How di i know if going to pre-med and being a doctor is right for me?

Question

I am a bit unsure about this decision, and the time is comming close to decide....I was even thinking about law school. I'm confused, but my family wants me to be a doctor too. Any suggestions to how I can tell if I should take this path?

Answer 1

Well the first big no no is when you say "your family wants you to be a doctor"

This kind of decision should only be made by you.  Your parents could tell you what they think but ultimately don't let what they think influence the career that you choose for the rest of your life.

I'm a 3rd year pre Med student (preparing for my MCAT right now actually) and let me tell you first hand, life as a Pre-Med is not fun.  It consists of late night studying in the library, trips to Starbucks multiple times during the day to keep you awake, and the science classes are challenging.  Not only are the classes tough, you have to constantly keep up with extracurricular activities and volunteering on a daily basis to make sure your med school application shows how dedicated you are to helping others.  Who would go through all this only to get into another 4 year school afterwards?  a true Pre-Med.  Because if your heart is not in it, most likely you will stray and waste two years of college taking science classes.  About half of the entering class drop out of PreMed after a year because they just can't take the pressure.  It's hard but the thing that keeps most pre meds going is just that they know that this is what they want and they will do anything to get to their goal of becoming a physician someday.

As far as knowing if it's the right path for you, I didn't know that I wanted to become a doctor until I got to college so you're never too late to figure out what you want to do even in college.  Why I knew:  I took a semester without any science classes and I hated it.  Even though classes were tough, I missed those classes dreadfully and I missed having that opportunity to learn about science as much as I can.

Another reason:  volunteering at the hospital and shadowing doctors,  See if you like the hospital environment and shadow doctors to see what they actually do on a daily basis and ask yourself if you would be happy doing it.  Most likely if you find yourself addicted to the hospital and everything in it: patients, and doctors as well, you are fascinated medicine and will do well because you have that motivation that will keep you going in times when you want to just give up.

Good luck.

Answer 2

How bad do you want to be a doctor ? Remember there's 4 years of college, 4 years of med school and 2 years of intern.

Make sure that's what you want before starting college for it.

Good luck.

Answer 3

I trust that you know that you are blessed to have these options.

Your answer may be a concept called "thin slicing" as described in the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

Basically you must determine if medicine is a calling or if it's a field to which many external influences have directed you. Summery - you may be thinking too much.