I imagine one day the world as we know it might end. Actually, I have that in my mind constantly. Sometimes it seems as though we're attracted, fatalistically, to the most tragic possibilities. Yet in a way it's exhilarating. You imagine a world that would be much more difficult than the one we currently reside in - much more challenging. And you realize how the world you live in lacks those challenges. Those challenges that make you struggle for your life, for survival. Without that struggle, you sometimes are lured into the belief that there is not great difference between life and death, and think idly of crossing that misty barrier.
And these ideas I have about this world has influenced my choices in life. I've always been so damnably interested in everything. Perhaps with the exception of silicon circuits and japanese, but nigh everything else. Therefore, I had an ample repertoire of subjects to choose from when I was deciding my major. With the end of the world vision in mind, I decided being a doctor would be most practical. If this world exists, I'd be needed. If this world falls apart, oh I'd definitely be needed. Instead of running around useless like a chicken with its head cut off, I'd be useful, and I find that very important to me. Hiding and hoping that everything would go away is (to my reckoning) not living at all. I might as well be dead if I'm useless. In fact, I already told my roommates if the end of the world should occur as we are still high school students I strongly suggest they kill me and eat me. (they should possibly freeze, dry or salt me so I'd last longer) If they are afraid of committing murder than I'm saying firsthand that if I should die then they should feel absolutely no scruples about eating me, because it would be the most practical thing to do. At least I'd be of some use. Since as a high school student I've no important skills that would be useful in that challenging world that could possibly increase the chances of survival for my tribe. Every single household chore that I'm capable of doing my roommates are capable of doing as well. I can possibly amuse them by dancing, but you've got to admit in those straiten times the arts are not exactly on the human need chart.
Besides, I like biology, of all things. The world is exquisitely amusingly complex and puzzling. I want to understand it. I want to understand why we break, how we regenerate, how we defend ourselves, how this can possibly have ties to all the rest of the animals in the animal kingdom... and so forth. It's a very exciting place we're born into, and a very exciting age. I want to know it all.
I never know, however, whether what I know will ever be enough.
Which makes it all the more fun.
I know so far I haven't made the grade to get into medical school yet. So hopefully I can get into biology. It's still a useful area. When the world falls apart we'll be at the mercy of nature, and I'll be useful then.
Hopefully.
If I'm not, eat me.
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Why eat you? You seem pretty scrawny to me. Plus, you're a girl. Therein, logically, you should eat less and just require less energy. You should eat the big muscular guys first. Everyone knows that the protein count would be higher. And the meat would be leaner!
Nicholas Aden
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But in a survival situation having reserves of fat can be very important. Fat is rich in calories and can be stored in the body against possible future famine. Fat deposits in the breasts and a more marbled meat might be a better option. Back in more primitive days it was always the fattier parts of an animal, like the liver, that were prized, and even a scrawny girl will have a higher % of her body weight be fat than a boy.
Just something to chew on (sorry).
Res ipsa loquitur.
memento mori, mahalo.
"Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real-estate above principles."
You're saying I'd taste better than muscle. Thanks for the promotion.
It's an entirely positive comment. I value you greatly as both a person and a source of nutrients.
Res ipsa loquitur.
memento mori, mahalo.
"Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real-estate above principles."
All my roommates happen to be females. So there are no big muscular guys to digest. sorry.
I know so far I haven't made the grade to get into medical school yet.
You're in high school....aren't you?
And I hope you have a better answer for why do you want to be a doctor than 'I'll be useful if Armegeddon comes', though that may be an original answer for the adcoms.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!
And wanting to be useful is just another way of saying I want to help people.
Seriously, This is the way I think. I'm not posting this just for attention. I'd really want to be useful in nearly any situation, and a doctor is the way to go.
