Quickest YET reasonable route to becoming a doctor?

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Svenn

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I'm 24 and about to take the bar exam to become an attorney. In my 6 years in college I've come to regret I didn't get through it faster. If I ever have kids, I was wondering what path I could set them on to not repeat my mistake:

Basically, I never enjoyed college and it has been a lonely time for me... and I know there's other students like me. Hopefully my son or daughter will be more social than me, but if they aren't, I want to make sure they can get through the lonely drudgery of studying faster than me... so he can wield his status as a doctor to get the women all over him/generally have a better life while he's still young.

Anyway, what is the most quick yet reasonable way to get through med school? The normal length of time, as I understand it, is 4 years undergrad, 3 years med school, and 3 years residency for general practice. Here's my thoughts:

-1 year: start them in kindergarten a year younger than the other kids
-1 year of undergrad: get enough AP in high school
-1.5 years of undergrad: take summer classes abroad in undergrad.
-.5 years- do a combined BA/MD program

This subtracts 4 years from the usual age of 26 when residency starts, so he'll be 22 instead, and at 26 he'd be fully practicing. 22 is still enough time to go enjoy life among the young people...

Is this reasonable? Would he have to be stellarly smart to be able to do this? If he doesn't do good enough on the MCAT, I guess he could just go to law school, where they basically let anyone in....

It's not necessary to post the predictable "take your time" or "quick kills patients" posts, just stick to the topic ;)
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Before anyone start commenting on the route thing, I would like to say that before planning your child-to-be's life path like that, you should perhaps wait and see if he/she is even interested in becoming a physician.

It's normal to desire what's best for our children, but if it's not what they want, in the end they'll just be miserable.
Moreover, people who are in it without liking it aren't really an example of what physicians should be ..

Just my two cents.
 
Are you ****ing crazy?
 
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I think the fact that you're planning to force your child into an insanely demanding field at the cost of what should be the best years of his life is atrocious. You may have hated college, but the vast majority of people love it. It's a crucial opportunity for social growth, in addition to a key educational experience. I'm sure you want the best for your kids, but they have to have some say in what they want to do if you want them to be happy. Turning them into study machines for the first 22 years of their lives is not a good way to make them turn out well. I would've resented the hell out of my parents if they'd even considered shoving me through a program like you've constructed.

Anyway, this topic is more appropriate for the Pre-Allo forum, so I'm moving it there.
 
We all have to find our own way. Kids aren't machines you can program, they are people with their own ideas, abilities, interests.
 
Epic%20Fail.jpg
 
Troll

First there is no 4 years BS/MD programs that I know of......

Second you say you are 24 and taking the bar but did 6 years of college??

Law school is 3 years so how did you do 6 years of college and 3 years of law school and you are 24?

Did you start college at 15? If so that might be half of your problems....
 
Personally, I'm gonna have my kids abroad and just fake their ages on their passport. Add 4 or 5 years to their age. They are gonna be in high school at the age of 10. People will say they will lack the necessary social skills but I'm going to put some notes on how to make friends in their TI-89 (Titanium or diamond or whatever).
 
I agree with the posters above, planning your child's life in advance is terrible.

With that said, there is one thing you can do to make your child's academic life easier: Teach them when they're young, and I mean VERY young. A baby can become trilingual in 3 years, while most adults take decades to become bilingual. The same holds true for nearly every content area. You should find a way to teach your children early, but do not deprive them of social interactions. I plan to teach my kids their ABCs, 123s, and other things a year or so before they enter kindergarten. It will set them up for success academically, but they will still grow with their peers physically and emotionally.
 
link2swim06 said:
Troll

First there is no 4 years BS/MD programs that I know of......

Second you say you are 24 and taking the bar but did 6 years of college??

Law school is 3 years so how did you do 6 years of college and 3 years of law school and you are 24?

Did you start college at 15? If so that might be half of your problems....
Click to expand...


