Roadblock in Life: Should I Go into Teaching or Medicine?

• 

  BargainCowboy on 10/12/2018 - 14:46

  +5

  A former primary school teacher here - just make sure you understand there's a significant difference between teaching at primary school, high-school and tertiary level. While tertiary education involves research and zero disciplining, primary education is mostly the latter. I assume high-school is somewhere in the middle. I love teaching, but hated disciplining, so I eventually could not do it anymore.

  • 

    NigerianGirthLord on 10/12/2018 - 16:02

    I'm very much interested in teaching at the high-school level and disciplining might be an area that I could learn, my Uni has offered me to tutor at some 'rough' schools as part of an equity ambassador job which I might take. Thank you for your advice, it's greatly appreciated.

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 11/12/2018 - 09:33

      +1

      I've found from tutoring, that it is incredibly fulfilling seeing people understand/grasp what is being taught.

      Even at high school level, you should expect much or it is disciplining (as cowboy suggested) . You have to realise that many people at high school will not be interested in grasping/understanding. Remember, high school is compulsory until about 16 years old, so many kids don't want to be there, don't want to learn etc. It can kind of be like force-feeding eduction, as opposed to helping people grasp/understand something they really want to learn. Once students are choosing to be there (year 11 & 12) I would expect it to be much more that everyone there wants to learn.
      Earlier compulsory education attendance, would be a real struggle at times with discipline and with students that simply don't want to be there, don't want to learn (and sometimes find entertainment and humor in tormenting their teachers) . I didn't do homework and handed in assignments late (losing marks) , so dropped from top class, to the bottom in year 10. Kids put sharp thumbtacks on teachers chair in science lab. In another class, the class-clown snuck a porno magazine onto teacher (who seemed gay) onto that teacher's desk. Same group/class had sport, broke elderly teacher's ribs (by deliberately smashing into teacher really hard, spear tackle I think it was, during school sports).
      Teaching in schools you have to be ready for a mix of both people that want to learn, and people that have zero interest in learning (but still have to be taught) and then most will be somewhere in between.

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  olivecheese on 10/12/2018 - 14:52

  +12

  I'd $eriously $ugge$t medicine a$ a cour$e worth con$idering.

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  2jzzzz on 10/12/2018 - 14:57

  +5

  Teaching is the worst job going. Too many hours, overload of responsibility and average money.

  • 

    rt1111 on 11/12/2018 - 14:54

    Those school holidays must be a real drag.

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  tks1432 on 10/12/2018 - 15:03

  Medicine. More opportunities, more $$$ and with it, you can go teach med courses if you wish to.

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  Amaris on 10/12/2018 - 15:12

  +6

  Do Medicine and then you can choose to teach

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  dcep on 10/12/2018 - 15:13

  money vs passion

  you can't have both

  unless you're the lucky 1%

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  tanksinatra on 10/12/2018 - 15:18

  +3

  Neither. Both are suffering from graduate oversupply, temporary employment contracts and have long hours.

  • 

    ms_caz on 11/12/2018 - 08:09

    Plenty of demand for secondary science teachers!

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 11/12/2018 - 09:37

      Depends where you are looking for work. Some schools where many teachers want to work, you will wait >20 years for full time permanent position. I know there used to be some points system (public schools), where if you put in time at school in desperate need of teachers (out bush, or rough area) then you got like bonus points, towards moving to the school you really want to work at, later on. Teachers bypass this by going into private school teaching.

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  [Deactivated] on 10/12/2018 - 15:27

  +3

  First step is to update your username to something less childish :p. Pay your dues, then you can be childish again. The critical part is not being childish during the due paying phase.

  • 

    hashtagbargain on 10/12/2018 - 16:25

    +1

    Haha made me look.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 11/12/2018 - 10:24

    +1

    Mate. I was childish AF. I went for my med interviews with highlights and earrings.

    Now I wear runners with jeans. :(

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  SydStrand on 10/12/2018 - 15:55

  +1

  There's a good chance you might not get into med, regardless. So sit the GAMSAT first then check results, before labouring under the notion that you already have two options. If you bomb it, then simplifies things. If you nail it (and an interview), at least you have the option to turn it down. I'm a vet, so not quite the same situation, but every undergrad biomed student I met eventually picked a postgrad as the degree is largely worthless except as a stepping stone.

  • 

    Icecold5000 on 10/12/2018 - 22:41

    +1

    You have no options at this time. Just like your girth its only a fantasy. Come back when you've score 68 in Gamsat and have a completed degree with at least a 6.5 GPA.

