I AM STUCK. HELP. (Graduate School? Career planning)

Graduate School
1

So, this is a wild story. Not really, wild but it’s something. I am currently finishing up college and have no idea what I’m doing. I never did. But I am giving the INCREDIBLY short story
When I first went to college my parents said the only way I could go or if they would love me is that if I wanted to pursue a medical career as a doctor. I always liked biology in high school, but I never really liked the medical side of things. So, I told myself “how bad can it be? I can handle it. And when I finally get the medical degree I can go MIA and pursue what I REALLY want to pursue.” Pretty crappy, right? Turns out it was hard because I had 0 motivation. I did well in my chemistry classes (lowest was a B) but always got C’s in my biology classes because I had no idea what I wanted to do! I dropped out of the pre-med program (don’t tell mom and dad!) and decided, hey, maybe I like lab work! Welp, I’m a CUH-LUH-TZ that’s probably what lab’s DON’T need. I also have bad anxiety, which causes me to daydream, and daydreaming doesn’t really help when your professor is lecturing because then, you blank on tests and you really screw up your lab work.
I considered going to graduate school for biology, but I can’t get in with my low gpa! I have barely a 3.0 and I’m at a 2.5 for biology. I mean, i know the potential is there, I have so many circumstances that don’t allow it like being financially disadvantaged, commuting an hour to get to my classes, and working a job 14 hours a week.
So I don’t know what to do!
I have laid out some options:

  1. Post bacc program to give medicine another try? (but how do I work my way to actually get into a program?)
  2. Can taking classes at a graduate school work my way as being admitted as a full time student? and can I work as a lab technician to pay it off?
  3. I’m almost done with college but when I’m done, is there anyway to save my poor and dying GPA?
2

Well, the first and most important question is…do you actually want to go to graduate school in biology?

There’s only so much I can tell from one single post on CC, but it doesn’t sound like you have a passion for biology or a desire to work within the field. It kind of sounds like you’re defaulting to go to graduate school in biology because you know you can’t get into medical school and you don’t really know what else to do. I’d say that’s not a great reason to go to graduate school: you go because you have a desire to work in a specific field that requires a graduate degree of that type.

I’d encourage you to explore some other careers, including some careers that you can work in with your BS right out of college. You don’t have to go to graduate school right now, or at all really.

Also…you don’t have to please your parents anymore. You’re already finishing up, so it’s not like they can revoke your degree because you have decided not to go to medical school. They could withdraw their love, I suppose, and so you have to decide which way to go: to live your life by your parents’ expectations, or to pursue your own goals and aspirations potentially at the cost of your parents’ approval. (I’ve had to make this decision myself, so I’m no stranger to how tough it is. Personally, I chose to live my life on my terms, and I’ve never, ever regretted it. But not everyone makes that choice, and I respect that as well.)

Getting a medical degree takes a really long time and a whole lot of money, and really one of the few ways to pay off the debt IS to work as a doctor. So if you do pursue the route you initially proposed, you may find that you’ve trapped yourself at least for a long while you repay the debt.

Even if you went to do a post-bacc in medicine…I think it’s still pretty unlikely that you’d get admitted to medical school. I mean, someone in the med school forums would know better than me, but med schools may take all of your attempts into account - you will likely have to send all of your transcripts in and they’ll consider prior grades. I’d ask that specific question in the med school forums to get a more knowledgeable answer on that score.

Taking graduate classes as a non-degree student may help you get into graduate school - if you do well in those classes. And yes, often working as a full-time lab technician at a university can help you pay off the classes, although sometimes restrictions apply. For example, some universities require people to work for a certain amount of time - even up to two years - before they allow you to take free classes for credit.