I think he meant 6 yrs of college including law school. If you start undergrad at 17 and finish in 3 years then go right to law school that would put you at 23 or 24 with 6 yrs of schoolin'.
 
Svenn said:
I'm 24 and about to take the bar exam to become an attorney. In my 6 years in college I've come to regret I didn't get through it faster. If I ever have kids, I was wondering what path I could set them on to not repeat my mistake:

Basically, I never enjoyed college and it has been a lonely time for me... and I know there's other students like me. Hopefully my son or daughter will be more social than me, but if they aren't, I want to make sure they can get through the lonely drudgery of studying faster than me... so he can wield his status as a doctor to get the women all over him/generally have a better life while he's still young.

Anyway, what is the most quick yet reasonable way to get through med school? The normal length of time, as I understand it, is 4 years undergrad, 3 years med school, and 3 years residency for general practice. Here's my thoughts:

-1 year: start them in kindergarten a year younger than the other kids
-1 year of undergrad: get enough AP in high school
-1.5 years of undergrad: take summer classes abroad in undergrad.
-.5 years- do a combined BA/MD program

This subtracts 4 years from the usual age of 26 when residency starts, so he'll be 22 instead, and at 26 he'd be fully practicing. 22 is still enough time to go enjoy life among the young people...

Is this reasonable? Would he have to be stellarly smart to be able to do this? If he doesn't do good enough on the MCAT, I guess he could just go to law school, where they basically let anyone in....

It's not necessary to post the predictable "take your time" or "quick kills patients" posts, just stick to the topic ;)
Click to expand...

1. :laugh: I'm pretty sure that's not what medicine is about.

2. Why don't you let your son make his own decisions about what he wants to do with his life? There's nothing wrong with starting him a year early in grade school, but the rest of it needs to be his decision.
 
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ksmi117 said:
1. :laugh: I'm pretty sure that's not what medicine is about.

2. Why don't you let your son make his own decisions about what he wants to do with his life? There's nothing wrong with starting him a year early in grade school, but the rest of it needs to be his decision.
Click to expand...

yea but his son would totally appreciate women being all over him at a young age
 
I am so proud of my fellow SDN'ers you held back for so many posts. but this one is clearly:


TROLL
 
brooklynblunder said:
thats not nice :(

should go for home schooling
Click to expand...

That's even horrible, but I think it's how they are created, at least partially.
You put a kid through insane pressure for something he/she didn't choose, add the isolation required to study and perform enough to follow the program set up by OP and you have great basics for a shooting.
 
Svenn said:
This subtracts 4 years from the usual age of 26 when residency starts, so he'll be 22 instead, and at 26 he'd be fully practicing. 22 is still enough time to go enjoy life among the young people...
Click to expand...

I don't know about 22. ~Two decades is a pretty long time to be around. See if you can shave off a year or two here and there and try to make it happen before your kid turns legal. Then you'll definitely be on the right track. It's good that you're planning this far in advance. I mean, some parents just let their kids enjoy their youth and run wild! Can you believe that!?
 
i can see how this is quick. but how is this reasonable?
 
FloatOn said:
I don't know about 22. ~Two decades is a pretty long time to be around. See if you can shave off a year or two here and there and try to make it happen before your kid turns legal. Then you'll definitely be on the right track. It's good that you're planning this far in advance. I mean, some parents just let their kids enjoy their youth and run wild! Can you believe that!?
Click to expand...

No can't do comrade. Not in Soviet Russia.
 
im surprised u havent done more research on this.

u can skip the undergrad and do a 5-6 year mbbs easily. and add on all those years u were chipping off you could be a doctor at 20
 
Caribbean straight out of middle school no GED required!
 
