My child wants to go to med school but hangs out with blue collar students who are pursuing less academic degrees

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He could be a paramedic / nursing assistant / nurse
there's plenty of jobs in the medical universe with the chance of progression and they don't all start with DOCTOR.

I have been in hospital enough times to recognize the talented people versus the untalented ones. Sometimes its the nurse practitioners who are the ones spotting the details and saving the lives.

Sure, sometimes. That is not the norm. NP and PA training only covers basics and not the rare diseases or abnormal/unusual human reactions to illness. Docs have 3-5 YEARS more training than midlevels. That is why they work under the supervision of an MD. On their own they do not have the scope of training to diagnose anything atypical.

I don’t disagree. But OP should ask her son why he wants to be a doctor. Does he want to cure rare diseases? Does he want to make a lot of money? Does he want to “help people”? Etc…

+1 yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC does not have much exposure to higher level academics. Not at our flagship state school. Getting poor advice. Refusing to change schools or associate with stronger students. Good grades first year. Lots of Bs this year.
To me, he is no better off right now than the stronger students from his HS. I blame the people around him.
Pardon typos please.

Give those kids a job, give them security.
Give them a chance to survive.
There just poor souls in the unemployment line.
My God they're hardly alive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe he is figuring out that he wants something different. Does he have to be a doctor? Is he just saying that because it's what you want to hear?

Med school was his idea

it turned out, it's harder than he thought...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He could be a paramedic / nursing assistant / nurse
there's plenty of jobs in the medical universe with the chance of progression and they don't all start with DOCTOR.

I have been in hospital enough times to recognize the talented people versus the untalented ones. Sometimes its the nurse practitioners who are the ones spotting the details and saving the lives.

Sure, sometimes. That is not the norm. NP and PA training only covers basics and not the rare diseases or abnormal/unusual human reactions to illness. Docs have 3-5 YEARS more training than midlevels. That is why they work under the supervision of an MD. On their own they do not have the scope of training to diagnose anything atypical.

I don’t disagree. But OP should ask her son why he wants to be a doctor. Does he want to cure rare diseases? Does he want to make a lot of money? Does he want to “help people”? Etc…

+1 yes

he also needs to do many hours of shadowing, research, volunteering on top of grades and MCAT. and he has less than 2 years to do all that, if he starts today

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Because he doesn’t have friends who are uber academic, he doesn’t get how much dedication it takes. He has the intellectual ability. He got overconfident after first year with all As. Then he signed up for tough courses second year but studied with his good ball friends. This semester GPA now 3.3. Not one A in a science course. No Cs though.

No shot at medical school with Bs in science courses..

Maybe Nurse Practitioner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of B's pretty much takes you out of DO and MD schools.

Maybe the islands?

That or NP? OP, over break, ask him what his plan is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe he is figuring out that he wants something different. Does he have to be a doctor? Is he just saying that because it's what you want to hear?

Med school was his idea

it turned out, it's harder than he thought...

This. And he will need to study constantly.

[Anonymous]

It appears the student is a sophomore in college. He is JUST getting started in his science coursework. I would suggest he speak to the medical school advisor at his school. They will tell him what courses he needs for med school and the grades required.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused- why are there blue collar students at college?

Their backgrounds. No kids whose family members are white collar professionals

Oh so you just hate poor people? DS didn’t hang around wealthy, white collar kids in college and is doing great career-wise. Some of the hardest working students come from those backgrounds.

[Anonymous]

I find the idea of this thread disgusting. OP is angry at children from non-college educated backgrounds for “pulling down” her child. Why is it just okay to assume that someone from a poorer background is non-academic and a leech? They’re at the same institution as your child, so what does that say about the type of college your DC goes to if they are accepting these non-academic poor kids who are apparently drain? You are not better than others for possessing a Bachelors, my lord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know exactly the kind of people you mean. I would recommend your DS transfer to a better school. Of course it's possible to find great people anywhere but it's much harder when one is surrounded. Values are important and being around quality people is imperative during formative years.

If it’s a state flagship, good students are there. He needs to form study groups with them. The flagships all send tons of kids to med school, but they are focused on their goals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC does not have much exposure to higher level academics. Not at our flagship state school. Getting poor advice. Refusing to change schools or associate with stronger students. Good grades first year. Lots of Bs this year.
To me, he is no better off right now than the stronger students from his HS. I blame the people around him.
Pardon typos please.

Lol, lol, lol ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find the idea of this thread disgusting. OP is angry at children from non-college educated backgrounds for “pulling down” her child. Why is it just okay to assume that someone from a poorer background is non-academic and a leech? They’re at the same institution as your child, so what does that say about the type of college your DC goes to if they are accepting these non-academic poor kids who are apparently drain? You are not better than others for possessing a Bachelors, my lord.

I mean yeah ... the thread is pretty disgusting. Disgusting enough that it is likely a troll post designed to rile people up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know exactly the kind of people you mean. I would recommend your DS transfer to a better school. Of course it's possible to find great people anywhere but it's much harder when one is surrounded. Values are important and being around quality people is imperative during formative years.

If it’s a state flagship, good students are there. He needs to form study groups with them. The flagships all send tons of kids to med school, but they are focused on their goals.

If it's UMD, sure, there will be many smart and capable people. If it's a Virginia public like GMU, CNU, VCU, etc. there are no promises. Who knows where the people come from that populate these places but they aren't great. Even those who are "focused" often have issues and likely came in with 1100 (and below, no floor) SATs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It appears the student is a sophomore in college. He is JUST getting started in his science coursework. I would suggest he speak to the medical school advisor at his school. They will tell him what courses he needs for med school and the grades required.

If a sophomore, he would have completed Gen Bio I and II, Calculus, at least Gen Chem I, and most likely a stats/biostats class. He very well would be done with Orgo Chem I this semester, if not Physics I.

If he's getting B's in these classes, med school is going to be really hard, whether allopathic or osteopathic.