This is coming from a current applicant to medical school. If you tell your interviewers that you want to go into medicine because you love science and want to help people, they'll come back with questions like 'well, why don't you be a teacher? You can help plenty of people, and teach science.' or 'why not a nurse', as nurses get much more patient interaction than doctors do (and are the ones typically doing the procedures, like inserting IVs, giving shots, etc). Why don't you become a researcher (via a PhD)? Your work will be more specialized, and you could be the one to find a cure for cancer, or AIDS, or any of the other horrible diseases plaguing us today.
Saying 'I love science and want to help people' will not cut it with admissions committees, even if it's the truth.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!
What reason do you have to have, then, exactly, to be a doctor? The money? The prestige? A close relative who has a brain tumor?
If I wanted money or power, going into medicine is the wrong choice, as I could become an investment banker and make 10 times what I will as a doctor in half the time. People are trusting doctors less and less as time goes on, and so the prestige probably won't be there by the time I get out of residency, and I'm perfectly ok with that. I'm not going in to make other people respect me; I'm going in so that I can enjoy myself.
Also, the closest thing I have for a sick family member is two grandmothers with breast cancer, four grandparents who are obese and have heart problems and diabetes. Those affect which field I want to go into, not why I want to become a doctor in the first place. Again, that's another reason that adcoms really won't like... why do you have to become a brain surgeon just because someone in your family had a brain tumor? Did you not think that doctor was competent enough? Be careful when saying that to physicians... they might not like it too much.
But, since you ask so nicely... I want to be a doctor because I do enjoy science, but particularly the problem solving aspect of it. While nurses have a lot more involvement in individual patient care, they don't typically have the job of figuring out what's wrong, and rely on the physicians for that. I also have to be in a field that is constantly changing, which medicine is at a very rapid rate, because I love to learn. I'd be a lifelong student if I could afford it. I need human interaction, but can't stand being up in front of large groups of people, so teaching is pretty much out, as are other 'prestigious' professions like being a lawyer. This also limits the type of research I could do, because chemical research is basically entirely in a lab, and other basic research would be too boring for me to handle. Thus, it's not practical for me to get a PhD, because the only thing I can really do with that is teaching and research.
With an MD (or a DO), I have the flexibility of those other careers as well. If I decide when I'm 45 that I want to be a teacher, I can go back and teach without going to school for a further degree. I can also do the whole range of research, from basic research to clinical research, which a PhD doesn't have the flexibility of.
I do want to help people, but I don't have the right skills to be a psychologist (that's my boyfriend's job anyway). I want to deal with the whole body, not just the mouth or the eyes, so dentistry and optometry are also out.
Of course, you're free to go into your interviews saying that you want to help people and that you like science. Just don't expect them to take you seriously if those are your only reasons.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!
I don't know if you'd hate me for saying this, but your reasons are exactly the same as mine. Being a doctor is kind of like being a detective. I can easily go into nursing here in Taiwan, but that isn't as appealing. I like the logic that goes into science. And getting a MD gives me a more comprehensive experience over clinical research than plain labwork. I thought these things were plain to see, but apparantly I haven't made myself clear and it became necessary for you to spell out exactly what you felt were lacking in my answers.
Perhaps I haven't explained the system we have here in Taiwan. We test to go into medical school directly after high school, instead of completing four years of college beforehand. Our college entrance exam determines which major we go to, that includes medical school. Unlike the SAT, which mostly focuses on language and some math, our exam goes through it all - physics, chemistry, biology, earth science, math, chinese, english, history, geography and civics. Taiwan's high school education packs in three years what Americans might call advanced placement studies in every subject (except American history). I've seen college physics and chemistry books from abroad that are teaching exactly what we teach in school every day. The best students in Taiwan go for medicine, mostly for the prestige instead of any interest. Their parents pressure them into doing so. Ironically, this gives us one of the best medical systems in the world, but not the best in other areas of research. So in Taiwan, you have to be in the top 99th percentile in your exams to be able to get into medical school. Meaning you have to be a nigh renaissance man (being all powerful in all subjects). And yes, I have not made the grade.
I apologize, then. I was under the impression that you lived in the US.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!
Thanks for being so nice about it.