Advice anyone

[whoknows87]

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Hello Fellow SDN members I need Advice I feel lost

A little about myself , lived in the states for about 10 years
went to middle school (7th grade) then High school here , graduated with good marks , entered a state university on 2 scholarships , went in as biology major I guess i didn't know what i was getting myself into, didnt study much , bad advice from advisers ( really) anyways 2 years at that university and ended up with 2.6iish GPA failed one class twice , that led to depression literally , felt lost and a waste of money and living with no purpose < left the country ended up taking a year off , came back and started at another state university first term not bad 3.5 but only 3 classes now this term things are not looking so great maybe 2.8iish GPA 2 science courses
I'm 22 years old , with 2 years to go to finish this bachelor , it seems like i have no shot at medical school , i thought about other careers and options and cant seem to find a fit , lately I have no motivation at all I don't know whats wrong with ME I was a bright student from the start up until high school with no problems , Never failed a class , lowest GPA ever was 3.3 , but when it came to college different story.
I find myself always taking career evaluations online lol or looking at my school list of majors to consider even though I'm already taking science courses and I see not fit for anything , I look at the list of courses and all I see is NO NO NO engineering NO too much math , Political science yes interesting ,very but no jobs, Medicine yes great job, giving back to humanity i would definitely enjoy being a physician, I have relatives who are physicians Its a career that I dont mind , what I mind is those science courses ( physics and etc) I dont see how it ties into medicine at all
is it the freedom , distractions , lack of motivation , bad study habits ?, someone give me advice on what to do ? Am I just wasting years of my life doing a bachelor in science? probably end up a teacher because no medical school would look at me?

please share some
I know too many things thrown out there lol if i need to clear anything up just point it out for me

advice desperately needed it
thanks

 

[dragonfly99]

It doesn't sound like you are on track for a career in medicine. If you hate science, you'll hate med school, probably. If it's just physics that you don't like, that might be OK, but if you don't like biology you are not going to like med school at all and unlikely to do well.

You are still young...don't stress out so much right now, but you do need to bring up the GPA. I would suggest more conversations with the career advising people at your college, and also see whether you can talk to them about whether you might be depressed...people show this in different ways, especially men.

Yes, having more freedom in college can be a challenge. No parents there to make you study. You have to put yourself on a schedule with time for study, socializing, fun extracurricular activities, etc.

Not true that there are no jobs in political science...maybe not as many jobs, but for someone who is motivated, gets internships, etc. yes there are jobs. You can work for the government, or become an attorney/lawyer later, or get a PhD and become a university professor, etc. I suggest if political science sounds interesting, at least take one or two classes and see if you like it...you probably need general/distribution requirements to graduate anyway. It would be better to be a political science major with a good GPA then a biology major with a bad GPA (even for the purpose of med school admissions).

 

[whoknows87]

Thanks I really appreciate your input, Let me reply If I may
I like sciences I just don’t like physics maybe that’s what it is , I cant seem to tie it with medicine , engineering definitely I see why you would need physics , chemistry not , Biology that’s an obvious one , i enjoy biology ( not the plants stuff that’s pretty boring , but biological principles stuff that relates to humans and how our body functions I'm interested in , Anatomy and Physiology for example I enjoy very much , took it in high school , it wasn’t an honors course and loved it , anything that is related to medicine I enjoy ( no physics) lol, I find myself looking up random illnesses online and their symptoms , or playing around with the WebMD symptoms thing , so i guess it could be for me after all, I just don’t know how to deal with stress and disappointments, I was all expected to do well academically and maybe that was too much pressure on me that I couldn’t handle who knows , I would love to do this , but things don’t go that way sometimes , am I just too pessimistic ? maybe , the odds are stacked against me, plus is it possible to raise that lowG PA to somewhat competitive in 2 years by the time I graduate ( please let’s not assume I will get all A’s for the next 2 years lol) the only thing that might be with me is 1- considered a minority and 2- a good score on the MCAT plus shadowing and strong LOR’s, possible research I have to manage all those things plus working about 28hrs a week
Also anyone feel free to drop any tips about studying
Thanks again👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

 

[DrJosephKim]

What type of doctor do you see yourself being?