:lol:

Thank you, OP, for making this such an enjoyable evening. You know exactly what gets us going. ;)
 
Woah... a lot of misconceptions about where I was coming from:

First off, it's not my intention AT ALL to turn my hypothetical son into study-machine, quite the opposite in fact. Anyone who's been to an average high school or college knows there is A LOT of slack time, A LOT. In like half of my classes HS senior year there was no homework and everybody got A's. In undergrad, I had 3 useless 4-month summers where I just earned pocket change. Even in law school, You can graduate a semester early if you just do a few-week sessions over the 3 month summer break. Maybe you guys are striving to be top of the class in ivy-league settings or something, but I have found secondary education to be an enormous time-waster, and I would want my kid to be capable of shaving off that extra time SHOULD HE WANT TO.

Second, not everybody can have the Entourage-style college experience you guys so fiercely defend. I'm a nerd, meek and socially akward partly because I came from a town so small and isolated that I was the only male in my HS class to go to college. I've broken loose a few times from the drudgery of college and backpacked across Asia, having the best time in my life... but these past 6 years have mostly sucked. Now I'll make every effort to make sure my kid doesn't end up like that and can enjoy college slowly... BUT I don't want to be like my parents and just ignore him and tell him to relax when he obviously wants to get it over with.

Maybe you're right, there's no easy way to do the hard science prereqs to med school quickly and easily. I got an ephemeral 'liberal arts' degree from a hippy college with no grades, so maybe that's the difference....
 
Svenn said:
Woah... a lot of misconceptions about where I was coming from:

First off, it's not my intention AT ALL to turn my hypothetical son into study-machine, quite the opposite in fact. Anyone who's been to an average high school or college knows there is A LOT of slack time, A LOT. In like half of my classes HS senior year there was no homework and everybody got A's. In undergrad, I had 3 useless 4-month summers where I just earned pocket change. Even in law school, You can graduate a semester early if you just do a few-week sessions over the 3 month summer break. Maybe you guys are striving to be top of the class in ivy-league settings or something, but I have found secondary education to be an enormous time-waster, and I would want my kid to be capable of shaving off that extra time SHOULD HE WANT TO.

Second, not everybody can have the Entourage-style college experience you guys so fiercely defend. I'm a nerd, meek and socially akward partly because I came from a town so small and isolated that I was the only male in my HS class to go to college. I've broken loose a few times from the drudgery of college and backpacked across Asia, having the best time in my life... but these past 6 years have mostly sucked. Now I'll make every effort to make sure my kid doesn't end up like that and can enjoy college slowly... BUT I don't want to be like my parents and just ignore him and tell him to relax when he obviously wants to get it over with.

Maybe you're right, there's no easy way to do the hard science prereqs to med school quickly and easily. I got an ephemeral 'liberal arts' degree from a hippy college with no grades, so maybe that's the difference....
Click to expand...

But you want to start your kid a year early in kindergarten with the hopes that he/she will be one more year ahead of the doctor game. What if your child doesn't decide to pursue medicine until 30?

Look, I'm not a parent nor am I going to be for a long time, but I am all for the hands-off approach. Let your children grow, breathe, and learn on their own and step in when you think things might be getting out of hand. Just be there for them instead of trying to make them into what you wish you were.
 
FloatOn said:
Do you notice that all young geniuses nowadays play a classical instrument? Does a 10 year-old college student ever play the drums? NOT ACCEPTABLE, go practice cello.
Click to expand...

I wonder if it's an inclination coming from the parents or some deep love for the mathematicality of classical music.
 
Cogito ergo es said:
I wonder if it's an inclination coming from the parents or some deep love for the mathematicality of classical music.
Click to expand...

I think parents just think it makes their kid look smarter and therefore they look smarter.
 
FloatOn said:
I think parents just think it makes their kid look smarter and therefore they look smarter.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that too.
I would still love to hear about a multiple Ph.D young genius who's into death metal and inappropriate body tattoos.
 
Cogito ergo es said:
Yeah, that too.
I would still love to hear about a multiple Ph.D young genius who's into death metal and inappropriate body tattoos.
Click to expand...

Inapproprite body tattoos or body tattoos in inappropriate places? Maybe both lol.
 
lmao. In on 1st page!
 
