I hate my degree

A little background, I am an only child. Pretty much all of my parent's hope were put on me. Ever since primary school, I've always been considered a smart kid, scoring somewhat higher than most of my friends on tests and other kinds of school assignments. Then comes high school and I was asked what I wanted to study in college. I haven't thought much about it at that point and said that I haven't decided on one yet. So, my parents took it upon themselves to decide a good major for me. They ended up enrolling me in med school, since it would give me a great future prospect and the ability to work on my own and be my own boss, something they often emphasized. Everyone in my family approved their choice and called it a "wise decision", so I went on and started studying to be a doctor and make my family proud. Only I realized that I loathe every second it. Biology has never been my favorite subject (I'm more of a maths person) and I dragged myself to each class doodling (something I haven't done since primary school) wishing it to be over as soon as possible. Studying for tests has become an arduous chore of memorizing stuff without understanding anything or the interest to try. Couple that with the fact that the professors and staff were assholes intolerant of the smallest mistakes and you have a pretty shitty college experience. I'm considering moving to another university and take a different major, but my parents have already bragged about how I got into med school cheaper than most other students and I didn't really want to embarrass them. I'm also still halfway through the first year, so there is a possibility that it may get better in the future and something may eventually interest me. But on the other hand, if it doesn't get better, then it would be harder for me to get out and my parents would have spent more money for a major I didn't want. What should I do? Is the college at fault or is it just because I have the wrong mindset? I should probably tell that I was enrolled somewhat against my will, since they only informed me when I had to take a health and psychological test and continued despite my protest that I wasn't interested in the degree telling me that it makes a lot of money and I shouldn't be repeating their mistakes of doing whatever they wanted during college and ending up with a degree they never used. If I were to move, how should I do it to avoid embarrassing my parents?

That would certainly be nice, but I don't think I'll be finding much luck in my current course, since it's strictly about studying to be a doctor for 5 years. And I'm not sure if I can last that long.

Listen, if your parents were so foolish as to make a choice of such a serious and committing nature that, to ensure adequate motivation and incentive, should have been *yours and yours alone* then they should have thought about and been fully prepared for this potential outcome. I'd have thought the first thing to do would be to speak to one or more of your tutors/lecturers and explain the situation, see what he or she can advise when it comes to either dropping out or switching, or enlightening you as to what further options and avenues that a medical degree could open up for you that *would* get you all fired up and raring to go. If that fails to to do the trick, inform your parents that you appreciate their attempt to get you settled on some path but unfortunately it hasn't worked in this instance and so you wish to be honest and pragmatic about it in curbing their overall expense and end disappointment sooner rather than later when it'll be all the more hard to take. Just don't do it until you have an alternative course or study topic figured out for yourself. Where 'management' are concerned, any 'underling' coming to you with just a problem is a giant hassle (pointless whinging), whereas one coming to you with one or more proposed solutions at the ready is not (impressively mature, proactive and cooperative). Simple as that. Hence - talking first to your tutor(s) who are used to this perfectly commonplace situation occurring (because it happens all the time). Granted, all tutors are very protective and competitive over their particular obsessive subjects thus will always try to put up a good fight in terms of doing all they can to get to keep another firm fan or fan-to-be in their particular 'club', but [1] they still aren't your more invested parents plus [2] luckily there is always at least one who'll be more realistic about things and willing to give you some excellent careers advice regarding any alternative direction or different path entirely. Parents with more urge than can be expended on their own kids are *everywhere*, RG1, trust me on that. So talk to the ones who aren't yours thus likely to take it all less personally, as your 'practise run'.

That's sound advice, I will try that. Thank you

What a wonderfully polite young gentleman you are! You're very welcome. :-) Let us know how it goes, if you like?