<p>I have been doing some thinking and would greatly appreciate some input.</p>
<p>I have been accepted into Cornell, and will be starting this fall. Throughout high school I wanted to go into medicine. I sincerely enjoyed the thought of helping people with what I do and making a difference. Recently though, I began to have doubts. To become a doctor, my undergraduate experience will be filled with volunteering, researching, extreme studying, etc. Then medical school will be even harder work. Finally I would have to complete a medical residency, which would again be incredibly difficult. At the end of all that work, sure I would be doing great things with my life, but I would be in my 30s. The prime of my life would have been spent in a race to get into medical school, stay in medical school, etc.</p>
<p>Let me just say, I have never been one to fret away from hard work. In the IB program at my school I worked incredibly hard, made no friends, and had no happiness. Sure I graduated summa cum laude and got into Cornell, but it did not make me happy. I don't want my life to be about making myself happy, but at the same time I don't want to be stressed out all the time.</p>
<p>I was thinking about possibly transferring to the college of engineering at Cornell, which has incredible rankings. My strengths are definitely math and science, so I think I will enjoy this. (In high school I just hated history/english/TOK, not math/science.)</p>
<p>So what should I do? Spend the next 10+ years working incredibly hard to become a doctor and eventually make a 200-500K, or should I spend the next 4 years studying engineering and make a nice 80,000-120,000? I don't want to just 'take the easy route', but at the same time I don't want to hit my 32nd birthday and then finally have financial freedom and relative peace.</p>
<p>Any comments would be much appreciated! Thanks so much!</p>
<p>You could get a liberal arts degree and go into finance, consulting, marketing, hospitality, technology, data analysis…and make more money than a doctor. You don’t need to be an engineer to have a stable income. I say take the next few years to explore before you decide what you want to do when you grow up.</p>
<p>I think that it’s great that you’re thinking about this issue before you even start school. this gives you a lot of time to make sure that your Cornell experience is tailored to what you might like do to in the future.</p>
<p>you are very right that the medical school route is grueling. one excellent thing is that if you think you’re suited for engineering, you also can help people and make a difference with your work, and you’ll definitely have to be diligent both in school and in the workplace.
now to take a devil’s advocate stance, just in case: you shouldn’t think about engineering as just 4 years and then a salary – make sure it’s actually something that’s deeply interesting to you. imagine yourself working as an engineer for decades, even if it’s almost definitely not the same job all that time, and you’re constantly gaining other skills and adapting to new technologies. that’s going to be your day to day reality.</p>
<p>for me personally, these concerns about not wanting to be in a lifestyle holding pattern for a decade have made a big impact on my life decisions. I’m all for taking them into consideration.</p>
<p>A lot changes for premeds in four years. Many will get weeded out either by the environment (not maintaining a good enough GPA for consideration) or self-selection (having thoughts like you are). I know a lot of my friends did well in their premed track, taken the MCAT, and then after working for a year or two decided against med school all together. Really depends on the person.</p>
<p>The beauty about Cornell (and really college all together) is that you get a fresh start. If studying alienated you from being a social person then stop going down that route immediately. Being well-spoken and being able to network is as important as how intelligent you are in the real world. If you are any kind of STEM major at Cornell you will have a lot of options as long as you do well. </p>
<p>Also premed track will only take up a piece of your schedule, especially if you are a science major. You can always take those classes and then decide in a couple years if you want to be a doctor. That said the curves on premed courses at Cornell can be nasty so if you take a semester or two of them and find yourself struggling then I’d recommend getting out.</p>