Anyone get "stage fright" before med schooL? Worried about making the wrong choice?

[Mr. H]

hey everyone, I'm a junior right now and I've been working my but off to get into med school but I'm worried that this is what I truly want!? You know, I'm young, I feel like I haven't been in out and the world, that I haven't seen or experienced enough and it scares me to think there could be something else. I absolutely love the field of medicine, but that doesn't mean there are countless other things I might enjooy! To all of you young applicants fresh out of college, do you feel you're really ready to make a life long committment? Did you take time off or anything to make sure this is what you want? It must be great for the older applicants to have seen the world and experienced many things before making this decision, it just seems to me that I and maybe other young applicants haven't had the life experience to make it.
anyhoo, back to surfin the net
peace people

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[brandonite]

I spent the day today judging science fair projects by junior high and elementary school students (in French, which made things a bit more interesting. ). Anyway, I was completely reminded of all the reasons I wanted to go into medicine over the course of the day. I've thought about academics because I love teaching, but I absolutely cannot stand marking, and I don't think I'd like the idea of teaching the same thing over and over again. Like you get tired of every other project being a volcano or growing crystals.

But I love being out there, and interacting with people, and being able to help them. I know it's the sappy answer, but I love the idea of spending all my time with patients, hopefully getting to know them a bit, and making their lives a bit better.

But, I think we all have our moments. Especially when you hear all the horror stories about residents who are worked waaay too hard, and read things like the website of that med student from Tufts. At the end of the day, I think though, I keep coming back to medicine stronger than ever because more and more, I can't imagine doing anything else.

I think, interestingly enough, I've become considerably more committed to medicine over the course of this past year. I'm starting to develop a real distaste for my major, and medicine is starting to become more real. All this time spent around med schools and hospitals and other applicants and SDN... It's sorta made the whole thing seem more concrete.

I don't know if any of that makes sense, but... :wink:

 

[Joe Joe on da Radio]

I read in a journal a while ago that surveyed current doctors, and ~40% said that if they had to do it over again, they WOULDN'T have chosen medicine...

apparently, many are "disillusioned." really?!?

 

[Original]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Joe Joe on da Radio:
•I read in a journal a while ago that surveyed current doctors, and ~40% said that if they had to do it over again, they WOULDN'T have chosen medicine...

apparently, many are "disillusioned." really?!?•••••I think the current batch of physicians are practicing during a period of drastic never-seen-before change. As a result, they have difficulty catching their breaths, their bearings, and their reference frames. I'm sure the effect is dizzying for them, and can be "disillusioning".

I think things will continue to move as fast, but this break-neck speed will be all we ever knew. So fortunately, we might have some trouble relating to the old doc in the chair whinning all day about how things "should" be.

 

[Barton]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by mrhdream81:
•hey everyone, I'm a junior right now and I've been working my but off to get into med school but I'm worried that this is what I truly want!? You know, I'm young, I feel like I haven't been in out and the world, that I haven't seen or experienced enough and it scares me to think there could be something else. I absolutely love the field of medicine, but that doesn't mean there are countless other things I might enjooy! To all of you young applicants fresh out of college, do you feel you're really ready to make a life long committment? Did you take time off or anything to make sure this is what you want? It must be great for the older applicants to have seen the world and experienced many things before making this decision, it just seems to me that I and maybe other young applicants haven't had the life experience to make it.
anyhoo, back to surfin the net
peace people•••••I started out college as a pumped-up pre-med zoology major (at UW no less). I plugged through freshman, sophomore, and junior year doing all the usual pre-med stuff (pre-reqs, research, clinical stuff). In may of my junior year, as I sat in an Evolutionary Biology lecture, I reflected on how uninterested I was in my major, and how disappointed I was in my education. Perhaps, I thought, medicine wasn't for me. Aren't pre-meds supposed to love science and everything pre-med? After a week of soulsearching, I decided to drop my major and officially declare myself "not pre-med". I picked up a history major (best thing ever), and began to LOVE college and learning again. I took the GRE and began the process of applying to History PhD programs. While examining my future profession of History Professor, I found that while I loved history, this was not the job for me. Soooooo... I took the MCAT, applied to med schools, and was accepted. From this experience, I found that one can do anything, study anything, hate stupid science pre-reqs, and still move on to a career in medicine. College rules. Do whatever you want to right now, and when the time comes, if medicine is for you, you'll go after it. Just don't waste time trying to become the perfect pre-med. Explore your options, and if medicine's your deal, it'll come back to you.

