<p>Youre concentrating in history and science and taking my class? my molecular biology professor asked. So that must mean youre pre-med, right?
No, I responded slowly. Actually, Im not.</p>
<p>Wow! Im really impressed! he exclaimed, with a genuinely surprised expression on his face. Youre taking this class because youre interested in the material!?</p>
<p>At that moment, I honestly, truly wanted to cry. There I was, sitting in my professors office at the end of his weekly office hours, and I could hardly hold back my tears. ....In those classes, I encountered an incredibly driven pre-med population. They worked exceedingly hard in class, often forming study groups on Friday and Saturday nights. I was impressed by their diligence, but I was also continually frustrated by their unabated emphasis on grades....</p>
<p>IMO, the student was very naive if she didn't recognize the importance of grades when it comes to getting into medical school. Certainly courses that students have to take to get into medical school will attract students who will be extremely focused on getting good grades.</p>
<p>Such students may be extremely passionate about areas of medical research or clinical practice, but that doesn't mean that their passion for medicine extends to being passionately interested in every course that they must take. I have several friends who graduated from Harvard and went to med school. All were attracted to medicine because of their interest in helping people with health problems. Most also did major volunteer work in college connected to helping Cambridge residents address health issues. None was passionate about courses such as chemistry. They grit their teeth and went for the grade.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, as an alum interviewer, I do see an overabundance of applicants who declare themselves to be future biochem and biology majors, and say they plan to go to medical school. Their reasons appear to be parental pressure. Typically, I am not able to uncover any particular interest of theirs in medicine. Asked to describe a research paper, for instance, they'll describe a paper that they got an "A" on, but will not be able to express any particular interest in the subject. It seems that what they were passionate about was getting an "A" the easiest way possible.</p>
<p>I personally haven't seen such premed wannabes get in, but I can imagine that some do slip through, and up being students who are basically premed because they are complying with their parents' wishes, not because of any interest/passion on their own part.</p>
<p>"I personally haven't seen such premed wannabes get in..."</p>
<p>Trust me, tons of those premed-types are roaming around Harvard. In fact, there are many more Harvard premeds who <em>are</em> that way than who aren't.</p>
<p>Since when does trying to get good grades in a class preclude being interested in that subject? I'm sure that many of the pre-meds started out eager to learn the course material, and their energy was similarly drained by the focus on grades. It's not right to characterize all pre-meds as grade-grubbing drones- I'm sure every one of them has unique interests outside of pre-medicine. Anyways, we live in the real world, unfortunately, where people have to find jobs and start careers after college. Is it so wrong that those students are deeply aware of that fact and are trying to prepare themselves? </p>
<p>There were too many unfair generalizations in that article.</p>
<p>Yes, but how many of us 17 and 18 year olds really have a grasp of the career path that we are embarking on. All most of us know at this stage, is that we enjoy certain subjects and that we excel in them. Some of us were probably fortunate to be exposed to programs and or volunteer work in our intended careers but that still does not give us a good handle on it.</p>
<p>I would say that most college freshmen are wannabes. The real passionate ones are the ones who will work hard to succeed in the courses pertaining to their careers. Those pre-med students could be passionate about their career, hence the focus on getting good grades, a requirement for medical school.</p>
<p>"he real passionate ones are the ones who will work hard to succeed in the courses pertaining to their careers. "</p>
<p>Actually, many of the people whom I went to Harvard with were very passionate about things that had nothing to do with their careers. They may have been headed, for instance, to business school,but loved writing for the Harvard Crimson. They may have been headed to med school, but were passionate about starting community service projects or participating in music groups.</p>
<p>haha. my harvard interviewer and i discussed a lot of the fun parts of life in cambridge and boston. she mentioned that (i'm just paraphrasing) there are some kids that will lock themselves in their dorms and study super hard, graduate in two or three years, go to medical school.</p>
<p>"i graduated a while ago!" she exclaimed. "a lot of those people are dead now! heart attacks, brain tumors..."</p>
<p>btw, none of this is intended to offend premeds. just remember to balance, and we all sometimes need reminding.</p>
<p>I am so afraid that the Harvard pre-meds will kill me (considering i GET into Harvard) with their overpowering craziness & zest to get into Medical school. It's pretty cut throat. It's true that a lot of people want to go into medicine, and a lot volunteer at hospitals not to actually help but to say "Hey, I want to be a doctor, look, I volunteered at a hospital!" </p>
<p>Of course, I'm generalizing because there are plenty of students who actually volunteer because they have a passion for medicine. I have the utmost respect for them. It's the students who want to be doctors because of their parents or because of bragging rights that DRIVE ME NUTS. But of course, we do not live in utopia, so a lot of the people who want bragging rights DO get into Harvard and make it to the top medical schools while the rest of us probably become doctors but stay more in a the shadows. Why brag when we KNOW WE ARE GOOD? haha, j/k!</p>
Maybe this is more a case of the need to balance rather than a lack of passion because being passionate about succeeding in the medical field at the expense of sacrificing your other interests, is still being passionate.</p>
<p>AllureNY86, what your interviewer forgot to tell you is that those that didnt die from heart-attack or brain tumors are probably successful cardiologists or neurosurgeons.:)</p>
<p>Everyone, cut these premeds some slack! They will be the ones peering down at you in the operating room - with a scalpel in their hands.;)</p>
<p>ha, someone I know was a premed there. He lost a ton of weight and stuff. I think it was from studying too much, or perhaps the food.</p>
<p>Anyways, he says that the GPA is the most important number, and to sacrifice his GPA for other activities would be foolish because extracurricular activities are less important than his undergrad GPA in med applications. He also said that I was naive to think there were other things to do besides school work at college if interested in med school.</p>
<p>this is one of the most type-A personality people I've ever met</p>
<p>He also said that I was naive to think there were
other things to do besides school work at college
if interested in med school.</p>
<br>
<p>I bet he was a mediocre student. I know people who got into the top medical schools in the country (sometimes in joint MD/PhD programs) who had a reasonable social life and participated in all of the quirky and random activities you would expect. This is not to say that they didn't work hard -- they did -- or that they didn't have their share of purposeful activities -- running long-term research projects is a big part of what got them into graduate school.</p>