<p>My high school career has been built around the idea of getting into Medicine. Joined clubs, extra curriculars, etc - but I've never been a particularly stellar student. I've always fancied the idea of being able to help people by using my skillset, though I've been coming more and more accepting that I want to make a 'larger' impact on the world.</p>
<p>Idealistic is the most accurate term for what I want to do. Wanting to be Tony Stark, is better. I've come to accept that in the future, my career should hopefully consist of these things:</p>
<ul>
<li>Flexible hours </li>
<li>Challenging</li>
<li>Pays well</li>
<li>Leaves me satisfied at the end of the day</li>
</ul>
<p>Though I look around these forums and see all these people going to prestigious universities and have stellar test scores, all being pretty goddamn smart in their own right.</p>
<p>and here I am - above average test scores, and fairly average intelligence. I'm not quite sure how I can get to this point because I've been in high school for the last 4 years 'kind of' wanting to be a doctor - and that won't cut it. </p>
<p>I'm somewhat asking you fellows to tell me where I can start looking on what I want to do with my life. I don't have a particular hobby which has developed an intricate skill, only a few years of constantly scouring for random bits of knowledge, and an amusement/interest by technology, the idea of being a self-made individual, and socializing with people from around the world.</p>
<p>I don't want to head to my college next year starting up my Biology Major (which I've learned is dead useless), and sledge through medical school. I'm a bit worried with where I'm going in terms of the few goals (future-wise) that I have.</p>
<ol>
<li>Don’t take everyone on CC so seriously. Most of them are elitist jerks that think that you will go no where in life with average grades and average test scores.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you want to go to medical school (and i mean really want to), then you will make enough time to study for your classes and extracirriculars to put on your resume such as job shadowing, volunteering, leadership positions etc.</p>
<p>Key is to shoot for above a 3.5 each semester.</p>
<p>If you don’t have the will to do this, then there’s no way you will even get into medical school. Medical school isn’t something you “sledge” through. As I said before, if you truly want to be a doctor, then medical school is possible.</p>
<p>You will be weeded out very fast if you don’t want to go to medical school, whether it’s because of pre med courses, MCATs, or when it comes time to apply.</p>
<ol>
<li>Don’t be a Biology major unless you are truly interested and you can see yourself making a career out of it. </li>
</ol>
<p>My advice is to pick a major you like and take the pre-med courses on the side so you can still apply to medical school. </p>
<p>The pre-med courses generally include:</p>
<p>1 year of Bio
1 year of Chem
1 year of OChem
1 year of Physics</p>
<p>I suggest you major in computer science and pick up a minor in some sort of science. This way, if you don’t end up going to medical school, you have a solid career lined up for you. Computers are basically the future of healthcare and you can still take part in healthcare if you don’t go to medical school, such as health informatics.</p>
<p>Many, many MANY students, one of my son’s included, started out premed and changed their minds. He took all the required premed courses and took an anatomy course and lab (complete with cadaver work) and decided he didn’t want to go into medicine. He changed his major and was much happier.</p>
<p>There are lots and lots of ways to “make a difference”, either directly in healthcare (PA, OT, PT speech/language pathologist, dentistry, psychology, social work, pharmacy, etc) or indirectly (biomedical engineering, research and development in pharma, etc). Keep your eyes and ears open. There are lots of opportunities. Good luck!</p>
<p>I agree with the previous poster there are other professional programs other than med. Just keep in mind that getting a science degree pretty much commits you to grad school of one sort or another if you want a decent job (Not a pure science grad degree as that is just digging yourself in deeper). You can do med, PA, PT, OT, optomoetry, dental or if none of the above work just get an MS in accounting, Finance, economics, HR etc.</p>