Ah, the old life advice thread........
To the high school students who read this posting by me, please take time to think about what I am typing below. I have a lot of life experience, have worked a lot of different jobs and I am now making a killing (making a ton of money). I have some very good advice for you all......
1: Do not major in biology. If you do major in biology, combine it with a degree in accounting, business, engineering, nursing or any other degree that actually places you into a potential job. A biology degree is generic and doesn't place you into any type of job outside of a lab tech. My biology degree was completely useless for getting the really, really high paying medical sales job I have (I sell a very complex medical business solution program). What got me the job was my experience....more details below.
2: Why is a degree in biology useless????? A company doesn't have any use for your knowledge of organic chemistry, immunology, botany, etc, etc. When a person launches a company, he/she needs sales people, accountant, managers, tech people (computer engineers mostly), etc, etc. Many of you may not understand this until you have more experience later in life. For the love of god, a degree in history, art, English and the like are useless for the job market. If you want to land a six figure job in medical sales, you need experience selling things. A science degree helps, but you are better off with a degree in business with a minor in some science field.
3: Life can be a bitch if things don't come easy. You need to focus on yourself and not worry about others around you. If you really do want to be a doctor, you need to focus on doing well in your classes, and not about that hot history or political science student that is going to a top law school.
4: Get laid early in college, if you can. Just get it out of your system. Sex is overrated and I have a great sex life with my wife.
5: Getting drunk every weekend is also overrated.
6: Studying on a Friday or Saturday night is NOT the kiss of death for a social life.
7: Try to live off campus after your freshman year if you can. There is more to life than the local drunken neighbor in the next door dorm room.
8: Try to stay active and keep young (aka don't get drunk every week).
9: You are NOT as smart as you think and getting a 4.0 in college is NOT a successful life. Getting a 4.0 is just something that occurred during a few years of your young life.
10: You don't have to worry about getting into an Ivy med school to make good money as a doctor.
11: Don't make going to the library seem like it is the end of the world.
12: Get a fricken job already. I went to college with a ton of people who never worked and all of them have ****ty jobs after college. In the real world, experience TRUMPS education every single day.
13: Getting into medical school doesn't make you an expert at anything except how to get good grades in your pre-req classes.
14: You may not be the most wealthy person in your neighborhood when you are eventually a practicing doctor.
15: Organic chemistry is nothing to worry about. It takes effort to get an A in that course, but it can be done.
16: Pre-med courses are actually not that difficult on the large scheme of things.
17: Don't go to your Facebook profile and make yourself look stupid by saying joblook11 MD (I know a couple of people who still have that on their Facebook profile AFTER graduation and still are trying to get into med school).
18: There are people out there that make a ton of money, and you likely will not be one of them even as a doctor, but you will still make a good living.
19: Try not to go into debt, but also don't be afraid of debt. The saying "good debt" is a bunch of bull crap.
20: You don't need to own a house right away after becoming a doctor. Rent a house or apartment for a year or two and get some loans paid down.
21: Get a car that gets good gas mileage while you are in med school and residency. You can get your first "new" car when you are a doctor.
22: Don't worry about your former college classmates or college friends "living it up" after graduation. They are NOT living it up. They are likely making less than $35k/year and have no savings. The going to a bar, eating out once week, taking that one vacation to some place is NOT living it up. That is called living the middle class lifestyle.
YOU GET OUT OF LIFE WHAT YOU PUT IN.
