Career Essay
My dream career is often used in a joke to describe someone as being or acting dumb, so when you say the joke “It’s not brain surgery! ” you refer to me. I am going to study Neurosurgery and become a brain surgeon. I am good at math & science and one thing that always stuck with me from science class is that the brain and heart are the strongest muscles in the body. Without these muscles, humans cannot survive. I chose the brain over the heart simply because of a quote, “the brain is smarter and stronger than a computer, and humans can only access twenty percent of that power”.
Ever since that day I’ve had a passion about the brain and how it works. Not a lot of people can say that a movie made them choose a career path, most people would laugh and call me stupid. The movie “Limitless” caused me to turn my passion for the brain into motivation to pursue the career path of a brain surgeon. In the plot of the movie “Limitless”, there is a struggling writer who is in a bad place and whose life is going down the drain. He sees a man from his past and starts taking this new type of drug he persuades him to try.
Long story short, the drug unlocks the full power of the brain and makes you unstoppable; smarter than a computer. The thing is, in the movie when one is on the pill there are major consequences and side effects. Some of the side effects in the movie are that their bodies become weak, and they become addicted to the pills. What I want to do in my career is save lives, but also make that pill a reality without the harming side effects, creating a better human race. That’s why I choose to become a brain surgeon.
I have one goal in my career field and that is to make a pill that affects the brain, so I am going to study Neurosurgery to become a brain surgeon. Neurosurgery is a specialty that involves the diagnosis and treatment of conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and their supporting and surrounding structures. (Neurosurgery page 1)“Common misconceptions people have about brain surgeons are that you have to be really intelligent to be a brain surgeon. ”(Interview page 1) The most years of education needed for a brain surgeon is ranged from 10 to 13 years. You need a bachelor’s degree with science coursework.
Also, you have to be a medical graduate, because a medical degree is required for any medical profession. Education is always needed to be updated because medicine changes and becomes new. After every 10 years you have to renew your medical license to keep your license updated, but you don’t have to keep attending medical school or college as long as you work as a brain surgeon. However, education can make it easier and more beneficial to your job and success. “It’s really a function of how hard you work and how your practice is set up. ” (Interview page 1) If you continue in your education field and work harder then you get paid more.
“Nationally there is a big shortage of neurosurgeons now and there will continue to be a shortage of neurosurgeons for at least the next 20 years. The number of training programs has not increased in the last 15 years and more and more neurosurgeons are retiring earlier because of high medical malpractice costs and because of the stress of the profession. ” (Interview page 1) A prospect for getting this job is not easy but they’re not high because of that exact quote. You don’t need to be a genius to be a successful brain surgeon, you just have to know how to work hard.
As long as you complete your graduate and medical school, and complete your residency then you just have to pass your medical exam and you’re a brain surgeon! (How page 1) When in the ER, performing brain surgery is a very difficult task and much pressure is applied onto you to save that patient’s life. The slightest mistake can drastically mess up or even kill that patient. Sometimes if you lose a patient, it is the surgeon’s fault but most of the time it is not. The family members of the patient don’t see it that way and often blame the surgeon. When this blame comes that’s when they try lawsuits of malpractice.
These lawsuits can ruin a surgeon’s life by not only taking their money, but their license which is something they’ve worked so hard for. Once a lawsuit is well known, even if they win, it can drive away other patients because they’re scared the same may happen to them. There are not many health problems that can happen to one in this career path, but there is a very hard or difficult task that you have to do that can lead to a health problem. This health problem is depression. When a surgeon loses a patient, they’re the ones who have to tell the families of the patients that the patient “is gone”.
(Interview page 1) This dramatic fact takes a toll on the heart of the surgeon because they often wonder what they could have done better and blame themselves for taking the patient from their family. So much experience of seeing death causes depression, and depression is deadly when not noticed or contained. When you graduate from medical school you start in a paid residency so it is somewhat of a job. After your residency you’re almost guarantee a job at that hospital. If not brain surgeons and doctors are always needed in hospitals so it’s classified as a stable job.
If you’re a top surgeon then your services may be requested all around the world and allow you to travel. “You operate 3 days a week and see patients 2 days a week” (Interview page 1), so you make your own schedule and work your own hours. The only specific skill set that you need for this career field, that can be taught, is steady hands to perform surgery. An average brain surgeon starts out with a wage of $400,000, but after becoming settled in this career your wage varies between $400,000 and over a million dollars. You get paid for surgery, but people’s insurance pay different amounts. “Medical assistance pays less.
Medicare pays a little bit more. Private commercial insurance like Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Health America, United, Aetna pays a little bit more, but pretty much everything is based on Medicare. ” (Interview page 1) I have dreamed about being a graduated doctor from Johns Hopkins University, because it’s the best school for medicine. When I graduate this school I will have the knowledge of Neurosurgery and be able to make the ultimate pill. I know it will be hard if I lose patients, but I will do my best to never have to experience that pain and depression. This is what I want to do with my life and I am excited for my future!