Confused

meganrose96

I'm currently a 6th year right now who is really confused about what course to choose.
I'm a high achiever at school and will be expected to get a ridiculous amount of points next year in the Leaving Cert. From the grades I have been getting overall, I will be expected to be somewhere in the 590-625 range. I do 8 honours, including the three sciences and two languages and I enjoy them all.
Because of my academic success, everyone keeps asking me do I want to do medicine, and my mother has even been saying it would suit me down to a tee.
Before this year, I never considered doing medicine, it didn't really appeal to me. If I'm going to be honest, unlike most people who consider doing medicine, being a doctor has never been my dream job. I never pretended to care for my teddies with a stethoscope as a kid. But then there hasn't been any career that I have wanted so badly, unlike some of my peers who couldn't imagine themselves not being a teacher or a nurse.
I didn't do any relevant work experience for medicine in TY, but two weeks ago I spent a day shadowing doctors in a hospital. My mother told me I would either love it or hate it, but I felt in the middle about the experience. I found it really interesting, but it didn't excite me. There was not one moment during the day when I felt that yes, medicine was definitely what I wanted to do. I came home very unsure that day.
I reflected on the day spent and couldn't really understand why I felt nothing for it. I convinced myself that maybe it was just only one day, that maybe I'm more suited to it than I thought. So last weekend, I told my mother that I would register for the BMAT and HPAT, sure with myself that I was making the right decision. And for about a day I was.
But the last couple of days have been filled with doubts and also anxiety. I can't get to sleep at night. Something in me is trying to tell me it's the wrong decision, but I don't know what it is. Some moments I feel perfectly happy with my decision, the next I feel close to a panic attack (pretty extreme, I know).
So what do I do? Forget about medicine? Somewhere inside of me I think I know the answer to that question already, but what do I do then? What is the dream course for me? People kept telling me that medicine would suit me, and there are definitely elements that would. I like science and learning, I like problem solving and social interaction would be great. Also, it's quite diverse, with many specialities to choose from.
But it's an awful amount of work for something that I have not been dreaming about. It's not the amount actually that scares me, it's the fact that I may end up dropping out that scares me.
For the record, I know a doctor's life isn't easy, and that doesn't scare me either. Maybe deep down it is, I don't know.
So what should I do? And is there any medical students out there who had the same problems as me? Sorry for the novel, it's just that I don't want to make the wrong decision.

scienceandpugs

I don't want to sound harsh but if your heart isn't in it don't do it. There are plenty of other courses that are connected to the health sciences that would suit your love of science and many of them provide post-grad opportunities which would allow you to have the social interaction of medicine but incorporating other aspects which you would like.

djpbarry

meganrose96 wrote: »

What is the dream course for me?

There's no such thing. There is no course out there that you are going to absolutely love everything about. Furthermore, there is no such thing as a dream job - there's pros and cons to everything. So, stop putting yourself under so much pressure!

It sounds like you're very unsure about doing medicine. So, don't do it. Based on what you've said, I think science would probably make more sense - it will still leave you with plenty of options and you can always go back to medicine at some point in the future if you want to.

ahmdoda

the only guy that got 9 A1s (625) in the leaving cert this year did science in trinity a course for 500 points

EuropeanSon

OP, loads of people get 590-625. The vast majority of them don't do med.

Of my close friends, about 80% of them got over 600 in todays terms (575+ before bonus points). They do things ranging from Economics, Politics, Mathematics, English, Psychology, Science, and Physics. I do Mathematics, and got 580 (605). My sister did Business, and got 600 (625).

Only do medicine if you really love it. If you don't, it's a horrible course. I've lived with med students, and many really disliked it.

ForeverX17

EuropeanSon wrote: »

I do Mathematics, and got 580 (605)

What's that like, if you don't mind me asking? I'm thinking of doing Mathematical Science in UCC with the aim of becoming an actuary (As far as I've looked, you can chose to specialise in this in 2nd year?).

EuropeanSon

ForeverX17 wrote: »

What's that like, if you don't mind me asking? I'm thinking of doing Mathematical Science in UCC with the aim of becoming an actuary (As far as I've looked, you can chose to specialise in this in 2nd year?).

Varied. I'm in TCD, you can do mostly pure maths, or statistics, or mathematical physics, or applied topics, depending on your preference. First two years have little choice, but the final two have completely free choice between 25 or so topics (maybe more, check the website, modules are listed), of which you do 10-12.

As far as other maths courses go, none of the others in Ireland are quite as good, but UCC is probably the best of the rest. Certainly for physics courses, we have the best available courses, mainly due to the overlap with the TPs.

If you want to do maths to become an actuary, go to UCD, or somewhere else that gives you exemptions from exams. It just takes too long otherwise. Actuary seems very dull though, as a profession.

ForeverX17

EuropeanSon wrote: »

If you want to do maths to become an actuary, go to UCD, or somewhere else that gives you exemptions from exams. It just takes too long otherwise. Actuary seems very dull though, as a profession.

It was initially the course in UCD I was looking at but I will more than likely be staying in Cork.

UCC give exemptions from the exams, according to their website.

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries has approved subject-level exemption status for the MSc programme in Actuarial Science at UCC in respect of their first 8 Core Technical subjects. Students may be recommended for exemption from the Institute’s own professional examinations in up to 7 of these Core Technical subjects by performing sufficiently well in the corresponding examinations of the MSc programme. UCC is one of the very few universities in Ireland which can offer students the potential to receive this level of exemptions from the professional actuarial examinations.

EuropeanSon

ForeverX17 wrote: »

It was initially the course in UCD I was looking at but I will more than likely be staying in Cork.

UCC give exemptions from the exams, according to their website.

Note that that says the MSc gives the exemptions, not the undergraduate degree.

ForeverX17

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Note that that says the MSc gives the exemptions, not the undergraduate degree.

Thank you for pointing that out.

In terms of becoming a qualified actuary, would it make more sense to Mathematical Science for the 4 years and then do the 1 year postgrad in Actuarial Science as this would give you the exemptions from the exams? Rather than doing the 4 years with the actuarial science and having no exemptions.

Baring in mind, I have to stay in Cork for personal reasons.

EuropeanSon

ForeverX17 wrote: »

Thank you for pointing that out.

In terms of becoming a qualified actuary, would it make more sense to Mathematical Science for the 4 years and then do the 1 year postgrad in Actuarial Science as this would give you the exemptions from the exams? Rather than doing the 4 years with the actuarial science and having no exemptions.

Baring in mind, I have to stay in Cork for personal reasons.

I'd think doing the maths course is a better idea, mainly because it'll be broader, so you'll be exposed to more stuff, and because the undergraduate actuary course has no exemptions you miss out on nothing vital if you do still want to be an actuary at the end of it.

Realistically, you probably won't want to be an actuary 4 years from now. You don't know enough yet to be able to pinpoint an ideal career for yourself. Thus, the more options you can give yourself, the better.