No more Pre-Medical for me

Started by Arijos0222
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Arijos0222

Arijos0222

"The Opportune Moment"
10+ Year Member
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I have made a decision and I have decided not to pursue the Pre-Medical track. After a lot of shadowing, I have realized that medicine simply isn't for me. Not because of hours, type of work, lowering salaries, etc., but more of a gut feeling. I have been on the track towards medicine for a while, and as awe inspiring as medicine is, I do not feel like it will give me what I want in life.

I feel that I want to do something hands on, and that will allow me to really start from scratch, develop new things, and not have clinical distractions and priorities.


I will hopefully apply to these school in the fall:

1. Rutgers
2. Rowan
3. UMass Amherst
4. Fordham
5. SUNY- Binghamton
6. Worcester Institute of Technology
7. Georgia Institute of Technology
8. Purdue
9. Rochester Institute of Technology

I am saddened that I have changed my mind, but I feel this is the absolute best thing for me to do and the experiences i've had with shadowing really made this decision a lot easier for me and i'm very happy I did so during my high school career.

My top choice is Georgia Tech, as I will be applying to the College of Engineering.

I wish you all the best luck on your journeys.

Don't worry, i'll still be posting, though 😉
 
Arijos0222 said:
I have made a decision and I have decided not to pursue the Pre-Medical track. After a lot of shadowing, I have realized that medicine simply isn't for me. Not because of hours, type of work, lowering salaries, etc., but more of a gut feeling. I have been on the track towards medicine for a while, and as awe inspiring as medicine is, I do not feel like it will give me what I want in life.

I feel that I want to do something hands on, and that will allow me to really start from scratch, develop new things, and not have clinical distractions and priorities.


I will hopefully apply to these school in the fall:

1. Rutgers
2. Rowan
3. UMass Amherst
4. Fordham
5. SUNY- Binghamton
6. Worcester Institute of Technology
7. Georgia Institute of Technology
8. Purdue
9. Rochester Institute of Technology

I am saddened that I have changed my mind, but I feel this is the absolute best thing for me to do and the experiences i've had with shadowing really made this decision a lot easier for me and i'm very happy I did so during my high school career.

My top choice is Georgia Tech, as I will be applying to the College of Engineering.

I wish you all the best luck on your journeys.

Don't worry, i'll still be posting, though 😉
Click to expand...

Good luck with your endeavors. Do what makes you happy 👍
 
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serenade said:
Well, do what makes you happy for sure. But what exactly is it that you want out of life?
Click to expand...

OP is probably an 18 years old. I didn't really want to do pre-medical track (just been following it) but I've realized I really want to become a doctor now at 20 years old. I was contemplating switching over to engineering in freshman year.
 
Dreamstoo said:
OP is probably an 18 years old. I didn't really want to do pre-medical track (just been following it) but I've realized I really want to become a doctor now at 20 years old. I was contemplating switching over to engineering in freshman year.
Click to expand...

Completely understandable, I myself went through multiple switches and periods. But still I enjoy probing people's views on what they want to do with their life.
 
serenade said:
Well, do what makes you happy for sure. But what exactly is it that you want out of life?
Click to expand...

I don't exactly want to "save the world a little bit" on a smaller scale (one person at a time)

I want to focus strictly on research and other things that can allow me to help and change millions of lives. Also, I am not into the human sciences such as biology, chemistry etc. I'm more into physics and math and the application of technology. Physicians use things that Physicists and Engineers have constructed and pioneered every day, and I think that a greater ranger of people will benefit from things I could potentially help develop or invent in the future.

I really found this passion when I was in the Young Scientist's program. We had to invent something that had practical, real world application. With a little help, I made a portable water filter that dispensed clean water out of a tap, mainly for impoverished countries. This took 4-5 months, but during these months I was consistently obsessed with everything having to be perfect. I would love to take the time out and work on it after my work and I would try to find other ways to perfect it and make it better. I have never felt this feeling before and it was such an amazing feeling to construct something with your own hands and mind to help a cause.

I will be taking the portable filter/dispenser to a remote village outside of the U.S.A. this summer, and it will be used to give water to the homeless and the poor.
 
Better to find out early than when you are half way through med school. Pursue what you think will make you happiest, that is all that really matters in the end.

