I still remember the day I opened my acceptance letter to medical school. It felt surreal—a rush of excitement and pride that had me packing my bags months before classes began. As a kid, I was always a dreamer. My dolls weren’t just toys; they w…
Category: Education
Why dermatology deserves respect: a medical student’s perspective
As a medical student pursuing dermatology, I was disheartened at the recent Wall Street Journal article’s misrepresentation of dermatology. Describing the field as a superficial, cosmetically focused pseudo-science is a disservice to both dermatologist…
Transform feedback into growth with the ARISE model
I am going to ask you to do something, and I hope you’ll play along. Think back on your week. Did anyone tell you that you did something well or that you could tweak the way you did something just a bit? Did anyone pull you aside to say they woul…
Going beyond apologies: Bringing intergenerational trauma education into medical training for Indigenous health
In October, President Biden formally apologized for the U.S. Indian boarding school system—a brutal legacy of forced assimilation that inflicted profound harm on Indigenous communities and continues to reverberate today. For those who are unfamiliar, N…
The hidden cost of medical training: debt, depression, and despair
I imagined that medical school would be a challenging yet fulfilling journey—an opportunity to learn, grow, and ultimately make a difference as a physician or surgeon. We medical students dedicate over a decade of our lives, and many invest more than $…
How family presence in hospitals can be a lifeline for patients in crisis
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…
Did Step 1’s pass/fail switch actually increase medical student burnout?
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…
My book reviews for premed students
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…
How representation in medicine transformed my journey as a medical student
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…
How a standardized agreement could end the preceptor shortage
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…
