Medicine as career for your kids

[Goro]

My daughter is 17 and applying to college. For the longest time she was adamantly undecided on career. All of a sudden, not only is she saying she wants to go to medical school, she’s applying to an accelerated pre-med to MD program (7 years combined, med school acceptance guaranteed, no MCAT needed). Her GPA and SAT are very, very high.

I have never once told her to do Medicine and in fact have encouraged her to think widely about very diverse career options.

What should I tell her?

Respect her decision and just point out that it's a difficult path.

Then let Organic Chemistry do its thing.

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[Splenda88]

Yeah the math isn't mathing here.

"Cheap" and "carribbean" school don't go together.

Your friend is leaving out some major details.

I don't think so. I know her pretty well. In fact, today we texted back and forth for close to 2 hrs. There are some schools in the Caribbean that are for the locals (not for US/UK citizens)

 

[Splenda88]

This comes up very often in the pre-med areas.

There are very few jobs that guarantee money like medicine as long as you don't massively screw up. If you can get into med school, you have like a 98% chance of ending up a physician earning over 250k/year at minimum. Very few other careers have that kind of luck. Sure there are ways to make more than we do but not everyone in those fields does so.

Its also worth noting that lots of MDs don't have the unpleasant parts of the job that EM does.

I am a lowly hospitalist and I am ok w/ my job even if hospital medicine is considered undesirable by SDN standards.

The money is also good. Never thought 10 yrs ago I would be able to afford to pay $500/night hotel stay. Lol

 

[Splenda88]

Respect her decision and just point out that it's a difficult path.

Then let Organic Chemistry do its thing.

I thought physics (especially physics 1) was worse than both orgo.

 

[Apollyon]

I don't think so. I know her pretty well. In fact, today we texted back and for close to 2 hrs. There are some schools in the Caribbean that are for the locals (not for US/UK citizens)

UWI (University of the West Indies) is the one for locals. Mainland North Americans don't get in. IIRC, of the 3 campuses, the one in Barbados, on Ballymore Rock, is where the med school is headquartered.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

UWI (University of the West Indies) is the one for locals. Mainland North Americans don't get in. IIRC, of the 3 campuses, the one in Barbados, on Ballymore Rock, is where the med school is headquartered.

Yeah, I thought the “locals” schools didn’t take North Americans…

 

[dozitgetchahi]

I know a couple who went to the Caribbean together.

The husband scribed for his mother in my dept for 4-5 YEARS waiting to get accepted to any US MD/DO school. But he never did. Went to Carib first try.

Then his wife, a nurse, decided as long as they were going she might as well become a doctor too.

They weren’t getting any residency interviews. The doc I work with was able to pull some strings to get them consideration at the crummy IM residency at my hospital and the crummy EM residency at the hospital down the street. Now she’s a crummy attending who does weird/dangerous things (I’ve inherited several of her discharges/transferred pt) and he’s a crummy ICU fellow and they act like they own the Earth. It’s pretty annoying.

But they owe $600k+ in med school loans and they only have jobs because of nepotism .. something to keep in mind for anyone considering that path in 2024.

I knew a situation kinda like this among my friends circle in college.

A girl who was probably one of the hardest partiers in our group basically partied her way out of contention in the premed race. No worry, said her parents - we’ll send you to med school in Poland (her and her parents were born in Poland). So she finishes medical school in Poland and tries to match a US residency…no bites after something like four cycles, despite shadowing and research and pulling strings and all the other things IMGs try to do to get a slot.

She is now the office manager for another member of the friend group, who became a plastic surgeon…

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

I thought physics (especially physics 1) was worse than both orgo.

You were wrong, sir (or madame).

 

[GonnaBeADoc2222]

I knew a situation kinda like this among my friends circle in college.

A girl who was probably one of the hardest partiers in our group basically partied her way out of contention in the premed race. No worry, said her parents - we’ll send you to med school in Poland (her and her parents were born in Poland). So she finishes medical school in Poland and tries to match a US residency…no bites after something like four cycles, despite shadowing and research and pulling strings and all the other things IMGs try to do to get a slot.

She is now the office manager for another member of the friend group, who became a plastic surgeon…

I love these kinds of stories.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

I love these kinds of stories.

