“Go to medical school,” they said. “Be a doctor.”
If only it were that easy…
Being a pre-med student is way more than aesthetic coffee shop study sessions, wearing lab coats and taking biology classes. It’s a hard life we live. There are many struggles pre-meds go through on our journey to becoming the physician we dream of; here are just a few.
1. Mission impossible: get into medical school
AKA the dream of every pre-med, becoming a doctor takes much more than simply having good grades. Getting into medical school requires multiple components. Along with an extremely high GPA, competitive applicants need a long list of extracurriculars, experience, hobbies, killer MCAT and CASPer scores, as well as multiple reference letters just to get an interview.
But how do we know which extracurriculars look the best on a resume? How do we know which activities will make us better applicants? Medical school websites and third-party med-school preparation organizations are so vague about what makes a good applicant — it all feels so secretive.
There is no one formula for success — which drives us pre-meds crazy because we love a good formula. Also, how are we supposed to fit all of this in? Those 24 hours each day fly by extremely fast for pre-meds, and even if we somehow manage to get all of these elements on our resumes, we still aren’t guaranteed a spot. The interview is a battle of its own — getting into medical school really is mission impossible.
2. The Balancing Act
Work-life balance? Pre-meds have never heard of that. With all of those requirements listed above, paired with class, labs and everyday maintenance (such as having something to eat that is not a granola bar; obviously the go-to fuel for pre-meds), who has time for anything else?
For a pre-med to truly have a work-life balance, we need a lot of planning in advance. When we want to see our friends, we have to secure a date three weeks in advance when everyone is free. If not, a “hang out session” really just becomes a study session with a fun name.
Want to give yourself some work-free hours on the weekend? You better wake up early or stay up late during the week (or maybe even both) to carve out some free time this weekend, or it’s not going to happen. Romance? Ha, nice try.
3. Stress
What are pre-med students if not a vessel of stress? Take a blood sample of any of us, I can assure you our cortisol levels are off the charts — sorry, adrenals!
Between class, labs, assignments, midterms, extracurriculars, work, studying and more, pre-meds have so much on our plates at any given time. Plus, with the crazy pressure of knowing you need to excel in all your classes (even the dreaded biochemistry), stress is a constant feeling for us.
The only way to deal with it is having good stress management strategies. Yes, I know it seems counterintuitive to spend time away from the thing that is stressing you out, but I assure you it helps.
Yoga, meditation, exercise, baking, reading or anything else that makes you feel good is a great stress management tool that can help combat those sky-high cortisol levels and give your adrenal glands a break.
4. Self-doubt
Something every pre-med struggles with are haunting, self-doubting questions.
Am I good enough? Am I smart enough? Am I doing enough? Will I even get in?
When you know how competitive medical school is, it’s hard not to wonder if you will actually get in.
The competition is fierce, your classmates are doing well in their courses, some have fancy volunteer, research or even work gigs that will look great on a resume. Others may even have connections in the field, so you know they will have great reference letters. It’s hard not to compare yourself to them.
But you can’t! Don’t go down that rabbit hole! You have to stay focused on yourself, don’t think about what others are doing, and just do what you think is best for you. Everyone’s path to medical school is different; what worked for one person may not for you, and that’s okay.
Keep Going!
In short, getting into medical school is no easy feat. It takes work, time management and planning. It will cost some Friday nights when you would rather be out with your friends. But in the end when we get in, it has got to be worth it. Just think how good you will look in a white coat! Keep your heads up, fellow pre-meds!
