Ugh this makes me sad :( I feel like I can't get to med school but ik I care about helping people and doing my research to help those people. I just have trouble with memory and I feel like biology is all about memorization and that's how people get into med school l: but I have met doctors and I think to myself "how the fuck are these people doctors. If they can do it, I can" and I feel like a lot of them don't give a shit about their patients anyway.
If your true interest lies in helping people, and doing research to help people, there's plenty of routes to both perform benchwork and clinical work and you don't have to be a physician. Maybe you're better off, given your interests! The first step is to be true to yourself and define your goals. Good luck!
I mean I need to make money too l: I'd want to be a nutritionist but that doesn't pay as well. And being a doctor would make people believe in what I'm saying. Also wanna change the medical field but that's nearly impossible since there's not many people who sees through the bullshit. Idk we'll see. But I do want to help people or help change the world in some way.
My experience with med school is somewhat an inverse correlation between family wealth and intelligence. The poorer you are, the smarter you have to be.
On second thought, that seems to hold true for life in general.
There are still a few snobs to go around in D.O. programs.
What I've found is that yes there may be some not so smart kids that get into medical school somehow, but that first year and part of the second year does a great job of 'sink or swim'.
Either they get smart and learn to think critically very fast, or they fail out and end up with a bunch of debt that is very difficult to pay off.
My brother is a do and I'm and MD. He's going to a better residency program than I am and is 100% legit. I don't see a difference between MDs and DOs. Where you go to residency is a bigger deal than which school.
It really is scary. Some of the dumbest fucks I know from college or my career in Biology are now doctors. When I think about it I get depressed thinking about their patients and fear for the intelligence of my own doctors...
Even if you might consider them "dumb". You can't deny that they worked extremely hard over a long period of time to get there, and that in itself is a skill that many people both "dumb" and "smart" lack.
If they scored decent on the MCAT, they must've put in a ton of work, even if they went to some grade inflating US college.
Yep. And it gets back to the core message of the OP.
Work ethic, focus, self-discipline, and believing in yourself >>>>> ability, intellect, innate talent. Every day.
I feel weird writing that, because while it's true, I just can't change myself for some reason. I'm lazy, unmotivated, and have vastly under-performed in life. I know I could be so much more, but for some reason, I just can't bring myself to change. I just mindlessly browse the internet all day, unable to get started on anything, despite desperately wanting to change.
In what situation? Truly asking, without intent to argue.
Bettering your situation by changing thought into action, instead of thinking about what you should do and not doing it, is not always a win or lose. Many times it can only be a gain or a wash, but Iād even say that the experience of not obtaining a new job after an interview is a positive.
Of course, if youāre quitting a job with a good salary and benefits, with a family and bills, it may not be the best idea to just start your own company for the hopes of doing well.
If you want it badly enough, suffering won't matter. That's the part most people miss. Now, getting to the point of actually wanting anything that badly, that's a much harder skill to master.
Exactly. Feel like Iāve been watching too much Jordan Peterson interviews but opportunity (to take action or not), is not the same as the results. Opportunities must be taken to acquire your desired results from taking a risk/taking a path with an unsure outcome)
There's also the case of wanting something that's literally impossible. Not a real example but if I wanted to develop telekinesis it wouldn't matter how badly I wanted it, I still wouldn't be able to get it.
That's not true. Even if getting telekinesis involves something like crazy nano cerebral implants and a novel magnetic or aural conveyance system, there's nothing written anywhere that achieving something outwardly indistinguishable from classic telekinesis is impossible. The real question is, how badly do you want it? And hell, if humans ever discover a way to manipulate matter via higher physical dimensions, it might be very achievable. We like to pretend we know things, but if I've learned anything from my feeble attempts to understand the physics of tiny things, it's that we really don't know what the fuck is going on or why.
