# Not Sure What To Do About My Future?



## Dont_Blink_11 (Jul 24, 2013)

So, I'm not going to bore you with how the English secondary system works, but basically the qualifications I needed to get into medical school.... I got screwed over by my teachers so that there's next to no chance I'll get into medical school, despite still overachieving my target grades and etc. I've wanted to be a doctor since I was 8. Everything I've done, everything I've planned for up to now was for that. I thought about doing other things at times, but I always came back to that. But now, I can't do the thing I wanted and I feel very very lost. It doesn't help that we're being pressured at school to write up our letter of applications to places of work we might be interested in doing when we're older, for experience. I have less than one month to decide a whole new career for myself and I simply don't know where to start...any advice?


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## Heyoka (Feb 24, 2013)

Dont_Blink_11 said:


> So, I'm not going to bore you with how the English secondary system works, but basically the qualifications I needed to get into medical school.... I got screwed over by my teachers so that there's next to no chance I'll get into medical school, despite still overachieving my target grades and etc. I've wanted to be a doctor since I was 8. Everything I've done, everything I've planned for up to now was for that. I thought about doing other things at times, but I always came back to that. But now, I can't do the thing I wanted and I feel very very lost. It doesn't help that we're being pressured at school to write up our letter of applications to places of work we might be interested in doing when we're older, for experience. I have less than one month to decide a whole new career for myself and I simply don't know where to start...any advice?


What do you mean they screwed you over? Don't give up so easily. My uncle went to medical school in his late 30's and is currently making around 250k annually as a vascular surgeon. It's never too late, believe me.


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## Dont_Blink_11 (Jul 24, 2013)

Heyoka said:


> What do you mean they screwed you over?


 I was put into a class where I wouldn't be able to get the appropriate science qualifications to get into University despite that I was not struggling the year before, I had beat my target and I was actually supposed to be put into a higher class the year before_ anyway. _​It wasn't for my timetable's convenience either.


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## OldManRivers (Mar 22, 2012)

Is there any review procedures to have this matter corrected, maybe an etra semester of school, self study and qualifying exams? I would advise not giving up. Make the appliacations, explain the problem, do all the self study you can. I wish you luck and agree you were screwed over.


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## bengalcat (Dec 8, 2010)

By English you mean in England?

I'm not familiar with the English medical school admission process and types of degrees they have but is it the case that the only route of entry is straight from secondary school? That would surprise me because in Australia and NZ they offer both the undergraduate and graduate-entry routes. Some universities also offer the chance to apply after having done the first one or two years of a biomedical degree. 

You might not be able to try to apply right now but it's quite likely you'll have options to apply at some point in the future, but i guess all this also depends on how open you are to applying to universities in other parts of the country and what your financial and lifestyle constraints are. 

Is there absolutely no point in applying this time 'round? If all your other grades are great, you could just apply anyway and if you're expecting to be turned down and you are it won't be a surprise. Whereas there could be a chance they'll give you a shot and then it would have been worth it. I've heard of a number of people who got lower marks than was stipulated as the cut-off on the standardised entry exam who still got in; maybe they did really well on the interview or maybe a lot of people who had initially accepted the place then changed their mind. With medical schools you can't always predict what they want or what pressures are guiding their decisions - it's really up to you to give gaining entry the best shot you can by being persistent.

I'd also recommend you talk to someone at admissions at the university or else a careers counselor about your predicament. They should know about how things actually work and help give you a better idea of your chances with what you have or your future options. If it's just the one grade or qualification you're missing, maybe you can obtain it in the next one year at some other institution or through some other course and then apply.

So first of all - you're not as screwed as you think you are. Medical school is more accessible today than it has been in the past, and universities are open to being talked with and worked with - most people don't realise how things really work as opposed to what is advertised as being "how it is". 

However though you're not completely screwed, it might mean that your route to medical school has to be a bit more circuitous than you had planned. Is this going to be a problem for you? 

Don't worry about that letter-writing for experience in places you might want to work in the future. That means next to nothing. It would be interesting if you did a survey to find out the proportion of people who did their secondary school work experience in a given place and how many people actually did end up at that workplace or even in that field. Very few people set-up the rest of their working life when they're a teenager - anyone who tries to make it seem like this is realistic and desirable is an idiot. Even if you think you might not be able to apply for medicine right now you can still write that letter to a health workplace? It could still be helpful to see what it's like and spend time in that environment? Otherwise just pick some other place that has seemed interesting to you, for whatever reason. This is just a high school exercise, it's not a crystal ball into the rest of your life. We had to do a 1 week "work experience" placement in high school and I did it at a small department of the french embassy. I had been wanting to do medicine since I was 5 and am now in my 3rd year. I chose that workplace because I like french and thought it could be interesting and fun.

I think the thing you are going to have to struggle with the most at the moment is the black and white thinking you seem to have. Do you go to a really hardcore school or is your family quite anxious and desirous of certainty and definites as well? I'm just wondering why you truly believe right now is do or die for the whole of your remaining life.


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## ATLeow (Jun 2, 2013)

I'm a little confused.
What stage of school are you at, exactly? Which year?


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## februarystars (Aug 22, 2012)

I think in the UK you can do an accelerated graduate medical degree. So you could get a degree in something related (I dunno, biology or chemistry based) first and then apply for the medical degree and do it in less time. 

Obviously the downside is studying for a longer period of time overall (and tuition fees etc) Anyway here's a link: 
Graduate entry - Courses - Students - Medical Schools Council

What about medicine related careers? Pharmacy, nursing, optomery, that kind of thing?


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## Dont_Blink_11 (Jul 24, 2013)

I mostly face being the disappointing child of the family if I don't do medicine. Scrutiny, mostly coming from my father. This 'do or die' feeling's always been natural. Not healthy, sure most definitely, but natural. Also, I'm INCREDIBLY stubborn when I set my mind on a goal. Plenty of self-doubt on the way, but I'll hop back onto the wagon soon enough. My own fault and my screwed up family's I guess.
Oh well. 
I'm not quite old enough to apply yet, actually, I'm not even past the first course of exams and qualifications . But my school's been pressuring us since we were 11 (people from a local university came to visit our class) to make up our minds on careers and what not. It's been black and white for ages now. They also chose to omit the flexibility of universities nowadays  thank you!


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## Dont_Blink_11 (Jul 24, 2013)

Kind of. We're all getting tested soon and well, there's my last shot.


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## Dont_Blink_11 (Jul 24, 2013)

My problem's within the science qualification. To do any sciences whatsoever in university, you have to have the same one you'd need to do medicine. I can't do anything science related, or at least get a good shot. Well, for the moment.


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## All in Twilight (Oct 12, 2012)

Bonjour!

Just get a job for a year and save up some money. If you still want to go to medical school after that year, then you at least know that you have made the right choice. 

And please don't give in to your father's demands. Do what you want, it's your life after all and not his. You do not have to prove yourself to anyone. 

If you don't know what to do, then don't act until there is more clarity. Like I said, get a job somewhere and travel a bit until you know what YOU want. The things you learn in school are nothing compared to the things you learn in life. 

To you I might be old already (I am 32) perhaps but I can guarantee you that most people are just fucking about their entire life and they are never truly satisfied. My advise is to enjoy your life as much as you can, do the things you are good at (your talents and if you think you haven't got one, then you're mistaken) and enjoy. Then the rest will follow automatically. Don't let fear or doubt guide you.

I have been on OKC for a while and I was surprised to see how many people so called love to travel but when talking to these girls, they haven't traveled at all, just blah blah blah, they just live a boring, cruel and monotonous life. Don't be one of those girls.


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