That said, she has very rich parents who don’t shy away from showering her with $$$. I don’t think she even needs the job lol.

 

[carw1801]

That said, she has very rich parents who don’t shy away from showering her with $$$. I don’t think she even needs the job lol.

lol, then why did you tell us that story man?

 

[dozitgetchahi]

lol, then why did you tell us that story man?

Because it’s another example of how going offshore for medical school is unlikely to end in the desired goal (ie, practicing medicine in America).

 

[carw1801]

Because it’s another example of how going offshore for medical school is unlikely to end in the desired goal (ie, practicing medicine in America).

That's a good point.

But I think if you go to school at Sackler or in Ireland or Australia that those are completely different experiences than going Carib.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

I thought physics (especially physics 1) was worse than both orgo.

Physics definitely sucked. I actually enjoyed OChem but I did not enjoy physics much.

 

[emergentmd]

Medicine is hard ,takes a toll, but atleast you will make close to the top 1% of income. Name me any other field that can essentially guarantee top 2% income even for the most incompetent doc who never gets fired unless they do something illegal/dangerous.

I still keep in touch with 2 other top 5 students in my class, I was number 5 or 6.

Two of them have avg jobs and live in avg homes. My income dwarfs them and I have a job where I virtually can never lose. The $$$ and security of medicine is almost unheard of.

You think docs have it bad. Go talk to pharmacists, dentists, podiatrists, opthamologists. My pharmacy, engineer, business major siblings all make much less than I do.

If you can handle the sacrifices of medicine, eyes wide open, then medicine is hard to beat.

Sure, we all wish we could be a pro Basketball player or top golfer, but the chances are close to zero.

My kids all want to go into medicine and be ER docs b/c my job is unicorn easy. For them, I say go ahead b/c I can give them my FSER job if they become ER docs. If they do another specialty, they leave with zero debt and a house I will buy for them so they can pick what kind of medical environment suits them. The could literally go straight into semi retirement mode after residency, make 150K working 20 hrs a week in most fields.
For my kids, I think it is a great idea. For others, just make sure you have your eyes wide open before jumping in. It could be worse.

 

[emergentmd]

Physics definitely sucked. I actually enjoyed OChem but I did not enjoy physics much.

My degree was in Engineering so Physics and Ochem was a breeze. I made an A in both without much effort b/c they just all made sense.

Teach your kids to learn how to study and learn how to learn, then these classes becomes a cakewalk.

 

[Porfirio]

Medicine is hard ,takes a toll, but atleast you will make close to the top 1% of income. Name me any other field that can essentially guarantee top 2% income even for the most incompetent doc who never gets fired unless they do something illegal/dangerous.

I still keep in touch with 2 other top 5 students in my class, I was number 5 or 6.

Two of them have avg jobs and live in avg homes. My income dwarfs them and I have a job where I virtually can never lose. The $$$ and security of medicine is almost unheard of.

You think docs have it bad. Go talk to pharmacists, dentists, podiatrists, opthamologists. My pharmacy, engineer, business major siblings all make much less than I do.

If you can handle the sacrifices of medicine, eyes wide open, then medicine is hard to beat.

Sure, we all wish we could be a pro Basketball player or top golfer, but the chances are close to zero.

My kids all want to go into medicine and be ER docs b/c my job is unicorn easy. For them, I say go ahead b/c I can give them my FSER job if they become ER docs. If they do another specialty, they leave with zero debt and a house I will buy for them so they can pick what kind of medical environment suits them. The could literally go straight into semi retirement mode after residency, make 150K working 20 hrs a week in most fields.
For my kids, I think it is a great idea. For others, just make sure you have your eyes wide open before jumping in. It could be worse.

Will you adopt me? I would call you daddy for a unicorn job.

 

[mheat3]

My degree was in Engineering so Physics and Ochem was a breeze. I made an A in both without much effort b/c they just all made sense.

Teach your kids to learn how to study and learn how to learn, then these classes becomes a cakewalk.

As someone with young kids can we get some specifics about this teaching?

 

[BoardingDoc]

As someone with young kids can we get some specifics about this teaching?

