I'm just.... tired. Burnt out too early.

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StudentDoctora

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The title perhaps says it all. I'm only in high school (the end of my senior year), and I'm already burnt out. I really am just sick of academics, and I'm starting to re-think my career choice. Can I do another 4 years of undergraduate school, in the hopes that MAYBE I'll be accepted to do another 4 years of medical school, so that MAYBE I can get a residency, and MAYBE I can spend another 4-8 years working 80 hours a week getting paid crap? I just don't know if I can do it. I thought that I'd be more ok with pharmacy: more certainty and definity, and a quicker process overall. I just found out that due to a mistake sending my SAT score reports, which was the company's fault, not mine by the way, that I missed the deadline and am automatically rejected from the ONE PharmD program I applied to. So Pharm is out of the question.

I need money BADLY to support my mother and myself, and I can't wait >12 years (undergrad, med school, residency) to get it... and even then it is just a CHANCE. Think of how many people don't even get into medical school! What would I do then!?!? Again, with the PharmD, after 6 years you make $100K, which sounded good.

So I'm lost. I don't know what to do. Does anyone else feel burnt out like this, this early into the game? Should I stop now and become something like a secretary? :( It's like I want to just do mindless work because I'm so mentally exhausted. HELP!!

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The title perhaps says it all. I'm only in high school (the end of my senior year), and I'm already burnt out. I really am just sick of academics, and I'm starting to re-think my career choice. Can I do another 4 years of undergraduate school, in the hopes that MAYBE I'll be accepted to do another 4 years of medical school, so that MAYBE I can get a residency, and MAYBE I can spend another 4-8 years working 80 hours a week getting paid crap? I just don't know if I can do it. I thought that I'd be more ok with pharmacy: more certainty and definity, and a quicker process overall. I just found out that due to a mistake sending my SAT score reports, which was the company's fault, not mine by the way, that I missed the deadline and am automatically rejected from the ONE PharmD program I applied to. So Pharm is out of the question.

I need money BADLY to support my mother and myself, and I can't wait >12 years (undergrad, med school, residency) to get it... and even then it is just a CHANCE. Think of how many people don't even get into medical school! What would I do then!?!? Again, with the PharmD, after 6 years you make $100K, which sounded good.

So I'm lost. I don't know what to do. Does anyone else feel burnt out like this, this early into the game? Should I stop now and become something like a secretary? :( It's like I want to just do mindless work because I'm so mentally exhausted. HELP!!

Try to get a plumbing apprenticeship.
 
i mean, go to college, major in economics and history, study hard, and then do investment banking or consulting for a few years. save as much of that nice paycheck as you can to give to your mom, and then if you still want to do medicine, apply to medical school. if not, leave i-banking/consulting and get a real job. it's a common story.

until then, masturbate. frequently.
 
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my advice to you would be that you should just take it easy and think things out; there are many professions out there that are far more lucrative than medicine, so if lucre is your prime motivation, i would strongly discourage you from pursuing medicine. if however, you have a passion to pursue medicine, then go for it, because in the end of the day, passion will be the only thing that will get you through the arduous path of attrition to becoming a doctor.
 
More to life/college than just the destination. Sounds cheesy, I think I heard it on a Jimmy Buffet song or something, but it's true. College is a blast, much better than high school.

Being in highschool, though, makes it kind of hard to decide if you want to be in medicine or something else. Go for the experience itself and decide from there.
 
The title perhaps says it all. I'm only in high school (the end of my senior year), and I'm already burnt out. I really am just sick of academics, and I'm starting to re-think my career choice. Can I do another 4 years of undergraduate school, in the hopes that MAYBE I'll be accepted to do another 4 years of medical school, so that MAYBE I can get a residency, and MAYBE I can spend another 4-8 years working 80 hours a week getting paid crap? I just don't know if I can do it. I thought that I'd be more ok with pharmacy: more certainty and definity, and a quicker process overall. I just found out that due to a mistake sending my SAT score reports, which was the company's fault, not mine by the way, that I missed the deadline and am automatically rejected from the ONE PharmD program I applied to. So Pharm is out of the question.

