Being pre-med can look like so many different things to so many different people. For example, you could be majoring in dance but still be pre-med, or you could be majoring in astrophysics and still be pre-med. There are some things, however, we all experience while being premed:
1. The Initial Excitement
You're a pre-med student and excited to save the world! You're going to be amazing, admirable, inspiring, intelligent, and only the coolest human to ever exist.
2. Life in the Valley
Now you've done it. You got caught up in the excitement of living at the top of the world and fell from the mountains all the way down to the deepest of valleys. Your grades are going to crap, you don't remember the last time you ate or showered, and you haven't seen other members of society in at least a week. That's enough to drive any normal person insane, but not you. Pre-med kids will always rally.
3. The Mental Break
Okay I lied. So maybe you don't actually always rally. The tests, the homework, the club involvement, the volunteering, the minimum wage job, the endless hours spent studying for the MCAT, the medical school applications, the lack of sleep, the lack of food, the lack of money, the struggle to keep friendships alive–it overwhelms you. Call your mom, scream-cry, try again tomorrow.
4. Self-Doubt
You're half way through your first semester of O-Chem. You know the stats. This is about when 50% of pre-med students call it quits and switch to business. Maybe you should be among them?
5. Acceptance
Once you learn to accept that you can't do it all, you can embark on your path to success. You realize that you don't always have to be the best and that your mental health and sleep do, in fact, matter.
6. Finding your People
You've accepted that you can't do it all, but you're still on the verge of flunking out of O-Chem and have begun looking into your university's business college. Then you found your people. They not only became the best study group you've ever been a part of, but they also became the best support group you've ever been a part of. You band together with others who know and understand your story, your pain, your struggle. You cheer each other on and you are going to make it out of this together. These people end up being some of your closest friends.
7. Post-MCAT
Does it even matter what you scored? You just sat through 8 hours of an impossible test, that should be dedication enough to get you into a school. You give yourself a pat on the back and pray to the AAMC Gods that you won't ever have to go through that again.
8. Getting into Medical School
You and your pre-med bestie made it to the big leagues, and neither of you have a clue as to how. Whatever you did, you did right, and now you're locked in for at least another 7 years of school and training. Live it up while you can!
Graduating Undergrad
You finally made it out of what was the best 4 years of your life while simultaneously being the 4 most stressful years of your life (for now). All of your friends are going on to bigger and better things: grown-up jobs with salaries, starting families, buying homes, etc. You are going on to more school and more loans. Congratulations!
