When I first started college, I was one of many kids who had declared a biology major. There were probably quite a few people in my class who had the vague notion that it really wouldn’t be that hard; those people were quite wrong.

From the outset, the professors gave us an insurmountable amount of reading, material to remember, and assignments to complete. The classes moved fast and you had to learn to keep up or be left behind. This was all to just weed out the people who weren’t completely dedicated to studying science.

But for those of us who were dedicated enough, we certainly had our work cut out for us. I’d have to set aside several hours each day just to do my reading and homework, and even then I might not have it all done. This meant that I would have to work on homework on weekends and over breaks when everyone was having fun. I would study and study to learn as much information as I could, only to find out that I didn’t remember much of what I read at all. This was especially true when I was preparing for a test, because of the amount of information I knew I would need to remember.

Then I’d go to class or go to lab, and I would sit in my desk and be surrounded by some of the smartest students in the school. It would be really easy to feel like I knew absolutely nothing and that everyone had way better grades than I did. There were also those one or two people in the class who seemed to always know everything and get really high grades on the tests, even when everyone else didn’t. It was always really easy to feel bad about yourself, when in reality people might actually be looking at you as the really smart kid who gets good grades.

But for me, going to all this work is worth it. I really don’t mind going to all the extra effort because I love what I do and what I’m studying. I also know that someday I’m going to have an amazing job that will help save people’s lives. What’s more worth it than that?