Okay, as stupid as this sounds, follow my Hogwarts Method.

That’s right.  The Hogwarts Method.

Bravery/leadership, ambition, hard-work, and intelligence.

Make sure that even if you don’t include all of them into every question the admissions committee asks you, that you’ve slyly written about your having possessed all of these qualities by the end of your application.  And whatever Hogwarts House you think you’d be in, stress that virtue the most, because that’s what will make you competitive against all the other applicants.

For example:
—Gryffindor - Leadership:  you are in student council, are a club president/captain
—Slytherin - Ambition:  you have been in student council/club for several years or are in several similarly related clubs (e.g., Amnesty International, Debate, Model United Nations if you’re pursuing a law degree or the like)
—Ravenclaw - Intelligence:  your GPA and SAT’s are outstanding, you have been in multiple AP/Honors classes, you won a fair/award
—Hufflepuff - Hard-work:  you work part-time, are in multiple clubs, you have volunteered/research

When they ask you your weakness, don’t say “I’m not ambitious because I don’t want to be in the same house as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”  :-|  Really think about why you wouldn’t be placed in that House (as ridiculous as that sounds).

For example:  perhaps, you’re so one-track-minded, so gung-ho about pursuing a, say, pre-med career, that you focused solely on your grades and hence didn’t participate in various clubs.  However, despite your single-mindedness, your hard-work and focus made you excel in your classes and you’re confident that this trait will help you succeed in college!  :D

Okay, I have to get back to helping my cousin, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask me any time!  c:

Hello.

I’m sorry, but if it was possible to answer such a question thoroughly in a single text post, I don’t think people would have to pay for language classes.  However, I can give you general rules of thumb:

• は // wa:
  • ~is/am; used for general opinions about a topic known between the speaker and listener
  • noun は adjective/verb/descriptive-noun
  • EG:  tori は tobu (birds fly)
• が  //  ga:  
  • ~is/am; used to describe something unknown to the listener
  • noun が adjective/verb/descriptive-noun
  • EG:  watashi が dekiru (I can do it)
• に  //  ni:  
  • used like “to”, it signifies a change towards a direction 
  • noun/location/adjective に verb
  • EG:  kirei に narimasu (will become pretty)
  • EG2:  kuruma に iku (will go to the car)
• へ  //  e:  
  • also used like “to” or like “for” on envelopes/letters, this signifies a direction towards something
  • location へ verb
  • EG:  higashi へ ikou (let’s go East)
  • person  へ
  • EG:  Julie へ (to: Julie)
• で  //  de:  
  • used to indicate where something is occurring or how something is being done; when placed after a noun or means of transport, it means “by”, when used after a location, it means that something will/has taken place there
  • means-of-transport で verb
  • EG:  kuruma で ikou (let’s go by car)
  • noun で verb
  • EG:  jibun で dekiru (i can do it by myself)
  • location で verb
  • EG:  kouen で aimashou (let’s meet at the park)
• と  //  to:
  • “and”
  • EG:  sore と kore (this and that)
• を  //  (w)o:
  • used to indicate an action on a noun
  • noun を verb
  • EG:  mado  を aketekudasai (please open the window)
• の  //  no:
  • signifies the possessive form of something
  • noun/pronoun の noun
  • EG:  okaasan の yasashisa (mom’s kindness)
• から // kara:
  • used as “because” or to indicate a change (in location, preferences, etc)
  • reason (da)kara consequence
  • EG:  kawaii から eranda (I chose it ‘cause it’s cute)
  • noun/verb/adjective から noun/verb/adjective
  • EG:  koko から soko (here to there)
• より // yori:
  • used to compare things, it’s roughly “<”
  • noun より noun
  • EG:  hana より choko (chocolate over flowers)

And there you have it.  It’s an incomplete list with very shallow explanations, but it’s the best you’ll get from me while I’m studying for my own exam.
(╯°Д°）╯︵/(.□ . \)
Still, I hope you find this helpful.  Good luck!

