Well, I'm a sophomore. I took chem 1, failed, took it again, got a C. I'ma about to finish Chem 2, test grades so far are D,D, F, so there's a 99% chance I won't get in anyways. Honest answer, I hate chem. I don't know if I hate the professor, because he just shows us formulae and how to put numbers into a calculator. And if I can't handle chem, how am I going to handle medical school. My parents are disillusioned with me going to med school so my dad can quit his job. As if me going is like winning the lottery. And to be honest, the only little motivation I have left is just the money doctors make, and I don't want to disrespect such a great profession and go into JUST for the money. Now, I'm a bio major, and I can't see myself doing any other major, but to be honest, it's kind of useless. I might consider grad school, but I don't know yet. My main concern now, is breaking the news to my parents. How would you handle it?
Was in your shoes.
Failed chem 2, passed with B on 2nd try. Failed ochem 1, passed with C on 2nd try, passed ochem 2 with C 1st try. I know, they're **** grades compared to everyone on here but hey I passed.
Parents pushed me into med.
Here's the thing. Chem is a hard subject in general. To do well, you need to practice it like math, lots of repetition with practice problems, and you need to learn how to
self teach yourself the material instead of staring at powerpoints and hoping it'll make sense. Bad professors are a large part of the reason. But if you don't have a choice professor wise, you need to self-teach yourself the material and use all available resources. I've been in your shoes. I tutor chem students currently and the biggest issue is that they don't come in for help or know how to study until
its too late. I know how humiliating and depressing it is to fail chem and ochem. But you need to swallow it and work your ass off like you've never done before. Use that anger to light a fire under your ass. You need to change your study tactics okay?
Current progress may or may not dictate future academic success. Yes you're bad at chem. Doesn't mean a career in the health field is completely out of the question for you. You need to shadow. You need to get out there and work and be aggressive at pursuing opportunities where you'll get to observe different careers that
YOU are interested in, not your parents. Let me repeat that again, there will come a point (after you graduate and hit rock bottom) that you realize
you are in charge of your life and have the power to do what you love and make a living from it, not your parents. I need to you get rid of the notion that listening to your parents will bring you success. I lived through the same ****. They care about you tremendously but they simply don't know your strengths and weaknesses and what you want from life.
By the time you realize a large part of your life is dictated by the decisions you make, and your parents are just small voices that are there to guide you, it will be
too late to make a backup plan for the career you want.
To recap:
1) Find a new way to study. Go in for help. Self-teach yourself the material. Do lots of practice problems, and more importantly summarize the steps you need to do for each type of problem. Look at the info they give you in the problem. Chem isn't going away and you changing majors to get out of taking chem isn't an option. You need to face it head on and beat it to a pulp.
2) Stop listening to your parents. They mean well but they simply don't know any better. Its not a matter of
if you'll question their rules, its a matter of
when. I'd rather you sit down and have the argument with them right now then keep pushing it back til after you graduate and realize you still want to become a doctor and have to spend another 2-3 years on post-bac/masters/reapplying. So yes, I
want you to argue with them. I want you to communicate with them about how frustrated you feel and how they need to be receptive to other careers besides MD. Doesn't mean you don't want to become an MD. Just means you'll have the freedom to really go for what you want instead of trying to believe something they force fed down your throat since an early age.
3) Find your motivation. Go shadow. Go volunteer at an ER. You can never run from wanting to become a doctor. You might find yourself switching professions (opto, pharm, RN, PA) but after you shadow those careers, you'll realize that it doesn't give you the same type of rush that shadowing whatever you knew you wanted to do will. If you have exposure to what you want to do, you'll fight tooth and nail to get there. From what I can tell, you' havn't seen what you want to do yet. Lack of motivation + frustration with grades = no clear goal and no push.
