Too late to leave?

[Orange97]

I know this has been a common type of post but really unsure of what to do now in med school and in life in general. Currently I'm a M3 wanting to do Ob/gyn but didn't pass step 1 (P/F version) last year. It was mentally taxing to get over it and drove my anxiety through the roof and impacted my confidence to take shelfs (I didn't fail a rotation and have stellar MSPE comments for each). I've had multiple publications in top medical journals outside Ob though and a ton of volunteering and leadership roles. Reflecting back I think a mixture of putting too much on my plate plus a significant family death overwhelmed me first 2 years of med school and pushed me away from the classroom. I have gone through multiple therapy sessions for my anxiety which has helped me quite a bit.

I'm putting all energy into studying but the motivation to keep going has evaporated greatly. I come from a STEM background and consider leaving to do another career in my field everyday. It actually makes me upset how happy classmates can be in lectures or clinic and I'm here miserable. I really want to do Ob which has partially kept me going this year because before I was aimlessly going through med school to make my parents happy which in hindsight is a weak reason to do med school. I constantly jump between to keep going and realizing the step 1 fail is a red flag which demotivates me. Appreciate any advice.

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[Med Ed]

If I were you I would start by abandoning ob/gyn as a specialty choice. You've got a red flag, anxiety, and you don't sound very happy, and your plan is to pursue a competitive field where the residents tend to be high anxiety and not very happy. If you stay on this path I would have serious concerns about your future mental health.

To what extent have you considered other fields? There are a lot of specialties and niches in medicine that you don't get exposure to during M3. I suggest you go back to the drawing board and look at other options with fresh eyes.

You can always move into a non-clinical career, but at this point you should definitely graduate. Do a 3-year IM residency and the world would be your oyster should you want to go work in pharma, for a medical device company, do public health/policy, healthcare admin, etc.

 

[M&L]

I would consider pathology . You can do pathology and be a scientist essentially .