Feeling down…how to deal with unexpected change of plans?

Started by connie95
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I think 25 may be the average age.. CHILL OP you are fine. Find things you enjoy doing and live a little bit (it sounds like you need it because your perspective is quite distorted)
 
connie95 said:
Are there any other 24 year olds starting med school?
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No. You are the only 24 year old ever to ever start med school.

Ok jokes aside, it looks like you really need to rethink this. The mcat is not something you can just accidentally overlook and say "oopsie" and try to scramble last minute. It takes a lot of effort and time preparing for it. Also, we don't really know anything about your EC's. Do you really know what you're getting yourself into? Is there more to your goal of med school besides these "daydreams?"
2 gap years is not a big deal at all in the grand scheme of things. If this is what you really want, you need to make an actual schedule that you will stick to, making sure you have everything in order to make sure that you are a competitive applicant.
All hope is not lost. Don't apply this cycle. Talk to a premed advisor (I'm sure they'll be willing to help even if you've graduated) but you really need a substantial plan or else you will waste another year daydreaming.
Good luck! just remember, 2 years is not gonna make a difference in the course of your life. So relax.
 
I'm 30 and starting medical school after three cycles; two cycles of alternate lists, two years of postbacc, and two years of research. I was incredibly naive at the beginning of this entire process as to how difficult getting into medical school really was but I can't regret anything at this point. If you really want this, then do it. 24, 28...I honestly can't remember the difference between the two ages at this point. They both weren't overly wonderful and I doubt you're really missing out on anything that can not be made up for in the future.

Wish you the best, op.
 
I'll be starting medical school in two weeks, and I'm turning 25 in a month. I come from a similar culture (I'm Iranian), and for much of my three years since I graduated college, I struggled with some of the feelings you're describing. Now, as I'm about to start medical school, I am glad that I didn't start right out of college, and had the extra years to gain some maturity and find out more about myself. Heck, sometimes I even wish I was taking yet another gap year to do more of the things I didn't get to do during the past 3 years, as I was working really hard to build up my med school app.

While the feelings of inadequacy must sucks, my advice to you would be to see this is a golden opportunity to enjoy a year off from the grind of school. Even if you start at 24, you'll be the same age as many of your classmates, and have more life experience than many of your younger classmates. In the meantime, relax, do some traveling, learn a language, whatever. You'll hopefully come to realize that, despite what some of our cultures may tell us, academics are not the end-all-be-all, and there is more to life than our careers.
 
I think you may be spending "too much time dreaming and worrying, and too little time acting" again. You didn't even manage to finish the application, and you're worried about making friends in med school. Good luck.
 
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LOL, unbelievable.


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I don't think you should be concerned about your age at all. I just graduated from undergrad at 23 and am in my gap year while I apply so it looks like I'll be starting at 24 too (assuming I get accepted to a school I like). More life experience when you apply will only help your application (assuming you're using that time wisely). I am working a full-time medically relevant job and am working on pulling together a new volunteering experience. Preferably research. A gap year is a great time to get some of your bills under control or eliminated/save up so you have some spending money during med school. If you want to feel even more proactive, you should look into applying to an SMP during your second gap year (It would probably be too late now). Just some thoughts.

What concerns me is what delayed you to the point that you couldn't get an application in this cycle? School should have ended for you in May. If you submit now and have strong stats you could probably still be competitive for this cycle. It's hard to know what kind of applicant you would be submitting late without knowing GPA, MCAT, EC's, LORs etc
 
rilte4 said:
I thought 24 was the average age kids start med school nowadays?
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Average != median. That average is pulled up by the relatively small number of students who are in their 30s and even 40s. Not that anything's wrong with starting at 24 (I'm 25 and I'm starting next week). But you should expect to see the majority of the students to be about 22-23.
 
Your normal age won't stop you from making friends in bed school, your neuroticism on the other hand...
 
OP, you sound like me if you spent more time worrying than acting. I highly suggest taking this gap year to also work on why you were worrying (anxiety??? idk I'm not a doctor, just speaking from experience). I'm literally in the same boat. Hoping to matriculate at 24, feel free to pm me.
 
I would be more worried about your science GPA and if you will get in, not about your shame of starting at 23
 
I find when I procrastinate on something and keep procrastinating I usually finally realize I didn't want to do it anyway. That's why I asked. Have you talked to someone like a counselor or psychologist to verbalized your thoughts? It might help you to get it all out in a non judge mental setting. And don't forget -life plans change all of the time. If it's meant to happen you'll find a way that will make you happy and comfortable.


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile app
 
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connie95 said:
Yes, I do want to be a doctor 🙁 It's what I've wanted to do since I was in middle school, and like I said, I can't see myself doing something else. Why do you ask?
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It's an important question because if you TRULY want become a doctor a year or two delay shouldn't make you rethink your life choices. When you're 55 and have years of experience nobody will ask you how old you were when you started med school.
 
