Med Student Personality Types Q&A: What Motivates You to be a Doctor?

This post features medical students with different personality types and different religious/spiritual backgrounds, and their responses to the following question:

What motivates you to be a doctor?

I want to help people and be there to advocate for my patients. I am not religious but the spiritual side of me believes everything is connected and this is one manifestation of that for me. I want to leave that circle of influence around me in a better state than I found it.

-ENTP

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Ever since I was about 12 years old I have always wanted to be a doctor. It wasn’t until I got a job as a CNA on the pediatric oncology floor at the local hospital that I really knew why I wanted to become a doctor. Helping kids who have cancer to find better treatment and live a life cancer free is what motivates me to be doctor.

-ESFP

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Hmmm...to start with it is the generic answer to help people. But the deeper part of that is that I have seen how parts of medicine are broken, that patients fall through the cracks of apathy and "boxed medicine", and that sometimes there are no answers or no good answers. And the only way to change that is to fix it from the inside. I don't think medicine has all the answers, but I do think it is a very useful tool in our arsenal. My faith is everything for my reason! If I did not have that driving behind it, I would have given up on this goal in my life a long time ago. I believe that as a follower of Christ I am called to be an avenue for God to have His way in medicine. To be a light in the darkness pointing the way to Him, His love and blessings. I long to see this occur in medicine and to point patients to Jehovah-Rapha, the God who heals, whichever tool He may use.

-ISFJ

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My motivation to be a doctor primarily stems from my devotion to Christ. This Christ-centered devotion sparked my fascination with how God created both the spiritual and biological components of humanity. Eventually, my fascination with the spiritual, biological, and psychological components of health strengthened and I found myself drawn to a career that would allow me to heal people by addressing all three of these components. My premedical experiences further confirmed that God was calling me to become a doctor, specifically a doctor who would serve not only the medical needs of patients, but also their spiritual and psychological needs.

Additionally, my personal experience with caring for my own health contributed even more to my desire to be a doctor. By surrendering to Christ and seeking His guidance when caring for my own personal health—physically, mentally, and spiritually—I have continuously experienced the wonders God can work in us if we keep the focus on Him when we pursue our health goals. Thus, my devotion to Him has the greatest influence in my motivation to be someone who will bring Him glory through how I care for my own health as well as through how I care for other people’s health as a doctor.

-INTJ

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My biggest motivation to become a doctor is my grandma. She was always really sick while I was growing up and I hated to see her suffering. I wanted to do something that would help her to feel better. I would go with her to her doctor appointments and that is where I saw that the people who were helping her the most were the doctors. I realized that by becoming a doctor I would be able to have a positive impact on her life and the lives of others.

-ESTJ

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The idea that I am doing the work that God has set out on the table for me is my motivation to be a doctor. This is a bit vague, so allow me to explain. God has granted me this life to perform certain deeds, one of which is to serve and love others. This idea of servitude is key to my ambition as a medical student. It reminds me that I am not pursuing this career for the money, prestige, and other selfish intentions. Rather, my drive comes from the fact that I am serving the Lord, I am serving his people, and I am working to glorify His Name. In Romans, Paul contrasts the law of man to the Law of God. In the past, I feel that my “altruistic” motivations for pursuing a medical career were not necessarily centered around God. Rather, it was the idea that I was being a generous person by the standards of man. As Paul mentions, this bears no weight in the kingdom of Heaven; it does nothing to glorify God’s name. For this reason, we all need to question our intentions on a deeper level.

-ENFJ

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My motivations for pursuing medicine have changed with time. I always appreciated the services I have received from healthcare growing up and that initially sparked my interest to see what It takes to become one of those competent people who can advise and help other people with their health challenges. Naturally, this reflects from the appreciation of what doctors and other healthcare professionals have done for my health and wanting to return the service to others.

When I began to study the sciences more intensely in college, I enjoyed pursuing medicine and I enjoyed understanding how the human body works. I didn’t have my whole plan laid out in to how I was going to get admissions into medical school, but I was forced into taking Human Anatomy from a first year program of bundling college kids together, and I liked my experience there as I joined people dedicating time and effort to learn more about the human body.

I grew a lot in that pre-med journey. I learned to sacrifice and be more selective with my time for studying, the importance of sincere volunteering and service, and empathy with patients throughout my shadowing and work experiences as a care specialist in a psychiatric hospital. I also adjusted to the egos and prestige that are prevalent in the healthcare field and learned humility as cooperation as I preferred group studying over competing. I learned I preferred to help someone pass with me than outscore them on my own. We all have different weaknesses and strengths, but we do better with collaboration and cooperation than competition.

That same journey has continued similarly while in formal medical training, but by the time I get to residency interviews and will be answering the repeated question, “Why do you want to be a Doctor?”. I want to be able to say I want to be a competent physician who will represent the empathetic side of health care in helping people who need help and making the lifestyle changes they need to improve their health and live a happy life.

-ESFJ

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for as long as I can remember, being a doctor is all I've ever wanted to do. Growing up, my mum was an OR nurse so most of my time was spent in the hospital. Christ is all about healing and well being and I think that that is my number 1 influence and what motivates me the most to be a doctor. That if I want to follow if Christ's footsteps, then it doesn't have to be just miraculous healing but being a doctor puts me close enough to helping people just like He did.

-ESTP

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I want to be a doctor because it seems like the most good I can do with my God given abilities.

-INTP

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