Being on the pre-medical track in college is known to be an extremely rigorous experience. Many students, friends, family members, and others may not understand why you chose to commit to such a demanding career path. Moreover, going to medical school and pursuing medicine after getting a bachelor’s degree is even more difficult than most people understand.
The pre-med community at UMass begins as a fairly large proportion of life sciences students, but eventually dwindles down by the time students graduate. Being pre-med is truly a big commitment, and for many it can be too taxing on their school and life balance. Organic chemistry is notoriously known to be an especially difficult class and pushes many students away from wanting to become physicians. Many other factors turn students against pursuing the pre-medical track.
What is really awesome about the pre-med community at almost any school is that we are a diverse group of students, who come from very different backgrounds and have varying levels of experience in the field to begin with. Some of us have known that we want to become doctors since we were fifteen years old, while others discovered their passion for medical science during their college career. Many people generalize the type of student who is on the pre-medical track as being hard-working, expect a lot of themselves, and occasionally can be competitive. This is a gross assumption about who we are, though. If you ask two pre-medical students about their clinical, volunteer, and extracurricular involvement, and even their other academic interests besides the life sciences, you will likely hear two completely different stories.
We are VERY busy. Most of us study most of the time, including weekends, but we prioritize our work, volunteering, friends and family and do our best to take care of ourselves too. Burnout is a reality not just for doctors and medical students, but for pre-medical students, too. That’s why many of us take one or two gap years after college nowadays to explore our other interests and deepen our clinical knowledge prior to entering medical school.
There is no way to really know if being pre-med and pursuing medical school is the right path for you. Many of us are expected to have doctors or nurses in our family, or have some other strong influence by a medical professional in our lives. Some of us have close relationships with medical professionals, but some of us don’t. There is also an assumption that we don’t waver about our decision to go to medical school. Being pre-med and then attending medical school, pursuing a residency and possibly a fellowship is a financial and time commitment. Being a physician is a way of life, not just a profession. Depending on your career path, your career as a physician could heavily impact your lifestyle.
Being pre-med has its ups and downs, but it is so worth it. Just like any major, if you are truly passionate about health and medical science, you will find yourself genuinely interested and excited to learn about such topics. If you find yourself questioning if you can do it or if someone is pushing you not to pursue the medical-track, just keep pushing. It will be so rewarding in the end.