I'm not going to presume to be an expert in teaching, but I've always found that making sure that people are learning WHY something works the way it does instead of HOW it works is always superior. Learning how something works is like rote memorization. If you forget it later, you're f***ed. If you understand why things work the way they do in an abstract way, you can always figure out how some specific thing works later / re-derive a formula on your own / etc.

 

[carw1801]

As someone with young kids can we get some specifics about this teaching?

I think they are referring to active vs. passive studying. By default, we are all taught that we should "read" but reading does not equal learning. For example, you will not become an expert in biology by reading a textbook front to back even if you do it twice. But if you study what you need to study for a test, you will pass the class with a high grade which tells the admissions committees and people who hand out grades that you understand the material.

It took me a while to figure that out.

 

[Birdstrike]

As someone with young kids can we get some specifics about this teaching?

You didn't ask me, but I'm going to chime in anyways.

What I told my kids about school, when they were little was this, "Do your homework daily and study for your tests. That's all you have to do. The grades will be what they will be."

It's the system, that's more important (consistent studying), than a single grade on a test or even an entire class. Now they're in high school and are 95+ percentile on everything, will graduate with 2 years college credit and can get into almost any college they could ever want to go to.

You're intelligent, so your kids likely will be too. If they have a system of consistently doing their daily homework and studying for their tests, the rest will take care of itself. One assignment, one grade, doesn't matter. It's retaining the knowledge and the body of work. Perfection of results is not the goal; and effective system is the goal.

Do your homework daily. Study for your tests. That's it.

Also, keep them in a sport, any sport they want, to get them off their phones and move their bodies. This is more important now, than ever.

 

[emergentmd]

As someone with young kids can we get some specifics about this teaching?

I am an engineer by trade so its just how my mind thinks. I was once someone who just listened to the teacher, copy what she said was right, did the questions, then got a good grade. Once things became complicated and nuances stated to be part of the questions, this became a struggle of frustration. Once I figured out how to study, esp in math/science and much less in something like anatomy, math and science became extremely easy. Easy to the point where I ended up being a top 2 Engineering student in my whole college at a well known large engineering school.

I teach this to my kids early on and they hate me when I force them study this way. They get frustrated for a few weeks and then everything becomes easy. They then start to be the teachers to their friends. Either they get frustrated early or get frustrated 100x later.

Teachers teach how to do something. The HOW is easy, very easy. The why is hard. Once I learned the why, the how came with it.

As an example. We know 3/4 divided by 1/2 is the same as 3/4 x 2. That is the how but few know why this is allowed. It is allowed and makes sense because dividing by 1/2 is the same as multiplying the same equation by 2/2. The bottom cancels out leaving 3/4x2.

I can go on and on but I always teach why. I don't care if they get the answer right, I care that they think through why their solution is allowed.

I remember when I was in HS, and they taught the Pythagorean theorem. I spent a whole day proving that it works, and I learned more doing that than anyone could imagine.

Another point is calculus. People understand how to do differential equation and integration but very few know why you need to do it. Or what they are solving for. Differential equation gives the velocity at any point on a curve which helps physics problems. Integration is the volume under a curve with set limits which helps to solve physics problems. NO teacher really teaches this. They teach how, not the why.

Teach the why and they will remember it forever and love math/science. Teach the how and they will forget it in a year with a hate for math. To this day, even though I have not touched calculus or physics in 30 years can still solve most problems.

I took Org Chem I as a prereq for med school, got a high A. Got into med school so just needed to pass Org Chem II before med school. Never step foot in class but for exams. Took the Org Chem II exams with Org Chem I knowledge. Got a high B as most Org II questions can be deduced with strong Org I knowledge. Same goes for all math/science. Spend time to build an extremely strong base and will save you countless hours later on.

 

[emergentmd]

I'm not going to presume to be an expert in teaching, but I've always found that making sure that people are learning WHY something works the way it does instead of HOW it works is always superior. Learning how something works is like rote memorization. If you forget it later, you're f***ed. If you understand why things work the way they do in an abstract way, you can always figure out how some specific thing works later / re-derive a formula on your own / etc.

Exactly. You remember why. You forget How. The Why is how you build real knowledge. The How is what you study for and forget.