I need money BADLY to support my mother and myself, and I can't wait >12 years (undergrad, med school, residency) to get it... and even then it is just a CHANCE. Think of how many people don't even get into medical school! What would I do then!?!? Again, with the PharmD, after 6 years you make $100K, which sounded good.

So I'm lost. I don't know what to do. Does anyone else feel burnt out like this, this early into the game? Should I stop now and become something like a secretary? :( It's like I want to just do mindless work because I'm so mentally exhausted. HELP!!

were your grades/SATs decent? Have you tried applying to any schools that give out a lot of money? PM me if you want any help with that. It's a pretty legit concern at that age. Be prepared for a lot of sarcasm/flaming.. but ignore it. Whatever level you are at, it's all relative.

When I was in high school, it felt like that hardest thing ever... I'm in college in now, high school feels like a breeze. It wasn't.. but everything's relative.
 
sorry for this useless post, but...

there is a job out there that requires no education and makes $1,000/hour :p
 
Try to get a plumbing apprenticeship.

:laugh: aw

to the op: really I think you answered your own question, if you are burnt out already and arent in even college yet maybe you should give yourself a year or two off and decide then or try college for a few years and decide. No one can tell you what to do or give you much of a suggestion becuase we dont know you.

IMO: try college for at least a sem. and see how you like it

hope this helps
 
sorry for this useless post, but...

there is a job out there that requires no education and makes $1,000/hour :p

"education," no... but experience is a plus ;)
 
I think you underestimate the power of student loans. Once you're in college you can support yourself entirely through these loans, more than 3/4 of mine are subsidized, and you will easily be able to pay them off after becoming a certified physician. Just stay level headed about this whole process, and stay smart when it comes to your finances. Many people I know don't receive any money from their parents now that they are in college. I'm sure you could manage the same.
 
were your grades/SATs decent?

Yeah, and they told me that they would have accepted me given that I was a "highly qualified" student with "superior academics," but they offered me a Presidential scholarship (it's not a full ride, not even by half) to another program at the school that I don't even want.... no one wants it, that's why there were spots left to give me.

Have you tried applying to any schools that give out a lot of money?

Yep to that as well. Still waiting to hear from some... So far I'll only have to come up with about $4-8K/year at the schools I have heard from. I don't just need to go to college on a scholarship though; it's like I NEED money back. I could tough it out and ask my mom to work for another few years if I knew that I got into the PharmD program and would be making good money in 6 years, but that's not going to happen. The point is mainly that I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. It's all up in the air and just very stressful when I'm trying to come up with how to make as much money as quickly as possible, and balancing that with what I WANT to do (medicine).

Thank you for your advice though; it was good to hear from at least 1 person who won't flame me. :)
 
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Ummm you have senioritis. Even the slackers get this. Graduate, have fun this summer, you'll be fine. Oh and college (yes even premed) is NOT as hard as you're thinking. I'd say it's even easier than high school (not the material, but you know what I'm trying to say).

Stop thinking about all the years and definitely stop thinking about money.
 
The title perhaps says it all. I'm only in high school (the end of my senior year), and I'm already burnt out. I really am just sick of academics, and I'm starting to re-think my career choice. Can I do another 4 years of undergraduate school, in the hopes that MAYBE I'll be accepted to do another 4 years of medical school, so that MAYBE I can get a residency, and MAYBE I can spend another 4-8 years working 80 hours a week getting paid crap? I just don't know if I can do it. I thought that I'd be more ok with pharmacy: more certainty and definity, and a quicker process overall. I just found out that due to a mistake sending my SAT score reports, which was the company's fault, not mine by the way, that I missed the deadline and am automatically rejected from the ONE PharmD program I applied to. So Pharm is out of the question.

I need money BADLY to support my mother and myself, and I can't wait >12 years (undergrad, med school, residency) to get it... and even then it is just a CHANCE. Think of how many people don't even get into medical school! What would I do then!?!? Again, with the PharmD, after 6 years you make $100K, which sounded good.

