My story is a very interesting and long story. Please get a comfortable place to sit with popcorn and probably juice. Don't forget your thinking cap, this would make you think, hopefully.

It all started in junior secondary school 2(jss2), I have always performed averagely or even less than average in school, because I don't read. I never knew one was supposed to read and no one told me to read. So I kept performing averagely from primary school to jss2. My school was changed when I was in jss2 and this school rewarded scholarship to the best overall student(no school fees will be paid by the student), let me say this motivated me to want to come out as the best student.

It so happened that I actually started reading, although I never read a topic more than once in secondary school, I hated reading, it was boring to me, it wasn't mentally engaging to me. But I read for the sake of fulfilling all righteousness, most things I read only once and my reading was very slow. This was because I wanted to understand the topic fully on first reading, so I wouldn't need to read it again in the future, and I usually listen in class and ask challenging questions that made my teachers think. I always remember their explanation, plus what I read myself. That was coupled with the fact that I was a logical thinker, any question that was asked in exam, I always had an idea of the answer, and I do cook up answers based on my understanding of the topic and my ingenuity.

Since I started reading, I have been coming out as 2nd overall best student in all the schools I went to . I attended two secondary schools and I always came out as among the top 3 best students in school. What's surprising was how relaxed I was with reading, I don't read much(I didn't even like reading) and I still came out as top 3 best students. If I was less lazy and more serious with my reading, I would have come out as number 1. There was something about myself that I remember, instead of cramming fomulars in maths, physics and chemistry, I questioned those formulas, and derived the fomulas myself through logical thinking. So in exams, if I was asked a question that requires the use of formulars, I just derive the formula myself right there in the exam hall. I remembered a time I created an equation and told my math teacher to help me solve it, cos I have been trying to solve it myself without success. X² - 4 = 36x , yes I still remember the equation after 15 years of creating it. My math teacher was frustrated with the question, she asked me where I got the question from, I told her it was from my head, she got mad at me, becaus she has been trying to solve it mathematically for days without success, and I was the talk of the entire school.

I later left the school (in ss1) because the best teachers of the school weren't paid well and had resigned, I was the time keeper then, because I always come very early to school. When I got to another school in ss1, I was taken to "A" class because of my performance. The student that used to come out as best student, was so scared of me, and he had to be reading more than before, anyway, I performed better than he did in all the tests we did in SS2 and the owner of the school called to see me, being the first person to beat him. Anyway he still came out as best student and we are friends till now.

I remember how further mathematics was one of my best subject, calculus was my favourite topic in math. I usually play with calculus, experimenting with it, trying to create new formulas using calculus and algebra. I was also able to understand how formulas were derived. There was a time I even proved the formular for the volume of a sphere using integration in calculus and algebra. I was so excited to be able to prove the formula to be correct without being taught how to do this, it was beyond the scope of our further maths textbook. I felt so proud of myself, and imagined Albert Einstein tapping my back, saying "good boy". It has always been my dream to make a new discovery that would revolutionise the scientific world. One that I would be remembered for after my death. I didn't want to be like just another person that existed and died and was forgotten. I was obsessed with maths, if I wasn't doing anything, I would be found solving maths, trying to discover new mathematical principles, I was full of dreams and imagination, I was a very happy and motivated kid, because I was utilizing my talents and appreciated for it.

Anyway I did Waec in 2012 and ended up coming out with distinction (A1) in mathematics, further maths, economics, physics and chemistry. The worst result I had was B3(in English). I still have some of my school results with me. I wasn't sure of the university to select, so I went for a private university in Nigeria, because my dad could afford it. I wanted to pick computer science because I felt it would involve me thinking and would utilize my mathematical and scientific skills. That was the closest to what I wanted for myself. I would have chosen robotics and artificial intelligence but I didn't see any university that was offering such a course. Anyway my dad discouraged me from picking computer science because there was no guarantee of a job with a computer science degree. So I was told to pick medicine and surgery as most parents would want for their children in science to pick. I remember how I tried to convince my dad to allow me pick computer science because it will utilise my talents better, that medicine and surgery would just demand me to cram stuffs and pass exams. I didn't just want to know stuffs, I wanted to understand how stuffs were arrived at. For instance I didn't just want to know the drugs for treating malaria, I wanted to know how they discovered the drugs, what was the logic behind the drug structure and how it worked in treating malaria. Not just craming the name of the drug and the formulation, but how exactly does the drug work and discovering more drugs for malaria. I was a natural scientist and medicine and surgery didn't stimulate me mentally. The only topics that made me happy in medical school was physiology. You hardly need to cram anything in physiology, just understand all the concepts and you are good to go. I was really good in physiology because it was explanatory. Anyway I struggled throughout my preclinicals days in medical school. Trying to put things into my memory mindlessly. I ended up passing all anyway, but I wasn't enjoying it at all, I wasn't challenged mentally. My performance was average because I didn't give it my all, as the interest was never there, but it was good enough for me to pass, I hated "good enough", I wanted to be the best at whatever I did, I wanted to be exceptional. Although I loved genetics then, because it was challenging and had a lot to be discovered in it. I dreamt of being a geneticist then, because I would be able to experiment with genes and create hybrids of animals and discover something new. I also loved psychology, because it was interesting to study how humans think, why we think the way we do, and what made us think the way we do. I would always read psychological topics online, my Myers Briggs personality is INTP(the logician). It was fascinating to me. I later changed schools from a private university to the most prestigious medical school in Nigeria, even though I had spent two years in the private school I was still able to pass and gained admission into the federal university, medicine and surgery too, this was another chance of changing my course, but I was convinced to pick medicine again. I did sha, and premedical and preclinical days was uneventful. Although I was among the best in my physiology results.

