Can I go to med school and still be punk rock?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

...or should I just bag it and go to art school?

In a bit of an existential crisis here, people.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 20:53 (twenty years ago)

It all depends on what you think of Greg Gaffin.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 March 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

go to law school instead, dood! santiago durango did!!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 14 March 2005 20:59 (twenty years ago)

...I'm going to have to google greg gaffin.

Has that somehow made me ineligible for either/both? Or does that just reveal my total lack of knowledge vis a vis the medical and artistic communities?

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

I guarantee if there's one thing the world doesn't need more of, it's doctors. Artists and lawyers OTOH are definitely going to be in short supply in the near future. Shit, there's a shortage on RIGHT NOW!

― TOMBOT, Monday, 14 March 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

....lawyers are in short supply?! WTF? Really? I always thought there'd be an endless supply.

I mean, doctors at least have the very hands-on experience of healing. Lawyers and artists can be a little bit further removed.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

Dr. Punk

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

WOW!

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

Go to med school. The things youll learn will help you with art in ways art school never could.

― David Allen (David Allen), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

Some Punk Rock doctors....

http://www.objectmerch.com/ProductImages/drk-0001lg.gif http://www.machetemfg.com/ProductImages/dr-know/dr-know-backpatch_lg.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

If you go to med school, then the punk rock possibilities mostly consist of sketchy hygiene, poorly informed choices of attire and an all-pervading sense of dread leading to occasional hallucinations. Sadly, your choice of drugs doesn't improve until residency.

― Aimless (Aimless), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

Good point, DA. I'm just worried that if I go to med school I won't have the time/opportunity to do any art (obv the opposite holds true, as well).

Plus, if I'm going to med school I sort of have to get cracking tout de suite.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

...I'm going to have to google greg gaffin.

Umm, then you aren't punk anyway, Doc.

― Huk-L, Monday, 14 March 2005 21:08 (twenty years ago)

yes. but you'll be in a minority. i think ive met only one other cool doctor and he was a dentist. generally, its the lawyers that like to rock.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:09 (twenty years ago)

that sounds more GOTH than punk?!?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:09 (twenty years ago)

generally, its the lawyers that like to rock.

?!?!?!?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:09 (twenty years ago)

Umm, then you aren't punk anyway, Doc.

Yeah, I sort of figured that out. "Punk rock" is a stand-in for, um, "not getting sucked into the 8 year process and thus losing touch with any and all creative outlets."

Kind of misleading. And, knowing punks, grossly offensive.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:11 (twenty years ago)

Good call, Eisbär. The med student-Goth connection is much stronger than the med student-punk rock axis.

― Aimless (Aimless), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:13 (twenty years ago)

Seriously, why worry about whether your career decision is "punk rock" or not? It's 2005, for cryin' out loud. Follow your conscience and do what you have to -- that's "punker" than anything I can think of.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:14 (twenty years ago)

it'll be punk rock if you advocate the use of safety pins in lieu of stitches.

― kelsey (kelstarry), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:16 (twenty years ago)

However, psychiatrists are the punk rockers of the med profession.

― Aimless (Aimless), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:17 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I know. For the record, I am not at all "punk" nor concerned with the tenets of punk. The question is more "how can I reconcile two very powerful and (at face value) conflicting desires: med v. art school?"

Mostly I just needed a sounding board since
(1) most of my friends are really far away from me right now
(2) ...and those that aren't are probably sick of me talking about it

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:18 (twenty years ago)

ihttp://www.prescient-thought.com/graphics/berserker.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

Quitting med school to become an artist is easier then quitting art school to become a doctor.

― Aimless (Aimless), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

Rock and roll upside to medical school: that constant sallow, sickly look from lack of rest.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:21 (twenty years ago)

My love is ticking clock.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:21 (twenty years ago)

http://www.jok-design.de/rk/mytologie/sonst/berserker.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

Quitting med school to become an artist is easier then quitting art school to become a doctor.

True enough. But damn....they're both so expensive!

