<p>So this is gonna be kinda personal but i would really like opinions and any information or tips or advice you have to offer.
I am 17 years old. Going to get my GED next year (i cringe whn i say that but it is what it is. I had to drop out for personal reasons.)
Im gay. And i want to dedicate my life to my career choice. But my dream job, which is a teacher, doesnt pay well enough and has a sketchy job availablitity to live on my own in my dream city (as a virgo i need to know that there will be a job 100%!). Anyway, the reason i mentioned im gay is because i dont want to get married ever and since im female and have to make an entire life for myself with out the help of someone else, that is if i dont want to have a roommate for the rest ofmy life, i have to do what ihave to do.
I come from a family that no one really has an actual career they went to college for or anything, and ive never lived in an actual house, only trailers, so i dont really have money for college. And im not really that smart (id like to believe that intellegence isnt fixed, ya kno?) anyway, i just want to know if med school is really that hard? Like if i reall dedicate all i have to learning it, because my whole life is on the line...do you think someone like me can?</p>
<p>Med school is very challenging, but the admission officers for medical schools select students who are extremely hard-working, dedicated and smart so that the fail-out rate of medical school is actually fairly small (~3-5%)</p>
<p>Getting into med school is very tough. There’s a lot of competition and fewer than half of the applicants each year are accepted. You need to be a top student with good grades and good standardized test scores. (The test for med school admission is the MCAT. It’s a 6.5 hour exam covering biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, statistics, psychology, sociology, medical ethics along with reading analysis and reasoning skills.) Additionally, potential med students need to demonstrate their committment to service of their fellow man thru doing community service and clinical volunteer work. </p>
<p>To get to med school, a college baccalaurate degree (BA or BS) is required. That would be your next step–getting into college and earning a degree. After you complete your GED, consider stopping by your local community college and talking with a admissions counselor and a financial aid counselor to see what is possible.</p>
<p>People study 12 hrs a day to clear through.</p>
<p>^^Only true most days—not every day. Even the most dedicated med student occasionally takes a night or afternoon off. You’d go crazy of you didn’t.</p>
<p>Once you start clinical training in your 3rd year, though, working 80 hours/week is routine. And then you go home to study.</p>
<p>Is 3-5% the “fail out rate” or the “attrition rate?” While I would believe that 3-5% of matriculants do not finish, I think the percentage who are actually failing out (as opposed to deciding they don’t want to do it anymore) is much lower. At least at my school it is.</p>
<p>The most difficult part of the journey is getting in. After that, because of the investment in you, medical schools will give you every opportunity to stay in and reach graduation (thus becoming a doctor). And in preparation for residency, they’ll do what they can to help you to a position.</p>
<p>That’s not to say that medical school isn’t incredibly difficult because it is, just that failing out is something schools work to avoid for their students.</p>
<p>As for your sexual orientation, love and a committed relationship are still very much within your reach, so please don’t think you’ll always have to do everything on your own. It’s important to want to be independent and self-sufficient, but generally life is better when shared with people you care about. As how this relates to you possibly becoming a physician, please only consider medicine because you want to do it. I promise that if you’re just doing it because of the paycheck, you’ll be miserable. There’s too much BS that comes with being a doctor that the financial reward is not enough by itself. Service, the intellectual challenge, getting to help those who need it (even if they are ungrateful…especially if they are ungrateful), even just the prestige of having those initials behind your name are all better reasons than the money.</p>