vick001 Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 First year university student: Just the other day I went to meet some of my first semester proffs to get references for a research position. I sat down with my Physics Professor and we talked for quite a bit. Mainly, I told him about my interest about medicine and throughout the conversation he questioned my motives and asked me if I knew what I was getting myself into. Before I left his office he said this with the biggest smile on his face " you know why I love university? University is where most people's dreams are crushed" Later on that night ( 3 hour night class) he started the class by asking how many people here want to become doctors? At least 1 third of the class raised there hands and it made me think... Just from one class there's like 100 people who expect to become doctors, imagine the entire university. Does anyone have any similar stories? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennethToronto Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Seems like your prof is being a ****. University isn't about crushing dreams. A lot of people in 1st year might be interested in studying medicine, but undergrad is a great opportunity to figure out what you really want to do and many people decide by 3rd/4th year that there are other fields just as interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-Stark Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Well, it's also true that a lot of first-years consider themselves premeds on the path to becoming doctors, with all that that implies. My cell bio prof once went off on a bit of rant about how the biology program was not a premed degree. When I was a calculus TA, I remember many a first-year being overly concerned that a 75 on a midterm would jeopardize their chances, along with much worry about the calculus content tested on the MCAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkles3288 Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 When I was in organic chemistry, our proff asked how many wanted to be doctors. Prob 2/3 put up our hands (from a class of ~350). Then he told us from that, maybe 10 of us would. And laughed evilly. Pretty sure every person wanting to go to medicine has heard the same story. I used to wonder why proffs were so "nasty" towards students who wanted to be doctors, but asI get further along in my degree, I can completely understands. "premeds" are typically super-keen and only care about getting the good grades--not usually giving a hoot about the material and proffs can sense this. Why help someone who dosen't care? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xylem29 Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Sounds like stupid Toronto profs to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vick001 Posted January 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Seems like your prof is being a ****. University isn't about crushing dreams. A lot of people in 1st year might be interested in studying medicine, but undergrad is a great opportunity to figure out what you really want to do and many people decide by 3rd/4th year that there are other fields just as interesting. Yea the way i described him made him sound evil but he's actually a really cool guy. He said it in a joking matter but I'm pretty sure what he meant was people have high hopes and dreams without actually doing any work. . He said if I'm really determined to go into medicine, make the sacrifices, do the work, he'd be willing to write references for any volunteer work or research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vick001 Posted January 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 When I was in organic chemistry, our proff asked how many wanted to be doctors. Prob 2/3 put up our hands (from a class of ~350). Then he told us from that, maybe 10 of us would. And laughed evilly. Pretty sure every person wanting to go to medicine has heard the same story. I used to wonder why proffs were so "nasty" towards students who wanted to be doctors, but asI get further along in my degree, I can completely understands. "premeds" are typically super-keen and only care about getting the good grades--not usually giving a hoot about the material and proffs can sense this. Why help someone who dosen't care? I can relate to that story. My brother's in his second year of life science and he tells me stories about his first year. Everyone around him wanted to become doctors and quite a few people would rush the professor at the end of class asking for special request/favors NOT regarding any of the course material. My brother got into an argument with him during one of his lectures about some research and actually got to know him pretty well through that. Turns out hes a surgeon at the hospital 5 minutes away from our house and offered my brother a job there shadowing him. The one he got is hard to get and a lot of people applied for it but he offered it to my brother who not only didn't apply for it, didn't even know about it. All because he just had an interest at the research topic at hand and didn't suck up asking for favors (his reason) --) I on other hand need favors- woot got my 2 reference letters today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
covarubious Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 When I was in organic chemistry, our proff asked how many wanted to be doctors. Prob 2/3 put up our hands (from a class of ~350). Then he told us from that, maybe 10 of us would. And laughed evilly. Pretty sure every person wanting to go to medicine has heard the same story. I used to wonder why proffs were so "nasty" towards students who wanted to be doctors, but asI get further along in my degree, I can completely understands. "premeds" are typically super-keen and only care about getting the good grades--not usually giving a hoot about the material and proffs can sense this. Why help someone who dosen't care? My response to that prof would have been, well, if we fail at our dreams can we become professors to then discourage others from having dreams? After all, those who cad, those who can’t, teach! Not something I actually believe but one rude comment deserves another. Lol It wouldn’t be the first time I highlighted a profs inappropriate behavior to him/her Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennisball80 Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 lol can't wait for college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngdad Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Priceless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennisball80 Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 My biochem prof told this one... Prof: I love my job, I save lives. Student: Why, are you a doctor? Prof: No, I'm a biochem teacher. I prevent morons from becoming doctors. LOL That's very funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 After all, those who cad, those who can’t, teach! ) My dad always says those that can do, those who can't teach, those who can but don't want to become professors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vick001 Posted January 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 My biochem prof told this one... Prof: I love my job, I save lives. Student: Why, are you a doctor? Prof: No, I'm a biochem teacher. I prevent morons from becoming doctors. LOLLLL, thats hilarious:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrhumble Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 At UT Con Hall during my first undergraduate degree program, out of 1600 students, about 1400-1500 raised their hands when asked the question about how many people wanted to become a doctor. I was one of the students who raised the hand. It's been 7 years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vick001 Posted January 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 So based on all these replies I'm assuming that everyone has had a similar experience in there undergrad. My question is, did this discourage you in anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ysk1 Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 First year university student:" you know why I love university? University is where most people's dreams are crushed" It's true that most people who initially want to become doctors don't realize what they're getting themselves into, but he is just EVIL for implying how he "loves" to observe most people failing to achieve their dreams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan0105 Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 My biochem prof told this one... Prof: I love my job, I save lives. Student: Why, are you a doctor? Prof: No, I'm a biochem teacher. I prevent morons from becoming doctors. That is too true. My biochem prof asked the class how many people want to be doctors (80%+ put their hand up) and then he would say "the average in this class is 65% AND you better not become a doctor who only knows 65% of what you should when you treat me!" So based on all these replies I'm assuming that everyone has had a similar experience in there undergrad. My question is, did this discourage you in anyway? I think you need to take a better outlook on it. All those other people should just emphasize your goal. Work hard, stay on top, volunteer, do things that make yourself unique. After 3 or 4 years of all that during university, then getting in should be no problem. (Just be nice and respect everyone else dreams, I hate backstabbing premeds.