From Grey's Anatomy set to the UW School of Medicine & Public Health Classroom

While you're snacking on your popcorn, imagining what it would be like to be a part of the Seattle Grace Hospital world, a first-year med student at the University of Wisconsin could tell you all about it. Olivia Rater lived it, sort of.

"If you would've told me five years ago when I was working on Grey's that I would be here [in med school], I would've been like -- you're lying," said Rater.

Five years ago she was a production assistant and writing assistant on the hit ABC show. Rater landed the job after graduating with a literature degree from Yale University.

"To have watched something and then to be on it was such a surreal experience," said Rater.

She describes her job as a sort of whirlwind adventure. "You're kind of running around this giant lot like I don't know where this is," she said. "You work really hard when you work on a TV show. I think people have this sense that you work on a show, and it's like you hang out with movie stars and TV stars, and it's all a lot of glamour."

Part of what Rater saw is viewer feedback. "[People would say] I have this rare condition. Thanks for bringing attention to that. People feeling just heard from having themselves represented on TV," said Rater.

That got her to thinking that maybe she was supposed to do more than tell stories, and maybe she was supposed to help people write their own stories.

After securing her pre-requisites, Rater enrolled in med school at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. So far she thinks what she's learned at UW isn't so different from what she learned in Hollywood.

"[At school] they definitely push, they're like, it's not like it is on TV... But like it is kind of like what it is on TV," said Rater. "Of course things get kind of dramatized to make them more compelling narrative arcs and cliffhangers and all that stuff, but they're ultimately pulled from real experiences and real people's stories."

Even though the jury is out on what's tougher -- Hollywood doctor life or actual doctor life -- Olivia's along for the ride. "I think to compare them in terms of difficulty... They're both such different things," said Rater. "If it hadn't been for that show, I don't know that I would've been here [in med school] today. So it's been a great, little journey."

Olivia still hasn't chosen a concentration, but said she's leaning to pediatrics, psychiatry or the emergency room.

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