Reply to Is it better to be a "Big Fish in a Small Pond" - Gladwell's Elite Cognitive Disorder

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Is it better to be a "Big Fish in a Small Pond" - Gladwell's Elite Cognitive Disorder"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I think there's something else going on.

I've known kids who got into top schools who planned to be premed. When they hit organic chem and other courses, they didn't do well and realized that they might not be cut out to be a doctor. They switched into a different major. They went into a different occupation. Some are wistful and think "If only I'd gone to state U I'd have gotten better grades and maybe I'd have gotten into med school."

Then I know kids who went to a much lower ranked college and were premed. They got much better grades. They took the MCATS and bombed them. They took a year working as an EMT while studying for the MCAT. Took it again. Did a bit better. Didn't get into med school. Sometimes they try again, but very rarely do they get in on the third attempt.

They now have an undergrad degree in biology.They are a couple of years post college with part time experience as an EMT or doing research.

One of the people I know who did this was considered a superstar at his college. Superb grades. Bombed MCAT. Tried again after working parttime and spending most of his time taking a MCAT prep course. Still didn't make med school. He's now a podiatrist. Another one is a nurse practitioner after 4 attempts to get into medical school.

If you look at Malcolm's rubric, the kids who attended the lower tier colleges did "better" because they graduated with a STEM degree--usually biology. But they didn't make it into med school and biology isn't a good degree to have if you're seeking a job. The kids who attended the more elite college did "worse" because they didn't graduate with a STEM degree. But neither did they waste 1 to 3 years post graduation trying to get into med school. They pivoted away into a different field earlier.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics