I want to be a doctor. Specifically, I want to work with children and adolescents in some type of medical field. Yes, I’m currently a pre-med student at my university; and yes, I probably have my next 3 years of classes planned out with internships and extracurriculars mapped all over my room. I’m heavily involved and I do find myself stressed on occasion. I try my hardest to discover new passions and develop current passions into materialized projects and activities.

But I’m not crazy.

I'm not a zombie. Or a vampire. Or a sadist. Or a masochist. I'm not going to raid your bag to steal your notes or burn your backpack to prevent you from getting an A. To many this is the image or perception that people have when they think about a student preparing for medical school. Far too often do I come across the stigma that pre-health students are anti-social, overly obsessed with grades, socially dead, overworked, overstressed, and flat out psychotic. Do those types of pre-med students exist? Of course. I’ve met hundreds of these students. Probably even thousands. There’s probably too many in the university system to count and many of them end up as miserable medical students, ending up as unhappy lackluster doctors. Do I want to avoid this fate? Of course.

I’m an above average student at a top 25 research institution that specializes in engineering, theatrical arts, and computer science (just to name a few). I’m a member of the Greek community, I give tours to prospective students and I have a passion for dance. I have a fairly large network of friends and I take every moment I can to relax and take a break from my strenuous academic life. In my spare time, I like to play video games and watch movies with my friends—sometimes, I’ll even go on coffee dates or rearrange my room if I really feel the urge to. Simply put, I’m not working myself to death and I really see no need to drive myself to the brink.

At first glance, I don’t normally fit the awful stereotype of a pre-health student. I’m not up 36 consecutive hours preparing for the MCAT and I don’t lose my mind if I get a B in a class (I’ve got plenty and that’s okay). I’m not breaking down any doors to conduct ground-breaking research on cancer nor am I running myself ragged with a million of unnecessary extracurriculars that I really couldn’t care less about. Some say that being in Greek Life is a detriment to your med school application. Oops. Others say that focusing your time on performing arts can detract from other activities on your CV. Guilty.Thousands of prospective medical school students on anonymous message boards say that not spending every waking moment of free time studying on the MCAT will ruin any hopes of a “good” medical school acceptance letter. Well, shucks.

Of course I’m working hard in college and I’m doing my best to “diversify my interests” and “highlight my passions;” however, as cliché as that sounds, it’s extremely strenuous to live up to this perceived standard of what medical schools really want to see. If medical schools honestly wanted to see perfect MCAT scores and an exact list of the perfect extracurriculars to have, they’d abandon this façade of a “holistic application process.” But they haven’t. Medical schools don’t want robots—they want hard-working, driven individuals with a passion for medicine who can not only take care of patients, but also take care of themselves.

I know plenty of students (who are now successful medical school students) who didn’t have above a 3.75 GPA or who weren’t in six thousand clubs. I know students who didn’t intern at a hospital every weekend and I know students who didn’t get insanely good MCAT scores. Rather, these students possessed passion, drive, intellect—common sense to understand how they learn and work best. They didn’t run themselves ragged during their undergraduate experience because in the end, they put their best foot forward, submitted their application, interviewed, and received their acceptance letter—all while enjoying their undergraduate experience. They went to parties and joined Greek Organizations, the pursued their passions in arts and humanities and sciences and whatever else their heart desired. They had relationships and lived their life as normally as any other students. Ultimately, the broke that awful stereotype—and I want to be just like them.

So when you ask me if I have a 4.0 GPA or if I freaked out that I failed an exam, I’m probably going to tell you that I’m doing my utmost best to be a good student. Could I have spent 40 more hours studying or cut out all of my extracurricular activities just to barely pass that one midterm? Probably, but would I be happy? Absolutely not. I’m not lying to you or myself, nor am I setting myself up with false hope. I’m going to be in school for at least 7-9 more years of my life and the worst/hardest part hasn’t even begun yet. Therefore, despite all of the nay-sayers and paranoid message board-ers, I’m going to enjoy my college experience while I can (while still working hard) and live out these next 3 years as an undergrad to the fullest. Ultimately, this is my promise: I’m going to be a doctor someday. And I’m going to make every effort I can to enjoy (or at least try to enjoy) each and every step of the way.