<p>Do you still manage to have a decent social life while maintaining your grades? I guess I'm just a little nervous that come fall, I will just be studying non-stop and I wont get to enjoy college like I should. Does being pre-med mean I will be a stressed out and studying all the time or will I be able to get good grades and go out once in a while too?</p>
<p>I’ll tell you a bit about how my sister managed. She had the ability to have a BF and be apart of the band of UGA while doing a Biochem degree before med school. She just started rotations now(believe) and won’t have virtually any time off nor a life… lol.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure you’re going to be able to have a life before med school. After, I can’t guarantee anything.</p>
<p>A better title for your post would have been “What should I do when I decide I’m not premed anymore?” Because that’s the 95+% probability here. In just 3 sentences you can get enough sense of the mindset to know that premed is a poor fit for the OP.</p>
<p>Lets start by talking about numbers. 17,000 is the important one. That’s how many seats open up every year in med schools. If 17K apply your odds are pretty good 
However there are 2 strikes against you here. First off, you have the misfortune of being born in one of the most populous years; the number of college students starting this year is at or near a peak. Since they’re not making any more spaces, even if a fixed fraction of your peers apply that means more competition than just a few years ago. Second, apps roll with the economy (after a lag). If you haven’t started the premed courses by the beginning of sophomore year you’re probably not going to be able to finish them before you graduate, so there’s a gap between the economy and med school apps. </p>
<p>When times are good everyone is going to work on Wall Street or strike it rich with the Internet; when they’re bad it doesn’t take too many stories going around campus of the grads who couldn’t find a job and moved back in with their parents to persuade people to aim at careers that seem to have steady demand and great pay, like medicine. So the number of apps cycles; in the late 80’s with a booming economy it was as low as 30k, meaning over 50% got in! It was as high as 47K in the doldrums in the mid 90’s, and in was 42K in 2008. Given the deepest recession since the Great Depression in the 1920’s, its a good guess that it will exceed 50K by the time you would have been applying to med school.</p>
<p>The reason this all matters is that your competition is out their studying, working in labs to get research experience, etc. And you’re judged against what other people do; they take the top 17,000. If they’re working harder than you, they get in and you don’t. Lets be honest here; everyone pretends all majors and courses are the same and college students work hard, but its not true. Sure, there are some colleges where the standards are high and social science majors do tons of reading, write massive term papers, etc. But that’s the exception. </p>
<p>At most schools, particularly large publics where they don’t have the resources to grade these papers (1 prof and 3 TA’s in a class of 300), college is easier than HS!! You get a textbook that is no harder than your HS texts, especially the 1st 2 years since the Community College enrollment exceeds the 4-year college enrollment of frosh/soph and book publishers want the biggest possible market. Instead of being stuck in class from 8-3 you might have only 3 hours of class a day. The homework just gets a check mark, so you can do pretty well by reading the text 1 or 2 nites a week and then cramming before the midterm/final. </p>
<p>However there are some classes that are going to be hard no matter where; think math, physics, chem, engineering, etc. And premeds have to take a solid chunk of these classes, even if they’re majoring in something unrelated to science, in order to fulfill the med-school requirements.</p>
<p>Now take our premed here. He’s going to be in a dorm surrounded by dozens of people on his floor having a great time. A few engineering grinds will be in the library, but most of his friends will have more free time than in HS, no parents around to look over their shoulder, easy access to alcohol and more. How long do you think it will take before he decides he’s not getting a chance to “enjoy college like I should”? Every nite he needs to go to the library to do calculus homework or write up a lab, every afternoon he spends in a lab working for free or a token wage to get research on his resume, is going to be like a kick in the behind reminding him that he’s slaving away while his buddies are having more fun then they’ve ever had in their lives. I predict he won’t last more than a semester or two. </p>
