Anyone else go through severe discouragement/lack of motivation?

[xpinchx]

I would say thus far I've been a good pre-med student. My GPA up until last fall was 3.6 overall and 3.8 BCPM. I've always been active with the pre-med club (was an officer for a while) and very active here at SDN. Reading lots of science articles and keeping up with the times.

All that changed when I transferred to my new school (mich state) and it's been a slippery (downhill!) slope. I didn't do so bad last semester, but I completely failed my first exam (orgo II, ended up dropping it) and I still got like a 3.3ish GPA. This semester has taken a harsh turn for the worst. I'm borderline failing microbiology, I'm doing mediocre at best in physics II and physiology II, and the only class I'm really doing well in is calc II. Being completely honest with myself, I would expect probably a 2.5-3.0 average this semester.

So the problem is I just feel like I've lost sight of why I'm doing this in the first place. I'm no longer interested in classes I used to find fascinating, I still haven't started preparing for the MCAT, I fell out of the pre-med loop at my school, and I'm really just starting to not care. Everything else in my life is fine (relationships, finances more-or-less, work, family, etc. it's all fine.) I just feel burned out on school and I still have 1 year left.

I'm not really looking for sympathy, but I'm just wondering if anyone else has felt like this, and I'm curious what they did to get out of it. I've considered taking a year off but I'm not sure how wise that would be yet. Any advice would be helpful...

-discouraged pre-med

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[WinterLights]

I would say thus far I've been a good pre-med student. My GPA up until last fall was 3.6 overall and 3.8 BCPM. I've always been active with the pre-med club (was an officer for a while) and very active here at SDN. Reading lots of science articles and keeping up with the times.

All that changed when I transferred to my new school (mich state) and it's been a slippery (downhill!) slope. I didn't do so bad last semester, but I completely failed my first exam (orgo II, ended up dropping it) and I still got like a 3.3ish GPA. This semester has taken a harsh turn for the worst. I'm borderline failing microbiology, I'm doing mediocre at best in physics II and physiology II, and the only class I'm really doing well in is calc II. Being completely honest with myself, I would expect probably a 2.5-3.0 average this semester.

So the problem is I just feel like I've lost sight of why I'm doing this in the first place. I'm no longer interested in classes I used to find fascinating, I still haven't started preparing for the MCAT, I fell out of the pre-med loop at my school, and I'm really just starting to not care. Everything else in my life is fine (relationships, finances more-or-less, work, family, etc. it's all fine.) I just feel burned out on school and I still have 1 year left.

I'm not really looking for sympathy, but I'm just wondering if anyone else has felt like this, and I'm curious what they did to get out of it. I've considered taking a year off but I'm not sure how wise that would be yet. Any advice would be helpful...

-discouraged pre-med

Medical School will test your very will and I can assure you that if you are having major doubts now, it will be hard to persevere in medical school. Perhaps all of this dissonance will make you think about what it is your are truly looking for; what kind of future that you envision for yourself. You will have to decide sooner or later if this is indeed what you want to do for the rest of your life. And if you decide that it is, then you have to pull yourself out of the abyss and excel by whatever means necessary. The mind can be determined, the mind can be frail. We ultimately decide on what state of mind we retain. Good luck.

 

[anomalous738232]

why don't you take some classes beyond the pre-med curriculum next qtr? see how much you enjoy/hate those... don't force yourself to take classes that require a lot of discipline if you're feeling a lack of motivation. sometimes, taking a few 'random' classes can help you realize that you feel passionate about things- or it can help you realize how empty your life feels w/o those endless hours of lab =]

 

[MirrorTodd]

I'm going through that right now. O-chem can suck my right nut. And so can Bush for making me take another 1-2 years out of college.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I was pretty damn discouraged my sophomore year when a whole rash of family problems and roommate issues combined with my ridiculously hard schedule and netted me a 2.6 or something for the first semester, and I had to suck up 3 C+'s in pre-req courses. Last semester also sucked very badly since I didn't have the foresight to finish my secondary apps before school started. Getting into and succeeding in med school is going to take some serious dedication, so keep on keepin' on. The reward for your perseverance will be fantastic.

 

[nonesuchgirl]

I'm going through that right now. O-chem can suck my right nut. And so can Bush for making me take another 1-2 years out of college.

Why do you have to take time out?

