10 Famous Exit Strategies From Medical School


Start with the end in mind – Stephen Covey, 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People

Whether you’re robbing a bank, starting a business, or going to medical school, you need to be able to answer one question:

What’s your exit strategy?

As in, your “pre-planned means of extricating yourself from a situation that is likely to become difficult, dangerous or unpleasant”?

When it comes to the world of Medicine, the 2 default exit strategies are:

Retirement

Death

You will be a Doctor and practice Medicine until the day you die or retire, whichever comes first.

Now while these exit strategies may be the favourites of hospital managers, politicians and our parents’ generation…what about those of us who feel stuck, trapped and are looking for a way out of their medical career?

What about all the “happy” doctors who die by suicide?


I’m not a dropout…I’m an Exit Strategy

Thankfully, you don’t have to die or wait for retirement in order to get out of a miserable situation. Many of your predecessors have found their way out and modeled different Exit Strategies from the world of medicine.

Here are 10 famous exit strategies to inspire you.

Exit #1: Become A Teacher And Start A Family

Cindy dropped out of her 3rd year in medical school to become a teacher and start a family.You can read more about that here on her blog.

Exit #2: Pursue Your Lifelong Passion For Astronomy

Roshaan quit in his 4th year, to pursue a lifelong passion for astronomy, despite the lack of support or esteem from his community in Pakistan.

Exit #3: Finish Writing Your Sci-Fi novel (And Have Steven Spielberg Direct It As A Movie)

Michael graduated from Harvard Medical School, did a postgraduate fellowship study at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies…and then quit to become a full time science fiction writer…creating novels, movies and franchises such as Jurassic Park, ER, The Andromeda Strain, Twister, and many others.

Exit #4: Start A Rocket Ship Company

Peter wanted to fly into space…but went to medical school to make his parents proud. He launched a space company in his 4th year, graduated after promising the Dean he would never practise medicine…and launched the $10million X Prize, Planetary Resources (an asteroid mining company), just to mention a few projects.

Exit #5: Lead A Marxist Revolution In Argentina

Ernesto was inspired to tackle the diseases of poverty and inequality whilst travelling across South America. So he completed his medical studies and transformed the world of Argentinian politics as the force of nature we know as Che Guevara.

Exit #6: Join The NBA And Win 2 Championships

His mother was a doctor, and his father a senior nurse in Barcelona, Spain. And with two medical parents, Pau Gasol was set to follow in the family tradition. But along the way, Pau’s passion for basketball developed into a career that led him away from medicine and into 2 NBA championships as a professional basketball player.

Exit #7: Act In A World Famous TV Sitcom called Friends

After completing a psychobiology degree at Vassar College in New York, Lisa found her path to medicine hijacked by her love for show business and improv. This lead her to pursue a career as an actress, resulting in her being cast as Phoebe in one of the world’s most famous sitcoms.

Exit #8: Start A Comedy Troupe Called Monty Python

Graham went to the University of Cambridge to get a medical degree. Instead, he ended up deferring his studies to start a little comedy troupe called Monty Python.

Exit #9: Build A Private Medical Practice Designed By Your Patients

Pamela qualified as a Doctor, but quit the traditional pathway to build a medical practice designed by her patients.

Exit #10: Just Walk Away
Sometimes the simplest exit strategy…is just to simply walk away. Maria walked away from medicine 4 years after qualifying. She told TEDxJohannesburg it was the best thing she ever did.

You Are Not A Failure…You Are An Exit Strategy

Things are not as hopeless as they feel, and it’s never too late to change your mind and make new decisions based on new information. And when you’re ready to make a change, but feel guilty or condemned by those who choose to stay miserable, remember this:

You are not a dropout or a failure: you are an exit strategy.

QUESTION: What’s one thing that’s holding you back from making your exit?