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

Yes, but you have to hang a cadaver from your ear.

― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

http://www.runegame.com/images/wallpaper/berserker_1600x1200.jpg

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

....cadavers. Probably the only thing about med school that I'm prepared for.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:25 (twenty years ago)

Yes, I think so, if you practice in Appalachia or a region where doctors are scarce, and there may be financial incentives for this as well, which would help with student loans.

― youn, Monday, 14 March 2005 21:26 (twenty years ago)

OTM OTM OTM

― mnra, Monday, 14 March 2005 21:26 (twenty years ago)

Seriously, med school and practising medicine both require a tremendous amount of discipline and if they are to be done well. Same goes for art. They require a deep commitment that springs from a deep desire to do it right. I've seen and worked with too many mediocre doctors and seen too many mediocre artists. The world doesn't need any more of that variety.

My advice is to get focused. If you can't make up your mind, then don't go to either med or art school until you find the passion and commitment to throw yourself into one or the other wholeheartedly. If you're just going to mess around, then mess around in a more appropriate (less expensive) environment.

― Aimless (Aimless), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:36 (twenty years ago)

Focus is, of course, the biggest problem here. I'm a hopeless dilletante (sp?).

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:38 (twenty years ago)

The med part of this question is irrelevant. Your real question is "Can I impose an enormous time commitment and responsibility upon myself and still be able to satisfy my need for a creative outlet, and if not, am I willing to do without such satisfaction?"

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

OTM gab. Thanks.

...sort of: medicine is far more appealling than law, given its immediacy. Like: "You're bleeding! Now you're not!"

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:09 (twenty years ago)

Also, "Am I willing to confine large swaths of my existence to association with those who do not share my creative interests?"

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

My broad stereotyping says that medicine is going to have far more oddballs, but that law is going to have more artsy types.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

I have a friend whose father is a lawyer and he made the point that legal training messes up your mind for writing (except for a certain type of airport legal-thriller bestseller) while medical training did not necessarily do so.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

I think that's a fair stereotype.

And I think you're second re-phrasing of the question might actually be the heart of the issue: will there be anyone into the same shit as me in med school?

The same applies to art school: I am a hopeless computer/science/information dork. Many artists are similar, many are jerk-off drama queens more interested in attention than making stuff.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

http://hem.passagen.se/tufflan/youngones/bilder/vyv.jpg

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:14 (twenty years ago)

And (shallow though it is): med school guarantees an income. Art school most certainly does not. As someone making less than 12,000 a year right now, I'm not TOO concerned about it. But I might be when I have kids.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:15 (twenty years ago)

It's pretty obvious from this thread that you're a self-obsessed tart and you feel that being ridiculously wealthy is the product more of chance than of hard work.

BE ONE ARTIST

― Mr. Harvey Weinstein (mr harvey weinstein), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:15 (twenty years ago)

Legal training makes you a better legal writer. It may make you a poorer writer in certain other styles, a better one in still others.

I think in any such school there are going to be a few who are into other things, but that they will always be a minority.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:16 (twenty years ago)

MILO AUCKERMAN GOES TO COLLEGE

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:17 (twenty years ago)

It's pretty obvious from this thread that you're a self-obsessed tart and you feel that being ridiculously wealthy is the product more of chance than of hard work.

owie.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)

Coming from a paralegal / oil painter, that comment was pretty tongue-in-cheek. I feel yr pain ;....(

... brightside, I called in sick to the law firm today because I was up too late painting last night. And today, more painting.

― Mr. Harvey Weinstein (mr harvey weinstein), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:21 (twenty years ago)

Punk + med school=
http://www.tvtome.com/images/people/19/4/51-11510.jpg

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:33 (twenty years ago)

Nicely done, Harv. I think if I had access to a studio (currently living in the "projects" of Aspen...don't make fun of that last bit, please) I'd feel differently about the whole thing.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:37 (twenty years ago)

I work with medical students. They are not punk. Even the "cool' ones are lame. So go to medical school because there aren't enough cool doctors.

