Pre-Med Culture

Pre-Med: The Stigma! Oh, the Stigma!

The inevitable question that comes up to any college student: "...and what are you majoring in [little boy/girl]?" I feel like smiling and saying, "I'm...I'm going to become a big doctor when I grow up!" and then getting patted on the head three times while the relative smiles at everyone else and replies, "Aww, well isn't that just adorable?"

Yeah, and I forgot to mention that I want to be a fire-fighter and an astronaut, too. Thanks, Aunt Sally.

Seriously, I cannot stand the word Pre-Med. It stands proudly with its annoying, pretentious sisters: Pre-Vet, Pre-Pharm, Pre-Dental and Pre-Law to name some. Pre-professional programs have their purpose: they are intended to provide a framework from which to schedule classes and plan for the future. They give one's undergraduate career a greater sense of direction and meaning, not to mention a cutesy label to tack onto one's soul. That's great, but does Pre-Med culture have to be so annoying!?

They Do Not Even Have to Tell You

The pale, blond girl sitting at the front-right of the room. The skinny, curly-haired guy trudging up 4 flights of stairs at 7:52 AM with his chemistry goggles hanging around his neck. The Kenyan boy who furiously scribbles notes down in 4 different colors. The brunette holed up at the back of the school's cafe, dark-rimmed glasses, hair tied tightly back in a bun, MCAT books sprawled out confusedly over the table.

We are the few, the proud, the Pre-Med! (What, were you expecting the Marines?) At larger schools, we (sneak into the lab after-hours and) sabotage each other's organic chemistry experiments. We get old exams from last year and hide it from our peers to get an edge over them on the next test. We'll cut you off in the hallway to get to class faster. We feverishly ingest every science fact and store it for both the upcoming exam and the looming MCAT. Don't even sit with us in the dining hall, your basic, non Pre-Med major cannot possibly hold up against our biochemistry!

And so it has been, at a small, Liberal Arts (Population: 1,000) college for nearly four years, living in a unique (and oh-how-colorful) sub-culture hell-bent on one goal: acceptance. They are a very driven and hard-working bunch, but also an edgy bunch.

Just For Show

Pre-Med has become a national catch-phrase. By tacking that flattering label on yourself, you are set up for great expectations. If you make it past the "weed-out" courses during college (read: organic chemistry), you will be applying for a (very sought-after) position at a medical college. The national acceptance rates have been hanging around 46% to 49% since the turn of the century. I'd say that "a little less than half" of all applicants are able to get a spot nationally. Often, the local statistics are far worse. At the medical school in my state, upwards of 2,000 applicants apply each year for a fixed ~200 spots. Thus, in this particular case, the acceptance rate is around 10% (ouch!).

Important: Most (75%) of the applicants to this school are out of state. Of the out of state applicants, the odds are around 10%. This is because schools are pressured by state legislature to accept mostly in state applicants. The 25% of total applicants that are in state have a much better chance (around 60-70% are accepted). So you have to consider that. Bottom line: A state school will typically interview tons of out of state kids and only accept a small fraction of them, while accepting a much higher proportion of in state applicants.

Culture

I chose to avoid the culture as much as possible. I had everything I needed right in front of me; the courses to take, the MCAT (and study guides), and the AMCAS site to apply. My college is small; gossip/rumors/news travels fast. Everyone knows everyone else's status. Nonetheless, my policy was always to slip underneath the other's inquiring noses and mind my own business with my admittedly computer-science major friends.

I haven't much to say or reflect on the kids here, because there is not much to say. Pre-Med kids live with their path, work hard in classes, often sneer and act snobby, and tend to think they're big stuff. Maybe it is the pressure of being successful? One thing is that most of them (me included) have absolutely no clue about what this profession really means. Even once you weed out all the freshman who came into college all starry-eyed, 75% of the remaining kids would turn tail and run if they tried an 80-hour week on an OB/GYN rotation, waking up at 4:00 AM and being on call.

Well, that concludes my exhaustive (sure...) thoughts on Pre-Med culture. It's full of pressure, expectation, constant check-ins from nosy parents and relatives, and competition with kids you'd rather chuck off of a schooner than spend a lab period with. It's bright and full of dreams, hopes, and ambitions! It's for all the academic superstars to shine and show how many hours they can spend in the ER pushing gurneys! Unspoiled and uninitiated, we form ranks and march towards certain destruction. So God help us.