<p>I've heard that "if you don't know for sure if you want to be a doctor or not, it's not worth the trouble." Is this true? As of now I am about 80% sure I want to pursue medicine, but I'm really frightened by the prospect of not getting into any med school, and the rigor of med school itself. My plan has always been to study what I really enjoy in undergrad (math) while taking whatever pre-med requisites I have to, and hoping for the best, but I would like to know if I should consider different career options. Can anyone provide any insight?</p>
<p>Please help a confused guy out! 
I thought of another way to articulate my thoughts in case I didn’t make sense: I’m not concerned so much of the rigor of becoming a doctor as of the fact that I may not get the trade-off of satisfaction in the field of medicine. Once again, any advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>If you don’t absolutely want to become a doctor and enjoy what you’re studying, a lot of med school will be miserable for you. </p>
<p>It sounds like you might not know what doctors actually do (i.e. don’t know if you’ll get satisfaction from the job) - so go out and do some shadowing, volunteer at a hospital, whatever it takes to get exposure to doctors doing their jobs. It might help you figure out if its all worth it for you.</p>
<p>Well, if you like math, chances are that you will not enjoy bio. But you have to decide for yourself. Now, one of obstacles in getting into Med. School might be eliminated if you get into combined bs/md program. However, most of them are extremely hard to get.</p>
<p>Are you still in high school? </p>
<p>Listen to Icarus’ advice–you need more exposure to doctors and medical fields. When you get to college, find opportunities to volunteer and get some clinical exposure. Often there is a pre-med club that will help you find these opportunities. Once you start spending time in hospitals and around doctors, you’ll figure out pretty quickly whether medicine is for you are not.</p>
<p>BTW, math is not an incompatible major for future doctors. As a group, math majors have the highest MCAT scores of any major.</p>
<p>Both my Ds are math majors. (D1 was a math and physics double major–she’s applying to medical school this year. D2 is math and bio double major and is undecided about medical school.) The math has provided both girls with a variety of options should they decide not to pursue medicine. There are whole fields that you haven’t even heard of yet…</p>
<p>And it’s not necessarily true that math people dislike biology as field of study.</p>
<p>WayOutWestMom,
My D. is in the same boat as your D1. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice everyone, duly noted. And yeah, I am a high school senior currently.</p>