Please help me out!

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
41

<p>Right - people wanting to be a doctor because they like medicine, or people becoming police officers because they like policing, or people choosing to do something because they like it never works……in fact it makes no sense to me at all. Clearly these people are crazy.</p>

<p>Read my last my post instead of quoting a sentence. I like medicine, I always have since 9th grade, I only really wanted to be a doctor after coming to college, I only realized what it took later, and I only realized that I have a fear of failure recently, hence I am in this position. Seriously just read my older posts.</p>

42

<p>Holy ***s! This thread blew up…</p>

<p>Have you ever considered finding goals that you actually are capable of achieving? Surely not everything paralyzes you…I think the movie “What About Bob?” put it best: “Baby steps…baby steps”.</p>

<p>You’re wrong, if you had a 3.8 and a still-pending MCAT score, I’d still be telling you to consider other options. I know way too many people who are miserable as physicians. I know way too many people who were excellent students who found their calling in life after they dropped their med school dreams. </p>

<p>When it comes to the other end of the spectrum, I have plenty of stories about people that put themselves through hell trying to get into medical or dental school who finally reached the point where they could go no further and found peace once they stopped trying. Likewise, I know plenty of people who felt that they would be content if they could just get a med school interview invite, they had given up on actually getting accepted…it was just as devastating when they didn’t get that. What got them over this? Finally choosing something they could achieve, that they did find fulfilling.</p>

<p>You’ve never once even listed WHY you want to be a doctor…other than you can’t imagine being anything else.</p>

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<p>What BDM is getting at is that you say you like medicine, but what exactly does that mean to you?</p>

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<p>I find medicine fascinating, I take pleasure in reading and learning about medicine. I find happiness when I see the relief on a 60 year old cancer patient after her treatment was successfully done, I find hope in the face of a 7 year old child with metastatic bone cancer, and I find sorrow in a man with AML whose treatment had stagnated and he proceeded to attempt suicide. Medicine is the only field where my ability to practice science directly impacts another person on such a large emotional level. I learned something from every patient I interacted with at the Adyar Cancer Institute in India over the summer. Each person had a unique story, and each patient taught me something valuable, whether it was happiness, hope, sorrow, or some other aspect of life. I want to immerse myself in this fascinating art, learn its ever so interesting details and intricacies, and be a source of hope for those who have none and hopefully become a stronger person from it. That is why I want to pursue medicine.</p>

<p>@ Bigred: Good for your friends who chose to do something else. Im not going to quit just because you guys think im stupid and incapable of becoming a physician. Im not going to drop out of this and pursue something else because I will have to live with the fact that I couldn’t make it as a doctor for the rest of my life. Its not in my culture to fail. Indians are supposed to be smart and successful, and im not. Like I said, everyone who I know in my cultural circle succeeds with ease but me, im a failure, and this has perpetuated my fear of failure. Medicine is one of the few things in life that I genuinely like. I will not fail at achieving this like I did in college and high school. Ive been failing for too long, its time for a change.
Yea I have other goals in life, but those are goals I have for me socially and other goals that I have are for my other interests. In terms of career goals, I don’t have another one, unless as I said before, I get a job with free trips to Mars (I want to meet a Martian so bad).
Same thing goes for you. I know I can achieve this once I conquer this fear of failure so don’t assume that you know what I can and can’t do. I control my reality and while I might not be able to get into med school if I applied today, time can change things. Don’t tell me to change career goals just because im a weak applicant right now, instead tell me how to become a stronger applicant, otherwise please don’t write on this thread. Thank you.</p>

45

<p>I think we should cut the OP some slack. He comes across as much younger than his probable age but time can possibly cure some of this. The romantic feelings about medicine would not go over well in a medical school interview but many of us at a younger age probably had similar views.
Achievement of any sort is dependent on a combination of talent, work ethic, time management, persistence and some luck. Who is to say where the OP is deficient?
All we can say now is that so far the OP has only proved that he does not have what it takes to enter medical school in this country.
Most students who enter college thinking of medicine do not get an MD. I would guess that the attrition rate is close to 90%. Many find other roads more interesting. Many find the competition too great. As my congressman is fond of saying " I was pre med until I took Organic". A physician must understand the risks and benefits of a proposed course of action. There are probably many career options for the OP. His refusal to consider them is hopefully mostly a reflection of his youth and not his intellect.
I agree that academic counseling might be helpful. Many colleges also have tutors for free. These services may be helpful but i suspect the OP will not take such advice to heart.
I do not think that continuing with his present course at his university will help him get into medical school. If he were to improve his grades for the last three semesters to the 3.8+ he would get his gpa over 3.1 and possibly get into some post bac program to improve his chances. He would have to do well in the post bac program and do well on the MCATs to have a chance at medical school. If he were a good test taker and did very well on his SAT’s he might do well on the MCAT’s. My gut however says that while he might improve his grades if he stayed it would not be impressive enough. It is hard to get a high gpa and difficult to change oneself drastically. Taking the MCATs this summer might also be a good reality checkpoint.
Transferring to UBC is an interesting option and makes more sense than staying where he is. Who knows what a change in scenery will do? I doubt it will work but I think that it is possible. Unfortunately getting a 4.0 for the next 5 semesters will not get the gpa over 3.4 so a post bac and good MCAT’s would still be necessary. I still think an allopathic medical school admission is unlikely but at this point a D.O. school might look at him.
Persistence can be a powerful tool for achievement but it must be coupled with talent and very hard work to pull oneself out of a big hole. It will also take a lot of time and money.
Another option would be do do a PHD at a medical school if the OP were to do well enough in his remaining undergraduate time, do research and also score well on the GRE’s. An NIH fellowship would pay for tuition and livings costs while improving one’s academic c.v.
I personally would recommend taking a few years off and working if a job can be found.
This would give the Op time to grow and figure out what went wrong and how to correct it. I do not think this will happen by next semester. Anything however is possible.</p>

46

<p>Ok, I’m Indian too and I have to ask, is it not parental pressure? I know you’re going to say its not even if it is. </p>

<p>My parents have wanted me to be a doctor since I was born, heck probably before I was born, before even the thought of me was born just like every other Indian parent out there. You know the saying: doctor lawyer engineer, really its doctor or engineer, and most Indian parents will think you a total failure if you do anything outside of science or programming. I know Indian parents who sent their kid back to India when they couldn’t get into one the top 20 schools to do their medical training there and then come back to the US for residency, I’m sure you know these desperate parents too. </p>

<p>I was one of these brain washed kids too. I came into college thinking must be doctor, my only reason why being my parents want me to. First semester of college I was exposed to a lot of other fields and one that struck me was my hours being a tech (better known as a slave) at a lab on campus. I liked doing research a lot but it also made me realize I knew nothing about medicine, didn’t have any intrinsic motivations do to do medicine at that time, and I WOULD BE STUCK WITH MY CAREER CHOICE LONG AFTER MY PARENTS DIED. </p>

<p>Long story short: shadowed, volunteered, took a class we have here called medprep which is basically a shortlist of why you should not become a doctor, I was fortunately still on the “premed track” for my bio major. Realized I like research a lot lot more but I want my research to actually be useful in a clinical setting, best way to do that would be an MD/Phd and thats where I am going.</p>

<p>If your motivation to do medicine comes from 1)your parents or 2) you think its the only thing that will make you feel like you’re successful you have to think about what a long hard road medicine is and that you’ll have to wake up everymorning and go to your practice long after your parents are gone. The financial rewards (black cars, vacation homes everywhere, w/e you’re imagining) come after 4 years of medschool and 3+ years of residency depending on what you go into, with the best paying fields usually having longer residencies. And you’ll have to do it everyday and if you’re not good at it or your patients sense you’re unhappy with it, then you may not be getting the best paying patients anymore.</p>

