Once upon a time, I was a young freshman who had just arrived at Yale. After four amazing days with the Cultural Connections pre-orientation program, I met my three new suitemates. After some standard introductions we all decided to meet up to tackle the Blue Book (Yale’s enormous course catalog) as a group. The blue book held the descriptions of all the courses offered in the land of Yale. Diving in nose-deep, I explored the science courses and several science majors.
“I want to be pre-med,” I exclaimed.
My suitemates and friends looked at me in surprise.
“Pre-med?” asked one of them. “Have fun riding the struggle bus!”
I sighed. Many people had warned me before coming to Yale that being a pre-med would be very difficult. Nevertheless, I decided to at least give it a try. I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from pursuing my dreams of graduating from medical school.
Unsure of where to start, I decided to pay a visit to my friendly pre-med advisor at the Office of Career Strategy. After scheduling an appointment online with the Health Professions Advising Office, at the Yale Center for International and Professional Experience I met my new fairy godmother, a.k.a. Kristin McJunkins. As my pre-med advisor, she took me under her wing and made all my wishes come true. First we discussed my course options and created a list of classes for me to explore during Shopping Period. Next, we researched the shadowing opportunities at the Yale New-Haven Hospital. I would need to get a couple certifications, but otherwise I could sign up right away. Finally, we reviewed a list of tutors and mentoring services, just in case I needed help in the future. With all these helpful tips in mind, I thanked my advisor and bid her goodbye. I strode out of the office with a lot more confidence than when I walked in. I made my way out of the building, ready to start my life as a pre-med.
And so began my journey into the pre-med track.
I quickly committed myself to completing some of the requirements right away, starting with Freshman Organic Chemistry (aka “orgo”) and the Introduction to Biology sequence. After the first class meetings, I realized these courses were very different from what I had taken in high school. Meeting two or three times a week for an hour each time instead of the strict 7am to 3pm schedule required some adjustments. My study habits changed from memorizing the day before to preparing study materials and reviewing days in advance. The material was a lot more in-depth, and I had 13 weeks instead of 18 in a semester to master the concepts. While it was tough to learn a year’s worth of content in one short semester, it was also the most interesting material I’d ever learned.
It wasn’t always daisies and dandelions, though. There were times when I struggled on certain topics. Back in high school, I would have just worked out the problems myself or researched online. This time, however, I decided to use Yale’s extensive tutoring services.
Using a handy online directory, I found a tutor who could help with orgo and shot her an email. She responded right away and we set up a time to meet that night with a group of other pre-meds to go over the assigned problem set. The tutor was awesome, and made the material much easier to understand. She explained the concepts and had us all work together on the problem set. When we got stuck, she swooped in to save the day, showing us step by step how to get to the answer, and how to think through similar problems.
After that initial tutoring session, my fellow pre-meds and I decided to form our own study group. We studied for midterms together and worked through our weekly problem sets. We soon became great friends and would crack jokes and share stories - after we had gotten a considerable amount of the work done, of course! Coming from a high school that could feel cutthroat, my experience with my new, collaborative pre-med friends was a welcome relief. We never felt any pressure to compete with each other. If anything, we instilled in each other an internal competition to master the knowledge needed to become a doctor. In addition to becoming a better pre-med student, I made friendships I will value for a lifetime.
Sometimes being pre-med is hard. At one point or another, we might feel like we are riding the struggle bus. It’s unlikely you will walk into college as a freshman and know how to do everything right off the bat. If you’re pre-med, you might feel that you’ve got four especially challenging years ahead of you. However, you have a lot of amazing people to help you along the way. Going into my third year as a pre-med, I am happy to be part of such an amazing, collaborative community. I found my passion, and I know that at Yale, I will find my happily ever after.
