I’m a sophomore with straight A’s, and Pre-Calculus is one of the easiest classes for me. This isn’t to brag but to set a baseline of how academically and objectively smart I am. I work hard to stay on top of my grades, with some slip-ups here and there. But my friends, particularly Asian 1, still belittle me. Sometimes I really have no common sense and do really bad under pressure. And the times I do mess up, I just feel so horrible and it makes me doubt myself. It makes me wonder if I really have the smarts to pursue medicine. There have been too many times I’ve wished to test just how smart I am in varying areas because my grades don’t feel enough for me. Right now, I’m at a low point where I feel that working harder on my assignments is meaningless. I used to gain confidence from doing it, but now thinking about it, I still constantly stress out because grades occasionally go to borderline A. At this point, I don’t know what I’m working towards for besides that I want to go to medical school.
Sounds like you need new friends.
You are a straight A student. What’s borderline, A-? You need to learn and achieve for yourself, not what your peers think. If you really want medical school then you need to stay focused on the goal and it has to be what YOU want over the long haul.
I know a lot of doctors & many of my high school friends are doctors. Being an MD isn’t as much about being smart as it is with working really hard.
Read about “Imposter Syndrome”
And read about growth mindset.
Smartness is overrated. Healthy does of self-doubt is not.
The question is, is your self-doubt healthy? I think it is. You are also at the stage of rapid growth, mentally physically and socially. Please make sure that you sleep and eat well, try (I know it is very difficult) not to compare yourself constantly with others, that is always the root of lots of problems.
Good luck. You are smart enough for most things in life, including becoming a doctor.
You are definitely smart enough to be an MD. Don’t even worry about that. It’s not rocket science (literally).
As mentioned above, concentrate on working hard, being conscientious and moving forward. The rest will take care of itself.
You have a long term goal: medical school. I think you need to come up with some short term and mid term goals. It’s easy to feel unaccomplished when you work hard but you’re still years away from achieving your one and only goal. Make a plan… by the end of sophomore year I want to do X, over the summer I want to do Y and Z, etc. The goals shouldn’t all be academic-related, but they should be interesting and important to you. Maybe your goal could be to learn CPR, then maybe work towards EMT certification, or volunteer X hours in a hospital. The point is both to have something to look forward to and something to celebrate. Update your plan as new opportunities arise (and they will!).
I see… Thank you all for your feedback! Throughout the day of thinking about it and reading the comments, I felt my purpose again. I guess medical school was so far away I couldn’t grasp or feel like all my hard work was paying off, especially from comparing myself. Sometimes I wonder why I’m Rank 1 when people seem to be a lot smarter than me in everyday situations in the classrooms. But I shouldn’t worry about that. I learned that I should strive and thrive for myself either way.
@crimspade When I was in college I saw people that were “naturally smart” and those that were hard workers. They both got similar grades. You do what works for you.