<p>The point that if you want to be able to spend 40 years in a career as a doctor, then you’d be willing to do whatever it takes to get you there. If it means studying or class from 8am to dinner and another 3 hours that nite, if it means studying on weekends and even Saturday nite, you’d do it. Maybe not happily, but you’d realize it was worth it to achieve your goal. Even those majoring in the hard sciences or engineering find some time for fun. Nowhere near as much as those in easier majors, but time nonetheless. And you can bet there are people out there determined to be part of those 17,000 that get in, people that will do what it takes.</p>
<p>i’m gonna be a college professor most likely</p>
<p>“i’m gonna be a college professor most likely”</p>
<p>that post had absolutely nothing to do with this thread.</p>
<p>it was as useless as the wall of text before it despite being easier to read</p>
<p>i call it a useful contribution</p>
<p>badgolfer, who are you to judge someone based on a paragraph of text. the OPs concerns are legit and his/her thoughts cross everybody’s mind - premed or not. so come off your high horse and don’t try to tell the OP what kind of person he/she is because you don’t have the slightest inkling of a clue.</p>
<p>
no actually you can’t. it’s just three sentences of a legitimate concern.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>i’m glad you think you can sum the OP up as if you’ve known him for years. for all you know he might actually enjoy research, labwork, volunteering, etc.</p>
<p>It depends entirely on you. I’m studying neuroscience/genetics and want to spend my life doing research and study neurological and genetic conditions. I think my major is awesome and pretty interesting so I do well in all my science classes, and I still manage to have a part-time job, boyfriend/social life, and am in some clubs and do community service. I’m really organized and plan stuff out in advance because otherwise I couldn’t manage. Lots of students drop out of Bio/Chem/Physics/Neuro/Biochem because they think it’s too hard. For many, it’s because they did well in HS science but can’t manage it on a college level. And if you’re screwing up basic science classes and can’t have a life because you study too hard - well it might be a sign that you’re not meant to be a scientist/physician/engineer. Getting a PhD or MD will be much harder than this, so many Freshmen drop out because they can’t handle the basics. Nothing wrong with that - you’ll move on and find something you excel at and love. </p>
<p>Anyway even in hard majors you can still have a life, a job, play sports, etc. Unless you’re double majoring in like Aerospace Engineering and Architecture or something, don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>I’m pre-med myself, and I manage to have a social life. It may not fit some people’s definition of a social life, but I’m content with it. (That is, I don’t party, but I do get together with friends to watch movies, make dinner, go shopping, visit museums, etc.) At times, it can be either-or: either study or have fun. But for the most time, if you budget your time well, you can still have fun even when you do have deadlines looming.</p>
<p>I don’t know any pre-meds who completely match the stereotype; most of them are down to earth and know how to have fun in addition to caring about doing well.</p>
<p>badgolfer: Who the hell are you to tell me that I can’t be pre-med??</p>
<p>I was just wondering how other people that are pre-med handle their lifestyle and balance their social life. Is that too much to ask? Instead of actually answering the question on my thread, you chose to give me an entire lecture (half of which, quite frankly, I didn’t even read). I never said I wasn’t going to study or work my ass off. I just had a legitimate question about a pre-med student’s life. So seriously, quick posting shit on my thread, and go screw yourself.</p>
<p>To those of you that actually answered my question: thanks.</p>
<p>I don’t know about the extra-curriculars, and such, but the coursework isn’t very difficult. It’s just a couple of introductory science classes in biology, chemistry, and physics.</p>
<p>^ good point silence, that’s what I was trying to say - those that are struggling with basic intro classes need to rethink if they want to dedicate their lives to science or are capable of doing the more difficult coursework ahead. When I hear preMeds or science majors complaining they can’t have a life because of the workload, I cringe. Unless you’re genuinely not good at those subjects (some people are just not math/science types) then it shouldn’t be too hard. The general “pre-health” classes are a lot easier than the more advanced classes you have to take for science majors.</p>