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xylem29 Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 So based on all these replies I'm assuming that everyone has had a similar experience in there undergrad. My question is, did this discourage you in anyway? It did - it made me think that it must be impossible to get into medical school. As a result, I was one of the kids that DIDN'T raise their hands in that class - it was BIO150 right mrhumble? Didn't start thinking about medicine until my very last year...didn't write the MCAT until I graduated...lol. Truth is, it's very much possible. It's funny because when you tell people from 1st/2nd year - who have not gone through the process yet (or who don't know anybody who's gone through it) - you've done interviews they are so suprised and impressed - likely because they've been led to believe that it's impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xylem29 Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 My biochem prof told this one... Prof: I love my job, I save lives. Student: Why, are you a doctor? Prof: No, I'm a biochem teacher. I prevent morons from becoming doctors. That is a prof I would love to have....LOL. In fact, I'm taking this for my sig...lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Sounds like stupid Toronto profs to me. x2 lol. Stay away from this guy's class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vick001 Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Man those wow references are hilarious- hmm maybe i should make one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mashmetoo Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 First year university student: Just the other day I went to meet some of my first semester proffs to get references for a research position. I sat down with my Physics Professor and we talked for quite a bit. Mainly, I told him about my interest about medicine and throughout the conversation he questioned my motives and asked me if I knew what I was getting myself into. Before I left his office he said this with the biggest smile on his face " you know why I love university? University is where most people's dreams are crushed" Later on that night ( 3 hour night class) he started the class by asking how many people here want to become doctors? At least 1 third of the class raised there hands and it made me think... Just from one class there's like 100 people who expect to become doctors, imagine the entire university. Does anyone have any similar stories? I am not surprised that this is the case in University. This phenomena is probably wide spread in all the disciplines. My friend who is taking Political Science at UofT was saying how "all the people in the (poli sci) classes wanted to become lawyers". You can easily extrapolate from this trend that most of the students in commerce/accounting want to be licensed chartered accountants, or something of that order.. Of course, not everyone can become these professionals. I've had a similar experience, over 80% of the folks I met while in first-second year of undergrad wanted to become doctors.. Within the first semester of each year, reality set in with the UofT 67-69% class average across the board... and suddenly, not everyone wanted to be a doctor anymore.. This was when I was first introduced to the term "receding slide of shame".. which basically went like "Med school --> dental school --> pharmacy" .. UofT isn't the University of Kalamazoo where the average is in the low 80s.. so someone had to get that 65 in introductory chem... I am not surprised, I mean, what did we expect? Life's a pyramid scheme with the few on top and a much larger base of the less fortunate or people who got weeded out... but then again.. I have a friend with a cgpa of a low 2.x who was accepted into a Caribbean school.. one of the top 4 too.. so who knows.. maybe the down trodden can come up again if he tries really hard? I do agree that pre-meds get picked on more harshly than the others.. especially in the life sciences.. you never hear profs ask "how many of you want to become dentists?!".. Pick on the pharmacists or dentists lol, leave the poor pre-meds alone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medaholic Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Many science undergrads want to become doctors, there's nothing particularly wrong or funny about that. The mistakes the majority of first year students have are they don't know how hard med school is to get in, the time commitment involved in medicine or what being a doctor is even about. Medicine is a competitive field. Same with becoming a full professor, lawyer, politician, big time research, astronaut, starchitect etc. People have to realize only a certain few will be admitted into medical school. That's just how the statistics are, simple math. Out of ten students, if you're not the top one, your chances are slim. Among a random sampling of 20-30 first year science students, if you're not #1 or #2, what makes you think being #6 will be advantageous? Main Point: The idea of becoming a doctor has crossed almost everybody's mind. To those who pursue a science degree, practically 100%. The majority of those who raised their hands in response to that question, have no clue what they want to be. I wouldn't worry about others too much. Just focus on your own strengths, learning, and efforts and you'll be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviathan Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Many science undergrads want to become doctors, there's nothing particularly wrong or funny about that. The mistakes the majority of first year students have are they don't know how hard med school is to get in, the time commitment involved in medicine or what being a doctor is even about. That's pretty much it. From what I gather, most science profs think pre-meds who want to be doctors are akin to a 5-year-old telling you that he wants to be a firefighter. The reasons are extremely superficial like "I want to help people" or "I like science" or in the case of the 5-year-old, "Fire trucks are bright red and make loud noises!" Whether that is a fair assessment or not is another story, but it's just what I've heard from some of the profs in my undergrad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
covarubious Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 My dad always says those that can do, those who can't teach, those who can but don't want to become professors. Actually, 3 of my very good friends are teachers lol So I would never repeat that outside a veil of anonymity. they are great people and teachers though. My god, some profs are just lazy, cruel, bitter terrible people! My microeconomics prof (no more than 30 y/o at most) walked into class and said I hate this subject and I hate teaching it. Good luck! This is the same prof who was in a bad mood one day and told the entire class they were stupid! I walk out mid class and reported him. I think some prods rely on their students to be intimidated by their stature and will just sit there and take their abuse. I'm older and wiser; nobody calls me stupid and gets away with it. Call me fat and ugly if you like but don't insult my intelligence! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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