- Joined
- May 21, 2015
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 3
Did you grow up watching Scrubs, Greys Anatomy, and every ER show ever? Did you grow up in a family that supported you, but always expected the absolute best and held the highest known expectation for you? Did you even know in high school that you could become a pharmacologist, geneticist, or pathologist in high school or even that those paths were a thing?... probably not. You knew you wanted to be a medical doctor, and if you are anything like me, all of the above is true.
Being a doctor isn't simple as you can see from reading any two posts on these forums. In undergrad, I spent all of my time doing all of the necessary extracurricular activities and clubs, got involved in residence life and being a leader, getting internships, working as a medical assistant with direct-patient interaction, and studying a difficult discipline (biochemistry). Fortunately, I am coming from a family that will support me no matter what I choose to do, but since my sophomore year of high school I knew I wanted to go to medical school... or so I thought.
Come my junior year into senior year of college, my grades were honestly ok, but not nearly competitive enough to accomplish my goal of going to medical school. In my mind, I thought if I did good on the MCAT that I could go to medical school since my EC's were so good and my GPA was okay, but turns out I didn't do too well on the MCAT either. This left me between the proverbial rock and a hard place. I was depressed. Besides going through some especially tough personal issues besides school, I was facing the possibility and honest reality that my resume wasn't cut out for medicine.
Fortunately at this time, I was enrolled in a required distribution course for my major called Positive Psychology. The name of this course is pretty self-explanatory. The idea though is to really focus on your strengths and values and make sure they align with what you want. Today's doctor's lifestyle doesn't really match what I had in mind to begin with, but I fell so in line with the idea of becoming a doctor that I never thought anything else was possible until I really honestly considered my values. When I am 40 years old (I'm 23 now..), I want to come home to my children and wife, play catch in the back yard, and help them with their homework, not be stuck at a hospital.
This all in mind, I went to my academic dean and talked about what the hell I could do. At this point I was truly confused, upset, and desperately needed clarity. After talking about several different options from post-bacc, to SMP's, to working, to everything, we ended up on the goal of graduate school *dun,dun,dun...*. It was March of my senior year, and I just made a huge decision. Before I knew it, I went from thinking maybe I could be in my first year of medical school next fall to studying for the GRE and thinking about grad school. When my dean and I met next, we discussed disciplines to pursue. Once the word toxicology came out of our brain storming session, I was hooked..
Toxicology or the basic sciences of poisons goes far back but really only gained popularity in the last 60-70 years. Full disclosure, I attend St. John's University currently for toxicology and I am fully in love. I was so reluctant before coming here of whether I'd be in love. I am not religious, I am not some hopeless romantic who believes I will find my perfect fit in life in regards to a career someday, but toxicology is perfect. I get my fix of medicine, anatomy, physiology, critical thinking, research and knowledge that impacts people, and so much more. There is an incredible amount of possibilities open to me in my future and I really only figured this out until I came to terms with my failed goals of the past.
What I really want to get across with this is, yeah it sucks a whole ton to go to your family after YEARS of telling your family that you will go to medical school after college and let them know you now aren't going to do that, but once you get passed that it really is okay. Whether you are supported or not by your family, YOU are the most important person in deciding what you will do in life. Do what makes you REASONABLY happy and makes you honestly fulfilled intellectually. Explore other paths, and don't just do something for the money. A lot of people don't even realize that being a doctor isn't the only way to make huge bunks. Come 15-20 years in industry, toxicologists can make more than an internist.
There are just so many factors to always incorporate in your decisions and its independent to your story. Don't just keep trying to be a doctor because you're "destined to become one". Life isn't easy and becoming a doctor isn't easy, but if you aren't confident that you are qualified for med school, maybe your skill set makes you very good at something else.
Spread out your possibilities and try everything. Don't settle, and don't be hopeless. There is an opportunity for you and you just need to let it happen naturally.
Being a doctor isn't simple as you can see from reading any two posts on these forums. In undergrad, I spent all of my time doing all of the necessary extracurricular activities and clubs, got involved in residence life and being a leader, getting internships, working as a medical assistant with direct-patient interaction, and studying a difficult discipline (biochemistry). Fortunately, I am coming from a family that will support me no matter what I choose to do, but since my sophomore year of high school I knew I wanted to go to medical school... or so I thought.
Come my junior year into senior year of college, my grades were honestly ok, but not nearly competitive enough to accomplish my goal of going to medical school. In my mind, I thought if I did good on the MCAT that I could go to medical school since my EC's were so good and my GPA was okay, but turns out I didn't do too well on the MCAT either. This left me between the proverbial rock and a hard place. I was depressed. Besides going through some especially tough personal issues besides school, I was facing the possibility and honest reality that my resume wasn't cut out for medicine.
Fortunately at this time, I was enrolled in a required distribution course for my major called Positive Psychology. The name of this course is pretty self-explanatory. The idea though is to really focus on your strengths and values and make sure they align with what you want. Today's doctor's lifestyle doesn't really match what I had in mind to begin with, but I fell so in line with the idea of becoming a doctor that I never thought anything else was possible until I really honestly considered my values. When I am 40 years old (I'm 23 now..), I want to come home to my children and wife, play catch in the back yard, and help them with their homework, not be stuck at a hospital.
This all in mind, I went to my academic dean and talked about what the hell I could do. At this point I was truly confused, upset, and desperately needed clarity. After talking about several different options from post-bacc, to SMP's, to working, to everything, we ended up on the goal of graduate school *dun,dun,dun...*. It was March of my senior year, and I just made a huge decision. Before I knew it, I went from thinking maybe I could be in my first year of medical school next fall to studying for the GRE and thinking about grad school. When my dean and I met next, we discussed disciplines to pursue. Once the word toxicology came out of our brain storming session, I was hooked..
Toxicology or the basic sciences of poisons goes far back but really only gained popularity in the last 60-70 years. Full disclosure, I attend St. John's University currently for toxicology and I am fully in love. I was so reluctant before coming here of whether I'd be in love. I am not religious, I am not some hopeless romantic who believes I will find my perfect fit in life in regards to a career someday, but toxicology is perfect. I get my fix of medicine, anatomy, physiology, critical thinking, research and knowledge that impacts people, and so much more. There is an incredible amount of possibilities open to me in my future and I really only figured this out until I came to terms with my failed goals of the past.
What I really want to get across with this is, yeah it sucks a whole ton to go to your family after YEARS of telling your family that you will go to medical school after college and let them know you now aren't going to do that, but once you get passed that it really is okay. Whether you are supported or not by your family, YOU are the most important person in deciding what you will do in life. Do what makes you REASONABLY happy and makes you honestly fulfilled intellectually. Explore other paths, and don't just do something for the money. A lot of people don't even realize that being a doctor isn't the only way to make huge bunks. Come 15-20 years in industry, toxicologists can make more than an internist.
There are just so many factors to always incorporate in your decisions and its independent to your story. Don't just keep trying to be a doctor because you're "destined to become one". Life isn't easy and becoming a doctor isn't easy, but if you aren't confident that you are qualified for med school, maybe your skill set makes you very good at something else.
Spread out your possibilities and try everything. Don't settle, and don't be hopeless. There is an opportunity for you and you just need to let it happen naturally.
