Student Profile: Shermeen
major | advice | university life | who am I? | my spirituality
Choosing my major:
>This is kind of embarrassing. I blame this doctor thing on ER. When I was young I wanted to be an actress, then I wanted to be a lawyer, and then I really didn’t have a concept of what I wanted to do until ER came on when I was in about Grade 8 or 9. For the first time I thought, "Wow, what a way to impact people’s lives."
>It could also be seen as a selfish thing, it’s something I can be passionate about and interested in to keep me in it for a long time.
>When we were coming back from the lake recently, I was in an accident with a motorcyclist who had swerved into my lane. I had the chance to stay with him. He had dislocated both shoulders really badly. I was just thinking, "Wow, what a privilege to be beside him, to help him, to have a bit of skill to relieve his suffering."
I can’t explain it, but there was just this profound feeling of peace: "This is what I’m made for." When things were chaotic, I was so calm, a calm that was totally God-given.
Shermeen’s advice:
>If you want to succeed in premed, and ultimately medicine, perseverance is huge. You should have the ability to cry and then wipe your tears and then go back to your books.
But your nose doesn’t have to stay in your books. Always make use of your prof’s and TA’s office hours. It may sound dorky or nerdish, but trust me, they are real people, and it works. You can take 2 hours of convincing yourself of something and they can clarify it in 10 minutes. And then you build a rapport with your teachers and it totally makes the difference.
>Make sure you enjoy what you’re doing. Allow yourself to be intrigued by your field of study. Give it a chance, let it intrigue you instead of brushing it off like "Oh no, I have to take this required course." Your attitude makes all the difference.
>Have fun, but make sure you put in the time and study. Ultimately it’s a vicious cycle. If you don’t enjoy your studies, you’re going to be stressed out and not enjoy your experience.
>Don’t just memorize and regurgitate, because sooner or later the prof will ask you to do integrative questions and those are the hardest ones. If you can, right from the get go, try to integrate what you’re learning in all your classes… it will take your farther. Be able to look at the big picture and see how everything works together. Try not think abstractly, try to apply it and think concretely.
>Getting hurt is a great way to learn! From my concussions, my separated shoulders, and my fractures, all from playing hockey, I’ve learned a lot about the different parts of my body and I pull out my textbooks and think "Oh, so that ligament does this." So go out and get hurt!
>The Kaplan website (www.kaplan.com) has a lot of good resources (though they are trying to sell you their stuff). I would recommend going to different med school home pages and get information from there. I also did a lot of checking out non-profit medical groups to see what kinds of opportunities are available.
The good and the bad of university life:
>The competitive atmosphere can be tough with all of the ambitious high strung people that end up in this field.
>What I’ve enjoyed most so far about university is the people. Everyone from those I met in residence to the people who work in the cafeteria, and even the profs.
>Being challenged mentally and being stimulated that way has been great. If you really let university not bypass you, and you let it soak you up, your experience will be great.
>What do I like least about the university deal? Homework! That nasty feeling of having to cram everything into your brain because you have a midterm or final the next day. No matter how organized I am, I’ll still have that feeling the night before, even if I am well prepared.
>It grates on me when university students become arrogant. They confuse analytical thinking with being opinionated. It never ceases to amaze me how some people won’t take a step and look at it from another perspective, another side, even if they continue to hold true that conviction.
>I can go from one extreme, where I can put on the music and just DANCE, you know, hip hop dance and stuff. Then I can go on the other extreme, where I get into a very self analytical mode. I enjoy just being quiet, taking time and space to sit and think, and dream.
>I’m one of those people who would love to be a paramedic or a firefighter, you know, things that are action packed and you’re helping to save people’s lives. It’s something that’s fast paced.
>My dream would be to be free and unhindered to work with people. If that means as a social worker, or helping people on the streets, or going into medicine. I would love to do that, to be with people, to be a small part of meeting people’s needs. It could be anywhere. It could be in a hospital or somewhere in Africa.
>I wish I could dress myself in a way that is colour coordinated. Growing up with two brothers, I’m not the most "girly" female you’ll meet.Good thing when I’m a doctor I just have to put a lab coat.
>I think I’m most proud of surviving my first couple of years away from home. Those two years were the best of my life but were the most challenging and thought provoking.
It felt like the TV show Survivor, where you are just plunked into a new environment. You have to figure who you are, what your boundaries are, figure out what your convictions are, the ones you were raised with that are totally applicable, and other ones that need to be let go, after much thought.
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Shermeen’s spiritual path to meaning…
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