<p>All the experienced medical students, doctors and pre-meds seem to have found their way into the medical field somehow or are on their way. So far I hope to give my best shot as a pre-med as well. However I am curious to know when you decided medicine was the right thing to go into. </p>
<p>I mean everyone says don't choose it for the salary and do medicine because you like the job but how did you figure out it was something you were genuinely interested in?
When did you first know this field was for you and there was nothing else you wanted to do?</p>
<p>I'm hoping i'll realize if I like medicine or not sometime in college but I have no idea how i'll figure it out. Right now I can't see myself doing anything else but I have yet to find a proper reason for it other than that it seems "interesting" to me. Were any of you guys who made it unsure about things going into undergrad?</p>
<p>Probably high school was when it solidified as the only choice. Before that, I also wanted to be a vet. Then I found out I was allergic to every animal on the planet.</p>
<p>I’m also one of those nerds who can say that I’ve always wanted to be a doctor. But obviously, I had no idea why I wanted it at such a young age. It really wasn’t until high school, when we started learning human biology and I started volunteering in hospitals and doctor’s offices that I could say I truely knew that medicine was the only choice for me. And this view was cemented even more in college when I really got involved in the health care field as a practitioner (albeit a low-level one haha).</p>
<p>In comparison, DS is likely a late bloomer on the premed track. He was not sure about it until the end of sophomore, after he had completed most of his pre-reqs. Hopefully, he could still “catch up” with the rest of you eventually.</p>
<p>He was quite immature and had a very vague idea about his future plan when he was a high schooler or even a freshman in college. (He said at that time if he were taking premed classes and involved with premed-related activities ONLY and did nothing else, he would “explode.”)</p>
<p>He even could not make up his mind on his major for quite a long while. In the freshman year, his attitude toward premed is that he will take these pre-req courses on the side line, just in case he decides to try to get into this field in the future.</p>
<p>Hmm…I really do not understand what RileyJohn posted: “You miss out. San Jose State, here I come!” Am I the only person who is too ■■■■■■■■ to understand his post?</p>
<p>Always wanting to be a doctor isn’t a bad thing. My three-year-old cousin has declared that she wants to be a doctor and everybody thinks its adorable. But if, in twenty years, she calls that her moment of certainty, that’ll raise a lot of red flags.</p>
<p>Yea, I heard many middle schoolers declare that they want to be a surgeon. There are indeed some youngsters who are genuine interested in going to that field at that age, especially for those who have an opportunity to be exposed to this field, e.g., some family members happen to be sergeon. But many of them may not be like that.</p>
<p>For DS’s case, is it too late to have this call? (I mean, at the end of sophomore year.) I can tell that he is not into it for the money. (Naive or not, he said that he would not mind being a doctor who has an annual income close to what a typical government employee would have.)</p>
<p>Fortunately, it will never come to that. It is ever to late to feel the calling to go into medicine. As long as your son can legitimately defend his interest and provide justification he will be fine.</p>
<p>One of his friends (one year senior than DS) got accepted into a top law school in NY this year. After he had got into the law school, he still spent the whole summer volunteering at some rural area. He just naturally enjoys doing it. I am happy that DS is around somebody whom he can look up to as a role model.</p>
<p>Another of his friends, who is a premed, is so interested in research that he essentially camps in the lab and goes back to the dorm room for sleep only during summer. I do not know whether he will be his role model or not, as the bar seems to be too high for DS, who needs a more balanced life, instead of a very intense, “hardcore research” premed life.</p>
<p>I really wish that there had been a couch or bed or something at my lab. There was one in the grad lounge, but they never left it open at night :(</p>
But obviously, I had no idea why I wanted it at such a young age. It really wasn’t until high school, when we started learning human biology and I started volunteering in hospitals and doctor’s offices that I could say I truely knew that medicine was the only choice for me. And this view was cemented even more in college when I really got involved in the health care field as a practitioner (albeit a low-level one haha).</p>