Anticipation

Awaiting the first day of medical school is, in some ways, like counting down to the first day of summer camp. I worked at a summer camp for several summers during my college years, and I remember the moments when my campers would arrive at our cabin, breathless and giddy and practically about to wet themselves from nerves and excitement. Many of them had been counting down to this day for months, and some might even admit that it was the thing they had been most looking forward to for the past year. As those young campers literally sprinted from their family’s minivan to their cabin, their excitement, confidence, and energy were hard to miss.

As I got to know my campers over the following week, though, many often told me privately of their personal trepidation about coming to camp. They were scared of living away from home for a week, or they were scared of the dark, or they were scared that they would have no friends. Every camper had fears, yet every camper knew that the personal gain achieved by going to camp would be worth it in the end.

This isn’t unlike how it feels to walk into medical school for the first day of class. It would be an understatement to say that I had been waiting for that day for years. Like many of my classmates, I’ve wanted to become a physician for a long time, and to finally walk through the doors of the Health Science Education Building with a student ID badge was rather surreal. If our decibel level on that first morning was any indication, we were all pretty excited to be there.

But I would be lying if I didn’t also admit that I was full of nerves on that first day, too. After meeting so many incredible people during interviews for medical school, I was worried that I wouldn’t measure up, and that I wouldn’t be able to keep up, with the rest of my amazing new classmates. I was worried about whether I was prepared academically because I didn’t complete a traditional science-based undergraduate major. I was worried about whether I would be able to maintain my sanity and work-life balance while a student because so many friends and family had practically told me that it was impossible to have a social life during medical school.  I was worried about whether I could live up to the huge professional expectations of a medical student or a physician. I was worried about what I was getting myself into, but I also knew that I couldn’t imagine getting myself into anything else.

Honestly, after a week here there are still moments that I wonder about some of those things, but after meeting my new classmates and the school’s faculty, I can say with confidence that there is no place I would rather be as I embark on this journey. This school – the faculty, my fellow students, the administration, the M2s – has already been so supportive, and the more I learn about the educational philosophy (and the more I see it in practice!) the more I am convinced that I will be able to grow to handle anything and everything that is thrown at me over the next four years. This place really is doing everything right. I can already tell that it is going to challenge me and stretch me in ways that I have yet to imagine, but I also know that it will be worth it! Like camp became home away from home for my campers in spite of their fears, I’m already overwhelmingly convinced that USC School of Medicine Greenville is a fantastic place to call home for medical school.

Rachel Nelson