The top five reasons to dislike pre-med students are listed in a recent Wired article. The most interesting part to me, however, were all the comments generated in the discussion. This was apparently the author's intent:
These are sweeping generalizations that are intended to provoke a heated debate, so try not to get too offended.
Ya think? Why in the world would any former pre-med student (including myself) get offended when we're globally accused of not having intellectual curiosity and running organizations into the ground.
I'm not going to lie and say I never came across pre-med people who fit these characterizations, but I think you could substitute any highly-competitive student here (engineering, law, poli-sci) and get the same result. While I agree that the medical student admissions process is a broken system, being a dilweed isn't something that's unique to those going into the medical profession.
I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention this little gem:
Perhaps, instead of separating the brightest students from the rest, pre-med programs weed out all but the few who are willing to give everything up -- hobbies, athletics, even their curiosity -- for the sake of a high-paying job as a body mechanic.
I've heard that "body mechanic" line quite a few times and every time it's gotten under my skin. Nothing against mechanics, but to simplify the art of medicine like this is just ignorant. I would challenge anyone with this belief to follow a local physician around for a day or two, then let's see you honestly say this.
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