tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-168082693469796351.post8448362847181965070..comments2023-10-11T08:25:52.392-04:00Comments on hemodynamics: Becoming a doctor requires imagining the obvious.Joe Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00869712616542504302noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-168082693469796351.post-71791248278723715762009-12-06T11:30:03.895-05:002009-12-06T11:30:03.895-05:00I am not much of an advisor for you in your curren...I am not much of an advisor for you in your current situation, Jordan, because my own situation (coming to pre-med studies 8-9 years after graduating from college) was so different than yours, but I do have the following advice:<br /><br />1. Instead of focusing on what you might want to do in the future, focus on doing a good job of what you're doing right now. No matter how much you love it, medical training involves doing stuff you don't like and probably at least some stuff you don't find interesting. Some common barriers that are worth considering, that might apply to why you have a tough time doing as well as you want:<br />* Studying things because other people (your parents, your friends, etc) want you to or expect you to, not because you actually want to<br />* Challenges with attention and focus when you're not interested can sometimes point to particular kinds of brain wiring that pose challenges to pre-med learners--one example would be attention deficit disorder, but I think labels are less useful than finding strategies of dealing with your particular wiring. There may be offices at your college (educational counselors, or people within the college health service) which can help with this.<br /><br />2. Take the pre-med curriculum one step at a time. I would not ever advise someone to major in pre-medical studies. (Or pre-nursing, or pre- anything.) Study biology, or chemistry, or physics--whatever part of the pre-med path you find interesting, for _its own sake_. (For that matter there is no reason you can't major in religion--but I would advise studying some science that is not strictly required, to make sure that you find it interesting.) The path itself has to be worth doing, not just the goal.<br /><br />3. If the path does not seem interesting--i.e., the idea of learning what is in the pre-med requirements and medical school is not interesting to you for _its own sake_--I would consider another destination. (It doesn't all have to be interesting--I still wonder why our education puts so much focus on synthesizing organic compounds relative to the biochemical behavior of the compounds that already exists--but a good share of it should be.)<br /><br />4. Having googled where you're going to school, I would recommend talking to some people who've gone before you, and have made the journey from the religious world you're in to the mostly secular world of medicine. (That is, many doctors are religious, but religious views are not part of what the profession values in itself.) In a cultural sense, it will require a longer path from where you are to most medical schools than from a standard secular state school. <br /><br />5. Along those lines, I am not sure where you are in the theological spectrum, but I would give the caution that you can not understand the bulk of modern biology, and much of medicine, without coming to grips with evolutionary theory. However you come to feel about reconciling the ideas of evolution with your own views of the cosmos, you will need to understand the language of evolution and be fluent in it (even if you come to feel that your view of God and creation are not compatible with it, and are more important). Make sure that your education does not neglect this.<br /><br />FInally, I'd recommend studentdoctor.net as a place where a lot of people go to try to find other pre-meds and get the basics of how to negotiate this process. Don't take all the advice you get there seriously--but there is some valuable information to be found there if you can get past all the people trying to one-up or intimidate each other.<br /><br />Good luck!<br /><br />Best,<br />JoeJoe Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00869712616542504302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-168082693469796351.post-17496437790771896272009-11-28T01:52:29.497-05:002009-11-28T01:52:29.497-05:00Joe,
I am reading this pretty late at night, or ...Joe,<br /> I am reading this pretty late at night, or should I say very early in the morning. I feel like it spoke to me in several personal aspects. I am a sophomore at Greenville College in Illinois. For the last couple of months I have been thinking about studying for a pre-med major. I havent had the greatest past when it comes to my grades. But I have found that when it is something i want to study, my efforts for excellence are increased ten-fold. I have a religion minor as of right now, and I havent made any decisions about pre-med yet. Right now I am a little intimidated because of my GPA and my ACT scores. I have two questions. 1st) Is there any possible way that I can pursue med school with an average past education? and 2nd) Do you have any advise for someone in my particular situation?Jordan M.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-168082693469796351.post-17426633542023163822008-11-10T14:09:00.000-05:002008-11-10T14:09:00.000-05:00Thanks for reading!Thanks for reading!Joe Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00869712616542504302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-168082693469796351.post-60214855628901431262008-11-10T06:41:00.000-05:002008-11-10T06:41:00.000-05:00Thanks for writing this.Thanks for writing this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-168082693469796351.post-55279157664133532382007-09-18T17:52:00.000-04:002007-09-18T17:52:00.000-04:00Hello Joe,I'm a medical student from Rome, Italy, ...Hello Joe,<BR/><BR/>I'm a medical student from Rome, Italy, a "85% doctor"... I'm so worried about it, hope you're right!<BR/><BR/>Good Luck,<BR/> DeniAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com