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Ah!  No matter what I answer, it really doesn’t matter since you don’t necessarily have to know what you want to do until college (or even halfway through that)!

Take your time figuring out what you want to do.  Really.  Not only does a lot of tuition go into your thoughts, but so does your whole bright future.  Don’t start to limit it now!!

Go through high school and if you know you want to continue to higher education, go to university.  In fact, if you can afford it, I highly recommend going to college, because you really learn a lot about the basics of various occupational fields there and it’s the best place to discover what you want to do in life.  Take all the basic courses, explore the electives, and then I’m sure you’ll find your calling.

To answer your question though, I was about five when I started wanting to become a doctor.  I had my own reasons—family deaths, personal medical history—but they weren’t really anything to distinguish me from almost any other person out there.  Knowing I had to excel in school to become a doctor, I followed “the doctor’s path” and earned straight A’s and tried to be well-rounded by joining many clubs and sports.  Then in high school, I had this mindset that I was already in “the doctor’s path” so even if I wasn’t really sure why I wanted to become a doctor anymore—outside of the fact that I still did want to help people (though there are many ways to do so) and that it seemed to make my family proud—I continued with what I was doing.

However, it was in college that I officially decided I wanted to become a doctor.  I mean, I’ve always been good in the sciences, but being good in biology or chemistry is so basic that you only get a hint of what medicine is like.  It was when I started taking the upper division courses, especially neuroscience, when…omg, my jaw hit the floor.  It was SO.  FASCINATING.  I couldn’t get enough of learning about the mysteries of the brain.  But you know, with medicine, once you’re involved in one subject, you can’t really help but go into other subjects.  I mean, to fully understand neurochemistry, one had to go into biochemistry, and from there physiology and anatomy, or in any order actually, since everything is interconnected.  It’s like an infinite web of knowledge that traps you once you show any true interest.  I knew I had to have more and the paths that opened themselves to me were research and becoming a doctor (or both).  So I volunteered in both activities: at the hospital and in a lab.  No offense to the lab people, but I personally think I’m more a doctor person.

So all in all, while I was already on “the doctor’s path” with a major in Psychobiology (because it fulfilled all the med school prerequisites), it wasn’t really until my junior year that I knew for sure that I wanted to become a doctor more than anything else.

I hope I didn’t bore anyone with that long story and that someone out there actually finds it helpful.  :-)  Good luck, anon!

Hello!

I guess this is a morbid way to begin, but if Death were to ask me, “Do you want to live?” I would answer yes. Yes, because there is so much I long to do and so many things I love doing. I love puzzles and games, swimming, running, laughing. I enjoy helping people, tutoring them, learning new things together. I love playing (though maybe not so much practicing) the piano and fooling around on its keys, discovering new melodies. After playing the piano for twenty years, I love doing anything with my hands and fingers: sculpting, drawing, typing up stories. I’m fascinated with imaginary worlds and adore reading and discovering new ones. And our bodies are like universes in that it’s like you can zoom in infinitely and continuously discover amazing things. Like, how do our bodies adapt to the millions of pathogens we’re exposed to every day? How do we recover? We can look at the body, the organ systems, the individual organs, the tissues, the cells, the things they secrete, the components of those secretions and combinations thereof. It’s incredible. We’re incredible. And as amazing as we are, we’re insignificant compared to the rest of the universe. There are mysteries upon mysteries and as fantasy author Neil Gaiman stated, “thousands of worlds” within our bodies, our minds, and our surroundings. It’s an exciting place to be for those who are curious. And can you imagine? I can do all the things I enjoy—work with my hands, solve mysteries, learn ineffably fascinating facts both medical and personal, and yes, save worlds—as a doctor. What more could I want in an occupation? What more could I want in life than to make such a difference?

These are the reasons why I’m studying hard to become a doctor.  :-)