5 Traits Every Premed Should Avoid

Avoid arrogance
Premed is one of the harder majors in college and we are known to most of the rest of the college community as the hard-workers who many times give up doing more fun things in order to succeed in our courses. So naturally it is easy to feel as if we are better than other students. This is something that needs to be avoided because arrogance is a disabling trait that will not help you get far in your life. Arrogance can muddy the goggles through which we see ourselves and an inaccurate view of yourself can inhibit your progression. Just remember that allowing yourself to become arrogant so early on in your career will not help you. It is really easy for interviewers to sense the arrogance in your character even if you try to cover it up. Remain humble because this is not a field you go into in order to become arrogant, you go into this field because you care.

Avoid thinking your time is worth more than others
Always having to study all the time and feeling as if there is never enough time can make you feel like your time may be worth more than others. I remember many times, specifically in the library, when I saw premed students because obnoxious and rude to others for many reasons including use of computers, books, and printers. You do not know what is going on in someone’s life and just automatically thinking that your time is more precious will set a tone in your life that will worsen with time. This goes along with being arrogant and comes back to being humble.

Avoid becoming cynical
I remember thinking that Organic Chemistry was such a waste of time because I was never going to use it or need it in my future in medical school. Just recently, I heard a physician say something regarding this that really hit home for me. He said to me, “It is not that you are expected to memorize huge amounts of information and remember it all for decades to come. It is that you had the ability at one point to understand and apply the information that was presented to you. And if you did need the information, you would know where to go to look it up.” He is completely right even though it took me years to understand this. Always remember that sometimes it is the journey that you must go through in order to reach the goals that you hope to reach. It would be very easy to say that you do not need to take any of the general education classes that you take in undergrad because they will not help you in your future career as a physician. It is the whole process that you have to overcome to get to the next step which is medical school.

Avoid self-doubt and negative thoughts
The path to medical school is hard enough itself without any of the negative thoughts that come in our minds. It is easy to get sucked into feeling as if you cannot do something and it is important to keep in mind that you are your biggest advocate. If you let yourself be your worst advocate then who will be your cheerleader and help motivate you when you need it? Work hard, have self-confidence, and think positively.

Avoid giving up
Premed is hard. There are other things that people pursue that are both harder and easier but Premed is one of those things that definitely get placed into the difficult category. There will be many times when you do not think you can possibly continue or you do not think it is worth it to continue. This is a time to have faith in yourself and remember this is a part of the pathway you have chosen. Anything that you do that is difficult to do, you will always think that giving up is an option. But just remember that perseverance can go a really long way and to continue pushing even when you do no think you can do it.

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