<p>For you, the long hard road is going to be even longer and harder. Another year at UBC, two more years of post bac, and another year of applying and interviewing means that you’ll be entering four years after your normally would. If you’re not totally loving medicine and for better reasons than the ones you listed so far, is it really worth it? It’ll be 11+ years before you’ll be out of residency and actually practicing and earning some money. In those 11 years you could be doing what you actually love, being successful in it, and probably already be earning the big bucks.</p>

47

<p>It actually isn’t parental pressure. My parents tried to convince me not too go into medicine actually. This was my choice. As for why I want to be a doctor, I too have shadowed, worked in a clinical setting, as from my last post:</p>

<p>“I find medicine fascinating, I take pleasure in reading and learning about medicine. I find happiness when I see the relief on a 60 year old cancer patient after her treatment was successfully done, I find hope in the face of a 7 year old child with metastatic bone cancer, and I find sorrow in a man with AML whose treatment had stagnated and he proceeded to attempt suicide. Medicine is the only field where my ability to practice science directly impacts another person on such a large emotional level. I learned something from every patient I interacted with at the Adyar Cancer Institute in India over the summer. Each person had a unique story, and each patient taught me something valuable, whether it was happiness, hope, sorrow, or some other aspect of life. I want to immerse myself in this fascinating art, learn its ever so interesting details and intricacies, and be a source of hope for those who have none and hopefully become a stronger person from it. That is why I want to pursue medicine.”</p>

<p>Im not going into medicine to be successful, im going into it because I like it - success would be a natural byproduct of going through this process. So if I spend an extra year of UG, and my gpa is around a 3.4 by then I will take a year off to do something else before applying. This would mean that by the time I would hypothetically apply and enroll, I would be about 24 which is the average age for most MS1 students anyway.</p>

<p>For god’s sake stop telling me to “do something else I will be successful in”. Why don’t you guys go do something else too? Oh wait, you already are. Same thing here, this is “something else I love”. Stop trying to tell me to quit just because I have certain issues I have to deal with.</p>

48

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<p>^^^ They are just giving you the best advise possible for someone in your situation. Don’t ask for advise if you can’t stand the comments people will make. Honestly these posters ARE GIVING YOU THE BEST POSSIBLE ADVISE, think about it, they have NOTHING TO GAIN FROM GIVING YOU BAD ADVISE. If you don’t want to listen to what these posters have to say, then maybe you should seek advise somewhere else.</p>

49

<p>Well what Kamasutra is waiting for is one of us to give the magic potion to getting over his fears but there is no magic potion, pixie dust, fairy wand, wishing star, or w/e. Usually people go to counseling, just like they’d go see an endocrinologist for diabetes or a pediatrician for their kids cold. Its another service. Doesn’t mean nothings wrong with ya.</p>

50

<p>@ Colleges: That’s not advice, that’s just an irrelevant statement. If I wanted too or was even willing to do something else with my life, I obviously wouldn’t be posting on here asking what to do about med school……</p>

<p>@ ChemFreak: Whatever, ill go to counseling. Even though I hate to go because its just not something that is done in my culture, I have nothing to lose, I can’t be anymore of a failure than I am now anyway.</p>

51

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<p>^^^ I wasn’t the one giving you advise, I was just pointing out that other posters on here, BDM, kristen, ChemFreak, Bigredmed have given you great advise, but you don’t to accept it.</p>

52

<p>People have given me some great advice on here - things related to what I can do to get over my fear of failure, and what I can do to help my application out. I thank them for that.</p>

<p>Other people have suggested that I look into other career options - which isn’t advice, its just pointless.</p>

