What a Week in My Life Looks Like as a Non-Trad Premed (Grad School Edition)
Being a nontraditional premed in grad school means my weeks don’t always look like everyone else’s. My days are long, structured, and definitely exhausting at times—but they’re also rewarding because every routine I’ve built brings me one step closer to my dream. Here’s what a typical week looks like for me. Sundays: Reset and Recharge I restart my weeks on Sundays. Honestly, I usually sleep in until noon or even…
The Class That Made Me Fall in Love with Science Again
It wasn’t a lecture filled with complex theories or a chapter from a textbook packed with intricate diagrams that reignited my passion for science. It was the experience of being in the lab. My journey began with Advanced Cell Biology Techniques, the very first class I enrolled in during my graduate program. As I stepped into the lab for the first time, I felt an exhilarating surge of curiosity and…
The Moment I Knew I Wanted to Become a Doctor
I’ve done all this talk about everything under the sun, but I haven’t told you guys about why I am on this path in the first place. People always ask for that “aha!” moment, the single, cinematic second where everything clicked and you knew without a doubt what you were meant to do. My story isn’t like that. My love for medicine didn’t come in a flash of lightning. It…
How I’ve Changed Since Starting My Premed Journey
When I first started this premed journey, I thought it would just be about classes, test scores, and checking boxes. I imagined it would be a straight road: study hard, get the grades, take the MCAT, apply, and eventually become a doctor. But what I didn’t realize is how much this path would change me. I’ve learned resilience in ways I didn’t expect. There were moments when my GPA wasn’t…
The Day I Scheduled My First MCAT (and How I Felt About It)
I still remember the day I scheduled my first MCAT. I sat there on my bed looking up the testing centers, seeing which one was closest to me. My hands were shaking as I clicked through the AAMC registration site, double-checking dates and test centers, trying to pick the one that felt “right.” When I finally hit confirm, it didn’t feel real. I was nervous, of course, but I was…