I woke up at about 6am, said my prayers and exited the room only to find a flock of birds flying past the roof.
Amazingly, the hens and cocks were stretching their feathers and feeling awesome neither minding nor even noticing the height of their counterparts.

I logged on to facebook to see if she replied the chats I sent her last night but no, she didn’t. It’s obvious she is sad.

It’s her third year of applying for Medicine and Surgery and this time, she was offered provisional admission to study Food Science and Technology.

I could guess, she felt her dreams have been shattered again.
I care for her a lot but I just couldn’t find a means to pacify her so I kept my cool.

I’ve had the privilege of meeting prospective undergraduates on various occasions and their clamour for Medicine and Surgery is alarming. Sometimes it’s very difficult to ascertain what fuels their desire.

Why do you want to Study Medicine? Most of them don’t seem to have any answer.

They either grew up in an Igbo family where the parents so much believe that the way out of poverty and lack is for their ward to become a medical doctor or while in secondary school, they belonged to a class where 90% of the brilliant ones kept singing Medicine and because they didn’t want to feel less than equal, they joined the bandwagon.

Every year, thousands of students apply for Medicine, yet, very few get admitted.

11,130 candidates applied for Medicine and Surgery in UNN alone and not more than 200 will be admitted.
It’s is already clear that more than 10,000 will be denied admission.

Same with other 24 FULLY accredited Medical schools in Nigeria.
Only about 1.6% of people who apply for Medicine in Nigeria get admitted yearly.
And only 56% of the admitted students end up becoming doctors.

If you successfully scale through the 6years spent in school, getting a placement for housemanship within the stipulated 2years becomes another bridge to cross. If you eventually end up not getting a place, you will have to re-sit your final exams this time conducted by the Medical body not your school and you will have to pay plus the high failure rate involved.

Looking at the stress in the journey to becoming a doctor, one should be able to vow that these guys should be the most successful set of people in the society but unfortunately, the reality is different.

Failure in Marriage:

Whatever business, ministry or profession that takes a toll on your family life has made you a failure and that is the predicament of most Doctors. I read an article where an American Medical Body reacted to a medical divorce research by saying only 23% of Doctors have a failed marriage as against the 27% earlier proven, what difference does it make?
I don’t have a problem with the statistics because in Nigeria, you will rarely find any divorce case but I’ve been to Doctors’ houses and to be sincere, their wives suffer lack of attention and so do their kids. But the Nigerian culture has taught ladies to tolerate till Jesus comes. In the book ‘for men only’, 80% of the women interviewed said they would rather suffer financial insufficiency in their homes than lack of attention from their spouse.
He goes to work even on Sundays, he never thinks of taking his family on a vacation, he comes home by 9pm and is so exhausted to chat with his wife and as he lays to sleep, two hours later, the nurse is on the phone ‘Doctor there is an emergency’ and he rushes out by 11pm and that is the profession that thousands of deceived Nigerian students wants.

Financially:

Doctors are not poor but very few of them are rich. 300k per month, you have a wife and children, you have house rent to settle and have other family members who has a perception that you are rich so they make demands on you. I’ve never seen a Doctor riding a Range Rover, you only see them on Toyota Camry, Corolla, Honda and other 1-2million naira cars.

Business:

If they invest in other businesses, maybe things will be better. I was with a Doctor in the Medical Centre here and he began lamenting that even if he wants to do anything like business, he won’t have time for it and people will end up taking advantage of him. More so, if at the workplace, they realize that you have investments, you will be denied certain financial privileges.

I am not despising the medical profession, as I can’t deny the fact that the society can’t survive without them. I am only worried that an individual spends 7years re-sitting Jamb simply because he wants to study Medicine.

Come to a gathering and introduce yourself as a medical doctor, nobody will bow to you; outside the school setting what speaks is your success in life not your A in Pathology.

How many less privileged kids have you given a reason to smile by sending them to school? How many homes have your existence deleted poverty from their lineage? Therein lays fulfillment.

We need doctors; don’t get me wrong but our quest for the medical profession is not worth it. It has crippled rich minds, buried companies that would have been providing 10,000 jobs today and hidden business potentials and leadership models in the chocking atmosphere of the hospital.
So guys, don’t feel bad if you not admitted to study Medicine, settle for anything. It’s your imagination in life that counts not your IQ.
Make the best out your life wherever you find yourself.

Back to the topic does medicine and surgery worth the admission stress?

Share ur view about that.

Mine: Nigeria students lack orientation.

I'm afraid your article typifies what the country has reduced the profession to.

However, there are still people with a passion they can't let go. Not everyone is going to it for the imagined financial freedom.

For those that think it's a pathway to financial freedom, the article is apt.

