This weekend someone asked if I'd talk to her son, one of my friends, about what it's like to be a pre-med. I won't have a chance to talk to him until tomorrow, but I figured I'd go ahead and share my thoughts with everyone.
As I've researched medical schools, requirements, internships, etc, I've discovered that many doctors say that they wouldn't automatically recommend pursuing a career in medicine. For a while, I couldn't understand it. Now, however, I do.
Don't get me wrong: I love being a pre-med. I've had so many opportunities open up that wouldn't have had I continued with a psychology major. I got to go to Europe; I got to shadow doctors in Spain; I'm in an amazing lab with an AMAZING mentor. I just submitted an application for a grant that would let me work in the lab this entire summer. I wouldn't change a thing.
That being said....being a pre-med has been the hardest thing I've ever done. It's been stressful. Sometimes what I call the "pre-med monster" has come out. I haven't been able to be as social as I would've liked to be over the last few semesters. My GPA isn't as high as it used to be. Sometimes I've wondered if pre-med really is the best thing for me.
So, after all that, why do I still stick with it? Why do I love it? The answer is simple. Pre-med isn't something that I simply 'do'. I am pre-med. I am a person who gets excited by cadavers, and surgeries, and bacteria, not because I think being a doctor is the best way to have a good salary, or because it makes financial sense, but because it excites me. There is a thrill in learning about anatomy, in learning about the crazy connections between biochemistry cycles, and in learning the intricacies of the cerebellar systems.
While we're on the topic of finding thrills in pre-med stuff....Dr. Wisco, a member of the admissions committee at the University of Utah School of Medicine, told a group of my fellow premeds at BYU that fulfilling pre-med requirements just so you can 'check the box' is absolutely the worst thing you can do. Yes, fulfill the requirements, but fulfill them in ways that you want to. I wanted to travel the world so I shadowed doctors in Spain. I fulfill the patient exposure requirement by volunteering in the ER because I like the random nights when there's a woman in labor, and another, psychiatric patient, who tries to run out the doors -- all within an hour.
So -- my advice to my friend and to all aspiring pre-meds is -- don't just do premed. BE premed. Because if you don't love being pre-med with all your heart, you'll fail, get discouraged, and maybe even be one of the many medical students who commit suicide every year. BE pre-med, or look elsewhere and find what you're truly passionate about.
