is medical school impossible?!?

[Sikorsky]

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@MiamiDAP

Junior is a year when they think hard about college and potential major, at least those who plan on college. There is a financial risk for most families, that needs to be minimized as much as possible. Yes, it takes some people 7+ years to graduate from college. Most are trying to avoid this and think a bit ahead.

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<p>I’m all in favor of thinking ahead. I’m not at all a proponent, however, of high school students’ locking themselves into a course of study or a career. I recognize that pre-professionalism is more prevalent now than a generation ago, and I acknowledge that the college landscape has changed dramatically from when I was in college. Nevertheless, I think it’s still the case that lots of people who aspire to medical careers at the age of 15 or 16 eventually don’t become doctors for a variety of reasons (including but not limited to Organic Chemistry), and that about half of new college grads finish with a major different from the one they planned on when they entered. </p>

<p>Furthermore, I think that most of that major-changing is probably a good thing. I would not want to be married to the girl I was dating when I was 16, and I made a whole lot of other decisions and choices in the 11th grade that I’m glad I’m not still saddled with now.</p>

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@MiamiDAP

There are other ways though, correct. the oldest in D’s medical school class was 46 y o when he (or maybe she) started at Med. School. If you want to do this, I would say, this door is open for every hard working person.

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<p>We’re straying from the OP’s question here, but honestly, I think 46 is too old. It would be hard to be a 46-year-old medical student, harder still to be a third- or fourth-year clinical clerk at 48 or 49, and just plain insane to be a 50-year-old intern.</p>

<p>JMO.</p>

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@i&lt;em&gt;wanna&lt;/em&gt;be_Brown

T26E4,</p>

<p>while I agree with the beginning of your post about the glamorization of forensic pathology, there is nothing wrong with wanting to do it. Forensic pathologists may not heal or lessen the suffering of the people on their table, but they absolutely help heal and lessen the suffering of the friends and family of the deceased.

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<p>I don’t want to speak for T26, but I took his post to be more about the fairly limited demand for that kind of doctor and the reality that most of their work is a lot more humdrum than what’s on CSI or in the Patricia Cornwell novels, than about the merits of the work itself.</p>