Survivor DO
 
Best of luck man! It's okay as long as you don't leave us 😀 and like survivordo said, better to find out early 👍
 
AH~! Good luck! It's definitely a hard decision to opt of medicine. All the power to you, engineering is great field 🙂
 
Sounds like you've found your real passion. Good luck! Though honestly with your extracurriculars I think it is safe for you to apply to stronger engineering programs.
 
Hey man, good luck on whatever you want to pursue as long as it makes you happy. Dont leave us tho! We can use input from an engineer. Take care brotha.
 
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serenade said:
Sounds like you've found your real passion. Good luck! Though honestly with your extracurriculars I think it is safe for you to apply to stronger engineering programs.
Click to expand...

I looked at the rankings and I'm sort of dismissing them. I'm going headfirst into this and obviously as an engineer won't be making as much as a physician so costs is playing a big part now, so i'm putting that as a priority first and I will try to be the best engineering student I can be so that when grad school comes, I will be in good shape.

Rutgers is ranked 48th, Rowan is ranked 16 in the Master's division north, Georgia Tech is 2nd in Mechanical Engineering (which is what i'm aiming for) but OOS is like 30K+ per year.
 
Arijos0222 said:
Thank you, and thank you to everyone who has shown their support! Same to all of you as well 👍
Click to expand...

Not that I don't support you and all that stuff, but there's no reason that you couldn't take a few pre-reqs your first year or two while also doing engineering. If you changed your mind before, you could surely change it again. The cool thing about the premed track is that you can major in whatever you want while you do it, which allows you to keep your options open.
/devilsadvocate
 
I wish you the very best of luck.
I feel medicine is the only thing I want to ever do in my life.
>I think about it a dozen+ times a day
>Hopefully this is something I can do. 🙂
Good luck to you, bro.
 
Yazo said:
I wish you the very best of luck.
I feel medicine is the only thing I want to ever do in my life.
>I think about it a dozen+ times a day
>Hopefully this is something I can do. 🙂
Good luck to you, bro.
Click to expand...

Only a dozen? Pfft... Sorry bro, you don't have what it takes...
 
For a successful guide/formula on how to become a physician, please refer to my "Ask a high school senior anything" thread. I have posted everything you need in order to successfully become a doctor. Have a nice day.
 
I'm glad that you are listening to your gut. You're experience shadowing truly puts into focus how important this aspect of pre-med life truly is. You're goals sound way more in line with a PhD researcher than an MD and even then something in the engineering field sounds more along your strengths. It takes a lot of guts to decide that medicine is not your best alternative.
 
I'm No Superman said:
Only a dozen? Pfft... Sorry bro, you don't have what it takes...
Click to expand...

Lol every minute I was taking a math class or some prereq that I did not like I thought the whole class about becoming surgeon. It's and it was excessive but at least helped to keep my motivation of doing great.
 
Hey man, I wish you luck! But I can almost guarantee you that you will probably change your mind. It's good that you have the general idea that you want to be in the field of medicine, so I say go to the university that offers you the more options. I'm in the Pre-Pharmacy program and I could have done 0-6 as Massachusetts School of Pharmacy but I did not want to commit myself since I am also setting my sight on Optometry. Best to keep options open.

You'll probably also have a much broader opportunity to experiment the in-and-outs of the medical field once in university. I unfortunately do not have the opportunity to shadow (considering I'm moving this summer and South Nassau filled up rather quickly), but as a college student more options should be available.

"I want to focus strictly on research and other things that can allow me to help and change millions of lives. Also, I am not into the human sciences such as biology, chemistry etc."

Perhaps a Medical Scientist then? All the Pre-Health fields are heavily involved in Biology and some more than others, chemistry. What you want to do sounds very noble, have you checked out Peace Corps or Americorps to explore those sorts of options?
 
I'm No Superman said:
Not that I don't support you and all that stuff, but there's no reason that you couldn't take a few pre-reqs your first year or two while also doing engineering. If you changed your mind before, you could surely change it again. The cool thing about the premed track is that you can major in whatever you want while you do it, which allows you to keep your options open.
/devilsadvocate
Click to expand...

