I've noticed that there seems to be a lot of hate of premeds from med students and other premeds. I myself must admit that I'm not fond of most premeds that I meet. How do you feel about most premeds (of course there will be exceptions).
I transferred to a school that turns out to be enormously pre-med. As a junior, most of my classes were with pre-meds, and it really changed my opinion about other pre-meds. I thought I'd find a group of people who shared my goals and would therefore be great study partners. I was wrong. They're competitive, arrogant, and insecure all at once. Some would intentionally mislead me when they found out I was new here. They'd deliberately give me bad advice about everything from which professors I should choose to how I should study for exams given by that professor. They wouldn't share ANY information that might actually be helpful. Fortunately, though I was naive in assuming they'd all (like me) think of medical and pre-medical education as a team effort, I wasn't stupid enough to blindly follow their advice.
In my senior year, my classes are with others in a very small major. I like this group. We really do help each other, study together, and approach our classes as a team. As some of us get interviews and acceptances, there is no petty jealousy...we go out as a group and celebrate. (I'm sure there IS petty jealousy, but it's not evident).
The fact is, many of the pre-meds we hate will be our colleagues for life. We can only take comfort in the fact that many of them will also be the ones who are never truly happy, because they'll never stop competing with everyone around them and will always be bitter about SOMEONE who surpassed them in the chain of command, or with a bigger and fancier private practice.
I've learned to enjoy working with the ones I like, and ignore the rest. It's not worth feeding into the negativity. I don't need to be better than anyone else, and I certainly don't think it's worth sacrificing everything in my personal life to prove that I am somehow superior. I just want to be a good doctor who proves that I'm worthy of respect from my patients and colleagues.
I'll admit that last year, when I was dealing with the aformentioned group of students, I was disgusted and alienated. I expressed this to a friend of mine who is an extremely successful physician, who completed med school, residency, and fellowships at Hopkins, Stony Brook, Vanderbilt, and UPenn. He responded with a long and reassuring letter about how in the scheme of things, the good ones rise to the top, and the jerks that we all love to hate eventually get their butts handed to them, and either learn from it or continue to be miserable, petty people who are never fulfilled.
I suppose that's to be expected in all avenues of life. I have so many role models I want to emulate--physicians who are highly skilled, moral, and get along well with everyone from their colleagues to the housekeeping staff and cafeteria crew. Patients love them, nurses love them, and their families love them. I'd rather be like them than the Chief of Medicine who is miserable and only finds solace in their achievements and the perks that accompany their job title.
Sorry for rambling. Having worked in the medical field, I've already had the preview of what all types of pre-meds will become in the future. Medicine is a long haul, and it helps to remind yourself that it takes all kinds, but not everyone is out solely to push others down to get to the top.
) They wear scrubs everywhere(there are obnoxious med students like this too). Talk about their Beverly Hills plastic surgery practice before taking the MCAT.I could think of more but you get the point.
Maybe it's because my school is a big drinking school, so we have other things (like what bar we'll be going to that night and who will have the best specials) on our minds. haha