I got into the clinical aspect of medical school, we started doing pathology, pharmacology, medicine, surgery and the other clinical stuffs. I didn't enjoy any of them. There were lots of information to memorise, which I hated doing. It wasn't in my nature to memorize. It was during this period I had an emotional breakdown and I was diagnosed with clinical depression, this was due to the fact that I had little to no social support, my dad lost his job, so I was dependent on my sister to feed. I was living alone, and had to do some odd jobs to survive in school, I ended up packing my loads and leaving school(in 400level). They tried to stop me, but my mind was made up, this wasn't what I wanted with my life. I decided to get a puppy, after reading about dogs in books and online, I wanted to be prepared to take care of a dog. I did get a puppy eventually and I applied my knowledge in taking care of a dog(whatever I want to do in my life, I always made sure I was ready for it).Anyway after a year of staying at home, I ended up going back to school, when the financial issue was sorted out. Something in me didn't want to continue medical school; I thought it was just the financial issue that made me depressed. But I was wrong. The fact that I was forced into medical school(because they thought that was my best chance of surviving in Nigeria) and underperforming, made me bitter and unhappy. Anyway I did all I had to do in clinicals, and I ended up failing both pathology and pharmacology upon all my readings. I researched the best way to memorise, applied different tested and trusted means of memorising effectively in school, but I still didn't perform up to my expectations. I even wrote two books on how to survive in medical school based on my various research, two editions. I wanted to help other students who were struggling in medical school too. But I couldn't help myself. It's not as if I couldn't memorise, I just didn't want to, cos memorising was boring. During the time I was at home with my puppy, I started reading pathology and pharmacology in advance, I used all the resources I had, I applied techniques like spaced repetition, interleaved learning, active learning, using various media to learn, videos, reading from reliable sources online and totally being in the realm of pathology and pharmacology, it was amazing. When I resumed school in clinicals, I was answering every single question that i was asked correctly, whenever the doctors take us on ward rounds, and it was my turn to answer questions, I always got it right(I kid you not), I was on fire!!! for the very first time, I felt I was doing great in medical school. I felt good then, I was proud of myself. But it was short-lived. I started losing interest in reading, I slowed down. It was uninteresting. Coupled with the fact that there were some irregularities, we were supposed to do pathology and pharmacology first in clinicals, but because it crashed with another set, they had to make us do medicine 1 and surgery 1 first. So I felt my plan was ruined(because I had been preparing for path and pharm for months) tho it actually helped me in medicine and surgery 1, my result wasn't encouraging at all, I scored 42% in surgery 1 upon all my readings and preparation. If assuming I loved knowing unending facts , I know I won't have any problem in medical school, but I hate how I was made to know facts without understanding how those facts came to be.

Now I'm at the stage of failing my second major medical exam(pathology and pharmacology), I finally decided, for the 4th time now that I wasn't interested in studying medicine anymore. And it's final. I have spent 10 years in medical school trying to be what I don't want to be because I was in Nigeria and medicine and surgery was the only certain career to get a job in Nigeria... I would remind you that even after passing MB2(path and pharm) I would still have to pass mb3 and mb4 before I can graduate, and I have two more years left in medical school, that is if I don't repeat classes due to poor performance. I could spend 5 years more, 4 years more or 3 more years because I don't know what other challenges I would face in future. I don't even plan on practicing in Nigeria because of the situation we have now in Nigeria. I would still have to pass all the medical exams required to practice in another country like the USA or UK. And even if I end up graduating medical school, would I be happy with my life being a doctor? Every diagnosis I make would be out of all my acquired knowledge in medical school with little or no analysis involved in making diagnosis, and I would do this till I die, probably discovering nothing like other doctors. Mid life crisis would then hit me like an elephant. Remember my dreams?

