Making the decision - help!

[Hopingtobe]

I sincerely hope that I'm not clogging up the forums, I know many of you have much more complicated problems than I do right now.
I'm in High School at the moment, trying to decide whether or not I should pursue a career in medicine (as a surgeon), it's my desire to help and save people, but I fear I may not be smart enough to pass even the required college courses! - let alone med school.
I'm not a dumb person, I'm in the top 10 students in my year, and even though I'm in the top science class...it's my weak spot, it uninterests me and makes me drowsy - this causes a fear about pursuing a career in medicine because I know science plays an extremely important part in your career from the start. - I worry that I may not be able to remember any of the things needed.
It's my dream at the moment to become a doctor, my thoughts have been occupied non stop now for a while about what it would be like to be a doctor and how hard it would be to become one.

So...what I really want to ask is, is becoming a doctor really as hard as it seems?

I still have a year or two left before I have to make a final decision as to what path to take, but I'd really like to figure out if I'm going to try this now, I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me decide if I should or should not try and become a doctor.

Thanks,
David

[SwedenForTheWin]

Do pre-med and after that decide.
1 year course in europe.

[shrey]

Hey there Hopingtobe, Med school is hard indeed but it's definitely doable...I mean otherwise we wouldn't be having so many doctors and surgeons today right? Anyways my advice to you is that if you are a top student in your class, you should definitely consider studying in the States. You have 4 years in college and that will give you a good grounding although you still need to be really good in your basic sciences.

Coming to Europe, it's not easy here at all. First of all, there's a huge culture shock which can make it hard for the students here. Secondly, unlike the American med schools, here the professors don't spoon-feed you with notes and stuff. It's all independent course-work so if you're not up for that, then I'm sorry to say it wouldn't be easy at all. It's a lot of stuff, a lot of memorizations but if it makes you feel any better, med school is quite different from your high school subjects (even Biology with an exception of perhaps the human related part and also Chemistry). I know several friends of mine who were so scared of going to med school (coz they did very poorly in the entrance exams here in Europe) but now, they're done with the first year (of course they slogged and slogged and finally made it). It's all about work-ethic. I feelquite a while back (as I had a hard time getting used to the environment and the people here). That being said, Prague is an amazing city. They do have a pre-med course that lasts for a year (where they study in Podebrady...a gorgeous city)...at the end of the course, you take the med school entrance exam and most of them usually pass.

Good luck with everything and don't hesitate to pm or post any other questions you have regarding studying in Europe. I've done very intense research for about 6 months because I was anxious and doubtful as you are right now (as I went to law school and quit after the 1st year as I didn't like it).....

[Hopingtobe]

I'm in England at the moment, family have been advising me that I should aspire to Cambridge University or Oxford university instead of the states as they are two of the top universities in the world, even with those two universities in mind I'm still going to think about studying in the states.
The dream of being a doctor has inspired me to try harder in maths and science, I know I'll need to put the effort in if I'm going to work in medicine.
I'm planning to volounteer at a hospital this summer, so that should help me make a decision too!
So thanks for the advice, you've taken away some of the doubt I had - I'm now a bit more enthusiastic than worried! :rolleyes: