Starting Under-Grad, Need Help Evaluating My Goals

[DrBS]

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This is my first post on here, so please bear with me if I am saying anything wrong or in the inappropriate thread.

I'm currently in high school. I'm already accepted into Tulane University with a full merit scholarship which I'll be attending in the fall. Yes I know that I am young and that I will be told that repeatedly. That's aside the point. I have aspirations and goals that require a lot of planning.

For starters, please do not put most of your efforts in trying to sway me away from pre med or towards another field; I KNOW this is what I want to do.

Ok well to get into it, I had originally intended to major in bio chemistry or another science major which contains all the necessary premed courses, and minor in business for reasons I will mention shortly. Now I spoke with a Johns Hopkins rep who visited my school recently, and I basically interrogated him on what I should do to make myself an appealing applicant for med school in the future. He basically advised me that most applicants are science majors and it makes it difficult to stand out. So, he told me that if I have a passion in a different major that I should pursue it and maintain premed courses to show that I can handle doing both.

Now here is where I started to rethink things. To put things in short, I currently aim to double major in international studies & business and international development and someday become . Allow me to elaborate why I am resolute on this and becoming a doctor, more specifically a surgeon:

Ever since I was young, I'm talking middle school, I've always looked to the future and never really enjoyed the present. This led me to feel depressed at times. I've felt my existence to be unavailing. I go to school, college, work, raise a family, then die without so much as leaving even a minute mark on society. I was pushed even further into this melancholy state when my friend committed suicide a few years ago. The only thing that made me feel truly happy was helping those in need. My father is a rehab med doctor and he's always took action in helping anyone in the community and I've always known that is what I've wanted to do but on a larger scale.

So over the last year I've been looking into medical fields I'd be interested in and I've set my sights on surgery. I want to be able to help someone by more than just giving them a prescription or medical advice free of charge; I want to save lives. So this leads me to my business minor/major.

One of my goals is to open clinics in 2nd and 3rd world countries where there are less fortunate people who are oppressed or neglected. Some examples would be Gaza, Syria, Burma, etc. That is where I feel the business and international development majors will really benefit me. However, I actually want to take part in helping these people not just put others in a position to do so, hence the desire to become a surgeon as well.

So to summarize the whole post, I am currently considering a double major in business and international development while maintaining pre med courses to get accepted into a top med school, such as Johns Hopkins, to become a successful surgeon and humanitarian. If anyone could please evaluate these goals and offer any advice that may help me start to take steps to attain these dreams or a better direction towards it, I would be very grateful.

I apologize for the long post and thank anyone who had the patience to read it through. Thank you.

 

[Cidermonk]

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[Kelevra]

If you can maintain a great GPA, nobody cares what you major in.
If your GPA is complete crap, still, nobody will care what you major in.
If you hate your major, you'll likely be much less motivated. Keep in mind that you also need time for extracurriculars.

Get more exposure to medicine. Understand what exactly it means to be a surgeon. Are there other ways to help that don't involve medical school, residency, etc.? To add to that, what are the most pressing surgical issues in the areas you speak of? Do you want to be a surgeon for the specifics of the profession, or are there specific issues overseas that require surgical treatment that you wish to address? What are the cultures like? Are there areas in the US that are also severely underserved, especially with surgeons?

Also, understand what it means to be considered a "top" school (ie is it due to their education, their lunch menu, their research), and by whom they are ranked as so (do certain schools pay/have any conflicts of interest with companies/magazines that rank them?). Is that the the only way to achieve your goals? Understand what opening up many clinics and focusing on a business does to your time spent practicing medicine, especially surgery. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

I'm not swaying you. Frankly, I just don't care. But these are questions you should be asking, and then deciding for yourself whether these goals are okay. Anybody on here can give an opinion; the higher/ more right-shifted the aspirations, the more resistance you'll meet. That's only because you are not the first person with these goals. That's okay. None of us know what's going to happen in the future.

 

[DrBS]

I'm very doubtful towards you having enough exposure to medicine to already be choosing a speciality.

Also, don't aim so high (starting clinics in 3rd world countries) when you have yet to even take an intro level biology course.

First step: Focus on exposing yourself to medicine through volunteering, shadowing, and also enjoying and excelling in your prereqs.

Of course not, I'm merely expressing my interests and dreams. I know that I want to become a doctor for sure; I do not want anything more than this. I've grown up wanting to become one and it hasn't changed. Now I am fairly certain that my interest in specialty would be surgery but as you've said I do not have the experience to make an educated decision on that. I'm here to take steps early on to reach that point effectively, not to showcase knowledge or skills I do not have yet. I'm only 17 after all.

If you can maintain a great GPA, nobody cares what you major in.
If your GPA is complete crap, still, nobody will care what you major in.
If you hate your major, you'll likely be much less motivated. Keep in mind that you also need time for extracurriculars.

Get more exposure to medicine. Understand what exactly it means to be a surgeon. Are there other ways to help that don't involve medical school, residency, etc.? To add to that, what are the most pressing surgical issues in the areas you speak of? Do you want to be a surgeon for the specifics of the profession, or are there specific issues overseas that require surgical treatment that you wish to address? What are the cultures like? Are there areas in the US that are also severely underserved, especially with surgeons?

Also, understand what it means to be considered a "top" school (ie is it due to their education, their lunch menu, their research), and by whom they are ranked as so (do certain schools pay/have any conflicts of interest with companies/magazines that rank them?). Is that the the only way to achieve your goals? Understand what opening up many clinics and focusing on a business does to your time spent practicing medicine, especially surgery. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

I'm not swaying you. Frankly, I just don't care. But these are questions you should be asking, and then deciding for yourself whether these goals are okay. Anybody on here can give an opinion; the higher/ more right-shifted the aspirations, the more resistance you'll meet. That's only because you are not the first person with these goals. That's okay. None of us know what's going to happen in the future.

Very valid points. These are definitely questions that I need to consider and I acknowledge their importance. The benefit of the International Studies & Business program at tulane is that it basically requires studying abroad and thankfully the university has connections to many areas that would allow me to explore the answers to those questions. At this point in time, I feel like it is too soon to think about that however.

In response to the surgeon questions, it's quite a mix of both actually. I've been reading on the responsibilities of a surgeon in the field and I'm extremely interested in doing that in the future. The countries I've mentioned also have a desperate need for that sort of expertise as well. I will be going to Lebanon this summer hopefully. I will definitely take that opportunity to explore the "lower-class" area to see the struggles undergone by the people. Considering the civil war that occurred a few decades ago there, I am sure there will be individuals that will reflect the medical need in that area.

And by top school, I'm referring to the research opportunities, education, preparation, etc. Rankings aren't as important as the data they reflect. I do not just want to do my job, I would like to excel at it. I would like to receive the best education that I can help my self to get.

And yes you are also right. I live in a family with a doctor and professor for parents who had placed their expectations in the eldest; my older brother went from going into college majoring in chemisty with intention on following a pre med path to changing his major multiple times to now aiming for data management, so I understand that college will change a person's outlook on their future. But the thing is, and you will not know this since your opinion is unbiased by knowledge of me personally, but I am extremely determined. I've had these goals for many years and I will chase these convictions regardless of the difficulty I anticipate to face.

I really appreciate your scrutiny though, it was critical and provided me with another perspective to approach this from. Thanks.