― adam (adam), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

Radio Birdman!

Steve: At the start, Deniz, you and Pip were both in med school, which seems like a pretty serious case of burning the candle at both ends.

Deniz: I dunno. You’ve gotta do something else. You can’t just sit around and study all the time.

But as far as having time to play in a band…I suppose I could have done better in medical school if I’d studied harder. But I did OK. I got a credit and distinction and got through OK. Most of the stuff you learn in medical school you never use again anyway in the real world. So I think it’s actually more important in life to have other experiences. Look at most doctors and they have zero understanding of most normal people because they’ve never been around them – they’ve just had their head in the books their whole life.

Steve: Well, you gotta admit it’s an unusual thing. There haven’t been many bands with even one doctor in them, let alone two.

Deniz: But if you have one it attracts more.

― Poppy (poppy), Monday, 14 March 2005 23:05 (twenty years ago)

med school is a possibly the best excuse you'll find for never quite making anything of your creative potential. just at the point where you'd ordinarily spiral into self-loathing due to your dilettante-ish ways (inability to focus, tendency to procrastinate, etc.), you'll be able to press the big red button marked at least i'm in medical school. hey presto, the twin burdens of self-development and social responsibility slide comfortably from your shoulders. aside from immediate family, no one will ever expect you to do anything else, ever again.

on the other hand, if you're pretty convinced your creative potential won't amount to anything you'll be happy with in 10 or 20 years, go for it. yes, it takes discipline and hard work -- but it's not as hard as you think. you will have time to do a few creative things as a student, and again after residency (during? -- no way). in my class, we have a poetess (who's won awards as a med student), a smattering of classical pianists, and a handful of guys in a soul covers band. i had a radio show on the campus station (not that i'd call that creative), but gave it up when i started doing call shifts in the hospital.

one other consideration: there are many more perfectionists than dilettantes in medicine. anticipate anything from bemusement to confusion to annoyance when you let your professional guard drop. but most of your patients will love it.

― neurothÈque, Wednesday, 16 March 2005 00:31 (twenty years ago)

MILO AUCKERMAN GOES TO COLLEGE

Liar. Judging by the call I got from the Army today, I seem to be considered a dropout.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 01:27 (twenty years ago)

neurotheque seems pretty otm using law school as proxy

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 01:30 (twenty years ago)

you can certainly be grindcore like Carcass if you go to med school.

― latebloomer: damn cheapskate satanists (latebloomer), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 01:34 (twenty years ago)

xpost:

except that a medicine is actually a noble profession!

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 01:36 (twenty years ago)

i don't know if i'd want a "punk rock" doctor.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 01:37 (twenty years ago)

Celine's character in 'Journey to the End of the night' was a doctor and fairly punk. Or maybe more Goth, I'm not sure.

― Seuss, Wednesday, 16 March 2005 01:38 (twenty years ago)

Is it wise for a self-professed dilettante to commit himself to anything where quitting is going to be life-altering? Running up a ton of med-school debt and quitting halfway looks like something that you would regret.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 01:38 (twenty years ago)

or putting it another way - med school seems like something you should only do if you're completely dedicated to, no questions asked, no possibility of remorse or quitting.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 01:40 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

I am starting medical school in the autumn, I will let you know if I am still punk rock in a years time.

― marianna (mariannapm), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 12:10 (nineteen years ago)

You should become the Punk Rock Medical Examiner for L.A. County. Jack Klugman will surely die that year. (Let me know so I can put him in my deadpool.)

― dave's good arm (facsimile) (dave225.3), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 12:17 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

RAWK Marianna! If you want to combine art and science the Wellcome Foundation do grants, as does the UK government through NESTA (an artist I know got 90k).

Punk rock doc:

http://www.transparencynow.com/images/hawk2.jpg

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 12:20 (nineteen years ago)

Excellent, Marianna!

