Quote:
Originally Posted by SilverTrees
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!  |
To answer your questions, Silver, It's been almost a year since I am pondering over the question - Why did I not give the medical entrance examination? I am currently a BSc student waiting for the results of first year. Here we've MBBS system, meaning we enter medical college right after 12th grade/high school.
I'll be brutally honest here. I know medical college will not be a walk through the garden. I know it is going to be tremendously hard, and the job itself will also have the capability of breaking me. For me, oh my goodness, it won't be easy. Because I do not behave normally when I am under tremendous stress. I cannot handle stress. Despite that, I still want to be a doctor.
I am ready to try to get the highest grade ("O" here) in the university exams. I am ready to give it my best. Despite the fact that my health, in general, is poor. I do not have what a healthy teenager has. THAT is what that is holding me back from giving the medical entrance examination. After I give it, what am I supposed to do? Get into med school? But what from then? What if I don't make it? Wouldn't that be horrible and wouldn't I just have wasted years of my life?
As unfortunate as it is, I do not have the support of my parents. They unfortunately are ill as well. I am the only one getting treatment, my parents, although they need it as well (according to my observation) , do not want treatment from a psychiatrist. if only and only I had the support of my parents, I could honestly have been accepted in med school last year, and there would have been no regrets, belonging to my part. Since I do not have a support system, or at least support system consisting of first degree relatives, I am lost. That is what that is keeping me outside of medical college.
As for as why I want to be a doctor, the reason is simple.
- I want to enjoy the science behind medicine.
The "helping people" part is just a bonus. If I talk from a scientific perspective, every professional in science has to remain objective. They have to distance themselves from emotions and feelings and think only scientifically. They have to "completely remove the human" from themselves IF they want to achieve results. The quote is taken from Neil deGrasse Tyson, he was explaining the scientific method. I have used logic and I arrive at the conclusion that I need to remain objective before I even get into med school, if I want to make it as a doctor.
Is an MD the only answer? I have no idea. Scientifically talking, I have no idea.
So, I have two choices
1) Try to get into med school. Study for the medical entrance examination while doing my BSc course (if I don't get into med school, I don't want to ruin my career by throwing away my BSc education.) As of current, I have completed my first year and I am awaiting results. The thing I am grateful for is that I actually did well in the exams and I don't have to worry about failing the academic year. So if I go according to this plan, I will give the medical entrance examination just right after I finish my second year. If everything works out, I will not have to get admitted in the third year of my BSc course. I will get admission to MBBS instead.
2) Do not try going into med school and focus fully on the BSc course and then get a PhD instead. This was my current route up till the last couple of days or so.
As for why I was/am interesting in research instead of medicine, is because I originally wanted to be a doctor, could not, so I decided to write about science to help recover from the depression of not being able to have a career of my choice. So I instead started writing about pure science (chemistry, biology, physics, etc.) instead of medicine.
Thank you for taking the time to read. I'd love to hear an advise from you.