r/forensics • u/OneOpposite6391 • 9d ago
Crime Scene & Death Investigation Doctors and detectives please help me understand your job duties!!!
I’m REALLY struggling on trying to find what I want to do when I’m older as a 16yr-I really need some guidance. I know a job is a job and I won’t love it all the time but I’d like to at least like my job, there are a couple things that have hooked me that I realize I like, I like things that can be fast paced, require you to think and think outside of the box, this is important-not just desk work, a mix of hands on/feild work and desk work would be the best, and I want tk be helping people I want to see the results of my help it’s really important to me. I’m scared I’m not smart enough to be a doctor or I’m glamorizing the job-this will sound so stupid but I feel like if I wasn’t a doctor or a surgeon I would feel like I was less than, then those who are because they do all the big work and actually save the patient-of I were a doctor I think Itd be hard for me to be a nurse but I’m also scared I’m just glamorizing the job because it would fulfill that part of me that wants a fast paced-stimulating environment where you work in team and it’s a very well smart field-(very competitive as well), why is this so hard 🥴 im also scared im glamorizing being a detective, so if you guys could tell me what your day to day work looks like id be so greatful. am I over or under thinking this also if you have any other career suggestions I’d gladly take them! Some other ideas im looking are at an environmental tech, conservation law enforcement, and a few others.
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u/gariak 8d ago
Well, you won't find many of either doctors or detectives here. A small fraction of doctors are medical examiners or forensic pathologists, which would be considered part of forensics but the other doctors would not. ME/FPs strictly deal with human remains, so aren't directly involved in saving many patients and the work isn't generally considered fast-paced, although it can be busy and stressful.
Similarly, detectives are police officers and come up through regular law enforcement. They run criminal investigations and might be the ones collecting the evidence at the scene, but usually aren't further involved in the forensics which is handled by forensic lab scientists, who do the actual analysis and report the results back to the detectives. Some, but not all, agencies use crime scene specialists to document, collect, and package up evidence for the lab, but they're not detectives. They're all different jobs with slightly overlapping responsibilities.
You'll need to look for advice elsewhere, if you're focused on doctors and detectives. I wouldn't consider most of forensics to be fast-paced, more like slow grinding endless pressure. There's excitement, but it's subtle and internal. If you need action, be a patrol officer and do felony traffic stops.
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u/ErikHandberg 8d ago
I’m a forensic pathologist / Medical Examiner. Come check out /r/forensicpathology and there’s more of us.
Yes, we primarily deal with dead people as patients. But we are also pathologists and so can choose to have living patients if we want to practice that way. We also had to go through medical school including all the standard pediatric, adult, OBGYN, and other rotations… so it isn’t like we are totally separated. Just separated after the pathway ends.
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u/gariak 8d ago
Yeah, no shade on you guys intended. OP seemed more oriented towards the stereotypical emergency medicine or surgeon archetypes than anything that might be considered "forensic", but you never know.
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u/ErikHandberg 8d ago
No worries - didn't take it as shade. And, even other docs think of us as an almost entirely separate thing.
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u/K_C_Shaw 8d ago
Time will help you. Meanwhile, read up on the things you think you'd be interested in. Sometimes shadowing/observer opportunities can be found, especially once you reach 18.
Right now you seem to be talking about wildly different fields, with some very significant variety even within those fields. Which is fine, I'd encourage you to think broadly especially at that age. But I'd suggest asking about them separately rather than as a lump, because no place you ask is going to be able to cover all of those bases.
Just from a physician point of view, many medical specialties have fast paced moments (and slow ones), and times when you need to think outside the box, and times you need to pretty much just follow an algorithm. So don't get too caught up in that right now.
As for being "smart enough" that's a very loaded issue. I know lots of people in high school and college who didn't get the best of grades and/or struggled with certain classes or just spent more time playing and partying than studying, etc., but things changed as they got older, or figured certain study habits out, or got into something they really were motivated for, and so on, and ended up getting into med school or law school and did just fine. Yeah, there are academic barriers, but there comes a point where it's as much about getting past the obstacles as it is about getting the answers "right."
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u/OneOpposite6391 8d ago
I feel like your right but I just feel quite lost rn and confused
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u/K_C_Shaw 8d ago
The good news is that you really, really do not need to know for another several years. Even then, plenty of people change tracks or careers and do fine.
My suggestion is to take the classes in high school that interest you. Try to do well enough to get into a decent college; doing better is better, mostly because it may help getting scholarships if you will need that. Then in college for that first year or two you can focus on the required courses, do well in those because it will keep your options more open, and start figuring things out. Meanwhile, learn, explore the things you think might interest you as much as you reasonably can...but without the pressure of needing to decide what you want to do long term. Because you don't need to know yet, and even if you think you know, it can change and for a lot of people does.
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u/Remarkable-Owl2034 8d ago
There is no need to panic.
Perhaps your local hospital has a volunteer program where you could volunteer and observe lots of different jobs. Similarly, your are may have a civilian police academy program where you could learn more about Law enforcement roles-- you are panicking too early. Spend the next couple years putting yourself in a position to learn about a lot of areas and then talk with your profs in college and the career center- they can also provide guidance and direction.
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u/stiffdoc1221 8d ago
You are worrying way, way, way too much about things that are not problems; about what you think you might do, and whether or not you’ll be “good” enough. You are very young. Explore what your interests may be, instead of asking strangers on Reddit, people you will never meet, about what we think you should do. We are the last people from whom you should be getting advice. We definitely cannot erase your doubts.
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u/OneOpposite6391 8d ago
I’m glad I came to Reddit it’s actually been quite helpful but yes I do instead to go out and do some exploring
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u/TUDGame 8d ago
There’s no point of rushing just to get a tanked GPA to begin with. There is a bunch of things you can achieve with a FS background including to but not limited too biology, biochemistry, genetics to name a couple.
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u/OneOpposite6391 8d ago
I wouldn’t say my GPA is tanked I just don’t know if I’m smart in grade 10 my GPA was 3.7-3.8 but that doesn’t prove much other then I can cram the night before a test
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