So I'm lost. I don't know what to do. Does anyone else feel burnt out like this, this early into the game? Should I stop now and become something like a secretary? :( It's like I want to just do mindless work because I'm so mentally exhausted. HELP!!

Don't worry, college is much better than high school

But if you're burnt out, just take a year off before starting college to work or do whatever, and find out what you want to do with your life
 
sorry for this useless post, but...

there is a job out there that requires no education and makes $1,000/hour :p

Hit up Spitzer before the courts take all his money. It worked for this one girl...
 
Yeah, and they told me that they would have accepted me given that I was a "highly qualified" student with "superior academics," but they offered me a Presidential scholarship (it's not a full ride, not even by half) to another program at the school that I don't even want.... no one wants it, that's why there were spots left to give me.



Yep to that as well. Still waiting to hear from some... So far I'll only have to come up with about $4-8K/year at the schools I have heard from. I don't just need to go to college on a scholarship though; it's like I NEED money back. I could tough it out and ask my mom to work for another few years if I knew that I got into the PharmD program and would be making good money in 6 years, but that's not going to happen. The point is mainly that I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. It's all up in the air and just very stressful when I'm trying to come up with how to make as much money as quickly as possible, and balancing that with what I WANT to do (medicine).

Thank you for your advice though; it was good to hear from at least 1 person who won't flame me. :)

$4 - 8k a year is nothing man... for undergrad. You could easily pay that off by joining a research lab. I don't know about your financial situation, but for med school. most people are on loans. We are all in the same boat.
 
Have you considered the ministry? or possibly the Peace Corp? And of course, that guy on this year's edition of American Idol, he is a nude male dancer, a career that does not require years of academic study but does require certain, well, attributes, to be delicate.

So really there are various interesting career possibilites, just open your mind to the universe and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well when the tongues of flame are infolded into the crowned knot of fire and the fire and the rose are one.
 
The title perhaps says it all. I'm only in high school (the end of my senior year), and I'm already burnt out. I really am just sick of academics, and I'm starting to re-think my career choice. Can I do another 4 years of undergraduate school, in the hopes that MAYBE I'll be accepted to do another 4 years of medical school, so that MAYBE I can get a residency, and MAYBE I can spend another 4-8 years working 80 hours a week getting paid crap? I just don't know if I can do it. I thought that I'd be more ok with pharmacy: more certainty and definity, and a quicker process overall. I just found out that due to a mistake sending my SAT score reports, which was the company's fault, not mine by the way, that I missed the deadline and am automatically rejected from the ONE PharmD program I applied to. So Pharm is out of the question.

I need money BADLY to support my mother and myself, and I can't wait >12 years (undergrad, med school, residency) to get it... and even then it is just a CHANCE. Think of how many people don't even get into medical school! What would I do then!?!? Again, with the PharmD, after 6 years you make $100K, which sounded good.

Weak.

There is no easy route to large salaries through medical related fields; they are all time intensive and very academically challenging. Anyways, if you are serious about PharmD, you should show up in person and hassle the school to accept your SAT score. If it wasn't your fault that they are late to the school, then the admissions office should be accomodating. If you have serious financial and academic concerns, you should make an appointment with the school's financial aid and other counselors to make sure everything is in order.

Lastly, if you only concern is with garnering a wealthy lifestyle as quickly as possible, then I and most people will tell you that getting an MD/DO is not the way to do it.
 
Lol...a burnt out senior. What happened? Did gym get too difficult?
 
Take a light load your first semester and join a fraternity. If you don't feel like being a doctor by the end of the semester then don't be a doctor.
 
4-8k? Don't ask your mom to get another job. You find a job. Get a loan. Don't be afraid of getting a loan. It's VERY easy. Seriously... look it up. You have nothing to worry about. Without loans I would have to come up with 10-15 grand for school.
 
pretty sure this is a lady, guys
 
Im gonna go out on a limb and say the OP is a girl, because of the feminine "a" in her username.

