<p>Man guys, reading through all these topics makes me feel sad. My dream is to become a doctor. I'm sorry to admit but I just really, really want to be a doctor; it's my ultimate dream. I think about it everyday, numerous times(no doubt), but I am always worried about all those statistics. Each school has a 3% acceptance rate, which is overly intimidating and I am already very worried about college and doing good. What do you think I should do to remain positive and just keep my dream in shape and not let go of my dreams and be negative and pessimistic? .....</p>
<p>Take things one step at a time. It’s great to have long term goals, but try to make short term goals. Maybe that means reading more often or exercising. Maybe it means not falling behind in your reading for classes, or getting a paper for English done. Accomplishing smaller goals one at a time will give you a foundation for accomplishing larger goals, and also boosts your confidence.</p>
<p>Find a backup career, or a hobby (or two). Being very obsessed with being a doctor (as with being obsessed with anything) is unhealthy!</p>
<p>Why consider another career if it’s something your passionate about and if picking another career won’t be any fun or you wouldn’t want ot be there doing it? (Sorry if it came out wrong or mean).</p>
<p>Because if no other career in the world is appealing to you, the problem is not with the other careers. It’s with you.</p>
<p>Well sorry if I said it the wrong way, which is the reason why I included the parenthesis. What I am trying to say is that that comment kind of made me feel degraded, if you know what I mean. I also don’t really want to think of another career because whenever you are passionate about something my belief is that you stick to it no matter what and just do all it takes and you will achieve your goal. </p>
<p>I guess I should rephrase my question/thoughts.</p>
<p>How did you guys feel when you were in high school and wanted to become a doctor and now that you are pre-med or even Med students, how did you overcome the challenge and what made you think positively about life and actually getting into a Medical School in the US?</p>
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<p>That sounds nice, but it’s deluded. I really like making music and playing in groups, but frankly, I don’t have the talent to make it as a professional. If I were to have taken your advice, I’d be a starving musician instead of a (presumably successful, not starving) medical student. Some things are just not going to happen for you, no matter how hard you work.</p>
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<p>I thought to myself, “This medicine thing seems cool. Lemme check it out in college to see if I really like it and can hack it as a pre-med.”</p>
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<p>Had supportive family and friends. Was a decent person with a sense of humor. Got good grades. Had decent ECs. Learned to become a decent writer. Worked hard at interview skills. Scored pretty well on the MCAT. Managed to get off waitlists come time for medical school admissions. Stressed a lot.</p>
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<p>Getting my MCAT score back was the final step that pushed me over the edge to where I could commit to applying for medical school. If my score had been a disappointment, I think my outlook on applying would’ve been quite bad and I would’ve started considering applying to PhD programs. It’s great to think positive, but at some point the enthusiasm has to be tempered by realistic expectations.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d start exploring the field of medicine by doing some volunteer work in a clinical setting. Come time for college, I’d pick the school that fit me best, take classes that I like, take the required pre-med coursework, and continue exploring the field. Your feelings about your clinical experiences and your grades should give you a sense of whether being an MD is a good fit and a possible career choice or not.</p>
<p>If I could do anything in the world that I wanted, I’d play strong safety for the New England Patriots. Unfortunately, since Patrick Chung is better at football than I am, I think my chances are pretty low.</p>
<p>To say, “work hard enough and you will achieve your goal” is an extremely insulting thing to say. It implies that anybody who has ever failed to achieve something is lazy. Sometimes circumstances simply don’t match with what we might fantasize about.</p>
<p>Flexibility is a virtue. Persistence is also a virtue, but in excess it becomes obsessiveness.</p>
<p>Shades_children your advice was the best. I’m going to be volunteering at the Junior Auxiliary center at Stanford and hope to get a feel for the medical setting and just try my best.</p>
<p>bluedevilmike: Did you put that effort…those countless hours of blood and sweat to actually become a Patriot and even if you are a Patriot…you could be a benchwarmer making 100k a year; but still you’ll be on the Patriots. </p>
<p>Well it’s just my belief and you don’t have to agree with it and yes you may not be a successful singer and some things may just not happen( I totally agree with you), but you could still consider becoming a MD from another country or becoming a singer who sings at family weddings.</p>
