Questions from a Middle-Schooler

[Honeey]

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Okay so.. I'm going to high school next year and I want to fully decide on a career so I start on the right path and not be all confused and mixed up on what I want to be in the later years. I have a few questions so if you guys would reply it would be verry helpful 🙂!!

- Is becoming a doctor that hard?
I was researching a few places and people always claim that becoming a doctor is hard. You always have to take calc.,chemistry, over and over again its really stressful to keep your grades high in them. I'm only average in my studies right now so should I bother - what if it will be too hard for me in the future and I fail?

The only thing that keeps me back from choosing the line of a doctor is what if I end up failing in it. I mean it takes a lot of time,money (med school) to meet the requirements to become one and I'm worried that I won't. I probably imagine myself studying for hours and hours and hours every single night and then getting nowhere in my studies.

-Does it take too long to become a doctor?
It's like 9 or 7 years I think. Does that mean I spend that whole 9 year studying night after night? D:

- I can't stand seeing overly - bloody things ( like in horror movies when people get wounded or stabbed) I get dizzy , can I still become a doctor?

I know these questions might sound stupid and childish, but I just want to have clear answers so I know if I can really become a doctor or choose a different career path.

 

[Law2Doc]

Okay so.. I'm going to high school next year and I want to fully decide on a career so I start on the right path and not be all confused and mixed up on what I want to be in the later years. I have a few questions so if you guys would reply it would be verry helpful 🙂!!

- Is becoming a doctor that hard?
I was researching a few places and people always claim that becoming a doctor is hard. You always have to take calc.,chemistry, over and over again its really stressful to keep your grades high in them. I'm only average in my studies right now so should I bother - what if it will be too hard for me in the future and I fail?

The only thing that keeps me back from choosing the line of a doctor is what if I end up failing in it. I mean it takes a lot of time,money (med school) to meet the requirements to become one and I'm worried that I won't. I probably imagine myself studying for hours and hours and hours every single night and then getting nowhere in my studies.

-Does it take too long to become a doctor?
It's like 9 or 7 years I think. Does that mean I spend that whole 9 year studying night after night? D:

- I can't stand seeing overly - bloody things ( like in horror movies when people get wounded or stabbed) I get dizzy , can I still become a doctor?

I know these questions might sound stupid and childish, but I just want to have clear answers so I know if I can really become a doctor or choose a different career path.

It's too early to worry about having what it takes to become a doctor before you even start high school. You need to take these roads one step at a time. Go to high school and do well, and then get into college and do well, and so on. As for how long it takes to become a doctor, for the traditional route you will finish high school, do 4 years of college, then 4 years of medical school, then 3-7 years of residency training (average is 4-5). Some folks will do a fellowship after this. And then you will be able to practice. The first two years of medical school are largely spent in the classroom and studying at night. The latter two years of med school, and all of residency, are going to be spent working in the wards of a hospital, caring for patients.

It's a long, hard path and one you needn't think too much about until you reach college. Just do your best at your current schooling and perhaps you will have doors open to you when the time is ripe to select a path. There are more years on the road to med school ahead of you than you likely have been alive, so it will be hard to conceive of the amount of work ahead, and shouldn't try.

 

[smq123]

I want to fully decide on a career so I start on the right path and not be all confused and mixed up on what I want to be in the later years. I have a few questions so if you guys would reply it would be verry helpful 🙂!!

🙂 It's okay to be confused and mixed up sometimes. That's part of life. You don't have to have your entire life planned out for the next 50 years - you'll always be growing, and learning, and changing, and that's great! Always staying the same and never changing is a little boring sometimes.

- I can't stand seeing overly - bloody things ( like in horror movies when people get wounded or stabbed) I get dizzy , can I still become a doctor?

When you get to the end of high school, and in college, you might want to volunteer in an emergency department or shadow a family doctor for a few days. If you really can't stand the sight of blood, or get really queasy when you watch people throw up, etc. - being a doctor is going to be a little tough for you. You might as well find this out earlier rather than later.

 

[bailey42]

Hey Honeey

It's great to hear you are thinking about becoming a doctor...I know that I started to become interested in medicine when I was only in middle school, too. My biggest advice to you, though, is to keep your mind open. A lot can change in the years between middle school and the time you are applying to med school, and by the time you get to college you may realize that you aren't even that interested in the life sciences anymore. I myself am only in high school, so the same can be said for me. Who knows, by the time I get to college I might completely change my mind! 🙂 But, if you know you want to become a doctor, just be sure that you know what's in store. It is an expensive, time-consuming process, but from what other doctors have told me, it is a very rewarding career. Try to sign up for a volunteer position at a hospital, or maybe ask a physician if you can shadow him or her.

Don't let worrying over what career you want to choose take away from having fun and enjoying middle school and even high school for that matter. Keep your options open, do well in school, volunteer, and if you get to college and still want to go into medicine, apply to med school!

 

[xnfs93hy]

🙂 It's okay to be confused and mixed up sometimes. That's part of life. You don't have to have your entire life planned out for the next 50 years - you'll always be growing, and learning, and changing, and that's great! Always staying the same and never changing is a little boring sometimes.



When you get to the end of high school, and in college, you might want to volunteer in an emergency department or shadow a family doctor for a few days. If you really can't stand the sight of blood, or get really queasy when you watch people throw up, etc. - being a doctor is going to be a little tough for you. You might as well find this out earlier rather than later.

It will be VERY tough for him/her. OP, do not worry about picking a career yet. Wait until you start high school before researching careers. People have said it is a good idea to volunteer and shadow, I personally think it is too early but I guess the OP can give it a shot.

 

[URHere]

- Is becoming a doctor that hard?

The path to medicine is time-consuming, emotionally challenging, and sometimes all-around draining. Is it impossible? No. If someone really has a passion for medicine then they will make it work. However, if you enter medical school with the medical profession up on a pedestal in your mind, or if you have unrealistic expectations about the prestige and power of it all, without some kind of real love for the field to back it up...then...well, medical school and residency will probably seem a thousand times worse.

My advice to you is to get out in the world and find out what you love. Don't start with the idea that you need to test drive a career in medicine. Go to high school and sign up for classes that are interesting to you, whether or not they have anything to do with medicine. Look at volunteer opportunities in your community (not just medical ones) and choose the ones that sound like the most fun to you. It is alright to do things just because you find them fun or inspiring - in fact, I personally believe that is the best possible way to figure out what you should be doing with your life.

There is absolutely no rush to decide on a career now. Heck, until a year before I applied to medical school, I thought that medicine was the last thing I would ever want to pursue. Play around, have fun. If medicine is the right thing for you, you'll come back to it naturally. 🙂