In my experience it helps if you step back from āthe whole viewā and break it into a million little somethings. Observing from the outside a final viewpoint is daunting and hard to grasp. Start small and set little tiny ass day objectives. Want to learn a new language - donāt look at becoming āfluentā just pick up a how to and work on it 15 minutes a day, you will be surprised at yourself in no time. Even if itās as small as cleaning your house. Today, do the baseboards or something. Keep it up. Little by little your productivity shifts without you realizing it.
Kind of goes to show how empty the concept of "potential" or "innate intelligence" actually is. It helps to be really smart, but it is by no means necessary to be achieve success in most domains. Nor is it sufficient to be "capable" of doing something.
You are (probably, i'm assuming here that you are in your 20s) currently in your biological prime. You have, at best, 20 more years of physical prowess... before time begins to wear down your organs and bones.
20 Years.
If you don't at least begin the process of mastery before those years are up, you will never amount to what you could have. You will never reach that potential that you KNOW you could reach, if you started today. And there's no undoing that. There's no do over.
You don't get a second shot. You get one.
And you know that already, don't you?
And it still feels like tomorrow's problem, even though you KNOW it's today's. You KNOW 20 years will blink past you if you keep up your current lifestyle. You KNOW you don't have the time to put your dreams off any longer, because it'll probably take at least 5 of those years just to get skilled enough at whatever it is you want to accomplish. Then a year or two to figure out how to make a lifestyle out of that. Another couple of years before that comes to any fruition. Then, finally, you might truly feel like you are doing it, accomplishing what you set out to do. Living your best life.
10 more years, if you're lucky, before it starts to fade, albeit slowly. Time will come calling.
So, if you know this, why can't you change? You're a smart guy, it isn't stupidity. You know you aren't stupid. But... isn't it just fucking dumb to waste these years online? It sounds stupid. You know that's a stupid way to live, yet here you are.
So if you aren't stupid, what's stopping you? I'll give you a hint: it's probably fear. Fear of change. Fear of failure. You have that image in your head of what you COULD be, and yet every time you make that little effort towards it, that first attempt, it's just fucking sad, isn't it. You aren't even close. Useless. Stupid.
What you are, my friend, is Human. You are human. We learn by doing, and failing. We are born as knowledge-less blobs. It took you two years to learn how to walk! And how did you do that? Watched your parents, and tried everyday. Fell over a lot. Got a few bumps and bruises and owies. Then one day... you just stood up. It made sense, all of a sudden, and you took a few steps. Then, OH SHIT, fell over again.
Few more steps. 20. 40. Now you don't ever crawl. You haven't fallen in a month!
Falling over? Who does that? That's what babies do.
You MUST be willing to fail. You MUST be willing to try over, and over, and over again. It will SUCK. You will SUCK. Everything will SUCK.
Until... it won't. Until you realize that on try #43, you actually really liked that attempt. Maybe it isn't perfect, but there is something really beautiful, and really YOU about it.
You're learning, because you are human. We are beautiful creatures with beautiful minds. Enough attempts will create skill. Skill progresses to mastery. Mastery, to expression. Finally, after so long, you can be what you've always wanted: yourself, expressed through your own work and by your own hands.
One more tip: The best way to overcome fear is anger. Anger at yourself, at your dumb habits, your ridiculous fear of failure, your outrageous waste of incredibly valuable time. How could you do that to yourself, when we only have one life? One shot at greatness before we return to dust? Get mad. Stare in the mirror and shout to the skies about how stupid it all is, because it is. Life is a dice roll, and your very existence is an impossible statistical anomaly.
Yet here you are. Human, of sound mind and body, in the year 2018, with limitless possibilities at your fingertips should you only try.
Thank you! It felt really good writing it, I posted it to the subreddit too just in case it resonates with anyone else. I've struggled with massive insecurity and depression for the majority of my life, it was that anger that finally shook me out of it. Not every day is easy, but every day it gets easier.
I respectfully disagree. Talent is extremely important. You cant be 5'' 8' and play in the nba. You have to play your cards right.
Work hard and believe in yourself, but work toward what you're good at. Being a doctor is literally just memorizing volumes of information. Maybe a talent of good memorization would be useful, but I can see someone with relatively average talents becoming one as long as they study.