The propensity steered up by you may be described or inferred as a biased or one-sided opinion. However, the struggle, fight, competition e.t.c the profession has garnered over recent years is really worth dying for!

Not anymore. There are other courses which are considered better and also high paying in the labour market.

When it comes to the medical profession and other professions that sounds big, there is a lot of factors to consider and I present here few of them based on my current scope of understanding.
1. Passion: Your passion is your driving force, it keeps you going above all odds, it calms you in the midst of the storm and not until you have achieve what your heart graves for you won't be satisfied with anything that comes your way. With passion you can decide to earn less with a joyful heart because you are definitely in the right place you have chosen to be. This is the reason aged men and women still go to school in order to fulfill that inner desire. But the question is how many are really into the activities they are passionate about?
2. Money: Many professions are sounding big because of the amount of money that comes with it, it is seen as a poverty alleviation program and everything must be done to get there tooth and nail, by fire and force. Unlike the passionate ones, people in this category can do anything by hook or crook when practicing their profession so that the money will keep flowing. Many adversities would have been avoided if money was not the center force of more than 70% of people in top professions, you can easily judge when there's an industrial strike or when their client have peanut to offer them during times of emergency.
3. Ego: The category of people that find themselves here are the ones their parents majorly force into top professions. Is either they want to satisfy the dream of their mother by renaming them "mama doctor" or want others to feel intimidated in their presence because they are mostly viewed by the ignorant ones as top class citizens. These ones what to have a sense of belonging, they want respect and praise and in the long run nothing to offer or little achievement because of pride.
4. Purpose: Many are into top professions as a means to rob Peter in order to pay Paul. They are almost similar to other factors stated above but the difference is that these ones have nothing to protect. They will remain if everything is moving well and zoom off when it gets bad. The people in this category are after what they will get from top professions and will device all possible means to reap all benefits in it and transfer it to another profession when things gets bad with the former.
5. Information: Lack of good and proper information is one of the most important factors that makes many troop into top professions. They are eager to have it or get there because they think it is the only medium to success and greatness in life. They lack proper knowledge and information about other professions because they don't sound big and nearly does not receive the praise of men maybe because of the name or the duties attached to it. Top professions will not be approach with a massive force if people are properly oriented about other professions.

Seek the wisdom and understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will reap good in whatever profession you choose or find yourself.

Pardon any grammatical error.

Thanks.
God bless.

If u say this about medicine, I wonder why you'll say about overrated law..

cc:lalasticlala please move this piece as it is informative. This article would broaden the mind of many young Nigerians into considering the aforementioned profession. Merci

Nice write up OP, some of these applicants are being forced by their parents to apply for medicine but we can't blame parents, the surest way of getting a job in Nigeria is if you study health related courses

Passion. Purpose. Fulfilment. These are the words that hit my mind as I was reading through your piece. You see, for certain people, monetary satisfaction is perhaps number 10 on their lists. If they don't feel fulfilled, they won't be satisfied. I guess this answers your question.

However, I'd advise that, in your pursuit for passion, purpose and fulfilment, wisdom should be applied.

May God help us all.

jonesky080:
Not anymore. There are other courses which are considered better and also high paying in the labour market.

But Nigeria students aren't aware... lack of orientation

Uyi168:
If u say this about medicine, I wonder WHY you'll say about overrated law..

Is law overrated?
Tot law is art student's medicine and surgery

Not worth it. A friend of mine spent seven years to study Veterinary Medicine four years ago. Till today, no job. No be person wey don eat belleful go bring animals for treatment?

Not at all

Lemme read first

Looking back to what I went through and what I’m doing with my license and skills now, I’ll say It’s worth the stress. It’s still one of the professions where children of nobody can still stand shoulder to shoulder with those of the elites.
You have points in ur write up though, I’ll still want to encourage whoever is interested in studying medicine to do so.
Forget the stress. Forget the miserable salaries being paid to us in Nigeria.
For the records, this happens mostly to doctors during a particular phase in their practice ( residency or juniors medical officer).
If you have any doctor struggling with life around you, advice him/her to tissue. It mayn’t be easy at first but it’s gonna worth the stress eventually. It’s a world of unlimited opportunities out there for us, you only need to explore.

NO

Which admission stress. No be to read four subjects score high for Jamb?

You should see how Korean and Chinese students prepare to get into higher institutions.

Lazy yoot.

Well i feel its too overrated........

And talking of the salary structure, unless u r with the federal govt, u might never enjoy much of the financial aspect of it

a

The importance of Medicine cannot be overemphasized. Although in Nigeria, the profession seems to be in a state of redundancy.

Those days in medical school,i named my school College of no mercy.....

Yes

Its worth it, thats the only profession in Nigeria which they have a good start off point in life. from days of housemanship, they are already earning hundreds of thousands. youth service, they are paid more than other corpers. though in future they end up as average people, but the start off is worth it.

The fact that you are a medical doctor is no guarantee you will be rich but you are certain that you can never be jobless even in Nigeria. That job security is what almost all other course offered in Nigerian university lack

very right, every nigeria have 1 mentality which is to be great .

BravoDe:
I woke up at about 6am, said my prayers and exited the room only to find a flock of birds flying past the roof.
Amazingly, the hens and cocks were stretching their feathers and feeling awesome neither minding nor even noticing the height of their counterparts.

I logged on to facebook to see if she replied the chats I sent her last night but no, she didn’t. It’s obvious she is sad.

It’s her third year of applying for Medicine and Surgery and this time, she was offered provisional admission to study Food Science and Technology.

I could guess, she felt her dreams have been shattered again.
I care for her a lot but I just couldn’t find a means to pacify her so I kept my cool.

I’ve had the privilege of meeting prospective undergraduates on various occasions and their clamour for Medicine and Surgery is alarming. Sometimes it’s very difficult to ascertain what fuels their desire.

Why do you want to Study Medicine? Most of them don’t seem to have any answer.

They either grew up in an Igbo family where the parents so much believe that the way out of poverty and lack is for their ward to become a medical doctor or while in secondary school, they belonged to a class where 90% of the brilliant ones kept singing Medicine and because they didn’t want to feel less than equal, they joined the bandwagon.

Every year, thousands of students apply for Medicine, yet, very few get admitted.

11,130 candidates applied for Medicine and Surgery in UNN alone and not more than 200 will be admitted.
It’s is already clear that more than 10,000 will be denied admission.

Same with other 24 FULLY accredited Medical schools in Nigeria.
Only about 1.6% of people who apply for Medicine in Nigeria get admitted yearly.
And only 56% of the admitted students end up becoming doctors.

If you successfully scale through the 6years spent in school, getting a placement for housemanship within the stipulated 2years becomes another bridge to cross. If you eventually end up not getting a place, you will have to re-sit your final exams this time conducted by the Medical body not your school and you will have to pay plus the high failure rate involved.

Looking at the stress in the journey to becoming a doctor, one should be able to vow that these guys should be the most successful set of people in the society but unfortunately, the reality is different.

Failure in Marriage:

Whatever business, ministry or profession that takes a toll on your family life has made you a failure and that is the predicament of most Doctors. I read an article where an American Medical Body reacted to a medical divorce research by saying only 23% of Doctors have a failed marriage as against the 27% earlier proven, what difference does it make?
I don’t have a problem with the statistics because in Nigeria, you will rarely find any divorce case but I’ve been to Doctors’ houses and to be sincere, their wives suffer lack of attention and so do their kids. But the Nigerian culture has taught ladies to tolerate till Jesus comes. In the book ‘for men only’, 80% of the women interviewed said they would rather suffer financial insufficiency in their homes than lack of attention from their spouse.
He goes to work even on Sundays, he never thinks of taking his family on a vacation, he comes home by 9pm and is so exhausted to chat with his wife and as he lays to sleep, two hours later, the nurse is on the phone ‘Doctor there is an emergency’ and he rushes out by 11pm and that is the profession that thousands of deceived Nigerian students wants.

Financially:

Doctors are not poor but very few of them are rich. 300k per month, you have a wife and children, you have house rent to settle and have other family members who has a perception that you are rich so they make demands on you. I’ve never seen a Doctor riding a Range Rover, you only see them on Toyota Camry, Corolla, Honda and other 1-2million naira cars.

Business:

If they invest in other businesses, maybe things will be better. I was with a Doctor in the Medical Centre here and he began lamenting that even if he wants to do anything like business, he won’t have time for it and people will end up taking advantage of him. More so, if at the workplace, they realize that you have investments, you will be denied certain financial privileges.

I am not despising the medical profession, as I can’t deny the fact that the society can’t survive without them. I am only worried that an individual spends 7years re-sitting Jamb simply because he wants to study Medicine.

Come to a gathering and introduce yourself as a medical doctor, nobody will bow to you; outside the school setting what speaks is your success in life not your A in Pathology.

How many less privileged kids have you given a reason to smile by sending them to school? How many homes have your existence deleted poverty from their lineage? Therein lays fulfillment.

We need doctors; don’t get me wrong but our quest for the medical profession is not worth it. It has crippled rich minds, buried companies that would have been providing 10,000 jobs today and hidden business potentials and leadership models in the chocking atmosphere of the hospital.
So guys, don’t feel bad if you not admitted to study Medicine, settle for anything. It’s your imagination in life that counts not your IQ.
Make the best out your life wherever you find yourself.

Back to the topic does medicine and surgery worth the admission stress?

Share ur view about that.

Mine: Nigeria students lack orientation.

YEssssss, think of the future