    Its like me asking if I should be an astronaut or porn star when I have neither the required length nor the PhD.

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 11/12/2018 - 09:43

      Its like me asking if I should be an astronaut or porn star when I have neither the required length nor the PhD.

      It looks larger in space, so once you become an astronaut, the porn career will follow ;)
      Suggested 'screen name' Buck (that like to F—-k Rogers)

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  Diji1 on 10/12/2018 - 16:27

  If you're on the fence about either I would give them both a miss (different story if you're passionate about the career) - medicine seems to be an horrific amount of work including insane overwork and teachers are … well in our society we don't value teachers and they get paid like that is the case.

  But if you chose one I would recommend medicine, at least you get the status and wealth.

  Ideally you would be doing something that you like doing which makes hard work seem like hardly working.

  • 

    ihbh on 10/12/2018 - 16:55

    +1

    we don't value teachers and they get paid like that is the case

    Go to Finland where it's a completely different situation.

    I would recommend medicine, at least you get the status and wealth

    It's very competitive at the moment, so not an easy road to either.

  • 

    Hoju on 11/12/2018 - 08:17

    +2

    I would recommend medicine, at least you get the status and wealth

    Say what
    My mortgage broker saw my payslips (dr for nsw health) and said "what, a cleaner earns more!"

    And as for status, I am exhausted every day by the number of times I get metaphorically shat on by my nursing/dr colleagues or patients. We live in a public healthy system and a society that feels entitled to free public health - the general consensus is that they own me and pay my wage (which is in a sense true) and >50% of the time this is how it can feel

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  elektron on 10/12/2018 - 17:17

  +5

  Roadblock in Life: Should I Go into Teaching or Medicine?

  Don't mean to be a smartass but isn't this crossroads rather than a roadblock?

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 10/12/2018 - 17:39

    Sliding doors awaiting to be opened.

  • 

    dcep on 10/12/2018 - 18:21

    it's a roadblock just before the crossroads

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  fossilfuel on 10/12/2018 - 17:46

  +2

  I'm a 2nd Year BioMed Student at UTS and managed to get a distinction average throughout 1st year, the question is; Do I go hop into medicine (a lot of my friends doing the same course already have), it'll mean I'd have to sit/get a good mark in the GAMSAT but becoming a doctor would provide a lot of opportunities.

  Good job on the distinction average! Medicine is a test of endurance. A couple of my mates finished the last 2 years of medical school where you do rotations and explore different specialties. It crushed them due to fatigue as they started hospital at 7AM, finished at around 5-6PM and then studied until 11PM. No doubt this will be the norm for interns and residents. Some specialities are very competitive to get into incl. pediatrics and cardiology.

  Nevertheless, it's a very rewarding career as long as you are willing to put in the work.

  Teaching is another option for me as I've found from tutoring, that it is incredibly fulfilling seeing people understand/grasp

  I just finished my masters in teaching. DO NOT go to Usyd. Their courses are garbage and prac office is utterly useless. They don't respond to emails and more than half the cohort did not get a prac placement on our first prac. A lot found out the day before where they're going on the second prac. I've talked to several teachers working in schools and they found the UTS course much better.

  You need a LOT of patience as a teacher. It's not all your relatively motivated or bright students in tutoring, there's a fair amount of low ability students. It's important to learn how to teach them as they won't be writing essays.

  There's extra demands including writing assignments & assessment tasks, looking after sport, taking on extra-curricular responsibilities e.g duke of ed, SRC etc, writing end of semester reports for 100 odd students, helping students with questions during recess and lunch, attending staff meetings before or after school. It's not a 9AM-3PM job as most think. A lot of teachers work into the night to get their work done. Teachers also mark assignments and assessments throughout the school holidays. The pay is meagre given the extra demands that are expected from teachers.

  It's difficult to break into a full time position. Most teachers start off casual or part-time and work across multiple schools. If you're willing to go out rural, there's more opportunity for full time. Secondary mathematics and physics teachers are in demand so it won't be too hard to find full time work if you're willing to go out west.

  Then again, you're always on the move and there's always things to do. If you enjoy that lifestyle, then go for teaching.

