You have most likely been to a hospital at least once in your life, when you’re sick or for an annual check-up. While observing doctors working on procedures or taking care of patients, have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a doctor?                                             

The medical field is one of the most recognized, but most demanding out of all the fields. You are required to maintain a high GPA, score well on the ACT, SAT, MCAT, and obtain an abundance of community service hours from volunteering, shadowing, hands-on experiences, etc. Not only that, but it is also extremely competitive; the average acceptance rate for medical school is less than 10%. Since nowadays there are more applicants, the percentage is slowly decreasing, but there are ways to help improve your chances and acquire knowledge in high school.

 Rita Bedrossian, a third-year medical student at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, advised that you take AP classes to prepare for college. She also recommends being involved in and contributing to your community. 

“The heavy workload and challenging concepts helped prepare me for fast-paced college courses,” Bedrossian said. “I was also active in my community and pursued leadership roles with the ASB and dance team. These roles helped me learn discipline, hard work, and effective communication and social skills.” \

Studying is a big part of becoming a doctor. With the constant studying and heavy amounts of pressure, it is common to see medical students having a hard time tending to their mental health. Depression is a common mental disorder that can impact medical students. According to US News, the highest depression rate in males is 13% and 20% in females. This is common in medical students because they can feel overworked and under-supported as students in training. Also, because of COVID-19, there are new problems that have arisen.

Nora Bedrossian, an Internal medicine resident, acknowledged that COVID-19 is stressful.

“In the beginning, it was definitely stressful,” she said. “We were not sure if we were going to have enough PPE or personal protective equipment, we were uncertain of our supplies. The stress later became the sheer amount of patients coming into our hospital with severe Covid, and not spreading it to everybody at work is the stress now. So it has definitely changed over time.”

These types of emotions can mostly run in medical school. 

Medical School is an educational institution that teaches medicine, and a professional degree for physicians and surgeons. Some medical degrees include Bachelor of Medicine, Doctor of Medicine, and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. Medical Schools are hard to get into and are very competitive. Applying to any medical school requires dedication and hard work. 

Rita Bedrossian encourages students in school that it is important to balance your personal life and your academics, considering all of the stress of applying and eventually being in medical school.

“You’re constantly studying but it’s important to find a balance and hang out with your friends and do things that you enjoy so you don’t lose sight of who you are,” Rita Bedrossian said. 

Working as a Doctor requires care, working together with others, and learning from each other. Nora Bedrossian advised that you should not compare yourself and your hard work to others. “I think people who study a lot and want to get really good grades, who want to get into the best program, and residency. It is really easy to compare yourself to everyone,” Nora Bedrossian said. 

“Being able to acknowledge and appreciate all the hard work that you put in, without comparing yourself to the other people around you is the advice I would give.”

As you can see, working in the medical field is not only a great and professional decision, it is also something that can impact your life in a positive way by helping others. Not seeing it as just medicine, but seeing it more as a reason to help others in the need of care and support.