My problem is this: I want to go into a medical career but at the same time I want to end up lost in a foreign country. Logically speaking I know that with a medical career I would easily be able to afford vacations to wherever I want, but there’s some level of regret to being stuck in med school for the next 6-8 years depending on the program I get into.
My other option is to write. Write and write until my fingertips are bruised, and hope that whatever I compose sells. But that’s so unrealistic the tentativeness that comes with it makes my chest ache. I am a person who enjoys their freedom, finds language fascinating, but at the same time I’m in love with medicine, and the notion that we function as a species, healing each other in a strange sense of unity.
I know this won’t seem very helpful, but honestly? My advice is to not worry about it. Your past threads indicate that you’re a freshman in high school. You have so much time to think things over and to decide if you really want to pursue medicine, or if you really are interested in writing for a career. It looks like you’re on the right track – you’re taking challenging classes, and you’re considering extracurriculars that will allow you to get a taste of what being a doctor is like. I’d suggest also writing as much as you can and submitting to writing contests, to get a taste of what that feels like.
Your life is an open door right now. You have so many possibilities that it isn’t worth stressing over a decision that you’ll have to make in three or four years
Completely agree with @SpringAwake15.
I doubt there is such program: students with the ambition, focus, discipline and drive to succeed in combined BA/MD programs do not tend to go for (or create) ‘laid back’ environments. And warm and encouraging is primary school, not medical school.
Then why are you tying yourself into a combined/accelerated program? Except for the promise of a med school place, I’m not sure why you are interested in Brown’s PLME program (it’s still 8 years) (or similar programs at Tufts, etc), and you can get the same net effect as doing a regular undergrad program + med school. You can even still do a study abroad year (though it takes more planning).
You won’t be applying for 2 1/2 years, and you are already regretting choices you haven’t made. Get through Junior year and see what looks good to you. If don’t grow or change a lot in the next 2 years something is very, very wrong.
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combined/accelerated med program that also allows me to pursue literary arts while maintain a somewhat laid back/warm/encouraging environment
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WRONG! and actually the opposite. An accelerated program is ultra concentrated and you’d be eating/sleeping med school stuff…nothing laid back about it.
To even have “some” chance of a more laid back environment, you’d need to do things the traditional way…pick a major that you like…sounds like some sort of English major…and include the premed prereqs…and then apply to med school.
You could apply to med school after junior year, get accepted senior year, and then go directly from college…but that’s not what seems to be best for you.
You could apply to med school after senior year, spend the gap year relaxing, writing, and going on interviews.
Have you considered going into more volunteer oriented medical work, such as Doctors Without Borders? That would certainly let you travel a lot while still practicing medicine. I’m not sure what to do about your med school dilemma, though.
First of all, if you are a freshman as post #1 says, just enjoy high school. Don’t worry about college yet. @SpringAwake15 's advice is excellent - write, maybe volunteer at a hospital or shadow a doctor to see if you enjoy the process of medicine and what you’d actually be doing. It could be that you hate it, in which case you can switch your focus to other career paths. I think that BA-MD programs only work well for the hyperfocused, and that doesn’t appear to be you. That’s fine. Consider this: many pre-meds coming out of undergrad wait a year or two to apply to medical school. It’s possible to travel, work, and write during this time.
The main point? You have time. Things may change - they may change drastically. When I was a freshman in HS I thought I wanted to be an architect, now I’m pre-med. You never know what will catch your attention academically. Enjoy it! Additionally, you might not have to choose. William Carlos Williams was a doctor and a poet. You aren’t completely locked in to only one interest as you age.