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I have this friend who recently decided that she wants to be pre-med. However, our other mutual friend (I'll call her C) and I think that the reason she wants to be pre-med is because she feels like all of her friends are pre-med, and her family is pressuring her to be successful. It is very clear that she is more interested in humanities and fine arts (she's an English-psych double major and has expressed an interest in film), which is totally cool and if that's what she wants to do then we totally support her.
But she insists she wants to be pre-med, so C (who is going into nursing) and myself have tried to be as encouraging and helpful as possible. We have told her about all the pre-reqs she needs to take, the amount of volunteering she needs to do, the shadowing, the research, the GPA she needs to get, etc.
As of right now, she's a sophomore in college, and she hasn't taken any pre-med pre-reqs other than a psych class and a year of English. We keep telling her she needs to start bio and chem, so this year she enrolled in "remedial chemistry", which doesn't even count as a real class so it won't even be on her transcript. She claims the reason she's in remedial is because she had to take a placement test to get into gen chem, but when she requested to take the test the testing center never got back to her. If she was really determined to be pre-med, it seems like she would have made more of an effort to take that test.
She also doesn't have any clinical experience and seems to have no desire to seek any out. We live in a huge city with tons of hospitals that need volunteers, yet I don't believe she has applied to any volunteer programs.
Lately we have been trying to hint that she really needs to get started on her pre-reqs and start taking being pre-med more seriously, but she tends to ignore us.
So my friend C and I are in a dilemma. We know that if we tell her to accept the fact that she doesn't really want to be pre-med (and, at this rate, she has demonstrated that she is not mentally capable of being pre-med even if she does want it on some level), she will get upset with us. She seems to be going through a difficult time with family members and other friends and school in general. On the other hand, we feel like we are bad friends if we don't tell her, because at this rate she's going to need at least 1 extra year of undergrad, something we know she can't afford.
We really need some advice on how to deal with this friend. Should we just wait to see how she does in "remedial" chemistry? Hope she figures it out by herself? Or confront her?
But she insists she wants to be pre-med, so C (who is going into nursing) and myself have tried to be as encouraging and helpful as possible. We have told her about all the pre-reqs she needs to take, the amount of volunteering she needs to do, the shadowing, the research, the GPA she needs to get, etc.
As of right now, she's a sophomore in college, and she hasn't taken any pre-med pre-reqs other than a psych class and a year of English. We keep telling her she needs to start bio and chem, so this year she enrolled in "remedial chemistry", which doesn't even count as a real class so it won't even be on her transcript. She claims the reason she's in remedial is because she had to take a placement test to get into gen chem, but when she requested to take the test the testing center never got back to her. If she was really determined to be pre-med, it seems like she would have made more of an effort to take that test.
She also doesn't have any clinical experience and seems to have no desire to seek any out. We live in a huge city with tons of hospitals that need volunteers, yet I don't believe she has applied to any volunteer programs.
Lately we have been trying to hint that she really needs to get started on her pre-reqs and start taking being pre-med more seriously, but she tends to ignore us.
So my friend C and I are in a dilemma. We know that if we tell her to accept the fact that she doesn't really want to be pre-med (and, at this rate, she has demonstrated that she is not mentally capable of being pre-med even if she does want it on some level), she will get upset with us. She seems to be going through a difficult time with family members and other friends and school in general. On the other hand, we feel like we are bad friends if we don't tell her, because at this rate she's going to need at least 1 extra year of undergrad, something we know she can't afford.
We really need some advice on how to deal with this friend. Should we just wait to see how she does in "remedial" chemistry? Hope she figures it out by herself? Or confront her?