Having second thoughts about medical school-is it just the weed?

[chupanibre]

So I'll make a long story short. The past 3 and 1/2 years of my life I've wanted to be a doctor and have been going through the whole premedical process. I'm in my senior year of college and I interviewed at a few schools but it's really looking like I'm not gonna get in. For what it's worth I'm a good student and a strong applicant and have interviewed at a couple of really great schools, one being ranked in the top ten in the nation. I've basically been rejected by every school except for the top school I interviewed at and I'm not really banking on that one.

Where I'm going with this is I'm really starting to feel like this is the universe's way of telling me to do something else. I feel I've changed somewhere in the process of college in what I desire out of life. Now the idea of a great life is just going to work at a simple job with cool people, coming home and sparking up a bowl, eatin some badass food, hittin a late night sesh at the gym, and just getting laid every once in a while.

My roommate's telling me he thinks it's just because I've been smoking more than usual lately and it's affecting my drive for life. So what do you all think? Do you think smoking is making me not desire the things I truly want or is weed helping me see through all the bullshit and realize what I really want? I'm really debating whether or not I want to reapply if I don't get in or if I just wanna say fuck it and move to northwest or somewhere tight and get a job in a kitchen or something. I'd especially like to hear from some of the older people on the forum who may have once been in this situation before.

 

[sekio]

Follow your passions. That's all I can say; life is determined by you and you alone. It sounds like you're a bit conflicted w.r.t. whether to re apply or not - if you want to live the good life, by all means do so!

 

[Lucky Number 9]

Well I wanted to be a Doctor and I just kept smoking and smoking and my grades fell. But that doesn't mean it's the bud making me lazy. One of my friends stated that I was just finally becoming like everyone else and procrastinating.

Now the point is that which ever method it was, I don't care. I went to a uni open day to look at the medical course. There was so much fucking work to do. It was awful, I won't go into it, but everything about the course and the people put me straight off the idea. For me, the work wasn't worth cutting people.

So I find out about the Biosciences. Or more specificaly now; Biochemistry and molecular medicine. And I realised how much better this is for me. It's pretty much learning about how the body works on a celluar level and how we design drugs to comabt defects. (Which can lead to research into weed for medicinal purposes and so I can live the dream and do something with my life :D)

So do what you think's right. I didn't bother looking at other courses, 'cos I was so set on being a Doctor. Turned out, there was something better for me.

Yes weed may have lowered my grades. But in the end, I want to be happy, I couldn't be happy if all my life was spent working. In the end, only the government tells you ahciveing the higest you can is the only way to be content. Truthfully, you need to find a job you have a passsion for.
But I know how it is, it feels like a waste to look at any other job right? But using my Biochem as an example; after the first year I have an option to go and do medicine anyway, so there's always alternative routs, don't think you've failed just yet.

Good luck with that last application. But more importantly; good luck doing what you truly want to do.

 

[jam uh weezy]

Stop smoking for at least two weeks and see how you feel.

I'm might get some shit for this but I can say with almost 100% confidence that weed is influence your perceptions and goals in life. at least somewhat. It does that when you smoke a lot, and it's effect remains with you even when you're not high. I don't know a single stoner who is self-aware of how weed has affected them or continue to do so...maybe they just don't care.(and being high all the time they really dont). But ask almost anyone from a third perspective and they will say there is a close relation with their smoking habits and their actions/goals/motivation....

I know I sound like some sort of anti-smoking advocate, I'll admit there is some bias in my perspective..... but having been a 24-7 nonstop blazer for 4-5 years of my life, spending lots of time with many smokers both during and after I quit smoking weed habitually, alot of stoners and weed-culture annoy the shit out of me. Mainly the lack of self-awareness and defense of their habits they(and I) obliviously produce. But hey, "it's just weed...."



eh i've been up for too long and havent eaten forever...

 

[Lucky Number 9]

I would have called bullshit on that a week ago. But I've not smoked for a week and quite afew of my problems have faded.

 

[Vader]

Welcome to BL OP. In future, please give your threads descriptive titles. Have a read of the CD Guidelines (link in my sig).

 

[double ewe]

You have to be fully and completely committed to medicine to go to med school. Otherwise you will almost certainly be miserable.

That said, weed probably has a hand in your accepting attitude and relaxed expectations of yourself. Since this is such a pivotal time for you in terms of your future, it might be worth taking some time off just to see how Sober You feels about all this.

 

[chupanibre]

Sorry mod feel free to change the title if you can or want.

Well I think I'm gonna take some of the advice and take a couple weeks off from smoking. I don't wanna end up years into a completely different life then sober up at one point and be like wtf have I done.

