I'm going to be frank here, although there exists a huge shortage in the number of doctors, especially primary care practitioners in the United States, there are by no means a huge shortage of applicants. Literally, half the people I speak to in my year identify as pre-med. If one were to examine the representation of freshman majors in Stony Brook University, psychology, biology, and health science dominate.
In all honesty, I appreciate that people have a passion for the hard sciences. Stony Brook is an amazing school for anyone who wishes to graduate with a strong background in science. Often the question that I follow up with after anyone lists the above majors is "Are you pre-med?", to which the person usually sheepishly admits so.
I have an extremely strong passion for the field of medicine, and I will gladly say that people who truly want to become doctors must have some moving experience, something special that they hold dear to their hearts, something that creates and nurtures a driving force on a path of masochism.
It is so easy for someone to suddenly declare being pre-med, but unless they truly wish to sacrifice their lives in selfless service to aid fellow human beings, they will not succeed in their task to becoming a doctor. For one to embark on this journey entails that they must always juggle maintaining a stellar GPA with countless hours of volunteering, doctor shadowing, and research experience, not to mention studying for the MCAT.
Furthermore, although pre-meds can choose any major for their baccalaureate degree, they need to complete a set amount of core requirements that include two semesters of biology, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, mathematics, and composition. In addition, courses in psychology and sociology are also recommended to help students prepare for the behavioral sciences section on the MCAT.
Those requirements are enough to make people sweat by just thinking about them.
This is why preparing for medical school is an arduous task ahead; there is just so much to do within a four-year span. The competition is fierce and only growing in intensity as the years progress. This means that people have to put in even more effort to stand out relative to the thousands of people they are competing against, which often results in setbacks.
However, failure is a learning experience, and it is critical to make mistakes now as opposed to making them in the future; we're all human and obviously error-prone. Being a pre-med student requires you to face your fears, your deepest insecurities, and your old limits to become anew, to become a person who exceeded yesterday's limits and ready to tackle the trials of tomorrow.
Like I said before, you have to really want to become a doctor, want it such that you'd spend more years of your life learning medicine and training before you can actually practice medicine and start earning money. If you decide to become pre-med for the sole purpose of status or wealth, or because outside forces propelled you to, be prepared to change your mind in the future when you start to realize something else might be up your alley instead.
