Has anyone else ever been called this?

[Cinematic]

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A "professional student"?

My family, made up of retail associates/managers, mechanics, and transit workers think I'm on a "high horse" because I want to be a doctor.

The lack of family support really hurts me but I won't let it get me down.

Can anyone else relate?

 

[BenUstudent]

jokes on them, in 15 yrs when you show them your pay stub.😀

 

[Global Warming]

A "professional student"?

My family, made up of retail associates/managers, mechanics, and transit workers think I'm on a "high horse" because I want to be a doctor.

The lack of family support really hurts me but I won't let it get me down.

Can anyone else relate?

I went through/going through this current situation and learned a very important lesson. Chris Rock answered this question for me..

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3YWszftWWg&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]

So don't get me wrong, I do not look down or talk down to other people. However, if you were anything like me, your ego has probably gone up ever since you decided to become a doctor (at least to some degree). You're probably intelligent, hard working, and will PROBABLY go to medical school and become a successful doctor. Although your family members are happy for it, THEY DO NOT WANT A CONSTANT REMINDER OF HOW UNSUCCESSFUL and how much they hate their jobs. This is a natural conflict that occurs in this situation.

My solution: I know I am intelligent, hard working and will probably become a physician. However, I keep that to myself because I don't want to cause other people sadness because of my happiness. Needless to say, I still have a big ego, but only around my peers and not family members.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

that's jdub's title.

 

[Global Warming]

A "professional student"?

My family, made up of retail associates/managers, mechanics, and transit workers think I'm on a "high horse" because I want to be a doctor.

The lack of family support really hurts me but I won't let it get me down.

Can anyone else relate?

Just curious, are you an URM??

 

[housefish26]

Just curious, are you an URM??

Oh God, step lightly around this thread...

 

[Global Warming]

Oh God, step lightly around this thread...

I know what you're saying, but I am writing a paper for a class and this is the exact topic. It is a very interesting topic with surprising correlation.

 

[7starmantis]

I'm a non-trad going "back" to school, so yeah I have gotten it before. Who cares, I'm doing what I love to do. I'll have a job I love for the rest of my life.... Calling me anything isn't going to change that. 🙂

 

[kami333]

I qualify as a professional student, I'm in my 10th year of taking college classes😀

 

[JonSwan]

Whenever I talk about college, grad school, med school with my grandfather, he regales me with stories about how when he was in college, he found that those who had the most education knew the least. He also loves to tell me the story of his one roommate who was a "professional student" who lost his mind and ended up in an institution after already earning degrees in engineering, psychology and math and working on a fourth. While he doesn't directly say it to my face, he let's me know what he thinks about "too much education".

 

[Poliscidoc]

I qualify as a professional student, I'm in my 10th year of taking college classes😀

No sir your a Dr

 

[Global Warming]

Whenever I talk about college, grad school, med school with my grandfather, he regales me with stories about how when he was in college, he found that those who had the most education knew the least. He also loves to tell me the story of his one roommate who was a "professional student" who lost his mind and ended up in an institution after already earning degrees in engineering, psychology and math and working on a fourth. While he doesn't directly say it to my face, he let's me know what he thinks about "too much education".

What is your opinion of people who draw the conclusion that if you are book smart, you're not street smart. As you stated, they won't say it to your face, but they make you aware of it.

Honestly, I am book smart and street smart. I grew up in the streets and if I wasn't smart...I'd already be dead.

 

[cicatrez879]

What is your opinion of people who draw the conclusion that if you are book smart, you're not street smart. As you stated, they won't say it to your face, but they make you aware of it.


Ignorant. There's no such thing as "street smart." It is just something they tell themselves to make themselves feel better, when they know your smarter than they are.

 

[housefish26]

No sir your a Dr

Ignorant. There's no such thing as "street smart." It is just something they tell themselves to make themselves feel better, when they know your smarter than they are.

I'm sorry, but I couldn't hold back any longer.
You're = you are
Your = possessive pronoun

 

[flip26]

A "professional student"?

Well, your family is stupid.

A "professional student" is, derisively, someone who drifts aimlessly in college, staying for 6, 7, 8+ years taking gen ed classes...think "Tommy Boy"

Unless you have been doing that, you are not a "professional student."

 

[amakhosidlo]

I'm sorry, but I couldn't hold back any longer.
You're = you are
Your = possessive pronoun

Thank you.

 

[Global Warming]

What is your opinion of people who draw the conclusion that if you are book smart, you're not street smart. As you stated, they won't say it to your face, but they make you aware of it.


Ignorant. There's no such thing as "street smart." It is just something they tell themselves to make themselves feel better, when they know your smarter than they are.

 

[circulus vitios]

Ignorant. There's no such thing as "street smart." It is just something they tell themselves to make themselves feel better, when they know your smarter than they are.

Ever hear of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences? My dad dropped out of high school in 10th grade, but he can fix just about anything mechanical just by looking and playing around with it for a few minutes. Whenever I try to fix something I usually end up breaking it worse than before. Different people have different aptitudes.

 

[s1lver]

Don't tell your family you want to be a doctor unless you're already accepted at a med school if they're not supportive. Hell, don't tell them anything. Just say you want to be a pirate-astronaut.

 

[akinetopsia]

Well, your family is stupid.

A "professional student" is, derisively, someone who drifts aimlessly in college, staying for 6, 7, 8+ years taking gen ed classes...think "Tommy Boy"

Unless you have been doing that, you are not a "professional student."

TOMMY

Did you hear I finally graduated?

RICHARD
Yeah, and just a shade under a decade too, all right.. (trailing off)

TOMMY
You know a lot of people go to college for seven years.

RICHARD
I know, they're called doctors.