I'll also admit that some of these feelings have arose from my despise for this whole getting into medical school process. At this point I know I could be happy for the next like 10 years of my life if I was just working in a kitchen somewhere and just hanging out and getting by but I just don't know how I will feel about it later in my life.

 

[Stonedface]

I'm sorry because you ask older people for advise yet I'm 18 and havent finished school yet. But is the possibility of you pursueing a chef career and later in life you find it was a bad decision so you go BACK and finish up your last year of med school out of the question? I mean you can always go back can't you? In say 5 years you see you made the wrong choice. Doesent seem like that bad of a decision but my mind boggles me if you haven't thought of that yet outa all the thinking I'm sure you do lol

Edit: but like others have said stop smoking for I'd say a good 3 weeks just to make sure your head is in the right place and then decide. Although don't think your thoughts are being controlled by weed, your thoughts are from your own head. It's not like the substance turns you into a couch potato robot lol...unless you let it

I notice that if I've been sober for like 3 or 4 days and then smoke I'll think why the fuck have I been doing this....or why the fuck did I do that. Weed seems to have put me into my right mind a couple times. Just thought I'd add that in

 

[Bricks & Stacks]

At this point I know I could be happy for the next like 10 years of my life if I was just working in a kitchen somewhere and just hanging out and getting by but I just don't know how I will feel about it later in my life.

Have you worked in a kitchen for a while and if so, did you work the line, prep, or what? As someone who graduated culinary school and worked in some of the nicest restaurants and country clubs in Pittsburgh I can tell you about half of the people I graduated with are no longer in the cooking industry. It may not be as stressful as being a doctor, but every single night of the week your under pressure, everything has to be done very quick and there's not much room for error. There's a reason there's so much drug-abuse among cooks/chefs. At one place I worked there would be like a line to one of the bathrooms sometimes because so many people would be in there snorting pills/dope or shootin' up and we would smoke weed by the dumpster every time the chef left.

I'm not trying to discourage you or anything I'm just saying definitely work in a few up-scale kitchens before you decide to make it your life. You can count on working every single friday and saturday night, almost always Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years/whatever else you might enjoy. The pay is shit unless you're the Chef/Sous Chef/GM and I've worked with guys who have been cooking 30 years and they're still just regular ass line cooks.

And I'm not saying med school would be easy and being a doctor not stressful, but I know the money is better in the end and if you're not a ER doctor or whatever your probably not workin til 1am on a Friday night or workin Thanksgiving Day. With all that said, sometimes cooking professionally is great and I keep my self motivated in the fact that I'm still young and believe I'll be a Chef at a smaller fine dining restaurant within the next 5 years and then just keep progressing from there.

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

You have to be fully and completely committed to medicine to go to med school. Otherwise you will almost certainly be miserable.

That said, weed probably has a hand in your accepting attitude and relaxed expectations of yourself. Since this is such a pivotal time for you in terms of your future, it might be worth taking some time off just to see how Sober You feels about all this.

Do what this guy suggests.

I never went to med school but I know people who have and it's very very very competitive and stressful. You could always go the other route like someone else suggested and do other things in the field of medicine that don't involve being a doctor.

Or you could do what a friend of mine did and she thought about going to either med school or dental school and she's now a dentist but I know not everyone wants to be a dentist or work with teeth.

If you want to be a chef or work with food it does not mean that you'll always wind up working in a kitchen. A friend of mine has worked as a chef, dietitian, and works in medical places planning meals for an entire hospital.

 

[AuraLee]

And I'm not saying med school would be easy and being a doctor not stressful, but I know the money is better in the end and if you're not a ER doctor or whatever your probably not workin til 1am on a Friday night or workin Thanksgiving Day.

The thing with being a doctor is that it takes years and years to get to the point where you have "normal" or "predictable" shifts. ER doctors aren't the only ones who have night shift - ever heard of on call? Every specialty in a hospital has an on call doctor over night, usually the intern. This involves being at the hospital all night, running from floor to floor. Of course there's the other type of on call, where you get to stay home and take phone calls and perhaps come in on an emergency call, but that's for the higher ups.

Also, you can go in for a 12 hr shift and still be there 24 hours later. It is a lot of work!


I would suggest that you need to have a real drive to go into medicine. And you need to be able to maintain that drive for at least a decade to get through all the training post graduation.

Nursing degrees are pretty hardcore these days, you could try that. Or some other type of medical/biochemical or pharmacy degree like 'lucky number 9' said.

I reckon that the weed would definitely be contributing to the lack of motivation or the 'laid-backness' you experience. Perhaps you are also just more philosophical and grown up.

What you need to do is have a real think about what you really want in life, what are you really interested in? There are many other careers that are medical/scientific/people contact that don't expect so much commitment as medicine.

