If you’re seriously considering becoming a psychiatrist & taking on 9 more years of education & training- there are a couple more things to consider. One is, do you plan to have children and how do they fit into that. The 2nd is, while you have the potential to earn much more money, you would first have to take on debt to pay for medical school. Also, you may have to relocate to attend medical school and a residency, which would have an impact on your marriage and husband’s career. Boy do I sound like a traditionalist, but they are things to consider.
I think, though, it should come down to whether you really like social work. If you like it and you’re good at it, you’ll make a difference in your work and give away what you can. If you’re not sure if you do, that’s another issue and you should explore your options. The training you’ve had in grad. school could serve you well in psychiatry.
I did include med school debt in my figuring. Yes, relocating would make things a lot less pleasant for both of us. And the difficulty of fitting children into a really busy next decade makes me sad. But not 2,500 lives worth of sad.
I think even if I become a great social worker (I think I can become quite good, but not great), the impact of my work won’t be as large as the impact of my earnings.
I’m clear that there are ways I can have more impact than by being only a social worker. I’m not as clear about which other option I should take—whether that’s a non-social work career of some kind, or combining social work with other work (such as philanthropy outreach).
If you’re seriously considering becoming a psychiatrist & taking on 9 more years of education & training- there are a couple more things to consider. One is, do you plan to have children and how do they fit into that. The 2nd is, while you have the potential to earn much more money, you would first have to take on debt to pay for medical school. Also, you may have to relocate to attend medical school and a residency, which would have an impact on your marriage and husband’s career. Boy do I sound like a traditionalist, but they are things to consider.
I think, though, it should come down to whether you really like social work. If you like it and you’re good at it, you’ll make a difference in your work and give away what you can. If you’re not sure if you do, that’s another issue and you should explore your options. The training you’ve had in grad. school could serve you well in psychiatry.
I did include med school debt in my figuring. Yes, relocating would make things a lot less pleasant for both of us. And the difficulty of fitting children into a really busy next decade makes me sad. But not 2,500 lives worth of sad.
I think even if I become a great social worker (I think I can become quite good, but not great), the impact of my work won’t be as large as the impact of my earnings.
It sounds like you’ve pretty much made up your mind.
I’m clear that there are ways I can have more impact than by being only a social worker. I’m not as clear about which other option I should take—whether that’s a non-social work career of some kind, or combining social work with other work (such as philanthropy outreach).