u/Sea_Requirement_4440

Hi everyone,

I’m 27 and currently working at a health tech startup in NYC. I have the option to start medical school in Canada this year, and I’m trying to think carefully about the tradeoffs before making such a big career change.

I’ve always been interested in medicine and find the clinical path meaningful, but I’m weighing the length of training, lifestyle, opportunity cost, and what the day-to-day reality of medical school, residency, and practice actually looks like.

For context, I’m currently earning over $250k/year, so the opportunity cost is a real consideration.

I’d really appreciate perspectives from current Canadian medical students, residents, or physicians, especially anyone who entered medicine later or left another career. Are you happy with the decision? What do you wish you knew before starting?

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I am looking for advice from physicians, medical students, and anyone who has taken a nontraditional path through medicine, tech, or healthcare entrepreneurship.

I am 26 and currently working as a Product Manager in health tech. My background is in product and software, mostly in healthcare and clinical platform work. Long term, I care a lot about building better healthcare systems and products, but I also have a real interest in practicing medicine and having direct patient impact.

I was accepted to the an MD program in Canada, starting this fall. I also have a deferred M7 MBA option, and I am currently in a solid health tech role with good compensation and career trajectory. So the decision is basically:

1. Go to medical school now and pursue the physician plus health tech path.
2. Stay in health tech/product and potentially build or lead healthcare companies without becoming a physician.
3. Do the MBA route and use that to accelerate into healthcare leadership.

The reason I am seriously considering medicine is that I think clinical training would give me a much deeper understanding of patients, physicians, workflows, incentives, and the real problems in healthcare. I also think I would find meaning in patient care. I have shadowed and volunteered enough to know that I am genuinely interested in the clinical side, not just the idea of being a doctor.

At the same time, I am worried about the opportunity cost. I would be giving up several years of income, product career momentum, and possibly a path where I could have impact faster. I am also aware that medicine is a long road, and the lifestyle, hierarchy, and delayed autonomy are real factors. I do not want to romanticize it.

My long-term ideal is probably not traditional full-time community practice forever. I could see myself practicing clinically, but also building products, working in healthcare leadership, founding a company, or helping bridge clinical medicine and technology. I am especially interested in specialties that could combine meaningful patient care with systems-level impact, clinical innovation, or procedural/technical depth.

A few questions I would really appreciate advice on:

1. For people who went into medicine with prior careers, did the clinical training end up being worth the opportunity cost?
2. If my long-term goal is health tech and healthcare innovation, is becoming a physician actually a strong advantage, or is it overkill?
3. How realistic is it to combine clinical practice with product, entrepreneurship, or leadership later?
4. Are there specialties that better support this kind of hybrid career?
5. Would you recommend going to medical school only if I would be happy practicing medicine even if the tech/entrepreneurship piece never works out?
6. For Canadian MDs specifically, how should I think about optionality if I may eventually want to work in the US or in industry?

I know this is ultimately a personal decision. I am not looking for someone to decide for me, but I would really value honest perspectives from people who understand the medical path from the inside.

Thanks in advance.