NOTE: This is probably the most controversial article on the blog. I myself learned a lot from the discussion in the comments that followed, and I am willing to admit my current thoughts on this subject are quite different from when I initially wrote this. However, I think there is great educational value in keeping this article and the comments up. That being said, I would appreciate it if people read all the comments and my responses before making judgments about my perspective on the issue, as I think my initial article doesn’t explain my point of view all that well, and can lead to misinterpretations of my thoughts.

During elementary and high school, I felt as if numerous sources in society were encouraging the concept of “nobility” as the greatest thing in the world. Things like school and the media were constantly championing ideas like volunteerism, servant leadership, environmentalism, etc. to the point where it was suggested that being a “good, noble” person involved thinking and acting with those ideas in mind.

And while I myself was swept up by those ideas, especially during high school, I began noticing some problems when I entered university. I started realizing that issues aren’t as simple as we often make them to be. For instance, bring up a random high school discussion on the environment, and you often hear things like “yah, coal plants are bad! We should get rid of all of them and power our cities completely with solar energy” followed by nods of agreement. But then if you do a bit more research, you start to learn that solar panels are currently pretty expensive as well as take up a ridiculous amount of space, such that it may just not be feasible.

It seems that the more you know, and the more open you are to possibilities, the more complex the world becomes.

The concept of nobility is particularly prevalent with “premeds” and their interest in medicine. A lot of students seem taken by the idea that it’s good to be pursuing medicine for the “right reasons” – usually this refers to pursuing medicine for the sake of practicing medicine, often driven by the desire to heal others, improve lives, or an interest in a specific field of medicine. Conversely, these same students usually see it as sort of taboo to be pursuing medicine for the money or prestige.

Personally, while I am generally interested in people’s motivations for what they do, I don’t think it is right to judge a medical school applicant solely on their intentions. I think it’s wrong, and kind of illogical, to immediately associate noble intentions with good and not-so-noble intentions with bad, in terms of being a physician.

The Patient’s Perspective

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I have always done well in school my whole life. Throughout both elementary and high school, I had rarely gotten close to a failing grade in anything. And even the few times I did, the weight of those assignments or tests was not that significant, and as you eventually learn, high school marks don’t matter that much once you reach a certain point.

When I got to university, I had planned on taking school a bit more seriously. Unlike high school where you have numerous tests, assignments and exams per course (and thus, failing a single test probably does not affect your final mark too much), university courses tend to be composed of fewer components that are worth more. As a result, messing up even one test could now significantly hurt your final mark. For example, the microeconomics course I took last year had two tests (25% each) and one final exam (50%). The final exam itself had just 40 multiple choice questions, meaning that each question was worth 1.25% of my final mark!

However, the bigger reason why I wanted to take my university academics more seriously is because I was interested in eventually applying to medical school. While medical schools differ on how much they value GPA, the fact of the matter is that given the competitive nature of the process, it makes sense to do your best. You will never know when that extra point might just be the difference between an acceptance and a rejection.

Nonetheless, the reality is that university is more difficult than high school. And while I wasn’t expecting it, I did hit a rough patch during the fall of my first year. There was a particular week where, back to back, I got the two worst marks I have ever received in university so far – 60’s on both a physics and chemistry test. I was partly upset because of how it could affect my final marks in the course, but I think I was even more hurt because I expected to do better than that.

However, did this mean I was now a C-student in my physics and chemistry courses?

Expectation and the Long Run

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One of my biggest pet peeves is arrogance and cockiness. I just find it super annoying to talk to people who like to talk about how much better they are at something than other people or, worse, like to put down other people who are worse than them at something. And while it may very well be true that they are absolutely outstanding at something, I could really care less sometimes.

I’m not saying I’m absolutely immune to having an ego. In my defense though, I don’t really get the urge to get into ego wars except with really arrogant people. Even then I’m pretty hesitant about doing it because I don’t really want to sink to that level.

One instance that comes to mind is when I see some of my undergraduate biology peers talking about other majors, such as psychology, kinesiology, or majors in the arts. I’ve seen some of them brag about how much harder biology is, and about how much smarter they are than some students in other majors and stuff like that. I don’t really care for arguments like that because I believe that different types of intelligences dominate various fields in the first place. Being able to excel at anything is admirable, regardless of the field. In any case, I know of arts majors who I think are way more intelligent in the traditional sense than many of those same science students I’ve seen waving their egos around.

Fortunately, I don’t like to talk to people like that, so I don’t really have to hear it on a regular basis. But that doesn’t stop it from annoying me!

There’s one message board I visit sometimes catered towards students interested in medical school. It amazes, but not really surprises me, when I see that some of the medical students who post are ridiculously arrogant. I’ve noticed that while they seemed kind of obnoxious before getting into medical school, they really turned on the arrogance when they got in. I’ve seen some of them absolutely attack undergraduate students, as if the fact that they are medical students puts them in sort of magical position that allows them to call everyone else stupid. Of course, when you are on a message board where 90% of the users are dreaming to be in your position, no one dares to argue with you! I’m not denying that I sometimes see high school or undergraduate students ask some relatively obvious questions, but if that makes you mad or you get pleasure from making them feel stupid, then I think that is just really sad.

Everything is relative. There’s no question that I often get questions in tutoring or from the readers of this website that seem absolutely obvious to me – but that’s because I’m pretty experienced in those fields. If those questions weren’t obvious to me, then I would be the wrong person to ask! The reason I don’t get mad or ignore questions is because I understand that I wouldn’t wanted to be called stupid or ignored if I had a question myself. I know there are definitely topics out there where I would say or ask “dumb” things.

The reason why some of these students lack humility is often because they haven’t seen how much larger the world is, and therefore, haven’t been in many positions where they are at the “bottom rung” of the ladder. Once you experience a lot of situations where the people around you are just so much better than you at something, you start to learn some humility, and realize there is still so much to learn about everything.

I’d like to think I’m a pretty humble guy in general (or am I not humble for saying that? hmmm…). When I did really well in the scholarship process in Grade 12, I didn’t really tell anyone except my family. I don’t think anyone except my family knew about all of the scholarships I had won. I just didn’t feel comfortable talking to my friends about how well I had done when I knew that many of them could be struggling to pay off university; it just didn’t feel right.

I think the main reason for this is that through winning awards, scholarships, or competitions, I end up having to meet people who are way better than me at different things. For example, while I was probably one of the top mathematics students in my school, when I went to the Ontario Mathematics Olympics, I was not even close to being one of the best mathematics students there. Through experiences like that, I know how it feels to be on the other side when you aren’t as good at something as the people around you, and so I sure as heck don’t want to make other people feel bad about their abilities.

Furthermore, one of the problems with having too big of an ego is that it prevents you from developing and improving yourself. If you don’t believe there is more to learn, you probably won’t get better at something. One of the things I’ve noticed about the top people in many fields is that they are often quite humble, in the sense that while they realize they are good (i.e. they are still confident), they are humble enough to recognize that they aren’t perfect and there is always room for improvement.

One of the things that fascinates me is the different types of sensitivity that exist among people, and our tolerance for sensitive issues. Everyone reacts differently to issues and experiences. Some of us are more sensitive in some situations while completely indifferent in others. By sharing with you my own sort of sensitivity spectrum, I hope it encourages you to reflect on your own, as well as those of your friends and family around you. I think by understanding your own sensitivity and of those nearby, you will be able to better understand others and forge more meaningful relationships.

Emotional Sensitivity

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