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  TheBilly on 10/12/2018 - 18:37

  +5

  After being through 3 different careers of there is anything I have learnt is. Take the one that will allow you to earn the most money as quick as possible so you can retire and spend time doing what you truly love which is usually something so useless you are unlikely to earn anything from it. Dont get caught up in this emotional crap below.

  it is incredibly fulfilling seeing people understand/grasp what is being taught

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  Findo on 10/12/2018 - 19:39

  +1

  Have a chat to Warren Poole in the UTS School of Education. That man gave me a second chance when he was the principal at my primary school, and I thank my lucky stars every day he didn’t throw the book at me. He’ll give you an honest answer. For ages, I hated the idea of teaching but I felt like I made my bed so I had to lie in it. You don’t know whether it’s for you until you get out into a school and teach, it’s very different to tutoring.

  Personally, I think this stuff about an oversupply of teachers is not entirely true, but it’s not entirely false either. There is an abundance of terrible grad teachers; it really doesn’t take much to stand out from the crowd. Network like hell and try to value add, and you’ll get return offers (albeit casual) but your foot will be in the door at the very least.

• 

  Hoju on 11/12/2018 - 08:22

  Another option is to sit the UMAT (now UCAT) and apply as an undergrad. UWS offers this option… or they used to.
  Couple of reasons for doing this
  1. It involves a lot less commitment as it's more of an aptitude test than a knowledge based test, so you can just throw your hand in and shrug if you don't get a decent mark
  2. It's cheaper
  3. Registration is not as far in advance, so you can think about it, see what your GPA is like this year, Register for the 2019 test and be starting med in 2020

  Essentially if you're on the fence, the commitment to med via the umat is less.

  For what it's worth, I still wish my chosen medical specialty was primary school teaching. ie I'm not sure I made the right choice…

• 

  myfanwyhood on 11/12/2018 - 08:43

  +2

  I was in this exact situation a few years ago. Had completed my B Biomed and was halfway through my MBBS when I started to question my career path. I ended up choosing teaching for the lifestyle benefits. I'm doing high school with the teaching areas of maths/science, bio and chem.
  Sure you'd earn much more by going through with med but at what cost? I decided it was more important to me to have a life and a family that I actually saw than earn a lot. Teaching is an amazing career with so many benefits. Also with the Masters, you go in at a higher starting salary and some unis offer an accelerated Masters which you can finish in 1.5 years.

  Why do you say you hate that you'd have to do a Masters since the Grad Dip has been scrapped?

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  diceman99 on 11/12/2018 - 09:25

  In our society its all about the money.
  Take the highest paying one. Later in life you can then decide to change

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  SlickMick on 11/12/2018 - 09:33

  Definitely pursue medicine first. It's a small step to change your mind later, whereas a teacher wanting to be a doctor might be a bit of a hurdle.

  I didn't listen to this advice when I left school, but I understand now.

• 

  kiwijunglist on 11/12/2018 - 12:22

  +2

  Consider being a radiographer or sonographer or radiation therapist/technician.

  Paid very well shorter study easy to get jobs and travel.

  I'm a doctor, I don't recommend doing medicine.

• 

  HeWhoKnows on 11/12/2018 - 21:02

  +1

  This is certainly NOT a ROADBLOCK!

  2 different roads. 2 differnt lifestyles. 2 totally diffrent remuneration structures.

  Asking for advice here is the wrong thing.

  This is your life dear OP.

  You need to accept some responsibility and make your own decision.

  Any opinions reflected here are only personal ones reflecting ones own personal ciurcumstances.

  You need to weigh up all the pros and cons IN YOUR OPINION and then make your decision.

  Having said that its never too late to change later in life.
  So definitely dont feel roadblocked.

  Its all about the OPPORTUNITIES

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  Findo on 12/12/2018 - 16:37

  Here’s another thing to think about. I just got offered a full time grad position with the NSW DET in a policy role (non-teaching). All the teachers I’ve spoken to told me to take it without any hesitation whatsoever. A few said if I was still wanted to teach after a few months in, I could always apply for casual and temp roles but at the end of the day, the main message is ‘look after number one’. There aren’t all that many permanent full time positions in good schools and it’s more luck than anything in landing them.

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  greatlamp on 16/12/2018 - 17:17

  Being a tutor is closer to treating a patient than teaching a class.

  In both cases how much you enjoy the job and how successful your are at it has little to do with your university study skills. You chose to study science, why? I assume because you are interested in it?

  Committing the time and energy required to get into medicine is not something you may be able to do later in life.

  No offence to teachers, but if you can get distinctions in science, becoming a teacher later on in life isn't going to be that difficult for you