<p>Dude, there’s absolutely no way I would ever make an NFL roster. It doesn’t matter how hard I work, I simply don’t have the athletic talent to do that. I just don’t. Sucks to be me, but too bad. You don’t think there are thousands of college football players who pour their hearts and souls into the sport? Very few of them will be drafted and very few of those will ever play an NFL game.</p>
<p>I simply. don’t. have. what. it takes. to be an NFL player.</p>
<p>And moreover, I don’t want to be a benchwarmer. I want to start.</p>
<p>Well I guess my mentality is different because of the way I was raised and when I mean goal, I mean you could achieve it but it might not be what you initially dreamed of.</p>
<p>I.E. You wanted to become a doctor and wanted to go to Harvard, but you became a doctor from Trinidad?</p>
<p>Well, I admit one movie which really made me think like this was a movie we watched in Biotechnology - GATTACA. Watch it lol, very, very inspiring. :)</p>
<p>Maybe I’m naive by saying this, but if bdm trained for 15 hours a day for years and years, even if he doesn’t have much of a natural ability for football, yeah then maybe he can play in the NFL one day. However, there is always going to be the guy who doesn’t need that ridiculous amount of training and so it makes more sense for HIM to follow that dream. If it took you a ridiculous amount of effect (I’m talking extremes, where you basically eat sleep and breathe studying/MCAT prep) and a ridiculous amount of time (5+ years) to get into medical school, doesn’t it make more sense to go for another career? Yeah, it can happen, but is it really worth all of that extra effect?</p>
<p>So I guess hypothetically, yeah you can achieve “anything,” but based on time constraint or exhaustion it makes more sense to do things that come easier to you.</p>
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Then it’s not really achieving what you dreamed of, is it?</p>
<p>I am 5’9" and will never make the NBA.
I will never be the next Stephen Hawking or Einstein because, although I am good with math, I don’t have the superior innate quantitative ability.
I can never be an air force fighter pilot because I have asthma, seasonal allergies, and uncorrected vision worse than 20/50.</p>
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<p>That’s cute, but I have a feeling that college/med school/the real world will beat the idealism right out of you.</p>
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<p>How did I feel in high school? I don’t know, I was starry-eyed and naive. I wanted to be a doctor because I wanted to help people/make a difference/change the world, blah blah blah.</p>
<p>How did I stay positive? I didn’t, I’m much more cynical than I probably should be. What’s kept me going? I guess I just found my niche in science. I really enjoy my classes and undergrad, I love doing research. I’m legitimately excited to keep learning. I know I want to be a doctor, but I try to focus on the now. Dropping the neurotic pre-med game was important for me. When I eventually apply to med school (which won’t be during undergrad–taking time off to do a master’s or travel or whatever I feel like), I’ll be prepared. But if that was my ONLY goal, I don’t think I would have made it this far. Basing your entire existence on becoming a doctor is a fast track to burn out.</p>
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lol .</p>
<p>I felt much the same way you did Indianjatt but listen to these guys. Your college years are there to discover yourself a bit, explore and just discover your capabilities. Don’t give up on being a doctor but don’t shut all other doors. For now do what i’m doing just concentrate on trying to do well (finishing up senior year) and maybe learn a little more about yourself. </p>
<p>Medical school will hopefully come with time and since no one can really say whether you’ll make it or not just hope for the best and enjoy the ride.</p>
<p>GoldShadow I know your advice is legitimate, but don’t we all have potential. It doesn’t mean we will see that potential resurrect, but it’s all within us. Sure you can become an air force pilot. Having asthma doesn’t mean you can’t enlarge your lung capacity. I mean GATTACA isn’t a real movie but it has a good moral. That kid was born with defects and was told when he was born that he wouldn’t live beyond 35 and could never be an astronaut. But what he did do was be persistent and determined and managed to fight his diseases and illnesses. If you watch the movie you see that his brother has perfect health and is the ideal son, but he still manages to lose the race in the water because his brother was determined to go far no matter how much it pushed him down.</p>
<p>Gattaca is a movie. Just because I like Harry Potter does that mean I should become a wizard when I grow up?</p>
<p>Joking aside, pre-med isn’t all that bad. I’d say 90 percent of people out there have potential, many aren’t using it right. Person A at my school had a reputation for getting poor grades, but once he started going to office hours and studying more than just 5 minutes a day, he got an A on the last Orgo exam.</p>
<p>No, there are some things (like my myopia) which the Air Force simply will not accept because it means you will get killed doing that job. I similarly do not have and cannot have the reflexes and fast-twitch muscle capacity to play strong safety in the NFL.</p>
<p>Thousands upon thousands of college athletes train – many of them for 12 hours a day – to become better football players. A small handful of them will ever play in the NFL; fewer still will become regular starters. I don’t have what it takes, and I never will.</p>