I love this movie. And yes, it came out in 1995. Kids born in 1995 are now freshmen in high school.

Don't worry too much about what other people say or think. There's probably a tinge of jealousy sprinkled in for a lot of people that make comments like that - some of them wish they could do what you are doing.

Then again, some probably are genuinely dismayed at you. Just kidding.
​

 

[Global Warming]

Don't tell your family you want to be a doctor unless you're already accepted at a med school if they're not supportive. Hell, don't tell them anything. Just say you want to be a pirate-astronaut.

I agree with this. I no longer mention any of my MD related stuff to family members that don't want to hear about it. After shadowing a surgeon, I was so excited that I wanted to go on TV to tell the world, yet I kept it to myself. I want to talk about the exciting things I did in my research lab, but I keep it to myself.

OP. Take this advice and the conflict will decrease.

 

[Evergrey]

Don't tell your family you want to be a doctor unless you're already accepted at a med school if they're not supportive. Hell, don't tell them anything. Just say you want to be a pirate-astronaut.

Now that I think about it, pirate-astronaut sounds way cooler than being a doctor... I bet if you were a pirate-astronaut you could walk up to a moon saloon and say to the spacebabes: I'm a pirate-astronaut lemme steal your heart and we can fly away to the stars. Hell yeah.

 

[vickpick]

i'm a professional student.. im too lazy too work,....lol

 

[roseglass6370]

Haha, yeah I've gotten that before from my best friend. I told her how much schooling I'd need and she just said, "Be careful you don't become a professional student." I laughed and kinda took it as a compliment. Was that an unusual response?

 

[BBender716]

Professional student =

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5CpaOy_XKA&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Cinematic]

jokes on them, in 15 yrs when you show them your pay stub.😀

that made me smile!

 

[J ROD]

I have never been called a "professional" student........

I cant even say that without laughing....

 

[Cinematic]

Just curious, are you an URM??

no. white.

 

[brickandlace]

A "professional student"?

My family, made up of retail associates/managers, mechanics, and transit workers think I'm on a "high horse" because I want to be a doctor.

The lack of family support really hurts me but I won't let it get me down.

Can anyone else relate?

if I had a dime for every time someone goes "oh... that's 4 more years of school, and then residency... so at least 7 years... wow."

never mind the fact that I'm going to ENJOY those 7 years and I have worked hard to have the *opportunity*, no *the privilege* of spending those 7 years to establish a career in medicine.

the only thing people (who do not understand) seem to harp on is their bummer view on "4 more years of school" ... haha I like being in school.

ok, I'm done venting 🙂

 

[brickandlace]

Don't worry too much about what other people say or think. There's probably a tinge of jealousy sprinkled in for a lot of people that make comments like that - some of them wish they could do what you are doing.

​

i'm afraid i have to agree with this scenario.

 

[Global Warming]

if I had a dime for every time someone goes "oh... that's 4 more years of school, and then residency... so at least 7 years... wow."

never mind the fact that I'm going to ENJOY those 7 years and I have worked hard to have the *opportunity*, no *the privilege* of spending those 7 years to establish a career in medicine.

the only thing people (who do not understand) seem to harp on is their bummer view on "4 more years of school" ... haha I like being in school.

ok, I'm done venting 🙂

I agree. People talk like those years are being spent in a torture dungeon. We will experience something, albeit difficult, that most people never have the opportunity to do. People who talk crap are simple jealous we'll have the two letters after our names.

 

[Anita817]

I'm a non trad in my third year post bacc. When people ask me why I decided to go to medical school I tell them "well, I just decided I like school so much I wanted spend another decade in it" I kid, of course, but only a little! I don't feel any shame in being a professional student (for the time being) because I know it will be worth it in the end. I have watched so many friends suffer for the last few years in jobs that make them hate the world because they were so caught up in the idea of NOT continuing in school. If going another couple years would improve your quality of life and sense of fulfillment in the long run, why not tough it out? That's my philosophy at least.

 

[good luck folks]

Yes, I have family members that are unsupportive of goals that involve pursuing further education, i.e. my father is unsupportive of my prospect of going to grad school for a PhD in Chemistry. He was even initally annoyed that I wanted to spend more time to complete an undergraduate program in chemistry after getting my associate's in liberal arts. When I first told him somewhat pridefully that I was seriously considering the PhD, he just sternly told me something like "that's okay, but it'll just take more time in school when you could get a job anyway (with a bachelor's). you don't want to be in school forever." It's disappointing, but now I avoid talking to him about it, like Global Warming.

that chris rock video was great.

 

[boaz]

A "professional student"?

My family, made up of retail associates/managers, mechanics, and transit workers think I'm on a "high horse" because I want to be a doctor.

The lack of family support really hurts me but I won't let it get me down.

Can anyone else relate?

Absolutely. Most people in my family and community are entrepreneurs and small business owners. The lack of support is all the more reason to succeed.

Keep going! 👍👍

 

[kansaskid]

I would say the majority of my family is very supportive, but there is a large section of it that considers me some sort of snotty intellectual for wanting to be a doctor, as if the career aspiration is itself indicative of my supposed superiority. It's really frustrating, but I guess I understand where they are coming from. Most of them work for the railroad and haven't graduated college or even high school and can't even comprehend that much school. I know that my mother is jealous and I don't really know how to deal with it sometimes. I mean, just because SHE dropped out of college to raise me doesn't mean I should feel bad for not getting pregnant and actually realizing my professional goals. She's better now. I think me being at Wellesley for the last few years has gotten her accustomed to the fact that maybe sometimes I'm living in a different world than she is. She's also studying for the LSAT and will hopefully go to law school at some point. So...maybe I'll be getting more support soon. Good luck, though. Unsupportive friends and families can definitely be a tough issue to deal with.