Help? i want to be a doctor?

Question

Hi, i really want to be a doctor but for me getting there is going to be a h**l of a road trip but i am willing to take it, i left school at 14 but that wont hold me back i am going to do my GCSE's now at the age of 16 i hate for people to say that i left school gives me less chance it just makes me wants this more, also i am going to volunteer helping young disabled children for a week on the holidays 4 times a year atleast,also looking at every path possible i have bought medical school books etc.

Really i want someone to tell me how it is? how hard is it?.

also in A LEVELS,

what do i take AS,A?? not sure also what is a AAB

thank you so much!!

Answer 1

Medical school doesn't really look at your high school performance.  I guess your main goal right now is to get into college and do well there.  You should aim for a 3.5 GPA at a university or a 4.0 at a community college.  The medical school books won't do much for you at this time, unless you simply find the information contained therein to be interesting.  The volunteer experience will be good; just stick with it and be consistent at providing service in some way.

Medical school is challenging; not that it is extremely difficult to learn the material, but there is just SO MUCH to learn in four short years.  I am in my first year, and I'm in class pretty much M-F from 8-5.  Then I'm supposed to study on my own time.

I have no idea what you mean by "A LEVELS", "AS,A", and "AAB".  Never heard of them.  Could you please clarify?

Answer 2

...A Levels means he's from the UK...

Medical school is one of the most difficult schooling there is, period. Difficult because of the informational overload, and sleep deprivation (which is required in the false assumption a doctor thinks better while stressed. In the US they're finally cutting down on the 36hr on-call residency madness, as it's causing deadly mistakes. Docs on 36hr calls in 1950 often were sleeping at night even in busy metro hospitals. Today, even rural hospitals are busy 24/7. It had to stop, if for anything lawsuits [residents are immuned, but not the hospitals]).

First year is where they separate the wheat from the chaff, and about 50% of the freshmen med class is eliminated by years end. Then the second major cut comes at the JMS (Junior medical student) year. By the senior year only about 25% of your 180 or so member class survives the rigors.

It's not just book learning that will wear you down. It's concepts like disassociating from patients (as a doc is no good when they're emotionally involved with a patient that can die). This is but one reason they cram gross anatomy in the first year, because if you can't get over literally skinning a cadaver down to it's very bones (including dissecting the eyeballs), you'll never make it.

So if you want to be a MD, yes, academics is important but it's but half of what's needed to even get through med school *and* residency (in the US, to be a specialist, and not just a GP, it takes 12 years of schooling [4 years for a Bachelor's degree; 4 years med school; 4 years residency]). There's even talk now of extending med school to 6 years -- and it's seriously needed, since the work load is so much now that students don't even get a good lesson on basic bed side manners. New docs are tech heavy; innovative and having that human touch, light.

Best thing you can do is get into a medical school library, and literally camp there and study everything you can get your hands on. They're often open late at night (one in my city stays open to 12am, even), so you can fit in some time after school. Hit all the anatomy atlases you can find, let alone orthopedics (Wheeler's is online to browse), and invest in a good Blackwell dictionary. From there, get into college and take the necessary pre-med courses, and take an extra load in biolology and humanities (med school wants well rounded candidates, not just lab junkies).

Known a lady MD who didn't finish med school until she was in her 40s (she was a zoologist major), so you don't even have to rush. Just make some solid and sound class and study choices now to lighten your load later. Memory exercises will also help, as patients detest a resident thumbing through a PDR before them.