 

[Quadratic]

Medical School will test your very will and I can assure you that if you are having major doubts now, it will be hard to persevere in medical school. Perhaps all of this dissonance will make you think about what it is your are truly looking for; what kind of future that you envision for yourself. You will have to decide sooner or later if this is indeed what you want to do for the rest of your life. And if you decide that it is, then you have to pull yourself out of the abyss and excel by whatever means necessary. The mind can be determined, the mind can be frail. We ultimately decide on what state of mind we retain. Good luck.

That's some pretty bad advice. Everyone is not 110% about med school before going to med school. Some people also get caught up in the actual premed coursework and wonder what the hell they are doing. It's easy to have those thoughts when you have to do those classes.

 

[pride4jc727]

Since I am still waitlisted, I could have easily flopped over and raised a white flag. If anything, however, I am still fighting strong and not falling victim to senioritis because choosing that option won't get me any closer to medical school. I am realistic, but I am also not losing any hope.

 

[Quadratic]

Why do you have to take time out?

Obviously because he's enlisted in some branch of the military.

 

[sunny1]

OP, if things were going so well for you before, which did you choose to transfer schools? I'm just trying to understand the background. Was it a choice or did you have to switch because...?

 

[james1988]

OP, if things were going so well for you before, which did you choose to transfer schools? I'm just trying to understand the background. Was it a choice or did you have to switch because...?

yea seriously..why did you transfer?

 

[WinterLights]

That's some pretty bad advice. Everyone is not 110% about med school before going to med school. Some people also get caught up in the actual premed coursework and wonder what the hell they are doing. It's easy to have those thoughts when you have to do those classes.

It sounds like the OP is about 10% sure about medical school. If you are suffering from a serious lack of motivation then you either A) are not going to have what it takes to make it into medical school, let alone survive the stress of medical school or B) You are going turn your doubts into motivation and end up excelling. I am one that thinks the former is more common than the latter. The point of my previous post was to let the OP know that they will have to take a hard look at what their goals are and then make a decision. Complacency will get you nowhere. If you think that this is bad advice then I do not know what to tell you. Reality and blind optimism do not always coincide with one another.

 

[Quadratic]

It sounds like the OP is about 10% sure about medical school. If you are suffering from a serious lack of motivation then you either A) are not going to have what it takes to make it into medical school, let alone survive the stress of medical school or B) You are going turn your doubts into motivation and end up excelling. I am one that thinks the former is more common than the latter. The point of my previous post was to let the OP know that they will have to take a hard look at what their goals are and then make a decision. Complacency will get you nowhere. If you think that this is bad advice then I do not know what to tell you. Reality and blind optimism do not always coincide with one another.

Did you not even read his post? His "surety" is being suppressed by the fact that he's not doing well in his coursework. Because he's struggling with the necessary coursework, he's lost focus. He hasn't found his balance at his new institution yet. Notice the words "burnt out" at the end of his post? That means something. If he gets his act together, does well in his coursework, and then is not motivated, I will agree with your conclusion.

 

[MirrorTodd]

Why do you have to take time out?

Another deployment looms on the horizon.

 

[nonesuchgirl]

Another deployment looms on the horizon.

 

[Doctor]

I would say step back, if not from college then from pre-med courses. It sounds like you're nearly done with the pre-reqs, so there is really no need to keep pushing the heavy science courses if you're burned out on them.

If you do go to med school, this is the last period of your life that you will be able to take some good non-science courses. Take a smattering of different things next semester or maybe starting this summer, like History, Art History, Literature, or even stuff like Economics, Mathematics, etc.

You may find yourself more interested in a different major... or you may realize that other things aren't as interesting as those pre-med courses after all. But you'll never know until you try something else and mix it up a little.

The point is that you'll never know if med school is right for you until you try some other things first.

 

[flaahless]

I would say thus far I've been a good pre-med student. My GPA up until last fall was 3.6 overall and 3.8 BCPM. I've always been active with the pre-med club (was an officer for a while) and very active here at SDN. Reading lots of science articles and keeping up with the times.

All that changed when I transferred to my new school (mich state) and it's been a slippery (downhill!) slope. I didn't do so bad last semester, but I completely failed my first exam (orgo II, ended up dropping it) and I still got like a 3.3ish GPA. This semester has taken a harsh turn for the worst. I'm borderline failing microbiology, I'm doing mediocre at best in physics II and physiology II, and the only class I'm really doing well in is calc II. Being completely honest with myself, I would expect probably a 2.5-3.0 average this semester.

