I'm posting this in hope of hearing from at least one other person who has had parents pressure them NOT to go into medicine . Both of my parents are research scientists and naturally want nothing more than for me to go down the same road. I, however, want to go to med school. I grew up being told I'd never become a doctor, I wasn't smart, strong, "callous" enough to be a physician. Regardless, I graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry + med prerequisites, an EMT license and lots of extracurricular activities. Somehow in all this, however, they got to me and I got a job as a professional researcher for big pharma. I hate it, and so I applied to schools this year. My MCAT wasn't too great (28; GPA 3.54, sGPA3.42...I know) but I figured at least I'd get some feedback from schools so I could reapply. Last night my parents told me that if I didn't get in, I have to go a different direction (i.e. their direction). While I work well under pressure, I'm tired of this discouraging behavior on their part. Has anyone had to deal with this? Any suggestions for reapplying other than higher MCAT (which I'm working on)?