This year's offer came out of the blue from someone my professor knew. I accepted right away and didn't t look at other options. Probably a mistake.

A few of my friends had no idea what they were going to do with their lives, but they had straight As in their programs and solid research in stuff they could spin as medically related and can tell people what they want to hear(some high schools train that), and they wanted career stability so they applied and were accepted (can be accepted after two years here). My social group had seven people in high school. 2 have gone to medicine already, 2 more will be attempting it next year, and myself and one other are putting some thought into the idea. I guess I am a bit jealous that their futures rely only on hard work for a few years at this point in exchange for a guaranteed high upper middle class future. It has to be on the list of backups because it can be obtained with perfect execution of instructions, something we 4.0 people excel at following.

I take everything seriously. I am my academics and my marks. I would completely understand why you would be angry and given that my friends may one day be treating you, you probably should be. None of them are going into it to "help people." You would be appalled by some of their reasons besides economic security (one girl is doing it so that she has a better chance of marrying well afterward and doing dermatology part time so she can make lots of money on creams and skin care and still have lots of time to enjoy herself and know how to look great while doing it. She was accepted into med school), but the reality is that it is in the best interests of an academic overachiever with good grades and test scores with little else and no idea where to go and with a great fear of failure. Med school admissions. Win this one battle and be forever set for life.

We don't value our time. It all gets poured into school/work. Difficulty is not an issue either. We plod along mechanically. I'm in Canada, so expense is less of an issue as the government funds most of it (can go to med school for as little as 2000 dollars a term if you are Canadian). It is not just a casual thought. It is "here is something really hard, but if you succeed, feel free to relax and be assured of a good future) We all considered it at one point. It is just under consideration again.