Hey SpaceSister,
I did exactly what you’re doing. Joined MSO when I was 13 and started researching HSFY and planning how I was going to get into med (and coming up with plans A, B, C and D as back up). Over 4 years later and I’m in 2nd year med at Otago and tbh I don’t think I wouldn’t have got in if I hadn’t have prepared so early. Anyway don’t let people tell you it’s too early to plan / be excited, as long as you don’t let the thought of university consume your life it’s allgood. Remember to enjoy college because university life isn’t all it’s made out to be, and I kind of regret not enjoying my high school years as much as I should’ve and being too driven rip. Enjoy having the easy life while you can have goals but remember to always focus on the now, you’ll never get the present back again
I joined MSO when I was 13 as well haha. It's actually really reassuring to hear that your pre-planning helped because a lot of my friends still have no idea what they're going to do and sort of look at me weirdly when I tell them about my very in-depth plan for medicine and my iron-clad backup plans (Plan A is of course medicine, though I'm still kind of undecided as to which uni I want to go to. Plan B is optometry/dentistry depending on whether I go to A/O - dentistry is really interesting, and I have glasses so I'm also kind of interested in optometry. Plan C is doing a law and science conjoint degree. Plan C is doing just a science degree, then getting a teaching dipl0ma). My family is ultra supportive though, which is always nice! That's just the person I am - extremely ambitious and driven, never losing sight of the 'end goal'. Of course, not a lot of people my age are like that and I feel bad talking to them too much about it because I don't want to come across as arrogant or something, which is why I joined this forum
Also, thanks for the advice. College isn't the best right now (Year 10 with a few really good teachers and a few pretty bad teachers, plus I've been dealing with a few issues concerning an ex-friend) but I hope it'll get better. NCEA is looming and I'm actually kind of excited because I will finally be able to take biology and "physical science" (which splits off into chemistry and physics in Year 12! I looooove science and maths, which is why I'm 101% certain that medicine, or at least science, is the right path for me. I have been really uni-focused lately to cope with the fact that in real life things aren't going too smoothly, so I really should try and get more into college and what life gives me right now since life probably won't be this relaxed and chill for a while - NCEA, then six years of uni, then the many years of training after that. Thank you again