Hey guys,
I just want to preface this by saying its a long one, but any sort of advice would be greatly appreciated, because I am so very lost and scared for my future. For context, I just finished my sophomore year at UC San Diego as a Biology major originally intending to go for medical school. I come here as a last resort, because I have tried in vain to figure things out myself and even consulted with family and friends, but I'm left even more confused than I started.
For starters, my parents won't hear me out even if the world was gonna end tomorrow, and to be honest I sympathize with them. They're both overworked computer engineers that have seen their own relatives in medicine work just as hard as them but get quadruple the pay and respect. All they want is for me to have a good life, so when I told them that I was interested in finance instead of medicine, they were understandably distraught, because I think they believe business to be more "store manager of Dollar Tree" making 30k a year kind of thing. Now of course if I were to get into a top business school and get a IB/PE/VC/HF job of course they would completely support me...I mean what kind of parents wouldn't. But the problem is to them, jobs like that are completely out of the question, and do I really blame them? It's not like I'm gonna be working on Wall Street right when I graduate from UCSD, which is literally known for being geared towards biology and STEM majors in general. In fact, I don't even think that UCSD has an undergrad business program.
But I have to admit that it took me until now to realize that I may have been one of those "idealistic" premeds that didn't fully understand the extensive schooling (sometimes as much as 14 years) and stress the medicine path often requires, and that when I did try soul searching, as pathetic as it may sound, a large factor of my initial motivation to become a doctor/surgeon was for the money, not helping people or any other benevolent reason. And it doesn't take a genius to understand that going into medicine for the money is not a good choice, as there's so much potential earnings lost over the 10+ years of schooling, not to mention the debt that would be accrued.
Now I also want to mention that I don't want lots of money because I want a Lamborghini or 3 yachts or anything like that. I would just like to give back to my parents, maybe take them on some expensive vacation or get them a nice car because they've done so much for me. But the fact is, they're getting old and I don't have much time. I'm 20 right now, and they're 50 (they had me late). By the time I become a full-fledged doctor and actually start making money, I don't know if they'll even be alive or in good condition to travel.
I don't think going to medical school (even if I managed to get into a good one) would be a smart choice for me or my future patients if I'm not completely passionate about it unlike my other premed peers. On the other hand, I've always been much more interested (and naturally better) at math/statistics/econ compared to chemistry/biology. I've been investing in stocks since high school, and I feel like I've gotten pretty good at it. As I started researching jobs in finance, hedge funds really stood out, and that would be my ultimate dream career to work at one. I've always been a risk taker, so at least giving my shot at getting to work at one matters more to me than staying quiet and going down the medical school route which might make my parents happy but not me.
What makes things even more confusing is I start hearing about these "deferred admission" MBA programs like Harvard's 2+2 that apparently are interested in "non-traditional" applicants like STEM students. I will admit that my GPA took a hit this year (sophomore year) partially because of this confusion about what I wanted to do with my life and a lack of motivation to do well in my STEM classes, but I still have around a 3.6, so if I can maintain and maybe even bring this up to like a 3.8 GPA that should be fine. In terms of the GMAT, I have already looked at the material and I feel like I can do pretty well. I don't want to be that one guy who says "oh I'm getting an easy 780+" but I've always been pretty good at standardized testing; I was a tutor for Princeton Review last summer and I did get a perfect SAT score in high school. Now obviously the SAT is much easier than the GMAT, but I'm sure if I tried I could at least muster a score of 700.
So for those metrics I should be OK, but what worries me is that at the end of the day, I'm at a completely non-target school. Things like GMAT and GPA, as I understand, only get you in the foot of the door, but what really gets you accepted is all the "soft" stuff like EC's. That being said, there is absolutely no chance I can compete in terms of extra-curriculars with the other kids interested in business school at target schools who no doubt probably have some sort of IB internship lined up fro this summer while I'm still scratching my head wondering if I should even pursue the business route. Furthermore, the 2+2 program requires you to have a decent finance job for 2 years out of undergrad....the only place that would hire me based on my current credentials (editor of a biomedical journal, tutor, TA, some hospital volunteering) would be Burger King if I'm lucky.