<p>Sak09, if you’re really worried, I reccommend you don’t get a job or too involved in sports/clubs 1st semester, to see what the workload is like and how much free time you have. By 2nd semester you’ll know what to expect so it will be easier. Remember to enjoy college and get involved in fun stuff outside classes! Don’t do certain EC’s just cause you think Med schools will like to see it - they want diversity so do what you want, even if it’s joining sports instead of spending all your free time in the lab.</p>
<p>
Time for a follow-up… These days sak09 writes
Looks</a> like the guy worried about “missing out” is going to miss out - miss out on med school, that is. What is amazing is the capacity for self-deception. You could tell last summer he wasn’t willing to put in the work to succeed. But rather than admit to it the excuses continue – “I worked my butt off” and “my school is so hard”.</p>
<p>I took bio, chem, calc and some gen eds freshman year. There were times where I studied a lot but I managed to hang out with friends, watch movies and even perform in a drama through a club. </p>
<p>It’s not always easy and you’ll probably need to take time out to study but you should be fine. I know some pre-meds who party most weekends and have a lot of fun in their off time. </p>
<p>Of course I am speaking of freshman year, no idea what sophomore year will be like but it looks tougher. Still I hope to continue with one or two of the clubs I am in.</p>
<p>Badgolfer, you’re pretty much a jerk.</p>
<p>On the other hand, you’re probably right that OP isn’t actually interested in Biology/medicine, and just wants to make lots of money. You’re also probably right that OP isn’t cut out for med school. OP should probably actually rethink what he’s doing. :/</p>
<p>Eh, I’m close to bailing out at this point. I don’t really like the science courses =p. I love science…hate the labs though. I don’t understand the logic behind them. I’d rather have the six hours a week to study for the actual class lol. </p>
<p>I have a friend who’s gungho premed though, and she manages her time very well. She works like a dog during the week, and then goes out on weekends. She does find time for fun in the week too sometimes…we have random activities at night like game shows, etc. and I know she goes to those. </p>
<p>Try it out and see if you’re up for it. It will be a good indicator of whether or not you’d make a suitable doctor. Once you graduate, the intense work load doesn’t stop…all through med school, residence, actual career, etc. If you can find a balance that works for you, great :). If not, may I recommend business? =p</p>
<p>Im not even gona read half the posts by people and im just gona go ahead and say that most of the people that are talking smack are just typical arrogant CC’ers … sak09 , dont let these dumbasses judge you just because you wrote some of your concerns because im pretty sure all pre-med majors have these same concerns … im not a pre-med major but i know a lot of them , also my sister in law is a surgeon making BANK right now and she kind of had a unconfident [not saying you do] attitude going into it, but slowly she began to learn how to make time for herself to succeed even while partying on the weekends</p>
<p>BASICALLY i feel that anyone who learns how to make sacrifices and manage their time, and make sure that their main focus/priority is their studies, can still make time to have fun and go party on the weekends [which is exactly what i do] … it all depends on what type of person you are and if you can make sure you stay focused when it comes down to it, you can do whatever you want</p>
<p>for someone to say based on a couple posts, “i dont think your fit for pre-med” … thats just straight up stupid lol some people on this forum make me laugh</p>
<p>btw for anyone who wants to say anything about ME and tell me that im probably , im an accounting computer science double major right now with a 3.85 first-year GPA so stf.u in advance</p>
<p>I don’t think Badgolfer is a jerk because he is simply calling out sak for not listening to him:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/1061812-i-effed-up.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/1061812-i-effed-up.html</a></p>
<p>EPIC THREAD</p>
<p>badgolfer i appreciate you</p>
<p>Had saved off a reminder to myself to look a few years down the road to see how it turned out. Looks like I nailed the call!!!</p>
<p>
So spouted the illustrious OP in post #10. </p>
<p>
Well</a>, well, well.</p>
<p>I predicted the OP wasn’t showing the dedication it was going to take to suceed as a premed before he even spent a day as a college student. Helpful advice, I thought, because if the OP really did want to become a doctor it was enough advance notice that things needed to change if med school was going to be a realistic option.</p>
<p>Instead I got a vitriolic reply. Time proved me right, as the OP couldn’t stick it out as premed (perhaps contriving a face-saving rationalization as cognitive dissonance would predict?)</p>