’t forget to send your interviewers a thank you letter after your interview!

What to Avoid in Your Answer

Now that you know some things you should include in your response to why you want to become a physician, we can discuss what not to say. There are some things to avoid mentioning, or that would be detrimental to bring up during your response.

Namely, do not mention money or profits in your answer. If your primary drive in becoming a doctor is making money, that likely means you will not be putting patients first. Remember, being a doctor is more than a job or career. It is a lifetime commitment to help and care for others.

Also, while it may sound good, mentioning “being challenged” isn’t always the best answer. There are many challenging career options, and doctors are expected to encounter complex problems daily. Instead, explain how and why being challenged is something you can handle and how you’ll care for patients despite the daily grind.

Don’t focus your entire answer on only yourself. Be sure to explain how and why your experiences have helped inspire you and driven you to help patients. Remember to mention what drives you to keep going despite adversity and how these reasons go on to inspire you to care for others.

And while having medical professionals in your family is excellent, this is not reason enough by itself. Instead, tie it to specific reasons they inspired you to keep going and pursue medicine yourself.

How did they care for patients that made an impression on you and made you want to pursue being a doctor? Remember that medical school can be challenging and bring blows to your self-esteem at times, so mention what it is about having folks in your family that keep you going.

Lastly and certainly not least, do not state you want to go to medical school because it means you will get a “Dr.” in front of your name. This is not only a weak reason to go, but it also shows selfishness rather than compassion and care for others.

FAQs

Here are our answers to some of the most frequently asked questions concerning how to explain why you want to become a doctor in an interview.

1. Should I Mention My Grades or Test Scores In My Answer?‍

No, these pieces of information are already in your AMCAS application, and the admissions officers can see them in your submission. It may come off as bragging or self-promotion, which is not desirable.

Additionally, sharing your grades and test scores when asked why you want to be a doctor doesn’t provide insight into your motivation to become a doctor.

The only time this is beneficial is when you are undergoing a closed file interview and are encouraged to speak on highlights of your application.‍

2. Should I Practice How to Answer “Why Do You Want To Be A Physician” Beforehand?‍

Yes, but try not to sound too rehearsed or as if you are reading from a script. Make sure your answer sounds natural and authentic to your experiences, but do not feel as if you need to get every single word perfect or that you must speak as if you are reading from an essay.‍

You could also participate in mock interviews with physicians to boost your skills and ensure your preparedness!

Final Thoughts‍

The question, “why do you want to be a doctor?” is anything but easy to answer, but in thinking through how you will respond, not only will it help your chances of getting into medical school, but it will make you a better doctor, too.

Remember to be open, honest, and thoughtful while mentioning how you will care for your future patients considering your weaknesses and strengths. Remember to send a thank you note to your interviewers after to keep you fresh in their minds!

With a little practice and some introspection, you will be sure to answer this question in an excellent manner that genuinely reflects why you want to be a doctor.