Competitive students talk pre-med

Pre-med is undoubtedly one of the most demanding and competitive tracks of study in college, though most of the students hoping to one day become doctors have genuine reasons for pursuing the career.

Once they get warmed up, most pre-med students can fire off story after story about the horrors they have heard about in their classes -- higher education urban legends of sorts.

Junior Charley Scanlan, a music major planning on attending medical school, recalled a story he heard in which a student was "going from space to space in her undergraduate lab, dropping contaminants into other people's experiments to screw up their results."

To a less dramatic extent, "[many] people in my pre-med classes kind of put on their game faces and generally act pretty unpleasant," Scanlan said.

It seems as though every pre-med student has a similar story. They toss around words like "barracuda" and "gunner" to describe particularly gung-ho medical school-bound students, and often speak casually of their highly competitive "backup plans" in case they don't get into medical school, dental school or pharmacy school.

Although often seen as backups, the UW School of Dentistry accepts roughly the same percentage of applicants, and students entering the UW School of Pharmacy have approximately the same grade point average as students entering the UW School of Medicine.

Any field in which the most popular backup plans are two other competitive disciplines would cause stress to even the most intelligent and prepared of students.

"I'll be honest with you, it [can be] really cutthroat," said Steve Oh, a senior biochemistry and chemistry major, and president of Alpha Epsilon Delta, UW's pre-med fraternity. "Everyone is always looking for an edge."

While the competition is fierce, some students say there is a reason for the inevitable stress.

"The competition sucks," said junior Rahul Biyani, a cell and molecular biology major. "But then this field wouldn't be so prestigious without it. The competition is necessary to make sure you know what you are getting into from the beginning."

Since more and more students are applying to medical schools, there are simply more applicants than available seats. The UW School of Medicine, which has been consistently in the top of medical school rankings, accepts roughly seven percent of applicants, and the average GPA of entering students is about 3.7. That's when the competition -- and the stress -- begins.

But test scores and grade point averages aren't the only factors anymore.

"They are telling of who is good in the classroom," said Jason Boyd, pre-med undergraduate academic advisor, "But they don't say what kind of doctor you'll be."

Oh, who has already completed the application process and hopes to begin medical school in the fall, agreed.

"It's not [just] about the grades anymore," he said.

Although Boyd said that competition has not changed drastically over the last few years with respect to grades and test scores -- "I would say student's [admissions have been] minimally affected" -- more and more medical schools have explicitly written in their admissions criteria that applicants must prove they are "good people" by volunteering and interning at hospitals and with doctors.

Many other medical schools insist on a well-balanced education in liberal and fine arts.

So, on top of maintaining good grades, pre-med students strive to demonstrate this well-balanced approach in all areas of their lives.

"I try to fit as many extracurricular activities outside classes that I can," said Biyani, who volunteers in the emergency room at Harborview Medical Center and does research work at a lab during the summer.

Scanlan says that he has "taken a variety of classes" and decided on a major in music in order to appear more well-rounded.

Some of the competition arises from the simple fact that a majority of pre-med students, including Oh and Biyani, do not have solid backup plans. Since pre-med students often major in fields such as biology and chemistry, they feel medical school is the only route they can take with their majors.

For others, becoming a doctor is the only thing they have ever wanted and planned on doing with their lives.

"I have been preparing for this my whole life," said Oh emphatically. "I am confident that I won't be needing a backup."

This kind of single-minded preparation is a popular trend. If these students get fired up when speaking of the immense stress and competition, their faces soften when they speak of their reasons behind being pre-med.

"People have so much trust in their doctors," Oh said earnestly. "It's such a huge responsibility, yet a huge privilege. Most of my friends are going into it because they really like helping people."

Both Scanlan and Biyani also adamantly use the term "helping people" when speaking of their reasons for wanting to be doctors. Boyd said this is the case with most of the students he advises.

"Most students are in it for genuinely good reasons," he said.

Regardless of the competitive nature and resulting pressure, Scanlan, Biyani and Oh all assure that the course load and stress is manageable if the students are serious about medical school.

"Although it [can be] intimidating," Biyani said, "it's not all the bad as long as you put the work in."

Scanlan warns students considering pre-med from filling their schedules to the brim with difficult classes. He's seen students get too "burned out while taking very difficult schedules."

"Some people worry about their classes and grades too much. If you're worrying [only] about your grades, you won't learn the material," said Oh, agreeing with Scanlan. "Good grades come as a result of wanting to learn."

Boyd is adamant about downplaying the aggressive, ruthless stereotype of pre-med students he is afraid discourages many would-be doctors from entering the field.

He acknowledges that most pre-med students "have had challenges thrown in front of [them]. [But] I wouldn't say they're cutthroat," said Boyd. "Unless they're planning on becoming a throat doctor."