Being a doctor or businessman; which one takes up more time?

Question

I've always wanted to become a surgeon and thus, have basically taken all science classes my entire life, and getting As in all of them...

But now I'm kinda realizing that I'd rather not spend 18 years at college (4 yrs pre-med, 4 yrs med, 8 years apprenticeship, 2 yrs Ph.D.)...and I'm really interested in history (like economics etc), business and languages (complete opposite of science basically)...also, while higher levels of science come hard to me, history and english and languages are just easy, never gotten below an A in any...

The only reason I'm still thinking about becoming a doctor is for the pay (and because my mom basically is urging me to do it)...doctors make a lot more than businessmen, etc, unless your a CEO...which I could be if I worked hard at it)...plus all of that stuff and politics interest me more than sciences (even though I'm still interested in science, but mainly Biology)...plus I don't wanna be one of those parents/husbands who are never home to see anything...

So, which one would you choose as a career? I mean, outweighing the pros and cons, which one would be better?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I would be a doctor. You don't have to depend on others for your job and you can be your own boss in a way. You never have to worry about being unemployed. The business world is tough and unforgiving. I would be a sports medicine doctor working at a university if I could choose a specialty. You can always take the premed stuff and double major in bio and economics. Then take one or two years to travel or work and see what the real world is like before you apply to medical school.

Being a family doc would take 7 or 8 years after undergrad and being a sports medicine specialist doc might take 8 to 9 years after undergrad. Surgery would be way too stressful for me. If you get to a high enough level in business, you could be away from home traveling and work a lot of hours. It's no cakewalk. You could always become a teacher.

Answer 2

I don't know where you got the idea that doctors spend 18 years in college.  Doctors don't have Ph.D.s (which usually take at least 4 years, not 2 anyway), and they don't do apprenticeships.  They do residencies, but those don't last 8 years (usually 3-4) unless you do more than one.

I wouldn't focus on the money.  No one ever had a good life working at a job they hated just for the money.  I understand that you don't want to struggle, but you can do fine in any number of fields.  

Realize that there are thousands of different careers out there.  You aren't stuck with a choice between any two.  And if you want to be home to see your family a lot, a high-powered career of any sort is probably not your best bet.