It takes time to figure out what you want in life. Heaps of people change their mind several times and have several false starts before they find the right career or job. You're still young and it's never too late to change direction even when you're 40 or 50.

But seriously, weed does fuck with motivation. Not trying to be anti- but it's the truth. I used to be a heavy smoker too and you don't realise until you're straight!

 

[MrFaust]

If I were you I would totally quit for a month or two and see if youre still thinking that, and if you are then its not the weed.

 

[chupanibre]

Bricks and Stacks-Thanks for the input man I've never worked in a kitchen before (just love cooking) but a good friend of mine from high school is now a cook and he was telling me all the same things the other day. That's something I definitely needed to hear about.

Thanks everyone though for the input, there's been a lot of insight here. Well after just 3 or 4 days of not smoking I feel I got my head back on straight and I know medical school is still my aspiration. I spent some time in the library these past couple of days and it really reminded me how good being productive felt. I think it may have just been a combination of smoking more than usual and dwelling on not receiving any acceptances yet that was making me just want to give up. All in all if I don't get in I think it will be a good thing actually to have the year off to work while I reapply and really make sure this is what I want to do.

Weed is crazy, I definitely feel like it can put certain things in perspective for me but it can also make me a considerably different person than my sober self.

 

[onmyway]

med student here.

it is common to apply two years in a row. one problem that many applicants run into is not applying broadly enough. did you apply to any DO schools? how many state schools did you apply to? if you don't get accepted take this next year to beef up you application.

you can smoke weed and be a med student. you can go out with friends and enjoy your life. just think of it like a 50 hour a week job. you still find time to relax.

medicine is a wonderful field, and extremely flexible. you can find a way to work 30 hours a week if you want to, and still make great money. you can work anywhere in the US.

 

[mgrady3]

Some advice I was given 4-5 years back, take it to heart and really think about what YOU want to to:

My physics professor told our freshmen class (majority of whom were pre-med) on the first day of class freshmen year - "I know many of you are pre-med, physics is a great major for that track, however, I strongly encourage you to take some time alone and consider what it is you really want to do, not what your parents want you to do, not what society wants you to do. You should go to medical school if you want to be a doctor to help people, not because your parents want you to be a doctor."

So I encourage you to really think about why you want to be a doctor, there are plenty of people who I saw go down the track of pre-med only to burn out when it came time to think about med school and realize they don't actually want to be doctors..

 

[GodricNightfall]

I can tell ya you dont want to be in that working man type of shit which is where your heading. I can tell ya that smoking bowls wont take away the pain of working an 8 hour labour job 5 days a week maybe more if you have to support a kid from "gettin laid every once in a while" Everyone I knew at the warehouse I used to work at hated thier life and regretted the choices they made to get them there. Id say stop smoking for a while to get your bearings. I already wish I woundnt have fucked around in highschool and could have got into pre-med.

The world is a cruel place, but a little less cruel to doctors. Dont give up because you feel you wont be good enough or because your scared of the work your gonna have to put in. Keep trying and if you dont get into the best one atleast get into one. I gurantee you will be happier in life if you become a doctor and I bet med-school is actually pretty fun anyway...more fun than premed and definitly more fun than busting your ass 40 hours a week. Goodluck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujtklfqLw24
Really you gotta deal with a little pain and lack of fun to get to where you can be truly happy and sit back and know you achieved your dreams and are content with life...you will regret not going.

 

[Vader]

I think this thread has run its course here, and I think the OP might benefit from the different perspective that E&C posters will be able to offer. Mods, feel free to send back if you wish.

 

[cj]

If you dont go to med school you still have a 4 year degree right? If so then your ahead of the curve bro give med school a shot if you hate it after a semester quit and either get a masters in something else or get a job with your bachelors

 

[Jblazingphoenix100]

Where I'm going with this is I'm really starting to feel like this is the universe's way of telling me to do something else. I feel I've changed somewhere in the process of college in what I desire out of life. Now the idea of a great life is just going to work at a simple job with cool people, coming home and sparking up a bowl, eatin some badass food, hittin a late night sesh at the gym, and just getting laid every once in a while.

SOunds like you know what you want, you're just second guessing yourself.

Forget medical school in this case - if it's only been your thing for the past 3.5 years, then think back to your childhood, and try and remember what you wanted to do back then.

Your idea of the good life is one we should all be living, some people are born and they grow up wanting to be doctors, others decide it a bit later, and you seem to have decided it a bit later...just forget it, don't listen to what your room mate said - the ganja doesn't make you lose your passion for life, it helps you work out what is important to you, and if you don't know, then maybe try cutting it down to minimal use so you're not lazy, and try and find your true path again.

"Keep true to the dreams of your youth" - Schiller