I will give you the same advice I give myself... "Man/Woman up and stop acting like a p*ssy". If you want to become a doctor work for it and stop worrying about benign things.
 
If I start med school next year I'll be 27. I couldn't care less. Don't worry OP, just relax.
 
connie95 said:
I mean, what is there to address? I already mentioned that account isn't mine. But there's no point in arguing if users insist that I'm someone else and go about matching up similar posts. I obv have more pertinent problems to address (hence, my post) I can't spend time worrying about proving myself to the internet too
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Are you for real? The posts are identical, often word for word. Same stats, everything.
 
I don't know that OP's potential use of another account matters too much, it's really up to him. Connie, people have gone into med school from like 18 - 50+, so your age shouldn't really be that important of a factor. Just make sure medicine is for you and do your best to outperform the people that may have a year's head start on you. Just do your thing and if this is your calling your age will soon become irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. While you wait to apply look at volunteer programs, overseas missions trips, working in a lab, anything at all that might help you develop as a person.
 
Its not a potential usage of another account, nor even doubt that its the same person, but to be fair, I'll entertain you. There are 3 possibilities here:

A. You are nervous to the point of actually needing real help. You literally make the same threads back to back asking the same question, as if expecting some kind of different response or something. You just made one under 700003 talking about the same thing. You go and make threads about taking the MCAT for the last 3 years. You make these dramatic posts about having a heart attack. Does that sound normal?

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B. You have a doppelgänger somewhere in this world, who mimics your every action.

C. You are actually a troll, and spent 3 years committing to a role. If this is the case, bravo.

I personally think B would be pretty awesome, but I'll let you know what tipped me off to this account: when you mentioned the Indian part in this thread and deleted it. Not fast enough sadly. Truth is this, if you are for real, you need help. If you are a troll, advice is still the same.

connie95 said:
It's just that my procrastination and lack of preparedness led to me not being ready for apps this cycle.
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I was completely wrong: You have THREE accounts.

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Oh what I would do for a IP check right now.
 
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You have some serious growing up to do with this type of mindset. Some of all time best students have been in their 30s and 40s. I graduated a stellar one last year at 50.

Improve your app in your gap year.
Now, I can't seem to come to terms with the idea of starting at 24 and finishing by 28! All I can think of is how did my life get delayed so much?

And frankly, tell your parents you'll handle your career your way and on your time line. You're an adult now.

How can I deal with starting later and use my time wisely?Are there any other 24 year olds starting med school? Any ideas on what I can do between now and 2018 (it seems so FAR away!) ? I already have a pretty decent app so not sure what more I could do.

Also, I apologize if it seems like I'm being too dramatic. It's just that my culture is not very tolerant of "mistakes." My parents are now telling me to pursue a different career, but medicine is all I want to do.

For those of you who started med school a bit later, what did you do during that time?[/QUOTE]
 
connie95 said:
Okay, I honestly don't get what you're trying to do to me. Do you really have so much time on your hands that you would like to be the detective of SDN? I posted with a question, and needed some help. I don't have three accounts. There could be many similar culture people on SDN and many others who scored a 510 on the practice. There are also users who apparently start the same title thread as me, and who also complain about dealing with starting med school later than expected. I guess those are my accounts too? So be it. In any case, say I really did need serious help with myself? If you thought that, why are you further pushing someone like me down by trying to highlight and prove insecurities/worries? I don't get how this digging up of all similar posts from SDN history helps you 😕 But whatever, it's okay. I'm not going to argue anymore. I got the advice I needed and wanted to simply feel better knowing that others are in a similar situation, which is why some people post here in the first place.
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Everyone has anxiety, everyone has problems, but you create multiple accounts to express the same thing. How much reassurance do you need for everything? You make a post, and then tag every single admission committee member. Its not even about pushing someone down, but giving them the hard truth: if you dedicated nearly a fraction of your time from lamenting your problems to getting in, you might have actually made it. Instead you choose to do this woe is me act, but forget that you are a adult, and should act like one.

It was kind of entertaining at first, but just looking through your posts, its just sad now, and I'm done laughing. Do what you want, make as many accounts lamenting year after year about the "Indian" culture, planning next year's MCAT, getting into schools like UVA, UTSW , Baylor, your next meltdown etc.
 
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connie95 said:
I mean, what is there to address? I already mentioned that account isn't mine. But there's no point in arguing if users insist that I'm someone else and go about matching up similar posts. I obv have more pertinent problems to address (hence, my post) I can't spend time worrying about proving myself to the internet too
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If you can't even come clean anonynously about something as dumb as a second account, I fear what happens when you will inevitably screw up in medicine. Who will suffer in order for you to cover your mistake?

Hope you let the weight of that sink in.

Get help. Seriously.

You're clearly not ready for a career in medicine. Come back more mature and with a clear head- read, write, and see someone.
 
@connie95 You lucked out immensely by not having your application prepared. Saved a lot of money and also a lot of grief. Use the remaining time to find out who you are rather than sizing yourself up to your friends and the expectations of your parents.
 
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