Schools teach How because its the easy way to teach and path to get good grades but is detrimental 2 yrs down the road. Throw a never seen problem at a How kid and they will get frustrated. Throw it at the Why kid and they will flourish.

This mindset helps throughout your life. I enjoy playing Poker and win about 80% of the time. Its easy to open up a book and learn How to play poker. The better players know the Why b/c all situations are different. Be a robot and get killed in poker no matter your strategy. The Why player will eat you alive.

 

[Splenda88]

I am an engineer by trade so its just how my mind thinks. I was once someone who just listened to the teacher, copy what she said was right, did the questions, then got a good grade. Once things became complicated and nuances stated to be part of the questions, this became a struggle of frustration. Once I figured out how to study, esp in math/science and much less in something like anatomy, math and science became extremely easy. Easy to the point where I ended up being a top 2 Engineering student in my whole college at a well known large engineering school.

I teach this to my kids early on and they hate me when I force them study this way. They get frustrated for a few weeks and then everything becomes easy. They then start to be the teachers to their friends. Either they get frustrated early or get frustrated 100x later.

Teachers teach how to do something. The HOW is easy, very easy. The why is hard. Once I learned the why, the how came with it.

As an example. We know 3/4 divided by 1/2 is the same as 3/4 x 2. That is the how but few know why this is allowed. It is allowed and makes sense because dividing by 1/2 is the same as multiplying the same equation by 2/2. The bottom cancels out leaving 3/4x2.

I can go on and on but I always teach why. I don't care if they get the answer right, I care that they think through why their solution is allowed.

I remember when I was in HS, and they taught the Pythagorean theorem. I spent a whole day proving that it works, and I learned more doing that than anyone could imagine.

Another point is calculus. People understand how to do differential equation and integration but very few know why you need to do it. Or what they are solving for. Differential equation gives the velocity at any point on a curve which helps physics problems. Integration is the volume under a curve with set limits which helps to solve physics problems. NO teacher really teaches this. They teach how, not the why.

Teach the why and they will remember it forever and love math/science. Teach the how and they will forget it in a year with a hate for math. To this day, even though I have not touched calculus or physics in 30 years can still solve most problems.

I took Org Chem I as a prereq for med school, got a high A. Got into med school so just needed to pass Org Chem II before med school. Never step foot in class but for exams. Took the Org Chem II exams with Org Chem I knowledge. Got a high B as most Org II questions can be deduced with strong Org I knowledge. Same goes for all math/science. Spend time to build an extremely strong base and will save you countless hours later on.

I don't even think most of these kids' teachers understand the "why"?

 

[Frazier]

My daughter is 17 and applying to college. For the longest time she was adamantly undecided on career. All of a sudden, not only is she saying she wants to go to medical school, she’s applying to an accelerated pre-med to MD program (7 years combined, med school acceptance guaranteed, no MCAT needed). Her GPA and SAT are very, very high.

I have never once told her to do Medicine and in fact have encouraged her to think widely about very diverse career options.

What should I tell her?

I think it's great.
While I won't pressure any of my kids into medicine, I'd be very happy if they decided to consider/pursue it.
They will have a decent leg-up with satisfaction regarding their choice given that a parent went through it and can give [hopefully] trusted insight regarding specialty choice. You know your kid, their interests, their personality -- "hey, consider XYZ" or "yeah XYZ is a cool specialty, but just know you will need to be okay with 123", etc... it is easy for someone to roll their eyes at strangers on the internet telling them "don't do surgery unless you wouldn't be happy doing anything else" or "stay away from EM"... but we can provide a firsthand account/personal experiences as to pros/cons of the profession tailored to our kids as individuals.

I could see how other docs might have very different outlooks depending on where they stand on the burn-out spectrum.
While I found medical school, residency, and fellowship overall experiences worth pursuing -- I wouldn't necessarily want to relive them again a second time... but once is enough.

Came out on the other end working tame hours, seeing <8 patients per day, Fridays telemed from home, no call, plenty of time off, and making a very decent income that allows for my spouse to stay home to run the household and orchestrate day-to-day life for kids. Ultimately, we live comfortably. We aren't rich, but I also don't dread going to work. Not on course to FIRE, but I'll retire at 60 being able to replicate my projected full-time annual income passively at a SWR... I guess retiring at 60 will be FIRE in future decades, given trends. An added perk is that it's also a job I could do until 70+ if I really wanted to for some reason.

