Hello World! Since this is my first ever post, I figured that I’ll keep it light, telling you guys a bit more about myself (stuff that wasn’t already covered in About), along with a tangent, and some of my plans with MedHopeful.
Being ‘serious’
Josh and I recently had a discussion about first impressions, and as the topic shifted to our first impressions of each other – we first met at O-Week – he told me that his first impression of me was “serious”. I responded with a “what?!”, but to be fair, I had already known that I had given off that vibe.
On the first day of O-Week, we had a welcome talk delivered by the Associate Dean, where he said something along the lines of: “It’s traditional for the Associate Dean to present statistics about the entering class…This year, we have one 19-year-old student…” A small buzz in the auditorium arose, and I simply shrunk in my seat, thinking to myself, “No one will know it’s me.”
I had gone through the whole medical school application process without disclosing my age, and had no intention of doing so in medical school either. In undergrad, I realized that letting people know that you are younger than your peers is a double-edged sword. On one edge, you felt ahead of the game, but on the other, some will question your capabilities and maturity level.
It turns out that a good friend from high school, who was also in my class, had literally squealed in excitement, saying, “Oh! Oh! I know who it is!” By the end of the day, my cover was blown, and I spent the rest of week overcompensating by pretending to be an overly mature and incredibly serious person, before I couldn’t keep it up anymore.