I am a first-year medical student in South Korea. I wrote this essay to share what it feels like to enter a system that demands so much and still receives so little understanding in return. I haven’t even worn a white coat yet, but I already feel…
Category: Education
Why medical students are trading empathy for publications
In the race to get into competitive medical residency training, today’s medical students are chasing something that may surprise you: scientific abstracts, posters, workshops, and research papers. Lots of them. Not necessarily new ideas or meanin…
Why a fourth year will not fix emergency medicine’s real problems
The field of emergency medicine (EM) is at a crossroads. Faced with rising burnout, a constantly changing health care landscape, and an evolving trend in unfilled residency positions, the specialty is now grappling with another proposed structural chan…
Do Jewish students face rising bias in holistic admissions?
In the grand theater of American higher education, where the pursuit of knowledge once bowed to the austere discipline of merit, a troubling drama unfolds. The medical school admissions process, now awash in the murky waters of holistic review, risks b…
How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care
Shortly after taking the oath of office on January 20, 2025, President-elect Donald Trump issued two Executive Orders: One halted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the federal government, and another mandated the use of “s…
What’s driving medical students away from primary care?
As we entered medical school, we were starry-eyed and hopeful about becoming primary care physicians. We romanticized building relationships with patients, providing high quality health care, serving our communities, and removing obstacles patients fac…
In the absence of physician mentorship, who will train the next generation of primary care clinicians?
The erosion of physician mentorship is not just a quiet tragedy; it is an accelerating crisis with rippling effects across the health care system. While much has been written about physician burnout and workforce shortages, far less attention has been …
The moment I knew medicine needed more than science
It started with a phone call from my aunt in India. She wasn’t calling for advice. She just needed someone to talk to—someone who wouldn’t rush her, someone who’d sit in silence and just listen. Her voice was heavy with something I co…
A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how
Medical education is a long and arduous route and can take from twelve to sixteen years of education which includes three to four years of undergraduate degree, one to two gap years before medical school, four years of medical school and three to seven…
Medical students in Korea face expulsion for speaking out
For over a year, we, Korea’s medical students, have lived under the weight of institutional threats What began as a disagreement over health policy escalated into an all-out campaign to silence us. We were told that if we resisted, we would be pu…