It was worth it overall and I'd be pleased if it is worth it for one of my kids too.

Financially-speaking, as a parent, future me won't be happy. I'd plan to help them out so they are dealt the same hand I was regarding the cost of school. I could have very well been whistling a different tune today if I was forced into >300k+ debt. The comfort outlined above would be absent for 10+ years post-grad...that's a long time to sacrifice financially beyond medschool/residency/fellowship. I can't say that I would be anywhere near as happy with my life decisions in that scenario.

 

[Ubba]

My daughter is 17 and applying to college. For the longest time she was adamantly undecided on career. All of a sudden, not only is she saying she wants to go to medical school, she’s applying to an accelerated pre-med to MD program (7 years combined, med school acceptance guaranteed, no MCAT needed). Her GPA and SAT are very, very high.

I have never once told her to do Medicine and in fact have encouraged her to think widely about very diverse career options.

What should I tell her?

Medicine remains a decent path for those with the intelligence and test-taking skills to match into the good specialties. Based on her testing history, she probably has the chops to get into Derm and the like.

 

[cyanide12345678]

I thought physics (especially physics 1) was worse than both orgo.

Eh….organic was always easy. Never understood the hype around it. Physics while harder, isn’t the worst thing out there.

Physical chemistry is the plague. Multivariable calculus sucked balls as well. But physical chemistry was a whole new level.

 

[GassYous]

Eh….organic was always easy. Never understood the hype around it. Physics while harder, isn’t the worst thing out there.

Physical chemistry is the plague. Multivariable calculus sucked balls as well. But physical chemistry was a whole new level.

That's because most people don't do physical chemistry or multivariable calculus.

 

[carw1801]

Eh….organic was always easy. Never understood the hype around it. Physics while harder, isn’t the worst thing out there.

Physical chemistry is the plague. Multivariable calculus sucked balls as well. But physical chemistry was a whole new level.

Do you feel that the multivariable calculus and the physical chemistry prepared you well for the medical school curriculum?

 

[imanurse]

And physics is easy if you can find a non Calc physics class

 

[carw1801]

My daughter is 17 and applying to college. For the longest time she was adamantly undecided on career. All of a sudden, not only is she saying she wants to go to medical school, she’s applying to an accelerated pre-med to MD program (7 years combined, med school acceptance guaranteed, no MCAT needed). Her GPA and SAT are very, very high.

I have never once told her to do Medicine and in fact have encouraged her to think widely about very diverse career options.

What should I tell her?

I'm going to go out on a limb and offer some very different advice based on some life experience.

If I had a daughter myself, I would tell her to go PA with the 2-year degree and then LIVE LIFE in her 20's! Tell her to see the world, make some memories, and meet a lot of people who you can build relationships and connections with during that decade.

Medical schools are not going anywhere and that experience from the 20's might even make them a better candidate and a better physician should then want to go from PA to medicine in the future.

But having the freedom to see the world in your 20's is something you will give up when pursuing medicine and something many people would find very valuable in the long-term. It's a perspective to think about.

I'm starting medical school in the fall in my late 30's but if I could go back to 16 or 17, I would have chosen either PA, perfusion, or nurse to NP and explored the world with the extra time and early money that those careers would provide.

 

[RustedFox]

Do you feel that the multivariable calculus and the physical chemistry prepared you well for the medical school curriculum?

Neither are useful. All the physics/chemistry that I've ever needed to understand was well-covered by bio, chem, biochem, and vanilla physics.

 

[carw1801]

Neither are useful. All the physics/chemistry that I've ever needed to understand was well-covered by bio, chem, biochem, and vanilla physics.

That is good to know.

 

[emergentmd]

I did engineering so I probably went further into math and science than most docs will ever sniff.

Two classes that kicked my butt was

#1 - Med school anatomy. The sheer boredom of memorizing useless stuff is mind blowing.
#2 - Mathematical Theory. I was a math major for one semester and very good at math but man, that class was difficult on another level. This class made me go back to Engineering.

 

[carw1801]

I did engineering so I probably went further into math and science than most docs will ever sniff.