To the original poster: If you feel like field medicine is something you want or must get into, have you thought about being a nurse practitioner? It can take 5 years to get. Assuming you will be exceptional in nursing school it will be 4 years for your BSN and one year for your MA then licensure. And you can probably get accepted readily at your local state university and pay cheap instate tuition; most likely, the same school will also have a NP program that you can get into right after your BSN. Again assuming you do great in your courses, and volunteer a lot during ugrad, otherwise some NP programs want you to have experience as as RN before enrolling.
 
If you're already burnt out, you will most likely hate the next 4 (possibly more) years of your life. Maybe college isn't for you.

Otherwise be like everyone else who doesn't have a full scholarship or rich parents - take out a loan.
 
I'm not saying this in a mean way, but what type of work does your mother do that she's getting too old to keep working? You're just a senior in high school; so, I'm not imagining her as being very old, unless you were adopted when she was in her 50's. If she's normal retirement age, then wouldn't she still be getting at least a little bit of income after she retires?

Many students work while attending school. Between the two of you, it's quite possible to make enough to get by during those years, as long as you live modestly. It could be that you are just using poor wording, but your posts have been coming across as being purely focused on making big money quickly more than they have been on wanting to prepare for a fulfilling career, or even on how to SURVIVE while preparing for a career. What are your real goals - a specific career, a lifestyle, impressing your mother, or caring for her out of obligation?

Those questions are not asked out of rudeness, but because it is really difficult to determine a path unless you understand your true objectives. I'm not saying that any of them are wrong reasons to make choices. It's very easy to head down the wrong path if you don't understand your own goals.
 
Atleast in college you can pick your own schedule.

Hs with the stupid 730-230 schedule everyday was a huge drag!

So if you are in a crunch. Find the cheapest school, take out loans and then find a job to help out your mom.
 
Atleast in college you can pick your own schedule.

Hs with the stupid 730-230 schedule everyday was a huge drag!

So if you are in a crunch. Find the cheapest school, take out loans and then find a job to help out your mom.

Mine was like, 8-4. HOW DID WE DO THAT?!
 
you know, I remember really clearly chillin as a senior in high school thinking that education would never end. I learned everything I needed to know reading encyclopedia's as a 5 year old kid. The only reason for elementary school was meeting different people and learning social stuff.

High school is all about the revelation that members of the opposite sex are inherently interesting and learning how to find a place in the social strata.

I remember thinking as a high school junior that the process seems endless, but here it is a few years later and I'm graduated and about to matriculate. I chose a major that I was interested in and either enjoyed class or made myself enjoy class. Go to school, do the work, enjoy the benefits of increased knowledge and repeat again and again. That's all there is to undergrad. Maybe take time off and go live in Europe.

Right now you are young and have a lot of amazing opportunities ahead of you. Believe me, I'm going to med school in less than four months and is a short enough period to make me nostalgic for freer times. Take some time and go study spanish in valencia. Go teach english in Prague. Spend a few years chillin and THEN come back, hit the books, rock the MCAT, and fill out the AMCAS application.

Believe me, focus on all the amazing things you can do as a US college student and your undergrad education will fly by. in college you have more chances to meet people and explore new ideas than almost any other time in life so take advantage of it and before you know it those four years will have past and you'll be growin up fast and going to med school.
 
I would say either take a year off to relax, or get a small part-time job, max our your student loans, and spend your first semester doing classes that would be easy and fun, but would still be required for your degree.

I don't know about all schools, but my undergrad requires 20 credits of "Visual, Literary, or Performing Arts" which are satisfied by painting, band, choir, and drama, among other things that aren't nearly as fun. Take an art class (or 2), take something that would be easy for you, but still satisfies requirements (such as freshman comp if writing comes easy to you), take a lit class, learn a foreign language, well, you get the idea.

Don't just give up totally on school and resign yourself to working at a job like a secretary for the rest of your life. I'm 31, I did enough crappy jobs like that to know that going to school and doing something that you will love is the best way to go. And don't just be hung up on medicine. Use your first year at college to explore and find out what the best career choice for you would be.

