Med School My Way
I went to Career Services today, as I often do when I am freaking out. Usually, it comes at the heels of “Oh my God, I am never getting into med school and therefore my life is ruined” hysteria. As a second semester junior, time is limited. Every day brings me either closer or farther from medical school, depending on an exam grade or internship opportunity. Let me start from the beginning…
As a high school student, I was hard-core pre-med. Like many of you, I volunteered at the local hospital, I went to Health Care Professionals Camp, I was in the Allied Health Club in school, I did summer research at a university, took all the science AP classes, blah blah blah. When I came to Penn, it was like veils being lifted off of my suburban upbringing. Investment banking! Medical Correspondent! Management Consultant! Pharmaceutical Marketer! These were career options that I have considered over the past 3 years. As a Wharton student, the lull of money is very strong. I see my classmates going through OCR and realize that in about 2 years, my peers will be making six figures. So….why am I taking Orgo and suffering through MCAT class and coming out with $200K in debt? I’m not really sure, but I intend to figure it out.
I gave myself a compromise: I would do the whole “20-somethings, no responsibilities, young professional with money” thing for a year or two, and really make sure that I want to go to medical school. But on the other hand, am I wasting 2 years of my life? Not really sure about that either. Talking to the pre-health advisors, the average age of matriculating med students is 25. Obviously I am not the only one who needs some time off to think about it.
If you know for a fact that medicine is where you want to be…then great! Apply and rock those applications! For the rest of us… just go with the flow and eventually we’ll figure it out. And no, our lives will not be ruined. I hope…?
comments
Leave a Reply
