Hey everyone! I’ve been reflecting about being a pre-med and all that it entails, and I’d like to share with ya’ll a pressing concern, one that is ostensibly obvious yet ignored and subject to almost no scrutiny.
As the name implies, all pre-meds share the goal of one day becoming doctors. But as we all know, it’s very challenging to obtain admissions to medical school, and this leads many pre-meds to strengthen their application by many means: better grades, higher MCAT, stronger letters of recommendation, etc… Whilst many pre-meds go by their daily lives not pondering the ramifications of this very-flawed admissions process, I’ve come to realize that many pre-meds do things solely for the sake of getting into medical school
The notion of boosting one’s resume to increase career prospects is nothing new; those who want jobs in the business or tech world often resort to these tactics with great success. Regardless of the field, people should have relevant experience to that field showing their interest and competency: that much is common sense.
What irks me is not the idea that pre-meds should have medically-relevant experiences, but that pre-meds seek out certain experiences and/or activities solely to increase their chances of getting into medical school. That sort of behavior reeks of insincerity, yet it is ubiquitous in pre-med culture.
Now I’ll be honest: I’m guilty of this sort of thinking. I reflect over what I do and how it contributes to my goal of being a doctor. I subconsciously categorize fellow pre-meds on various criteria and assign labels like “OP” (over-powered, which means they’re gonna be strong applicants). I am aware of what you “need to do” to get into medical school (I’ll explain the quotations later). In spite of my succumbing to these behaviors, I strive to transcend this view of my undergraduate education and yearn for passion and sincerity. Even if I don’t get into medical school, or if I decide to pursue another career path, my undergraduate experiences will have been meaningful and unregrettable if I have been sincere about them. And from a medical-school oriented perspective, having passion for something will help distinguish you from other applications.
It’s important to point out that passion/sincerity and “looking good for medical school” are not mutually exclusive: many of my activities probably look sweet, but I pursue them first and foremost because I love them to pieces. I’m not suggesting that we try to hurt our applications, because obviously I want to have a strong one, but that we re-evaluate why we do things and ask ourselves how much heart is in them.
I’m aware that there are certain aspects of your application that are considered near-essential like clinical experience, but if you’re interested in medicine chances are you’d get it regardless? Besides that, there are certain things that people think they need or that will make them look awesome when in reality it’s not. If you want to attend a top medical school, you should definitely have some research experience, but if you have no interest in research and just want to be a practicing physician, then please don’t do research for the sake of having it on your application. Not only are you setting yourself up for an unpleasant experience, you’re potentially preventing others from pursuing an experience that they genuinely care about. Now if you’ve never done research before and want to see what it’s like, that’s totally fine (I did that myself this past fall), but do it for the right reasons. Doing it solely to pad your application isn’t worth it.
My message is simple: do you. Don’t let a career path make you do anything unnatural or extremely contrived. You are the captain of your own ship; use that power and privilege wisely.
I’m sure many of you who read this will disagree with me and having a litany of opinions on this subject. That’s totally fine, and I think dialogue is key in these sorts of situations. Just know that I’m not trying to ostracize anyone or insult anyone for their choices: I just want to point out something that seems wrong to me.
I’m sure many of you who read this will disagree with me and having a litany of opinions on this subject. That’s totally fine, and I think dialogue is key in these sorts of situations. Just know that I’m not trying to ostracize anyone or insult anyone for their choices: I just want to point out something that seems wrong to me.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment, and check back in a few weeks for another post. #swagmeout
billogsohard 
Look at all that swag. It takes up so much space, there’s almost no room for dialogue!
(I kid, your post has left a lot of room for thought).
One of the hard lessons pre-med classes have taught me is that you have to appreciate all of the different walks of life, starting from college. It’s pretty rare that a lot of kids step into college with a clear idea of what they want from life and the grit and determination to get it. I’ve met a few people who are dead set on becoming surgeons because they’ve been exposed to all the guts and glory, but these students tend to come from advantaged backgrounds with a plethora of opportunities. Often a lot of students wander into the pre-med path because of exterior influences, or simply for a lack of anything to do (as in other “secure profession” paths do not appeal to them). It definitely becomes a problem when you’re, say, grouped with one of those people for a project and they simply don’t put in the effort and you end up caring more than they do (which is what happened to me). And it is definitely very irritating when students can “fake” passion when mentor-figures are around and the older people fall for it, hook, line and sinker.
I think that’s a bit inevitable, though, and that as students tackle the typical “pre-med” experiences, hopefully internal motivations will emerge and grow. And hopefully all the padding will become rather transparent and fake– I’ve heard that medical schools look for focused applications. People may seem insincere where they are now, so the hope is that they’ll find something to be sincere about through going to the “standard” experiences, keeping in mind that patients want a doctor who care about them.
Thanks for your insight Chris! Also sorry for the very late approval: I don’t check this blog as much as I should!