I originally went to college intending to major in design, took a psychology class, found out that I loved it, decided to be a psychiatrist, which requires a MD. After finding that out, I looked at what other types of doctors there were and found something that I will enjoy a lot. I guess what I'm trying to say in my sleep-deprived state is that no matter what you think you are going to college for, you very well may be exposed to something that you will enjoy more, but then again, you might not. Good luck!
 
To the OP: take it one step at a time. If you look at all of the education you have to go through all at one time then yes, it is quite daunting. If you think about undergrad, then med school, then residency, I can see how your chest might tighten up a bit and make it hard to breath. Trust me, take it one step at a time. Take it one degree, one year, or one semester at a time. It will make the process easier.

I agree with others here that life is about a lot more than getting classes out of the way. You will grow and learn so much in college so don't write it off as another painful step to becoming a doctor. Plus, college is such an eye-opening experience. You may find a field you love that you never ever considered before. I changed my mind so much in college because of great professors or great experiences.

So just go to college and see how it goes. Start with a pre-med major and you'll figure out if it's truly for you or not. If not, no big deal. Good luck.
 
To the OP: I was where you are, a long time ago. I really wanted to be a doctor, but I didn't really feel I had the family support or a mentor to look to for help and advice. I took too many hard classes early on in high school, while working and trying to maintain a social life. I burned out very young, and decided to just get on with my life. I even went so far as to skip my senior year of high school. I opted for the "easy" route of getting an accounting degree. It wasn't an easy degree, but I did get out of college in 3 years and began working at age 20.

What you find very quickly is that once you start working, it is VERY hard to give up that paycheck. Life gets in the way very quickly - for me it was marriage, a house, then two kids, and poof! you are stuck in the career that you "settled for."

I have been extremely fortunate to get to the point where I have reduced my work hours over time and gone back to school and gotten my prerequisites. I will be going to medical school this fall. I will turn 40 the week before orientation! My husband and kids will stay here, and I will be living 140 miles away, commuting on weekends. In the meantime, I will have no income and will be racking up debt like nobody's business. Ironically, I really don't even qualify for financial aid these days. We make enough that we don't qualify, but certainly not enough to maintain two households, pay tuition, etc.

Looking back, going to medical school the first time around would have been the easy way, by a long shot. The debt from medical school would be a distant memory (as it is I'm hoping to pay it off before I retire). My son will graduate from high school at the time I graduate from medical school, so I will immediately have to pay for his college, not just work on my debts.

I will never be a "rich" doctor. If I had wanted to be rich, I could've stayed in my accounting job, which had great earning potential. Problem is, I could never be happy.

Life is too long to be miserable in what you do. Waiting a year or two to do what you really want is nothing compared to waiting 20. Go to college (I suggest starting at a community college if money is an issue). Take some easy classes to start with. Get your life back. Work some, but don't kill yourself with it. Loans and financial aid are available. Don't just go through the school for scholarships. FIND YOURSELF A MENTOR!!! Find someone with whom you can talk - who understands what it is going to take, who is going to encourage you and support you. Have some fun, see the world. Seriously. Go to Europe. Volunteer. It's not all about getting out of school and making money.

My deepest desire for my kids is not that they are successful or make a lot of money. It is that they find what they are passionate about and pursue it with everything they've got. That's what is important!
 
i mean, go to college, major in economics and history, study hard, and then do investment banking or consulting for a few years. save as much of that nice paycheck as you can to give to your mom, and then if you still want to do medicine, apply to medical school. if not, leave i-banking/consulting and get a real job. it's a common story.
I really hope this is a joke, because that's terrible advice.
 
I don't understand why OP can't do pharmacy school. Just because you didn't get into a 0-6 PharmD program right out of high school doesn't mean you can't do pharmacy school.

Get around or above a 3.5, take the PCAT and the necessary prereqs in two years and apply during the Fall of your second year. You'll be done with a PharmD in six years total after high school. Many people have done this.

I think you should look at what is the best career for yourself, not for supporting your mom. You'll probably still be doing it long after she's gone... morbid, yes, but it's the truth. If you're disadvantaged you'll get financial assistance throughout the process and end up paying a whole lot less than regular folks.

