i’m currently so conflicted on what to do with my life and would really appreciate any help i can get. i’m also fairly uneducated on many things regarding colleges, premed programs, and med school so please try to dumb everything down a lot when answering. i currently attend a fairly competitive high school and am doing well with a 4.8 gpa. i handle my work well and i dedicate a good amount of time to school. i’m gonna need help with several things. to begin i need to know how hard an ivy school like upenn and yale really is (i’d like an opinion from both somebody in premed and just as a student). i’m not sure if an ivy is going to be too much for me. i’m dedicated to school but i also want to be able to have that college experience and go out with my friends on the weekends and such. would an ivy prevent me from doing this? also, moving on to med school, what would a premed student do if they were not accepted into med school? what career paths exist for the classes they took in premed? also, i’m not sure if there are any med school graduates here but how is the medical field in general regarding the social aspect? am i not going to be able to have a social life as a doctor (specifically a radiologist if that changes anything at all)? what about having a family how would that work out? i know that my questions are all over the place but if anybody has any insight at all (based on personal experiences, their own research, anything) i would greatly appreciate it. i’m so stressed right now trying to figure out my life and i just need some guidance. if somebody can talk me through anything i discussed, i would appreciate it so much, thank you!
As long as you fulfill the specified premed requirements, you can major in anything as a premed student. Therefore, you could align alternative career aspirations with your chosen major. (For example, if you major in history or American studies, you could teach high school social studies, or go to law school, etc.)
I’m in your place and have little life experience to go off of, but I can tell you from what I’ve heard Ivies range from being relaxed and bohemian (Brown) to super academically intense (Cornell). I know for a fact it’s not hard to have a social life in any of the Ivies, but it would be more useful to focus your inquiries on top premed schools for premed students, as that’s potentially your place.
Every premed student or graduate I’ve ever talked to says it’s a tough workload. Still, that doesn’t curse you out of a social life. Similarly, you can be a doctor and have a life and a family.
College should be time to find oneself! Don’t worry about finding a job and career you love. You got this.
On school choice: The best premed schools aren’t all Ivies. Most aren’t. The set of best premed schools for YOU might not even include any ivies.
Why are you thinking about the Ivy League? Is there a particular reason why you are interesed in those places? What other colleges and universities have you considered?
Medical school admission is heavlily base on your grades. Medical school itself is fiendishly expensive. The standard advice is to look for the college or university that will give you the best combination of low cost and chance of a high GPA. Your own home state public university might be a good option.
For pre-med it’s really useful to look at some of the stickies, esp some of the links on the pre-med resources, on this section of the forum dedicated to it:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/
When you’re pre-med it’s important that you get high grades and have a life. Your med school applications will need to show you as a well rounded person capable of doing both, along with various medical ECs like shadowing and volunteering.
In med school one also definitely has a life. My son is in his second year now and thoroughly enjoying himself. He’s on a committee that purposely sets up various social events for the students and tells me half to three quarters tend to come to them. Some don’t, but that’s their choice. Social events aren’t required.
The vast majority of doctors I’ve been to have had families - or at least they mention their kids. They also have told me about travels, etc. I suspect a big part of that is personal preference.
Premed classes/reqs are courses that help, in part, med schools conclude that an applicant can handle the academics of med school. They do not target a specific career path. Although not necessarily true, one’s major is what may point one down a specific career pathway. As a premed you can major in pretty much anything (eg bio, art history, Spanish, etc) as long as you complete premed reqs. Med schools don’t care what your major is.
S and DIL are both MDs and had active social lives in college, med school, and since. They both work FT and have a child and expect to have another child soon. If you’re in college/med school, spending all your time in a room studying and do not have a social life, IMO, you’re doing something wrong,
What in your life as a 17-18 year old has led you to decide you want to spend 4 years in college, 4 years in med school, 4-5 years in residency, say bye bye to your 20s, some of your 30s and become a radiologist. I don’t need an answer, something for you to consider.
You may be putting the cart ahead of the horse here. Have you actually looked into the medical field and considered the alternatives? From the day you start college it will be 11-15 years before you are a practicing doctor, depending on what field you go into. Its almost a reflex action among HS kids, they think of a career in medicine and its “I’m pre-med!” Doctors are far from the only ones in the health field that help people. Physical therapists, radiology techs, nurses, speech pathologists, to name but just a few. Before you go heavily into debt and commit so many years I suggest you explore the alternatives. You should be volunteering in a medical setting if you aren’t doing so already. Volunteer experience is an unwritten requirement for med school admission, and spending time now will let you know if the health field is something you actually want to pursue.
You’ve picked the specialty almost certain to be put out of business by AI and machine learning.
The biggest problem with medical students is actually debt. Medical school is extraordinarily expensive, and having large amounts of debt from your undergraduate can cause problems, especially when you have to apply for private loans to finish medical school. You want to keep the debt down for your undergraduate. Medical schools look at grades and MCAT scores above anything else.