Hello beautiful people! My name is Raylee, I am a sophomore pre-med student this year. I often get the question of why I chose to go pre-med and why I like it, and I figured this is the best place for me to answer that question. Here is the real, raw, and in depth answer to what fuels my passion for medicine. 

I Want to Help People

Yes, I know how basic this answer is, but it goes deeper than that. I am a CNA (certified nurse assistant), I have worked in a nursing home setting as well as a hospital setting. I have been around a lot of providers and seen how they interact with their patients. I also get to hear from the patients about how their experience was after the fact. Some are positive, some are negative. Either way, I have gotten to hear how much a provider can impact a patient’s mood and outlook. 

I want to be that provider that changed my patients mood, that truly makes a difference in my patients life for the better. Even when I have to give my patient some bad news, I want them to leave the office feeling like they have a positive doctor who is going to try their hardest to help them. I want my patients to feel like they have a trustworthy doctor in their corner. 

So it is more than “helping” people, it’s helping people see the bright side of everything. 

I Get to Learn Forever

In medicine, you are forever learning new things. There is always a new concept, new techniques, new technology. It is a life long learning experience, and that is one of my favorite things about it. I like that it would be a new thing every day, my job would not be redundant, I would get to explore the different cases and the different diseases as well as possible causes. I like that I would get to test my knowledge every single day, I would get to use my critical thinking and problem solving skills. And to tie in my first point, I would get to use this big beautiful brain of mine filled with knowledge to help people. 

You definitely shouldn’t be in medicine at all if you don’t like learning. But it is one of the things I am most passionate about so it is also a big reason why I chose this field. 

There are so Many Opportunities

Becoming a doctor can mean so many different things, there are so many different paths that you can go on. Going into this, all I know is that I want to be in healthcare, and I want to be a provider. I think I know what specialty I want to do but the cool thing about this is that I don’t have to know right now. During rotations I get to see all the different opportunities that being a medical doctor has to offer and then I get to pick my favorite, then I hope and pray that I get matched which is actually the scary part. 

Regardless of the scarriness of the process, there are a multitude of opportunities as a medical doctor and I am beyond excited to explore all of those opportunities to find which one is for me.

There is a Chance to be a Mentor

One of my favorite things about myself is that I am a big sister. But I am also that friend that people always look to for advice when they need it, about anything. Honestly, I love being that person for other people, I love being someone who people can look up to. Even better, I would get to inspire people to do what they love, which would also be what I love. This sounds like a dream to me. 

I Truly Feel Like it is my Calling

Through my experience as a CNA, I have found that I love patient care, but I also know that I want to do it on a different level. A higher level if you will. I want to work my way up from CNA to MD. And I am going to be good at it. I have always had a passion to help people and I want to continue that into my higher education. 

An important lesson I learned in my time with patients is that healthcare is more than giving your patient a diagnosis, helping them with cares, or wiping their bottoms like everyone thinks. It is about connecting with your patient in a whole different way, making them feel comfortable, heard, and understood. 

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Medicine is a journey of service, growth, and lifelong learning; and I can’t wait to see where it takes me. It is more than just the money and the status. If you’re chasing a dream too, I hope this inspires you to follow it wholeheartedly and explore what the fuel is for your own journey.