I have thought about that, however my GPA would probably not be good enough for MD (maybe even DO) admission because I've talked to a lot of engineering students and pre engineering students and most of them get from 3.0-3.3.... I'm sure engineering majors would fair well on the MCAT though :naughty:

I would think I wouldn't mind being a non-trad, so maybe i'll take the prereqs and I think I will take your advice, thank you. 👍
Fai said:
Hey man, I wish you luck! But I can almost guarantee you that you will probably change your mind. It's good that you have the general idea that you want to be in the field of medicine, so I say go to the university that offers you the more options. I'm in the Pre-Pharmacy program and I could have done 0-6 as Massachusetts School of Pharmacy but I did not want to commit myself since I am also setting my sight on Optometry. Best to keep options open.

You'll probably also have a much broader opportunity to experiment the in-and-outs of the medical field once in university. I unfortunately do not have the opportunity to shadow (considering I'm moving this summer and South Nassau filled up rather quickly), but as a college student more options should be available.

"I want to focus strictly on research and other things that can allow me to help and change millions of lives. Also, I am not into the human sciences such as biology, chemistry etc."

Perhaps a Medical Scientist then? All the Pre-Health fields are heavily involved in Biology and some more than others, chemistry. What you want to do sounds very noble, have you checked out Peace Corps or Americorps to explore those sorts of options?
Click to expand...


No I haven't thought about the Peace Corps or Americorps... How would these programs help me to help others? I'm not too familiar with these programs.

I also was very close to accepting a BS/MD spot but I chose to keep my options open as well, good for you with keeping your options open.
 
Fai said:
Hey man, I wish you luck! But I can almost guarantee you that you will probably change your mind. It's good that you have the general idea that you want to be in the field of medicine, so I say go to the university that offers you the more options. I'm in the Pre-Pharmacy program and I could have done 0-6 as Massachusetts School of Pharmacy but I did not want to commit myself since I am also setting my sight on Optometry. Best to keep options open.

You'll probably also have a much broader opportunity to experiment the in-and-outs of the medical field once in university. I unfortunately do not have the opportunity to shadow (considering I'm moving this summer and South Nassau filled up rather quickly), but as a college student more options should be available.

"I want to focus strictly on research and other things that can allow me to help and change millions of lives. Also, I am not into the human sciences such as biology, chemistry etc."

Perhaps a Medical Scientist then? All the Pre-Health fields are heavily involved in Biology and some more than others, chemistry. What you want to do sounds very noble, have you checked out Peace Corps or Americorps to explore those sorts of options?
Click to expand...

btw why did you choose University of Colorodo if you're in New York? I would've chose SUNY Binghamton or Stony Brook to be honest.
 
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I'm No Superman said:
I can think of 420 reasons
Click to expand...

awkward, i spelled colorado incorrectly before.

Anyway, it's almost 30K a year and if the person did get scholarships it's still a lot of money to tack on assuming said person gets into professional school.

Are you an OOS Mich student? I wanted to apply but it would be like 45K+ and I can afford it but it's way too much imho.
 
Arijos0222 said:
awkward, i spelled colorado incorrectly before.

Anyway, it's almost 30K a year and if the person did get scholarships it's still a lot of money to tack on assuming said person gets into professional school.

Are you an OOS Mich student? I wanted to apply but it would be like 45K+ and I can afford it but it's way too much imho.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's ridiculously expensive.
 
Arijos0222 said:
why would you put yourself through the anguish?! :scared:

I'm planning to move to florida and take advantage of that $5000 dollar in-state :naughty:
Click to expand...

Because it's where I wanted to go, and my parents said they would pay for four years of my post high school education.
 
I'm No Superman said:
Because it's where I wanted to go, and my parents said they would pay for four years of my post high school education.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see. my parents said something similar however I told them if they really wanted to help me, they should put that money into my Roth IRA and bank account (not joking). Componud interest does wonderful things! 😉
 
Looks like nysegop matured! Haven't heard of or about him in a while.

*Insert AMAZING nysegop entrance here*
 
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Jpatel2018 said:
Haha, you turnt?
Click to expand...

understatement
:horns::banana::zip::banana::zip::banana::horns:
tumblr_lz1877GEZu1r0ncmbo1_500.gif
 
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