― sgs (sgs), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 12:26 (nineteen years ago)

clearly you people have never watched HOUSE. pill addictions, always on the verge of being fired or killing someone. if thats not punk rock, i dont know what is.

http://www.eonline.com/Features/Features/Tube2005/SneakPeek/Images/House-02.HughLaurie05.jpg

― sunny successor (katharine), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 12:30 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

All right, I got my occupational health clearance and Hep B vaccination now, even my student loan confirmation came through this morning. Nothing can stop me now, except the age old question: "Can I work a part-time counter job at Sainsbury's and still be punk rock?"

― marianna (mariannapm), Thursday, 10 August 2006 11:46 (nineteen years ago)

The guy out of the Horrors went to Rugby yah but he thinks he's ~~still~~ punk rock.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 10 August 2006 11:53 (nineteen years ago)

listen, that freaky martial arts doctor on Dr90210 (who does the best work, btw) bought a new house in a recent episode repeat that, he claimed, was going to cost him monthly what he made in a year as an intern. what would that be? $25K? $30K? I think i want to be a plastic surgeon.

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 10 August 2006 12:02 (nineteen years ago)

lol @ painfully earnest thread starter.

― gbx (skowly), Thursday, 10 August 2006 12:15 (nineteen years ago)

Interns make ~40k in the US. Is it even possible to have a monthly mortgage payment that big? I'm calling bullshit.

― quincie (quincie), Thursday, 10 August 2006 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

Interns make more now than they did when this guy was an intern (probably...I have no idea who "martial arts doctor" is), even adjusting for inflation. But still, 40k/mo is off the charts for a mortgage payment.

...unless it's like a 15 mil house (40k*12mo*30yrs)

― gbx (skowly), Thursday, 10 August 2006 12:53 (nineteen years ago)

i think they said 5 million? CALIFORNIA. maybe that monthly figure included the mortgage on the house they hadnt sold yet?

anyway, i still want a job where i can afford a 40K/month mortgage. even 30K would be fine. really.

this is the dr tae kwon do. feel safe?

http://www.drrobertrey.com/images/img_wellness.jpg

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 10 August 2006 13:27 (nineteen years ago)

One of the guys in Mudhoney is an EMT in Seattle.

Deniz Tek from Radio Birdman was a U.S. Navy flight surgeon, had the callsign "Iceman," and went on to be an ER surgeon for years in Montana. Last I heard he & his wife moved back down to Aussie-land, and Radio Birdman's gonna tour the US for the first time ever this year. Whee.

(not really med, but) Milo from the descendents got his phd in biochem, and ran the biology dept of U of Delaware for a while, I think. Here's an essay/interview from when Milo was doing post-doc work at Wisconsin. He also has two kids now, if his wiki is correct.

― kingfish trapped under ice (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 10 August 2006 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

isnt david lee roth an emt?

i saw radio birdman in the mid 90s and sometime long before that. they were OK. i dont get the hype.

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 10 August 2006 15:07 (nineteen years ago)

god i HOPE david lee roth isnt.

― kingfish trapped under ice (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 10 August 2006 16:16 (nineteen years ago)

god i HOPE david lee roth isnt.

Too late...
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,14392,00.html

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 10 August 2006 16:21 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/shaft/857/university_challenge.JPG

― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 10 August 2006 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

four years pass...

well?

― Death Cabron For Cutie (admrl), Sunday, 19 December 2010 22:02 (fourteen years ago)

no, i'm sorry.

― positive reflection is the key (harbl), Sunday, 19 December 2010 22:09 (fourteen years ago)

three years pass...

8 years pass... I am even more punk rock now.

― mariannap, Monday, 13 October 2014 23:32 (ten years ago)

this the thread where mariannap is punk rock and we all stand up and cheer

― Aimless, Monday, 13 October 2014 23:40 (ten years ago)

are you caring for cancer patients? b/c that seems like it sucks...but i love the people who are doing that

― ledriver, Monday, 13 October 2014 23:44 (ten years ago)

Sometimes... but my area of focus is saving babies

― mariannap, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 02:32 (ten years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.