I personally just don't understand why people like the OP feel so bad about the age they enter/exit school. I entered medical school at 24 and I do not regret taking 5 years to just finish undergrad and then a year off of full-time work one bit! And at my medical school I'm actually younger than the average age of our class. There are plenty of late 20's/early 30's and even several their late 30's/early 40's. Sometimes I even wish I had taken more time off before entering medical school and had more experience behind me involving some of my other interests.

To each his/her own I guess :rolleyes:
 
FloatOn said:
Inapproprite body tattoos or body tattoos in inappropriate places? Maybe both lol.
Click to expand...

Inappropriate tattoos in inappropriate places. Kind of like that one guy I saw on the bus the other day. Had a tattoo-snake coming up the side of his neck up to his temple-region.
 
Hey OP can't you learn from your own experiences?

Here's a little tip for you: If your college life sucked because you're socially inadequate, work extra hard to ensure that your children will be socially well-adjusted people. In fact, before you even have kids, work on your own social skills.

Otherwise, I feel awfully sorry for your son. I feel even more sorry for your daughter, as it looks like you don't plan on having a daughter..? You do realize there's a 50% chance that your child will be female?

Also, there's a damn good chance your son and daughter will not want to pursue medicine. Respect it.
 
Cogito ergo es said:
We should all take example and be ashamed of our laziness and extreme slowness. ;)
Click to expand...

Especially since this kid is going for two doctoral degrees. Obviously anyone only desiring 1 is lazy.

OP, by the time your kid is old enough, they'll be an MD/PhD/JD program that takes 10 years. If your kid does any less, disown him.
 
shiftingmirage said:
Especially since this kid is going for two doctoral degrees. Obviously anyone only desiring 1 is lazy.

OP, by the time your kid is old enough, they'll be an MD/PhD/JD program that takes 10 years. If your kid does any less, disown him.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about that a few days ago.
How will we feel when our superintelligent kids from the future come home with 15 different doctorates while we gave blood, sweat and at least a kidney to get our Ph.D or M.D. (or for the lucky few, both)?
 
Also, if your social skills are so crappy, how the hell are you gonna make babies in the first place? The way you sound, I doubt any sane woman will want to touch you with a 10 ft pole. If you do find one, I feel awfully sorry for your wife. One thing I noticed as a guy is that other guys who lack social skills but are status driven (ie you) tend to be the most misogynistic.. probably cause they can't get any.
 
Just get a masters of arts and then an MBA.

So your son will be ____ ____ M.A.M.B.A.
 
Cogito ergo es said:
I was thinking about that a few days ago.
How will we feel when our superintelligent kids from the future come home with 15 different doctorates while we gave blood, sweat and at least a kidney to get our Ph.D or M.D. (or for the lucky few, both)?
Click to expand...

Don't forget the testicle or ovary!

Eggs n Coffee said:
Also, if your social skills are so crappy, how the hell are you gonna make babies in the first place? The way you sound, I doubt any sane woman will want to touch you with a 10 ft pole. If you do find one, I feel awfully sorry for your wife. One thing I noticed as a guy is that other guys who lack social skills but are status driven (ie you) tend to be the most misogynistic.. probably cause they can't get any.
Click to expand...

Look around at our society. Makin babies is not that hard.
 
This reminds me of Todd Marinovich, the Robo QB. His father (who may have been an NFL player, not sure) decided that his kid was going to be an NFL QB. This kid's entire life was programmed by his father to be an NFL QB from about the age of 6 months. His entire life since he was a toddler was all about being an quarterback in the NFL. No sugar, work out all the time, Tiger Woods upbringing. He was pretty successful as a kid, but he had no life as kid. He went to USC, became the starting quarterback at USC, and then was drafted by the Raiders in the NFL and started as a rookie. He burned out, totally flopped, and was released. He has been in and out of jail, and became a hard core drug addict, broke, and totally screwed up. Still fighting the drug demons Thanks Dad, for turning me into RoboQB. I think Todd just got out of jail again recently. Sad. Don't let your parents define your life. This was back in the 90's.

The OP is a troll.
 
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