How much more intense is the workload at medical school compared to Cal?
FH: I don’t feel the intense pressure I felt at Cal because my motivation for studying is completely different here. When I was at Cal, like all the other pre-meds, I was worried about my grades and what would appear on my transcript because I was looking to go to medical school. Now that I’m here, I study for a different reason. I study because the knowledge I have can save someone’s life down the road and if I don’t learn it, I could end up losing a patient. The faculty and administration here is very responsive to student concerns and some of the professors know all of our names and faces. You can tell from the way they interact with students that they really enjoy teaching students. Sometimes during anatomy, the chief of thoracic surgery or chair of gastroenterology comes by our table and performs dissections with us, so there are times where I feel awestruck by these world renowned clinicians and doctors. There is no pressure per se since the first two years are P/NP and the curri
