This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the AMSA National Convention in New Orleans, and am happy to report that it was a very successful conference. It was great to see so many premeds actively engaged in developing themselves into better people, better applicants, and better future physicians. Which got me thinking about seizing the opportunities that are presented to us. On my flight to New Orleans, as I usually do on cross country treks, I opened my laptop to get some work done and to put some final details on my presentation for the conference. The person sitting next to me, who had a very complicated problem set she was working on, must have seen the slides on my screen and asked me how I was connected to the MCAT. I naturally told her about my work with Kaplan and asked if she was a pre-med. I was surprised to find out that she was a high school student who was interested in becoming a doctor and was actually travelling back home with her parents after a few college visits in California that they had planned to escape Mardi Gras.
But what impressed me was that this high school student, still two years away from undergrad, and even further from medical school, seized the opportunity to ask some questions about the college admissions process and share the things that she was involved with, rather than playing a video game or watching a movie. She and I had a great conversation about what she should and could be doing now to set herself up for success in the future. When I told her about the conference I was going to, she immediately asked if it was something she could attend – we got her a visitor pass and she came and bettered herself.
The moral of the lesson which I learned from this random encounter is that opportunities are all around us, and this is very true for pre-med students, but its those who seize those opportunities when they are presented that truly walk away the winner. I am sure there was something far more “fun” she could have done this past weekend than come to a conference that will be more relevant to her in a couple of years, but she took advantage of an opportunity. What set her apart was that it was obvious that she was on the lookout for opportunities. So my question to pre-meds is not what opportunities are available to you, but rather, how are you seeking them out, and are you seizing these moments when they come your way?
