Hey Omidjoon,
If medicine is really what you want to do, GO FOR IT! I had similar grades as you during my first year in college.....discovered alcohol, partied a little too much, didn't really know what I wanted to do in life, and pretty much just chilled my whole freshmen year (well, I was recruited to play tennis for the university, so that is the only thing I wanted to do, not study). But I had something happen to me during the summer after my freshmen yr that made me become interested in medicine. To make a long story short, I decided that medicine was what I wanted to do with my life and worked really hard for the last 3 yrs of college. Took the Aug MCAT after graduation and did a yr of research while applying to med school. Now 5 years later, I am going to graduate in 1 week from a top 25 ranked medical school and going into orthopedics surgery.
Now looking back at everything, I think it is very hard to decide whether medcine is the right career for you when you are in high school or college. I thought I knew what medicine was about by volunteering and following Docs in college... well, I was wrong, then I thought I knew about medicine after the first 2 years of medical school..... well, I was wrong again. Now, with graduation in just 1 week and after finishing 4 yrs of med school, I think I am just beginning to understand what the career of medicine "really" encompasses, but I am sure there are still be alot of things that I will learn about this career in residency. There are good things about being a doctor as well as bad things, just like everything else you do in life. Am I jealous that someone at 27 yrs old with a business or law degree making 6 figures, driving a sweet sports car, having a nice place, with "less" or no debt to think about, and married or have a hot girlfriend.......Not really (ok, maybe a little bit about the hot girlfriend
), because in life, material things don't mean much to me, but finding happiness does. For me, the opportunity to help someone improve the quality of their life gives me happiness that money can't buy (this might sound corny, but it is true). I don't want to be in a career only to make money, because I might not have enough motivation to get out of bed each morning.
That is definitely what I don't want because I hate getting out bed as is
.
I will give you a few cases that I seen during the last two clinical years in med school. In my ortho rotation, I have seen patients that come to the clinic with knee pain for years and they can't do anything, bearly walking with the help of a cane, seeking help. After a total knee replacement, 2 months post op, these patients would walk into the clinic, pain free, and telling everyone how they now can walk to the supermarket, go play golf, and how their lives is so much better than before..... I have also seen a teenager that was shot 4 times rolled into the ER, after multiple surgeries, and many days in the hospital,..... he lived and walked out of the hospital..... I delivered several babies on my own during my Ob/Gyn rotation and I can tell you that it is an incredible feeling to hand the baby to the mother/father while it is still crying and with slime all over (almost droped one
). I noticed that no matter how old the father is, what kind of job they do, their race, etc,.. They all have the same reactions holding their own baby for the first time........ Only medicine gives you these opportunities and the education to help people in these ways and to see/experience the emotions first hand. The above is only 3 cases (very very few) that I have seen in the last two years and there are so many more things that you will be able to do, see, and experience first hand with a MD degree (not just doing knee replacements, saving trauma patients, or delivering babies). You will experience sadness as well as happiness in the things that you see and do in medicine..... and for me, there is no better career than being a physician!!!!
The bottom line is that only you know what will make you happy in life.... and if that is a career in medicine, then by all means, work hard and go for it!!! If you don't get in the first time, try again, and if you don't get in the 2nd time, then try again... until you get in. I know a person who got in on their 4th attempt. But if you can see your self happier or just as happy doing "something else" other than medicine, than go for that "something else".
Don't go into medicine because your dad wants you to be a doctor or doctors run in the family. Listen to your heart!
