During my time as a medical student shadowing in the intensive care unit, I met Ms. Stacey, hospitalized with a severe intestinal infection. As I entered her room, I saw her frail form lying amidst a web of tubes and monitors. Her prolonged hospital st…
In January 2022, the medical school curriculum underwent a transformative shift when Step 1, the first of three licensing exams for U.S. medical students, switched from numerical score to a pass/fail (P/F) grading system. Now, with several years of per…
As a child, I was always reading. As is the case for many people, I lost my literary passion in high school and college as my time was taken up by extracurriculars and doomscrolling on my phone. One thing I have thoroughly enjoyed about my gap years be…
I come from a family of non-doctors. My childhood perception of a physician’s role was based on stray episodes of House. Medicine seemed akin to magic. Perhaps it was, in part, a desire to peek behind the curtain that ultimately landed me in medi…
A few years ago, my college-age sons utilized the Common App for college applications. It’s a logical and brilliant concept: one online application that students can use to apply to multiple colleges and universities at once. And it’s accep…
A few years ago, my college-age sons utilized the Common App for college applications. It’s a logical and brilliant concept: one online application that students can use to apply to multiple colleges and universities at once. And it’s accep…
The fourth-year medical student “Megan” urgently wanted to meet with me. She just returned from an away rotation in pathology in mid-August and wanted to talk. She was not her usual confident self, appearing distracted and pale. She shared …
Introduction In the book Ender’s Game, humans face a time-dilation war in which they must travel light-years into the future to face an enemy of unknown strength and scale. The weapons and technology they possess for the journey may be outdated b…
Attending academic conferences as a medical student offers a wealth of opportunities. Whether it’s networking, finding potential mentors, deepening your knowledge of specialties, or simply exploring new cities, conferences provide unique experien…
In medical school, we are taught that the well-being of the patient is our highest priority. This principle is central to our training, constantly reinforced through lectures, simulations, and clinical experiences. However, this notion was challenged i…
