11: The Gift of Sharing Positivity after an Acceptance

Session 11

When being a premed is a struggle and there are times you don’t think you are going to make it, remember you can do it. Humor and hustle will get us by.

[01:15] Caller of the Week:

"Just a little foreword to this rant because being a premed sucks and lot of it sucks and it's hard and it's so lonely. I just want to express some sincere gratitude to both Drs. Gray for all the efforts in making this whole premed experience a little bit more bearable - humble, grateful, excited that this might just spread a little bit of positivity.

Initial Interest in Biomedical Engineering

When I went to college, I wanted to be a biomedical engineer. I didn't really know what they did but it was probably cool, right? Prosthetics or drugs or whatever nanotubes... I was 17, I just thought I could be part of that. I could graduate in four years, get a job, maybe a Master's but probably not. No big deal - but not medicine.

I didn't have anyone in my family in science or medicine but I saw their type. They always talk about grades, how easy everything was. They always documented how many hours they were in the library or Instagram and I wasn't about that "gunner" stuff. Anyway, I dropped out of engineering after about two weeks. It turned out I'm not good at math and I don't like it at all. Not my thing.

Thinking Through What to Take

But going into the whole chemistry, PhD, the big pharma was a good second bet. Sure it was a bit more school but at least PhD programs in my area, they were funded. I didn't have to worry about loans. I don't really have financial support from my folks. Nothing against them but it's just not my scenario. It was kind of big topic in me choosing these things. But orgo was my favorite class, biochemistry was a close second. I even tolerated PChem pretty well. It was still math but it was about something. It wasn't just numbers on a page and I like that. So I did the thing people do. I got a lab tech job that would help me pay rent. My PI was making these peptide drugs that would convince to cure cancer or Alzheimer's or dengue fever or whatever. I did more blocks and more PCRs than I could count...

“I was part of the team... but the whole time, I had this feeling that something was missing here.”

I was just grateful to be there. I was part of the team... but the whole time, I had this feeling that something was missing here. It wasn't cutthroat. But the part of the work that I enjoyed the most was this prospect of making a therapy that could save someone. But I got sad, maybe it was selfish, knowing that I'd never meet this person. I would just be at the vent where I couldn't take their hand or high five their kids...but that was the road I was convinced that I was supposed to go on - get a job, settle down, have family, have my 2.5 kids in a white picket fence - the American Dream.

Going Labless and Jobless

Fast-forward to the week before my Junior year began, I keep doing the chemistry lab nerds thing and then I got an email from my PI that essentially says someone who worked before you came back from being abroad. She started this project so we got to let you go. Now, I'm labless, I'm jobless, I'm pissed off. How am I going to pay rent?

I go on a run. I come home. I sing all my feelings out in the shower. And I emailed many chemistry professors as possible to add to my CV and get a job and get into a good grad school. But little did I know that I was going to be premed buddy that day.

From Jobless to Having a Job on the Same Day!

That afternoon, I got a call from my dad about my mom... I visited them. It wasn't anything serious, probably heartburn. But she's okay. The doc and ED was the second nonprimary care doctor I've ever met. The first was a cardiothoracic surgeon who gave my dad a bypass. But...