So far, the only thing I can think of in terms of EC's would be to start a branch of a famous consulting club (don't want to give exact name for privacy issues) at my school, that is present in almost all the other UC's (but for some reason UCSD doesn't have one). Other than that, I have no connections, I doubt there are any resources at UCSD, and I have no direction. I just feel like I'm starting this process too late, and on top of that, its not like I'm at Upenn or HYP where I can just twiddle my thumbs, switch majors/direction and probably still get into a top MBA school just simply due to the undergrad name.
So my question is: If you were in my position what would you do? Should I just suck it up and stick to the med school route? As hard as medical school is, really all it takes is some volunteering (which is easy to get), service, maybe some research....and I'm not saying I would get into Johns Hopkins Med school but I'm sure I would get into something. Or should I go down this uncertain path and possibly end up getting my dream job even though there's like a 1% chance?? Any sort of clarity on the matter would help, because quite frankly I'm running out of time....I'm halfway done with college and I need to know what to do :(.
First. Take a deep breath. You're in a good position. Young, in school, good gpa, sunny city, great waves etc. Deep breath. Exhale.
If you're not 110% sure you want to be a doctor then don't plan for med school. Sounds like you've considered the time commitment now consider the financial commitment. What happens if you're 1-2 years into med school and decide it's not for you? Now you're another $100k+ in debt and are stuck with a background that isn't necessarily conducive to your goal of getting into finance.
I always liked finance because it's applicable to all industries whereas when you're a doctor you're a doctor in a very specific niche applicable to very specific situations.
You can get into medical/pharma/bio industry with a business background.
Don't do anything to appease your parents too. Your success and happiness is all they want.
I'm a surgical resident. Don't do it.
PM me if you'd like a more thorough discussion.
Stop thinking about what your parents will think of your path. Seriously, stop it. Doing something for the sole purpose of fulfilling your parents' ambitions will prevent your future success and will make you a bitter person who resents your parents. Your parents have your best at heart. But they are NOT you. They don't know your thinking or deeper interests. To be really successful you have to have at least significant interest in something - and ideally a burning passion for it. If you go into medicine you will be a mediocre or lousy doctor, and you will resent your parents. I was pre-med (my science grades sucked, so I'm in finance) and I know a handful of doctors who went into medicine for parental reasons. To a one, they resent their parents, feel trapped in the field, and wish that had done something else. It's a dis-service to your patients, it's a dis-service to your parents, and it's a dis-service to yourself. You would in a sense be forcing your parents' wishes onto patients, and you will be depriving someone who really belongs in medical school a seat.
Internships will help you find your calling. There's a big difference between studying a subject in academia, and going in and doing the job day in and day out.
eg. Law as a field of study is probably intellectually stimulating, but the practice of many kinds of law is probably more mundane.
The study of medicine is probably intellectually stimulating but also removed from the actual practice by a mile. In -pre-med you have to slog thru chem, ochem, physics, etc. which you may or may not like, but then later take a lot of cool medically-more-relevant classes like anatomy, patho-physiology, etc.
But ultimately, for decades thereafter you will have the day to day of practicing medicine, which from my time as a volunteer in hospitals and shadowing physicians, is more of an interpersonal challenge than anything else.
Only by getting close to the practice of a field (internships, shadowing, mini-jobs like being a hospital volunteer / legal assistant / summer analyst) can you really get an inkling of what it's like to work as a professional in the field. And ultimately that is what matters. It's not just about whether you like (or dislike) a subject in school. Heck, lots of ibankers hated accounting when they were students, but they were willing to slog it out. And I for one had humanities subjects I liked, but couldn't figure out how to make a living at. Question is, do you actually like the end goal, the practice of the profession, once you've paid your dues.
You need to get out of the classroom, get out of your head, and find the opportunity to practice doing that job while you still can.