 

[andrea]

I had a similar experience as well. As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a doctor. But when my junior year of college rolled around, I had a major identity crisis! I didn't know if I loved medicine enough to get really in debt or put off a family, etc.

So I decided not to apply at the time, which was one of the hardest decisions of my life up til then. I took 3 years off and got a no-stress job. I played, dated, hung out, partied, and did all the fun stuff that I didn't have time for in undergrad. Now that that's out of the way, I can't wait to go to med school, and will be starting in the fall!

So if you're having big doubts, I recommend trusting your intuition on this one and do what's really in your heart. Med school will always be there when you're ready. And you'll be a much more well rounded student for it.

 

[Original]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Barton:
• From this experience, I found that one can do anything, study anything, hate stupid science pre-reqs, and still move on to a career in medicine. College rules. Do whatever you want to right now, and when the time comes, if medicine is for you, you'll go after it.•••••Wow that's timeless! Best thing I ever read on SDN.

 

[mpp]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by mrhdream81:
•it just seems to me that I and maybe other young applicants haven't had the life experience to make it.
•••••It is certainly not wrong for you to jump right into medical school after college. But, if you are having even the slightest thoughts that you might regret not doing other things first, I would not go straight into medical school. There is no worse feeling than regret later in life.

Once you start medical school you might become trapped in that career due to the responsibilities the profession carries.

You can still get into medical school at age 30 and older (I've done it at age 31). My suggestion is that after you graduate college do whatever your heart desires: join the Peace Corps, work in industry, get a graduate degree, fight forest fires, travel the world...whatever the hell you want.

Then go into medical school (if the passion for some other career has not grabbed you). You'll be going in without regretting missing out on all the cool things the world has to offer.

As you get older more and more responsiblities begin to creep on you stifling the freedom you have as a youth. I would recommend taking advantage of your youth and not spending it with your nose in some anatomy textbook.

If there is one thing to fear, it is regret!

Cheers!

 

[UCLA2000]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Original:
•

Wow that's timeless! Best thing I ever read on SDN.•••••Perhaps I should direct you to the SDN History thread.... <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

 

[racergirl]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Original:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by Barton:
• From this experience, I found that one can do anything, study anything, hate stupid science pre-reqs, and still move on to a career in medicine. College rules. Do whatever you want to right now, and when the time comes, if medicine is for you, you'll go after it.•••••Wow that's timeless! Best thing I ever read on SDN.•••••Absolutely! Barton hit the nail on the head. But not only does college rule, LIFE RULES! There's so much out there to explore. I was a premed long ago and HATED it. I dropped out of school and raced a bike full time (plus did a lot of race-related patying and traveling). Only after 5 years on the circuit did I again feel the pull of medicine. And guess what, Med School was still there! I went back to college and got my degree. This time around, I really LOVED learning. I'm headed to med school this fall. Though my path to this point was seriously wierd and round-about, I wouldn't change a milisecond of my life so far--it's been a trip!

 

[none]

Here's the thing...what exactly is it that you could possibly want to do, but couldn't as a physician? The beauty of the MD is the infinite variety of opportunities it provides. Research, teaching, business, law, journalism...there are opportunities for all of those in medicine.

 

[Original]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by UCLA2000:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by Original:
•

Wow that's timeless! Best thing I ever read on SDN.•••••Perhaps I should direct you to the SDN History thread.... <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> •••••True. Would you believe that I only read SDN history 3 days ago; by which time it was already up to 182 posts. I was LMAO. I thought it was funny how Choker rode an @ss to scooby and declared "I am Choker, Knight of SDN, the best at MCAT!" <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> . But dude! why did you make pj2007 a freaking STD? Man that was cold <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

 

[mpp]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by none:
•Here's the thing...what exactly is it that you could possibly want to do, but couldn't as a physician? The beauty of the MD is the infinite variety of opportunities it provides. Research, teaching, business, law, journalism...there are opportunities for all of those in medicine.•••••There's plenty you could do as a physician but the weight of responsibility can easily prevent you from doing many other things:

get your pilot's license
hike the Appalachian trail
visit the mountain gorillas in Uganda
sky dive
Red Sox season tickets
etc.

These are profoundly more exciting to me than research, teaching, business, law, journalism...