So the problem is I just feel like I've lost sight of why I'm doing this in the first place. I'm no longer interested in classes I used to find fascinating, I still haven't started preparing for the MCAT, I fell out of the pre-med loop at my school, and I'm really just starting to not care. Everything else in my life is fine (relationships, finances more-or-less, work, family, etc. it's all fine.) I just feel burned out on school and I still have 1 year left.

I'm not really looking for sympathy, but I'm just wondering if anyone else has felt like this, and I'm curious what they did to get out of it. I've considered taking a year off but I'm not sure how wise that would be yet. Any advice would be helpful...

-discouraged pre-med

Yo chief, I totally felt this during my sophomore and junior years of undergrad. I never lost the dream of being a doctor, I just completely stopped caring due to some mitigating family cirumstances and my own hubris and immaturity. My gpa went from a 3.8 to a 2.9 really quickly.

However, I thought long and hard about a future as a physician and decided that I wasn't going to give it up. I then challenged myself to finish undergrad with a 4.0. and even stayed an extra year because I thought that 2 years of straight As would look better than one on my amcas.

My advice to you, it's not too late to follow your dream. If you really want it, then you have to focus and excel. Good luck to you my friend.

 

[xpinchx]

OP, if things were going so well for you before, which did you choose to transfer schools? I'm just trying to understand the background. Was it a choice or did you have to switch because...?

I followed a girl here. I'm still with her and I'm happy with our relationship but I dunno about this school. I started out at Eastern and most of my important classes had no more than 60 people max. My organic I class had 25 people in it so there was a lot of interaction between the student and professor. I don't have any idea how people get letters of recommendation here at state. My physiology class has upwards of 300 people in it, my orgo class had 200 or more. It's crazy.

 

[WinterLights]

Did you not even read his post? His "surety" is being suppressed by the fact that he's not doing well in his coursework. Because he's struggling with the necessary coursework, he's lost focus. He hasn't found his balance at his new institution yet. Notice the words "burnt out" at the end of his post? That means something. If he gets his act together, does well in his coursework, and then is not motivated, I will agree with your conclusion.

From what I gather, it seems like the OP has lost focus and as a result has been doing poorly in science classes. If an individual really has a solid grasp on what they want to do, then their focus will not waiver to the extent that the OP's apparently has (assuming that there are no major personal problems at the time). Also, a person cannot perform well in any difficult class unless they are motivated. That is, unless they are a super genius with a highly photographic memory. If the OP is indeed such an individual, then I apologize for my faulty advice. But I believe that my advice is applicable for the majority of people suffering from a serious lack of motivation, and an intensifying feeling of disconcern towards academics.

 

[Pedsbro]

From what I gather, it seems like the OP has lost focus and as a result has been doing poorly in science classes. If an individual really has a solid grasp on what they want to do, then their focus will not waiver to the extent that the OP's apparently has (assuming that there are no major personal problems at the time). Also, a person cannot perform well in any difficult class unless they are motivated. That is, unless they are a super genius with a highly photographic memory. If the OP is indeed such an individual, then I apologize for my faulty advice. But I believe that my advice is applicable for the majority of people suffering from a serious lack of motivation, and an intensifying feeling of disconcern towards academics.

While "cannot" might be a little strong, I definitely agree with that principle. Most of the classes that ended up lowering my GPA were not classes that had material I couldn't understand...they were classes where I simply was not motivated to try to understand the material (cough...o-chem...cough). Every class I've done well in, on the other hand, I've been very motivated...like all the human biology and medically-related classes (which is why I can't wait to take more of them in med school). So there's no denying that people do better in courses that they have more motivation for.

Like others have said, I would also tell the OP to take more classes that have nothing to do with medicine or science. I minored in History so that my entire schedule wouldn't just be filled up with science courses related to my biology major. I enjoyed the subject, but most of all, I enjoyed having a whole different subject to learn and a whole different style to learn (learning and analyzing history is quite different than learning Krebs cycle). It really provides great relief from the toll science courses can take.

I would also venture to say that if any pre-med says they have never been discouraged even a little at any time in this seemingly life-long process, they're flat out lying.

 

[shippudenfan]

I have a health studies exam tomorrow for which I've read absolutely nothing and have not gone to any of the classes since midterm, and I've spent the last 5 hours on SDN. So yeah, you could say I'm not motivated.

It's probably b/c I've just finished my MCAT (and I'm still drained) and this is the last exam of my post-bacc and probably no school I've applied to is looking at this grade. I sincerely hope that this class does not come back to bite me in the ***.