At white coat ceremonies across the country, your future
colleagues will be welcomed to the profession and praised
for all the hard work that brought them here. While they
get used to their new white duds, many will likely spare
a thought for a well-qualified, even over-qualified, friend
who for some reason didn't gain entry to the medical ivory
tower. And among the joys and fears a niggling doubt may
appear: Are we the cream of the crop or just a bunch
of lucky mugs?
LADY
LUCK SMILED
'Making it' means high grade point averages and MCAT
scores, strong recommendation letters and a CV brimming
with extracurricular and volunteer activities. In addition,
applicants must undergo a rigorous interview process
that assesses their personality, communication skills
and motivations. But luck is also an acknowledged player
in the selection process. Queen's students were even
given T-shirts emblazoned with a lottery ticket and
the phrase "WINNER! Of the 2005 Meds Lottery."
Most of my fellow Queen's med students,
when asked if they felt more privileged or entitled
to be here, took the middle ground. But the suspicion
that luck played even a small part is a humbling thought.
"Medicine is something I worked hard for and I think
that's why I got in," says fourth-year student Sue.*
"But sometimes, when I look at certain people in my
class and then look at people who've tried and didn't
make it, I realize that there is a certain degree of
luck to getting in. There are people who probably shouldn't
have gotten in but were lucky enough to."
One of her younger classmates,
Rupa, agrees. "We all worked hard to get here, but all
the ceremony over it is a little weird.... It feels
like a cult sometimes," she says. Rupa is unimpressed
with the notion that those in the medical profession
form an elite class."Medicine just happens to be something
we chose to do, just like someone else might choose
to be a musician or a nurse."
I
DID IT MY WAY
Their third-year classmate Vic isn't quite so self-effacing.
"Everything always comes back to that motto, 'Not to
seek success, but to deserve it,'" he says. "Anything
good that happens to me is because I deserve it. I do
think the combination of being able to handle some stress
and pressure, wanting to work and learn about medicine,
caring about people and at least trying to be good does
make one deserve a chance to become a physician." But
he doesn't pretend to understand exactly how entitlement
is measured. "How having a GPA above 3.59 in my two
best years and an MCAT over 30 ties into this merit,
I don't know," he says.
He also points out that he's just
been given the chance to become a physician —
the rest is up to him. "I don't really feel any particular
accomplishment or competence just yet, not until the
powers that be say so." Rupa's not counting her chickens
yet either. As she gears up for clerkship, she laughs,
"I just feel like such a fraud sometimes."
CHANGING
PRIORITIES
Dr Ruth L, family physician and seasoned teacher of
clerks and residents, feels that most of her students
are more Vic than Rupa. "I don't think it impacts negatively,
though. In some way, they're used to being better than
everyone else, and that drives them to strive to be
the best in what they're doing." However, she says she
has noticed a change in med student attitudes —
but not in the ways you'd guess from hearing Sue, Vic
and Rupa talk. "The attitude change I see is that people
are less willing to work hard. There's an increased
focus on lifestyle, a life outside of medicine... which
isn't necessarily a bad thing."
Christina Cheung
is a third-year medical student at Queen's.
*Student and MD names have been changed
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