Help! *waves flashlight*

[Nocturne]

Approaching my last year of grade school in Canada, I am now having to from a wide range of possible post-secondary education options, and in the end a decent career.

I have planned to do a double major in philosophy and physics/mathematics/chemistry, in general but am not entirely sure what career options I will be able to obtain after the schooling, if any.

However, the most iminent problem ahead comes from the amazing persistence of trying to het me on the medical schooling career path which is supported by my close family members for over 5 years. It seems like they have stuck on a parricular career label on me as soon as I had first entered the general school population.
I have never had much interest in that field and have decided to pursue something different, evident in my hoped for double major. The conflicting wishes have strained my relationship with my family as they quietly withdraw both their financial and general support.

To a certain extent, I am not entirely confident of the my decision to veer away from what they had hoped for for many years from me, yet I have a notion this is the right thing to do.
.. Is it?

So. Have any of you been through a situation like this? If so, have you been able to create a compromise of some sort?
Any tips or suggestions?

Now accepting free donations of support in non-perishable containers.

 

[Valentas]

If you are not interested in medical career, don't do it. Would you like to live with the fact that after plowing through 12 years of education you understand that this decision was made by your relatives and not you?

In my environment, I have a person who fallen prey for this. He did 10 years of schooling, then said "fuck it" and now does what he loves. Personal development couch. :}

I was good at school too. Everyone told me to go to medicine. I did. Never liked it and dropped out. Now I am not listening to anyone and do what is interesting to me.

So, choose what you want and see yourself doing in the future. Being a doctor is honorable profession to OTHERS but not FOR YOU if you don't like dealing with patients.

 

[Hadoblado]

What is it with every INTP and his dog getting pigeon holed as a doctor??

You will be at your best if you are interested in your work/degree, it also has the benefit of... well.. making your life more enjoyable. Intrinsic interest is the greatest predictor of success, talent is a secondary variable.

These people aren't qualified to tell you what you should do. I was told I should be a doctor when I was younger, and I'm very glad I did not listen to them. I'm not built for that shit. From what I hear, it's mostly just following someone else's algorithm mindlessly, which does not play to the strengths of the INTP. Perhaps there could be room in medical research?

 

[just george]

They did that to me too. I had pressure to be a doctor and then a dentist, before settling on pharmacist because that allowed me to have my own business (which is what I like to do). Finished the degree, then of all things went into DJing and property/construction, because it's fun. I look at designing things as relaxation, not work. Kind of like Lego, except that people live in it afterwards

My advice would be (and I've said it before on the board) to imagine that you had a bottomless pit of money, and imagine what your life would be like. Where would you live? What would your house look like? What would you eat for breakfast? What car would you drive?

Oh and not the classic "big house with 10 servants and 2 private jets" phase that you'd go through in the beginning. I mean what you'd do/your life would look like after you got bored of all that.

If your scenario doesn't include waking up early and being enthusiastic about going to the hospital to figure out what is wrong with peoples health, then medicine isn't for you.

The biggest trap for young people is confusing wanting to be a doctor, with wanting what a doctor has. A doctor has community respect, prestigious job, money etc but those things are very different from the day to day, blow to blow reality of being a doctor.

Same thing happened when I was training DJs. Everyone wants what a DJ has, but no one wants to do what they do - which is to be a music nerd that knows a lot about crowd psychology.

 

[Hadoblado]

My advice would be (and I've said it before on the board) to imagine that you had a bottomless pit of money, and imagine what your life would be like. Where would you live? What would your house look like? What would you eat for breakfast? What car would you drive?

Oh and not the classic "big house with 10 servants and 2 private jets" phase that you'd go through in the beginning. I mean what you'd do/your life would look like after you got bored of all that.

This is the first time I've heard it. It looks to be a very valuable exercise. Is this your own idea? Impressed.

 

[Duxwing]

Re: Hado: Caring for people is a very Fe activity, and the physical, procedural nature of medicine plays to Si while diagnosis and learning fascinate Ti and Ne. It's an unhealthy career choice, but an appealing one.

Re: OP: Ouch! Talking this issue over with your family could help you salvage some support. Ask them to support you wherever you go because as your parents, they ought to want to see you succeed as your own person.

-Duxwing

 

[just george]

This is the first time I've heard it. It looks to be a very valuable exercise. Is this your own idea? Impressed.

I'm not sure if it was my idea. I started using it when mentoring people who were confused about some stuff 7 or 8 years ago. Whether I picked it up along the way from something I read, or stumbled onto it during some counseling session, or thought of it during personal introspection, I'm not sure.

All that matters is that it is a good way to assess your life, either when you're at a major fork (like the OP) or if you just want to check up on yourself and tweak your own already happy life, plus hunt down those niggling, subtle little things that are subconsciously upsetting you.

 

[redbaron]

What is it with every INTP and his dog getting pigeon holed as a doctor??

Awwwwhoooo!
I wish someone would let me be doGtor!
Arf!

 

[Montresor]

I'll read the replies in a minute but to the OP: getting thru med school and becoming a doctor is expensive as fuck and difficult as fuck and competitive as fuck.

Maybe you are not cut out for it?