Follow your dreams or take the safe path ?

<p>Dear CC member's,</p>

<p>I am an International student and I have always wanted to be a Doctor, but due to the very low chance of internationals to get in to med school in to the US. I am now heading to a Tier 1 university in the US (where I can change my major). I am now going in to Mechanical engineering. </p>

<p>I am a very good student and I am a hardworking student. But I just feel I shouldn't be taking a chance. I spoke to my H.S counselor and she tells me that there is still a chance that I can get in to a med school with a engineering degree, But then pre-med would prepare me in a much better way for med school. </p>

<p>I am very much confused what to do. What should I be doing ?. </p>

<p>Please help me out.
Thanks in advance</p>

<p>Look, take it from me, FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS. My dream is to be a pilot for the USAF. To put this in perspective, i was born with a smaller left hand, have ADD and anxiety. From what I have heard it is very hard to get a medical waiver these days for the USAF. I am still going to do WHATEVER it takes to get there. Life is a journey, not a straight path. Go for what you want to do, and wherever life takes you from there is where you are supposed to be. If you dont, you will always wonder “what if?”</p>

<p>Go for it.</p>

<p>Major in whatever actually interests you… just make sure that you take the required courses for med school and give it a shot!</p>

<p>Dude, follow your dreams. No joke. My Dad came here in 1982 from India with a suitcase and $200 without a scholarship to a rural graduate school in Texas. He was relatively well-off in India and could have lived a comfortable life by those standards, but he packed up and headed off on his own. He had nothing, and managed to take an out-of-state tuition and turn it into a full scholarship. He’s worked everything from a dishwasher making $2/hour at his school cafeteria to delivering pizzas to selling cars. Now, he has held some of the highest executive positions in major banks and has beaten out job candidates holding HYPS degrees. </p>

<p>With that being said, med school isn’t easy. I want to be a neurologist, and even though I’m in America, it’s HARD to get into med school. BUT don’t get discouraged; if you work hard enough and play your cards right, it’ll all work out. You don’t want to look back on your life when you’re retired and say, “Wow, what if…?”</p>

<p>Live your life to the fullest man, trust me.</p>

<p>Do not live life to the fullest. There’s no point. Life is meaningless. Just do whatever is fun and worth doing. Forget about the bull*#$% like “living life to fullest.” People who say that are a bunch of “Ohh look I’m a wise-ass double smartass!!” Live by no philosophies or ideas but your own.</p>

<p>Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting starts? You could really use a wish right now…</p>

<p>Sharjee, you can apply to medical school with any major. You just need to have taken a year of calculus, a year of physics, two years of chemistry (intro and organic), a year of biology, and a couple of humanities/social science courses at some point before applying to med school. You also need to take the MCAT exam. In the course of getting a mechanical engineering degree, you would take all the required premed courses except biology, which you could doubtless pick up as an elective. </p>

<p>I know quite a number of physicians who’ve gone to top med schools after engineering school. So this isn’t an either/or decision: you can start out in mechanical engineering, see if you like it, and decide in a couple of years whether you want to pursue medical school or do something else entirely.</p>