Lighten up, do what you want to do. If what you want to do doesn't require college then don't waste the time and money going to college. If you're only paying 4-8k a year, try working and you can probably come out ahead. For example as a TA I make 2,700 a semester (ten hours a week). Summer research fellowships usually pay around 3-4k. Total that up for a year and you get a min of $7,400. Work as a pharmacy tech, they make anywhere from $10-20 an hour.
 
I heard Paul McCartney is single now.
 
i thought it was 1,000/hr. he used about 2.5 hours and has ~2,000 in his account.

The question of how much he paid is far less interesting that the question of what exactly you receive for that much money.
 
It's important to remember that medicine doesn't mean an undergraduate degree in Biology or Biochem. As long as you take the prerequisite science courses you can apply with anything, and even those required courses can be taken in a postbac program after you get your degree.

I felt the same way you did when I graduated high school, only I had no idea medicine was where I was headed. Since then I've taken classes in all of the major disciplines except economics (math, sociology, music, philosophy, english, etc) and it really helped be to settle down a little and realize that biology is my bag and I'm pretty good at keeping people from dying.

The best advice you can get is do what you want, but do it well. If you still think medicine is your thing, go back to it. It will be there, and it will still be willing to accept intelligent, dedicated individuals.
 
I missed the deadline and am automatically rejected from the ONE PharmD program I applied to. So Pharm is out of the question.

Sorry, I don't get this. Since when do you have to apply to a pharmD program right out of high school? A lot of pharmd programs dont require degrees, so go to college, take the prereqs, and after 2-3 years apply to a pharmd program.
 
Have you considered nursing? You will work with patients, only 2.5 years min of education, and you probably make enough money to support a couple of people. If they are not high maintenance. And you can get four day weekends.

Also, have you looked at Physical Therapy? It's sort of like a masters degree, but you are somewhat independent, very well paid, and work with very appreciative patients.

Also, there are many types of medical technicians. After a couple of years or less, you could be running ultramodern diagnostic equipment, assisting in surgeries, and all kinds of interesting things. (and making $$)

You are too young to have tunnel vision towards medical school.
 
Have you considered nursing? You will work with patients, only 2.5 years min of education,

Nursing actually takes a bit more than that. My fiancé is going to school to be a nurse, and he had to do 2 years of pre-reqs before he could apply to the program. Yes, the program itself is only 2 years, but most schools have pre-reqs.
 
I would never, ever put down nursing. It's challenging emotionally, physically, and intellectually. Also very rewarding.

But even if it takes you three or three and a half years, the fact remains that you get going a whole lot faster than you would as an MD.
 
Nursing actually takes a bit more than that. My fiancé is going to school to be a nurse, and he had to do 2 years of pre-reqs before he could apply to the program. Yes, the program itself is only 2 years, but most schools have pre-reqs.
Uh, no. You can get an associates degree in nursing in 2 years. A bachelor's degree is 4, maybe 4.5, but that's it.
 
you're not burnt out... that's just senioritis... everyone gets it. Once you go to college it will be different. That hunger and desire will come back to you.
 
you just got to make it do what it do, baby.
 
Uh, no. You can get an associates degree in nursing in 2 years. A bachelor's degree is 4, maybe 4.5, but that's it.
Uh, no. To get INTO the nursing program at my community college, you must complete the following pre-reqs:

3 quarters of A&P
2 quarters of Chemistry
1 quarter Freshman Comp
1 quarter Micro Bio
2 quarters of psychology
1 quarter of sociology
1 quarter of basic bio
1 quarter of math

Going full-time, that's 4 quarters. Due to the fact that at my school at least, there are only 2 times a year that the nursing program starts, after finishing those 4 quarters, one would probably have to wait 2 quarters to get into the program. The nursing program itself is 2 years long. 4 quarters of pre-reqs, 2 quarters of waiting time, and 6 quarters of the nursing program = 4 years for a 2 year nursing program. If if someone started in winter or summer quarter, it could be done in 3 years.
 
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