Career paths

[monkbear]

Hello, I am currently in my IB2 year and my final year of high school about to graduate soon. For the longest time I believed I was going to go into medicine, notably surgery, as my life goal but I'm starting to have second thoughts on it. Thinking about it now, I've always loved problem solving and building things, and for some odd reason, have an affinity for aircraft and space crafts, so now I'm thinking about going to University of Toronto engineering science and majoring in aerospace, then perhaps get my master's at MIT or somewhere else. I could also use this as a backup career in case I plan not to attend medical school after college. The problem is I've been hearing horror stories of 'engineer science' at the U of T and that it would destroy my GPA and chance to enter into medical school. I feel confident that I can get to medical school through life sciences but I don't want to be a lab technician if I change my mind about becoming a surgeon. Does anyone have any suggestions for majors in undergraduates for medical school? I was thinking about economics but I'm still pondering about it. Also fun fact, if I do manage to get into medical school with a major in aerospace engineering and continue onto become a neurosurgeon, I would technically be a 'rocket scientist' and a 'brain surgeon'!

[Guest]

Then why not apply to colleges in the United States? The US liberal arts education allows you to explore every field for two years and THEN you can choose what to major in.

There are plenty of colleges in the US that offer Pre-med and engineering option. It's up to you to decide.

[Sandwich]

Your subject choices are somewhat puzzling for both of the career paths you state - no HL Chemistry for Medicine and no HL Maths/Physics of any kind, both of which are absolutely intrinsic to engineering?? I know that you don't need specific subjects for specific courses in engineering in Canada, but if I were you I'd be a little worried that you'll be behind everybody else in terms of basic knowledge. Also having not studied Maths (to a high level)/Physics at school, how can you be sure you'll be able to cope with the course/enjoy it?

I also think it's a little ambitious to know you want to be a surgeon already - and specifically a neurosurgeon. Given that you've never had to do anything related to either of those things ever, I don't really understand how you can say you know already. I mean maybe have an interest but it's really very very prematurely early to announce that that's what you want to do!

Maybe you do have a really realistic idea of what the courses involve, but if you've not really investigated it very thoroughly, I think perhaps you should. Check that you'll be able to cope with engineering despite coming from a background very low in Physics/Maths and that you genuinely do enjoy doing those subjects (or you'll have a miserable 4 years of it) despite for whatever reason not selecting them for IB. I hope it wasn't due to dislike

For Medicine, it's probably best if you have an interest in Biology/Biomedicine/Life sciences of some kind. Not as an undergraduate degree necessarily but because otherwise you'll probably find medicine pretty painful. Given how long it takes to become a neurosurgeon(?!!) if that is indeed what you end up wanting to do 15-20 years from now, you want to be 100% you're doing the right thing. If you're more interested in aerospace engineering, you might want to think long and hard about your actual interest in medicine. You may have a strong interest in both, of course, it's just you should be certain that that is the case.

[monkbear]

Then why not apply to colleges in the United States? The US liberal arts education allows you to explore every field for two years and THEN you can choose what to major in.

There are plenty of colleges in the US that offer Pre-med and engineering option. It's up to you to decide.

I've actually wanted to go to the US but unfortunately I couldn't get my green card in time, so I would have to pay international tuition fees.

Your subject choices are somewhat puzzling for both of the career paths you state - no HL Chemistry for Medicine and no HL Maths/Physics of any kind, both of which are absolutely intrinsic to engineering?? I know that you don't need specific subjects for specific courses in engineering in Canada, but if I were you I'd be a little worried that you'll be behind everybody else in terms of basic knowledge. Also having not studied Maths (to a high level)/Physics at school, how can you be sure you'll be able to cope with the course/enjoy it?

I also think it's a little ambitious to know you want to be a surgeon already - and specifically a neurosurgeon. Given that you've never had to do anything related to either of those things ever, I don't really understand how you can say you know already. I mean maybe have an interest but it's really very very prematurely early to announce that that's what you want to do!

Maybe you do have a really realistic idea of what the courses involve, but if you've not really investigated it very thoroughly, I think perhaps you should. Check that you'll be able to cope with engineering despite coming from a background very low in Physics/Maths and that you genuinely do enjoy doing those subjects (or you'll have a miserable 4 years of it) despite for whatever reason not selecting them for IB. I hope it wasn't due to dislike

For Medicine, it's probably best if you have an interest in Biology/Biomedicine/Life sciences of some kind. Not as an undergraduate degree necessarily but because otherwise you'll probably find medicine pretty painful. Given how long it takes to become a neurosurgeon(?!!) if that is indeed what you end up wanting to do 15-20 years from now, you want to be 100% you're doing the right thing. If you're more interested in aerospace engineering, you might want to think long and hard about your actual interest in medicine. You may have a strong interest in both, of course, it's just you should be certain that that is the case.

IB has been at our school for only the past 2 years, I'm actually one of the first generation of students there, so we had no choice in which courses we could pick and believe me I wouldn't have picked English as a HL if I had a choice! Also, I'm not actually saying that I would go into neurosurgery but it was just a simple fact if I were to go into it I would be both a rocket scientist and brain surgeon. I do know I want to do something in the field of science and mathematics as a career choice that's for sure, but I'm not sure if I really want to go in which career. I mean biology is my favorite class, but I wouldn't like to become a biologist lab technician because so many pre-med students here chose the major there has been a surplus of college graduates with biology majors leading to finding a job in the field impossible and not to mention the low pay also. I have a feeling I wouldn't regret either choice, but I'm just having trouble choosing which one .

Edited February 24, 2012 by monkbear

[Guest]

Then why not apply to colleges in the United States? The US liberal arts education allows you to explore every field for two years and THEN you can choose what to major in.

There are plenty of colleges in the US that offer Pre-med and engineering option. It's up to you to decide.

You know if you have faith in yourself and your marks are high enough...then you can apply for Financial aid.

And by the way, i'm pretty sure you apply for US Visa AFTER you get accepted from University. Not before.