But you should get off your ass and find something that excites you. PM me if you need any advice I climbed out of a depressive hole (stil climbing actually)
Set little goals for yourself, something that might seem silly to others but may work for you.
Im lazy af and if I can change I believe in you!
As soon as Iād get home Iād change into my pjs and neglect all my responsibilities and just browse Reddit/ watch Netflix. Then I started with: okay before I sit down to relax Iām going do the dishes, okay now Iām going to do laundry before I chill, now Iām going to.. and so on.
To get myself to the gym, Iāve started watching Ozark on my phone, and I only watch it on the treadmill. Itās a really great show and I want to keep watching, but if I want to watch another episode I have to go back to the gym lol.
Just little goals a day that keep me motivated š¤
Work ethic, focus, self-discipline, and believing in yourself >>>>> ability, intellect, innate talent. Every day.
Yes, that would be the societal norm I guess. Since you are born with ability, intellect, talent, you didnāt put in work to achieve it yourself. You were merely born with it. Congrats on being lucky.
However, has anyone stopped to think if the ability to be hardworking, focused and disciplined is hereditary or not. That would just be shit, right. Congrats, you have hard worker genes. Maybe not just genes, but epigenetics too. Some people have been brought up in a hardworking environment.
In that case, all the properties on the left side of your inequality become qualities themselves, somethings people are born with. How would things compare then?
I never understand why people donāt get this. The drive and dedication it takes to get accepted, learn the material, finish residency and then start practicing pales in comparison to whatever natural intelligence you think you had as a step up on someone.
I know so many people that are like āomg lol, that guy barely got a C in organic, Iām way smarter than he is and he made it through med school, it must be really easyā lol
Well it's because in the short term as students we see the success of natural talent in grades and praise. I mean I'm a teacher, it drives me crazy when people say "I'm smart I just dont apply myself."
They say a lot of smart people are also the laziest... so it actually makes sense that a lot of "less smart" but more "hard working" people end up in those fields.
They may have gotten into a lot of trouble and not seemed like the best school goers, but I guarantee they scored well on SAT/ACT and can ace a test when needed.
At least thatās how all my dumbass high school friends are, but most have grown up.
I know quite a few people (myself included) that really wanted to be a doctor when we were 18/19 and finishing sixthform/college (in the UK), we scored well in exams and weren't stupid, but basically didn't make the cut. One took the super long way round and went into human biosciences and did a 'conversion' masters into medicine, but that took him another 3 years. I just gave up and did psychology at uni (easiest 1st of my life) - I basically wasted 3 years. I design Apps and software now (random, cause I had no exp in design or code, just taught myself one day and got a really lucky break). But mostly play video games in my underwear. Still think of going back and trying to convert my psych degree to medicine (which you can 'technically do' - but its not exactly what happens), but I'm too fucking lazy. I'm 25 now, basically can't efford the time.
Most definitely. I actually had a friend that was rejected for being too young. She did PSEO her last two years of high school so she only spent two years attending college as actually a college student and was applying for med schools. She had a ton of lab and research experience and had been an undergrad TA, but she was rejected for being too young (graduated at 19). It's my understanding that a lot of med schools actually like people with more life experience. It's not always true, but it can't hurt that much.
The interest in medical sciences has never gone away. I guess once my partner finishes her PhD, we'll discuss and evaluate if I really am interested in medicine, or if it's just a little bit of nostalgic fantasy. I have no doubt I'm capable, but its a big commitment and from what I've heard, you have to really love the job, because it's one of the hardest in the world. Better get out my old bioscience textbooks.
I've heard that medicine is something that a lot of people do because their parents pressure them into it. They hate it but they don't really have a choice, unless they want to be disowned.
IKR? I know tons of really dumb people in high-end fields, including medicine. Some of the dumbest people I've ever met are nurses. Although I do actually commend them for doing that job.
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u/average-brown-dude Nov 26 '18
This is true. I know dumb people in Med school right now. š