<p>I just had my first ever counseling session today and it was pretty useless. The end result was that to get over my fear of failure I had to work harder - gee really? I did not know this before I went to counseling! Not only did I put aside my ego to admit that I was weak, I was hoping to actually get some motivation after that session. I mean no ***t I have to work harder, I figured that out a while ago, I just don’t know how to put aside my fear of failure and actually get moving……the guy goes “You just have to work harder”. Wow man, thanks, I know what I need to do know in life now. If that was counseling, then I could be a counselor. I was hoping to learn something new, something to get me to stop looking at my past and worrying about my future, and just focusing on the moment. I just ended up looking like some weakling in therapy.</p>

53

<p>That sounds like an academic counselor, I was thinking of a more health an wellness counselor or, even better, a psychologist/psychiatrist.</p>

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<p>No that was a wellness counselor. What’s the point of psychiatrist? Just say the same thing with fancier words and more comfy couches? At least this is free, I don’t have money for that. I mean I expected to at least learn something new as to HOW I could do this, I mean already knew the what and the why……wow if med students really have to do this then they are going to be disappointed.</p>

55

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<p>Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. You like sick people. Great. What’s wrong with paramedic, or nurse?</p>

<p>In fact, what your paragraph REALLY suggests is that you might want to become some kind of medical writer.</p>

<p>Why do you want to be a doctor?</p>

56

<p>In fact what my paragraph REALLY suggests is that I do in fact want to be a physician. I shadowed them, and interacted with them in that hospital for two months. The pride and the respect that you get out of being a doctor, as well as being a source of hope for people with cancer was unreal.</p>

<p>I can do this with you too:</p>

<p>Why do you want to be a doctor?</p>

<p>If I didn’t want to be a doctor I would be job hunting on monster.com right now.</p>

<p>Also, whats wrong with giving advice pertaining to what im asking? </p>

<p>If that’s too hard for you to do, then don’t post on this thread.</p>

57

<p>You do know that therapy/counseling isn’t a one visit and you’re fixed deal. </p>

<p>It takes time, trust and lots of hard work for therapy to be effective in even a minimal way. Your attitude strongly suggests that you’re not willing to extend any of those to your counselor/therapist. </p>

<p>It also might take 3 or 4 tries with different therapists/counselors to find one that you’re compatible with.</p>

<p>You’re giving up much too easily.</p>

58

<p>Ok so far you’ve been talking about what you can get out of being a doctor but never about service, and medicine is career of service. Pride, respect, being a source of hope all that is what you gain out of it. </p>

<p>I have no idea why I am still replying to your posts. </p>

<p>You original question was something along the lines of how can i get over my fear of failure so that I can succeed and get into medical school.</p>

<p>The problem is a) it seems that none of us have had to struggle with that and 2) its not something that has a quick fix or something we can just give an answer to</p>

<p>So we’ve tried to help you the best that we can and you’re not listening or taking it. The situation you’re in is a very difficult one. </p>

<p>I will tell you the answer I would get if I went to anyone in my life saying that I have a fear of failure: get over it, what you have is a fear of hard work</p>

59

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<p>Okay. 1.) Pride; 2.) Respect; 3.) Source of Hope. Good, we’re advancing your argument.</p>

<p>Let’s take the first two and focus on those for a minute. Pride and respect. These start to sound very similar to your original quote.</p>

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<p>You’ve said this enough times that I think it’s only fair to assume that this is, in fact, what is truly motivating you.</p>

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<p>So: do you think these are good reasons to choose a career?</p>

60

<p>Here’s a practical suggestion: The MCAT 3 test is available from AAMC for free online. <a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/preparing/85158/orderingpracticetests_mcat.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/preparing/85158/orderingpracticetests_mcat.html&lt;/a&gt; Pick a day when you’ve got 3 or 4 hours available, sit down, sign up, and take the test. See what your score is. If you score well at this point, based just on what you know now then maybe you can pull all the pieces together. If you don’t score well then you have another metric by which to make a dispassionate, informed decision about what to do with your life.</p>

<p>Knowledge is power. Get yourself some more knowledge - about yourself.</p>