There is no greater feeling of self-failure than realizing that you have wasted your time, energy and money studying something you do not love. I was standing outside the Office of Academic Advising, scrolling through the list of offered majors and minors to see which, if any, sparked my interest. Considering that I was in my second year of college, it was a pretty pathetic sight. I had found myself studying a major out of commitment, not love.

One day it hit me: I would walk down the steps at graduation with a degree that I had no real interest in. The problem comes from a society that insists on the idea that pre-medical students have to concentrate on a science, that biology or chemistry is the best way, and sometimes the only way, to get into medical school.

This turns college into a limbo, a sort of transition stage after high school where one has to concentrate on preparing to become a doctor. The biggest issue with this is that college is much more than just a pitstop on your way to the operating room.

College is meant to be the place where you screw stuff up, where you shout your opinion and get it wrong, where you get told no a thousand times before you are told yes, where you come to realize that the world is not what you made of it and who you want to be in it. It is meant to be the time when you figure out what the hell you are doing and who on Earth you are. It is not a step towards a white coat, it is definitely not the time to just prepare for medical school.

Your major, the field of study that you are dedicating four or more years of your life to, should reflect you, and nothing else. It should be so in line with what you are passionate about that you are willing to wake up in the morning to sit in a classroom and hear someone else talk about it. It should be so in accordance with what makes you tick, that the prospect of spending the rest of your life improving your knowledge of it is an incredibly exciting thought. It should be what makes you happy, and nothing else.

I chose writing seminars because it is what I love. It might not be the traditional road to medical school, and that is a great thing. There is more than one way to become an outstanding doctor, and I am choosing the one that works for me. Because I am the one that has to sit in a classroom for four years and learn about it.