Two classes that kicked my butt was

#1 - Med school anatomy. The sheer boredom of memorizing useless stuff is mind blowing.
#2 - Mathematical Theory. I was a math major for one semester and very good at math but man, that class was difficult on another level. This class made me go back to Engineering.

Do you feel that the extra math and science helped you in medicine?

 

[cyanide12345678]

I'm going to go out on a limb and offer some very different advice based on some life experience.

If I had a daughter myself, I would tell her to go PA with the 2-year degree and then LIVE LIFE in her 20's! Tell her to see the world, make some memories, and meet a lot of people who you can build relationships and connections with during that decade.

Medical schools are not going anywhere and that experience from the 20's might even make them a better candidate and a better physician should then want to go from PA to medicine in the future.

But having the freedom to see the world in your 20's is something you will give up when pursuing medicine and something many people would find very valuable in the long-term. It's a perspective to think about.

I'm starting medical school in the fall in my late 30's but if I could go back to 16 or 17, I would have chosen either PA, perfusion, or nurse to NP and explored the world with the extra time and early money that those careers would provide.

PA school is not 2 years. More like 3 years after undergrad. Just 1 year shorter than med school. Might as well do that extra 1 year of school to double your income. Sure there’s 3 years of residency at a minimum after, but that 1 extra year of education plus 3 years of having half the income of a PA results in several millions dollars of higher return. the quick and easy path to medicine is NP school.

Probably the best thing out there is being a crna.

 

[cyanide12345678]

Do you feel that the extra math and science helped you in medicine?

Lol. No.

 

[cyanide12345678]

Do you feel that the multivariable calculus and the physical chemistry prepared you well for the medical school curriculum?

Absolutely not.

Completely useless. Unless you go into maybe radiation oncology, then having a mathematical background might help a little.

The only thing that helps you do well in med school is actually studying - 5 ish hours a day on non exam week days and 10+ hours a day during exam weeks.

Med school success is really just hard work memorization. The curriculum isn’t exactly hard, it just requires a lot of time to memorize essentially.

Things like physical chemistry are just hard. You can spend 10 hours of your day to understand something and still not get it.

 

[carw1801]

Absolutely not.

Completely useless. Unless you go into maybe radiation oncology, then having a mathematical background might help a little.

The only thing that helps you do well in med school is actually studying - 5 ish hours a day on non exam week days and 10+ hours a day during exam weeks.

Med school success is really just hard work memorization. The curriculum isn’t exactly hard, it just requires a lot of time to memorize essentially.

Things like physical chemistry are just hard. You can spend 10 hours of your day to understand something and still not get it.

5 hours a day of studying in med school for the non-exam weeks is good enough?

Yeah, I know that feeling of studying hard and still not getting something. That was most of the non-bio prereqs for me lol.

 

[emergentmd]

95% of college classes doesn't help in med school Its just a weed out process to see who is able to put in the work.

I thought after HS and College, I mastered the art of getting good grades without working too hard. Once I figured out the art of "learning to learn", I thought med school was a breeze. I mean, I made high As throughout college in a major that most describe as one of the most difficult. How hard could it be?

Man, med school is a different beast. Its full on a memorizing battle of wills.

Doctors are not any smarter than anyone else. They just have built the will power to block out distractions and study like crazy. Now some have god given memorization abilities, but most just fight the fight. I mean, its not rocket science to figure out that this nerve innervates this muscle causing it to do something. It really super easy, but mentally difficult.

Give me anything with math/science, and I can figure it out faster than most.

 

[carw1801]

95% of college classes doesn't help in med school Its just a weed out process to see who is able to put in the work.

I thought after HS and College, I mastered the art of getting good grades without working too hard. Once I figured out the art of "learning to learn", I thought med school was a breeze. I mean, I made high As throughout college in a major that most describe as one of the most difficult. How hard could it be?

Man, med school is a different beast. Its full on a memorizing battle of wills.

Doctors are not any smarter than anyone else. They just have built the will power to block out distractions and study like crazy. Now some have god given memorization abilities, but most just fight the fight. I mean, its not rocket science to figure out that this nerve innervates this muscle causing it to do something. It really super easy, but mentally difficult.