I anticipate the kind of response I would get from people after reading my story. Most of you would say that I have already spent 10 years in medical school, why do I want to waste those years now? Sorry to burst your bubble, this is a fallacious thinking called the sunk cost fallacy https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/the-sunk-cost-fallacy. It is a tendency for humans to continue with an endeavour even if it doesn't make sense to continue with it, just because they have spent a lot of time, money and effort in it. It's like remaining in a romantic relationship that isn't working just because you have been in the relationship for years, instead of just going into another relationship that could work.

Another response I would get is that, what do I want to do if not medicine, I would say I have developed a love for data science, because it involves a lot of mathematics and analysis, which are things that comes naturally to me. It's a field in tech(IT) which I love, and it's an emerging field with a lot to be discovered. Infact I can apply the knowledge I have gained in medical school into data science, by discovering patterns in the human genetics(genome), bringing better understanding of genetic diseases. A lot of people might think this change in career path is risky and uncertain, so I shouldn't change, that is another cognitive bias called zero risk bias https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/zero-risk-bias
and regret aversion https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/regret-aversion . We humans tend to avoid making a decision , if we sense that we would regret it in future, and we also tend to avoid risk. There is hardly anything in life that doesn't involve risk, and I think this is a risk I'm willing to take.

Thank you for reading my story for this long, I know it's very long but I don't want to leave out too much details, although there are so many other things I didn't state here, if you have further questions you can ask me on the comment below.

Also I am looking to leave this country to a first world country (USA preferable) where I can be nurtured to utilise my abilities and talent. I don't mind travelling abroad because I believe I can do better than this if I was in an environment that appreciated my talent and enabled me to pursue a path that fits me, and would make me use my ingenuity to discover things.

If you know an organisation/company/industry that would help me reach my maximum capacity, I'm willing to join them. I hate the fact that I'm in Nigeria, underutilizing my abilities. And my dreams are very much alive. I am still learning data science on my own, although I'm not fixed on data science alone, anything that would make me think/analyse, something that requires me to use my ingenuity, I would be willing to do it and make some good money for myself. I don't plan to be poor...

Just so you know, I was involved in student politics during my stay at the federal university.

If you need to get in touch with me, send me an email on nairaland29@gmail.com , my CV is ready. I'm ready to learn new things, and do whatever it takes to work in my best capability and be successful in life, and hopefully discover something new and contribute to the wealth of knowledge of humanity.

Thanks.


Cc Seun

Please help me move this to front page.

Please help me tag people that would move this post to the front page.

Thanks

Too long to make front page...

dudusky007:
Too long to make front page...

Why not take your time to read it.. OP I wish I get this kind of your brain.. I like doing things differently from others wakahi

Those ten years are not totally waste my brother, i believe you must be very experience by now, but sincerely i really feel for you- only if parents can allow their children choose their prefered course of study. You are indeed a strong person, pls never give up , your dreams will surely come to pass by God's grace.

Op,I discovered that too when I was in the medical school.I did anatomy in school.but bro,I only liked physiology cos it was more of English. Unlike Anatomy,where u have to cram anatomical terms.I am into quantitative analysis now.that is what I enjoyed doing. I put more knowledge into discovering secrets of winning virtual games.my brother is an IT expert.he is not based in Lagos.he should be able to put u thru with the kind of professional courses to study.he did computer tech/engineering at Babcock uni.

lolu2019:
Op,I discovered that too when I was in the medical school.I did anatomy in school.but bro,I only liked physiology cos it was more of English. Unlike Anatomy,where u have to cram anatomical terms.I am into quantitative analysis now.that is what I enjoyed doing. I put more knowledge into discovering secrets of winning virtual games.my brother is an IT expert.he is not based in Lagos.he should be able to put u thru with the kind of professional courses to study.he did computer tech/engineering at Babcock uni.

Thank you... I appreciate

There's a program from Shopify Called devdegree or something

https://precillieo.medium.com/tech-took-me-out-of-the-ghetto-4ad3f884da04

The lady in this article took advantage of it but I don't think you are eligible due to your age but you can try. There's also some google dev scholarships. Also expand your reach outside usa and Canada do research there's a ton of great developed unknown nations you can do your degree in. Dont be rigid especially now.