 

[whoknows87]

Well I enjoy talking to people one on one , always listening and giving advice Ironic right lol, but psychiatry maybe? Pediatrics/ family medicine/Internal medicine , definitely not surgery and etc , but you never know I hear people change their minds all the time

and thanks for your reply 👍🙂

 

[ChairmanMao]

Hello Fellow SDN members I need Advice I feel lost

A little about myself , lived in the states for about 10 years
went to middle school (7th grade) then High school here , graduated with good marks , entered a state university on 2 scholarships , went in as biology major I guess i didn't know what i was getting myself into, didnt study much , bad advice from advisers ( really) anyways 2 years at that university and ended up with 2.6iish GPA failed one class twice , that led to depression literally , felt lost and a waste of money and living with no purpose < left the country ended up taking a year off , came back and started at another state university first term not bad 3.5 but only 3 classes now this term things are not looking so great maybe 2.8iish GPA 2 science courses
I'm 22 years old , with 2 years to go to finish this bachelor , it seems like i have no shot at medical school , i thought about other careers and options and cant seem to find a fit , lately I have no motivation at all I don't know whats wrong with ME I was a bright student from the start up until high school with no problems , Never failed a class , lowest GPA ever was 3.3 , but when it came to college different story.
I find myself always taking career evaluations online lol or looking at my school list of majors to consider even though I'm already taking science courses and I see not fit for anything , I look at the list of courses and all I see is NO NO NO engineering NO too much math , Political science yes interesting ,very but no jobs, Medicine yes great job, giving back to humanity i would definitely enjoy being a physician, I have relatives who are physicians Its a career that I dont mind , what I mind is those science courses ( physics and etc) I dont see how it ties into medicine at all
is it the freedom , distractions , lack of motivation , bad study habits ?, someone give me advice on what to do ? Am I just wasting years of my life doing a bachelor in science? probably end up a teacher because no medical school would look at me?

please share some
I know too many things thrown out there lol if i need to clear anything up just point it out for me

advice desperately needed it
thanks

I would have to echo the sentiments of dragonfly here and say that you may not be ready to pursue medicine right now. At least, not with that 2.8 GPA - you won't get into any US medical schools with a low GPA like that. In order to be a competitve candidate, you would probably need at least 3.3+ cumulative GPA and score in the 80th percentile on the MCAT.

By the way, 22 isn't that old. I know a lot of people who were graduating college at that age who still hadn't figure out what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of them went straight to graduate school/law school. Others worked for a while and like the non-trads here, decided to give medicine a shot. In your case, I think you might want to think about alternate careers besides medical school for now. True, your GPA won't make you a competitive candidate, but I just don't see a passion for medicine coming from you.

Apart from the fact that members of your family are doctors and you enjoy talking and working with people one on one. Have you shadowed any physicians, or volunteered, or worked at a hospital? You may discover that you simply don't like working in healthcare. And that's understandable. A lot of people start out volunteering and shadowing physicians at hospitals and realize that they don't want to go down this path.

In your case, I think you should just pick a major that you're familiar with, get good grades, and stick with it. You never know what kind of jobs you might get with your degree, but suffice to say, even if you get a degree in political science, you could work for the government or go to law school. You could also end up teaching, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a very noble profession and you certainly might be a lot happier than if you had to go to school and study for another 6 years in order to be a doctor. I wish you luck, and if after a few months (or even years) of soul searching and you come back on this forum again, we'll be more than happy to help.

 

[whoknows87]

Thanks for taking the time out and replying to my post , I have another Idea i dont know if its a good one , I can go ahead and switch majors to something I actually enjoy possibly get a degree in it @ the same time taking the Pre-Reqs for medical school and eventually taking the MCAT it probably take the same time either way 2 years to finish up the degree whether its science bachelor or a nonscience , what do you guys think about that ? bad idea , thinking maybe psychology major or even political science/international relations , those majors attract me , as well as being a doctor , I know that there are no short cuts in life , I guess you can say I'm trying to play it safe , I definitely will take the pre reqs and get the best grade i can possibly get ,And for my actual major I think i would do great because i genuinely like and enjoy the subjects , am leaning more toward psychology because I can relate that to medicine

More input is always appreciated 😀

 

[dragonfly99]

Thanks for taking the time out and replying to my post , I have another Idea i dont know if its a good one , I can go ahead and switch majors to something I actually enjoy possibly get a degree in it @ the same time taking the Pre-Reqs for medical school and eventually taking the MCAT it probably take the same time either way 2 years to finish up the degree whether its science bachelor or a nonscience , what do you guys think about that ? bad idea , thinking maybe psychology major or even political science/international relations , those majors attract me , as well as being a doctor , I know that there are no short cuts in life , I guess you can say I'm trying to play it safe , I definitely will take the pre reqs and get the best grade i can possibly get ,And for my actual major I think i would do great because i genuinely like and enjoy the subjects , am leaning more toward psychology because I can relate that to medicine

More input is always appreciated 😀

Yes, I think you should do it. Just be careful not to try to pile on too many hours/classes at once, if you think there is any possibility of med school in the future. This is because you don't want to ruin your GPA. Psychology is a science, sort of...I mean it's a social science. It would actually be helpful as a physician, because basically you have to be able to get patients to do what you want....I mean to trust in your treatments...which depends on understanding human psychology. I think that working 28 hrs/week sounds like a little much while being a full time undergrad, and that might have something to do with your lower grades. You need to focus on school if you think that grad school or med school might be in your future...it might be better to take out some student loans so you don't have to work so many hours, if money is an issue.