Debating Pre-Med: Health Studies Program and Gaining Confidence

When I left my home university, I had the full intention of dropping my pre-med track. I couldn't see myself in the field, and I was really struggling with a lot of impostor syndrome.  I feel like I was behind my peers and that I couldn't catch up, but I had already signed up for the health studies program, and there was really no way of changing my program at this point.  But after just a couple of clinical observations, I realized that doing the health studies program was the best choice I made, and it definitely has changed the career path I had intended.

The health studies program does clinical observations through a variety of hospitals, both private and public, and visits also health centers that teach about preventative health and Community Care. There's also a health seminar that helps give contacts about the health system in Chile and how it works, along with prevalent problems and health issues happening in Chile currently. We had clinical observations at Hospital La Catolica, Hospital Sotero Del Rio, and Asociación de Diabéticos de Chile (ADICH), a health center for diabetes patients. All of these centers of Medicine were different in all interesting and we have the opportunity to talk to a variety of different medical professionals, from nurses, nutritionists, to doctors. We also got to see a variety of different parts of the hospital, from the maternity Ward to The Clinical Laboratory. We got to see all parts of the hospital and different types of hospitals, and it really gave me a new perspective on the Healthcare System beyond the U.S. My time at ADICH, where I got the shadow a doctor, reinforced my desire to also wanted to be a doctor.

I wasn't really sure what career path I wanted when I left the U.S. I was teetering between computer science and pursuing medical school. And when I left the U.S, I was feeling honestly very demotivated and without hope.  The premed track is always going to be one of those competitive fields, and it's not easy finding a belonging. I had even told my study abroad advisor at my home University that I wanted to drop pre-med, and I wanted to see if there was any way to switch from the health studies program in Santiago to their political and social justice track. By the time we had this conversation, it was too late to switch, but everything happens for a reason, and I'm so glad that it was too late to switch. Learning from a completely different medical system was super interesting, and it reinforced my belief that I was super passionate about medicine, and it was something I wanted to pursue. I was very discouraged, and I didn't feel like I was a strong enough student to continue pursuing medicine. There can sometimes be a lot of negative voices that get involved.  But when I went to Santiago, I was surrounded by the most supportive people who cheered me on despite only knowing me for a couple of weeks.

I think that the health studies program is super unique, and the clinical observations I had were super interesting and helped me get a real idea of whether becoming a doctor with something I want to pursue. I remember when I was talking with my study abroad advisor about switching, he said, " Maybe just take a step away from campus and see what else there is out there".  And I'm so glad I did. I think that if I hadn't done the health studies program, I definitely would have dropped from the pre-med track, and I would not have pursued becoming a doctor. But after getting to see so many different types of hospitals and follow the different roles of Health Care Professionals I know that this is a career that I want I got to work really hard for it but I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to learn from so many different people and she left and learn about medicine in a global scope. If you find yourself in a similar position as I did, I really recommend doing a program like the health studies program, where you gain real-world experience, because it showed me that I wanted to pursue medicine for sure.