Hello The Lonely Chemist. I am sorry you didn't get into medical school. Is this recent news for you or have you been thinking about it for a while?

Being a doctor is one of the most stressful, tiring, draining, confusing jobs that a human can do. And that's after many years of studying and no money and clinical rotations etc. Then that is followed by carrying the responsibility of whether other people live or die. Not five days a week. Not days only. Day and night. Weekends. Holidays. An honest physician will tell you that the tremendous responsibility does not lift until they retire.

As you ponder over this disappointment, I encourage you to think about why you want to be a doctor. There are many paths in life....and there are many routes to fulfilling a particular goal or need or hope.

I don't know your psychiatrist and I don't know you. But I can tell you that stable mental health is essential to completion of medical school and successfully practicing as a physician whether as a GP or surgeon or another specialty. Perhaps that is your psychiatrist's concern, I don't know. Being a doctor is very, very stressful. It is not at all as it appears on TV or how it is often imagined.

When I read your previous posts and thoughts and interest in science, you struck me as someone interested in scientific research. Obviously a different avenue from med school though still related to the medical field. Have you considered it?

When you get down to the grit, med school is about straight As in tough classes, resilience, long days and nights for many years, stress, intense responsibility, growing financial debt, and eventually working a job where it is normal to be sued at least a few times. Is that what you truly want in life?

Write it down. Write down why you want to be a doc. Then give it some thought. What is it that you're seeking in Life? In one sentence. What would that be? Is becoming a MD the only answer to that sentence?

I wish you peace, hope, and a bright future. It may not feel like it now but disappointments are often guides toward our true path in life. May it happen for you!