Give me anything with math/science, and I can figure it out faster than most.

I agree with that. In your opinion, what is the purpose of college? Is it just a giant test to see if you can start something and finish something that most people can't do or shy away from?

 

[dozitgetchahi]

Do you feel that the multivariable calculus and the physical chemistry prepared you well for the medical school curriculum?

That’s the real point here.

Very little of this stuff translates into what you do in medical school, much less in day to day practice as a doctor.

The undergrad science classes that were helpful in medical school (in my case) were biochem, human anatomy, and some of the core biology classes that overlapped with physiology. Molecular genetics was a helpful class too.

The rest? Are any of you busting out paper to crank out integrals while you see patients? Does pchem do anything to help your ability to diagnose a patient?

No?

Thought so…

 

[carw1801]

That’s the real point here.

Very little of this stuff translates into what you do in medical school, much less in day to day practice as a doctor.

The undergrad science classes that were helpful in medical school (in my case) were biochem, human anatomy, and some of the core biology classes that overlapped with physiology. Molecular genetics was a helpful class too.

The rest? Are any of you busting out paper to crank out integrals while you see patients? Does pchem do anything to help your ability to diagnose a patient?

No?

Thought so…

One piece of advice I would give a younger student is to pick a major that they know they will do well in...no matter what it is. Don't major in bio or chem if you don't like those degrees. If I could do it again, I would have majored in political science and taken just the prereqs.

Struggling and losing your mind in the process over the GPA is not the right approach to college.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

One piece of advice I would give a younger student is to pick a major that they know they will do well in...no matter what it is. Don't major in bio or chem if you don't like those degrees. If I could do it again, I would have majored in political science and taken just the prereqs.

Struggling and losing your mind in the process over the GPA is not the right approach to college.

Which is what I did, actually.

Started as a chemistry BS major, ended as a polisci BA with minors in biology and chemistry. I took a lot of other classes in other fields, too.

 

[carw1801]

Which is what I did, actually.

Started as a chemistry BS major, ended as a polisci BA with minors in biology and chemistry. I took a lot of other classes in other fields, too.

You live and you learn and to go back to the original thread, this is the type of experience you have to pass down to your kids.

 

[cyanide12345678]

I agree with that. In your opinion, what is the purpose of college? Is it just a giant test to see if you can start something and finish something that most people can't do or shy away from?

95 percent of the world does not require an undergrad degree prior to medical school.

That’s a North American thing mostly.

Almost every one in the rest of the world goes straight from high school to medical school.

 

[carw1801]

95 percent of the world does not require an undergrad degree prior to medical school.

That’s a North American thing mostly.

Almost every one in the rest of the world goes straight from high school to medical school.

Really? I did not know that. That is crazy.

 

[cyanide12345678]

One piece of advice I would give a younger student is to pick a major that they know they will do well in...no matter what it is. Don't major in bio or chem if you don't like those degrees. If I could do it again, I would have majored in political science and taken just the prereqs.

Struggling and losing your mind in the process over the GPA is not the right approach to college.

Yes, exactly why i switched out of chemical engineering. My B in physical chemistry and calc 3 didn’t help my GPA. And i finally started questioning why the hell was i going through some of the hardest classes to get a college degree that i had no intention of using. It was the ‘backup’ mindset. My parents pushed me into having a backup in case i didn’t get accepted to med school. Took me 1.5 years to finally call my dad and be like ‘why won’t i get accepted?’ And switched to biochemistry, which is something i found easy vs hardcore math courses.

Do something easy. A higher gpa is more important than the actual major.

 

[cyanide12345678]

Really? I did not know that. That is crazy.

It’s not crazy. It’s the norm.

The British colonized most of the world, including the US. Almost all British colonies except the US follow the British curriculum and education system - which is med school straight after high school.

In pakistan, in high school you basically pick pre-med, pre-engineering, arts, or pre-business. You choose your life education pathway as a 15-16 year old 😂 and usually you follow through with it.

 

[cyanide12345678]

5 hours a day of studying in med school for the non-exam weeks is good enough?

That’s what i did. Graduated with a 3.9 gpa at UT southwestern. 1 B in surgery…. Because no one got an A in the rotations -_-

Exam weeks were 12 ish hours of studying