About 11 months ago, I could not wait for winter break to end so I could return to Brandeis. I was tired of the inevitable lull I would experience in every conversation after I told someone I am majoring in Neuroscience.

This never happens to me at Brandeis, where it is the norm for students to be intellectually curious and excited about classes. Never have I felt isolated by my track of study until this year, when, as a junior, more and more people began asking me what I plan to do after college, and I respond that I plan on applying to medical school this summer. While Brandeis may be an extremely nourishing environment for the motivated, interested student, it provides less of a haven for students set on a career as a doctor. Even at Brandeis, there exists a negative stigma directed at pre-med students that suggests that all pre-med students treat their bodies and egos brutally by signing up for demanding and time-consuming course-loads, which they trudge through on little sleep.

This is, for the most part, an accurate statement. However, these qualities of over-the-top diligence are not only found in pre-med students but, rather, are common to most students who know what they want to do after college and are determined to attain that goal. If students know that they must rise, literally rise, to the top of the class in challenging, "weeding" courses in order to have a chance at the career they have loved studying for thus far, you better believe they are going to put their all into their work. We could just as easily be discussing a journalism student who wants an internship at The New York Times after college or a student dreaming of attending Harvard Law after Brandeis. Just like pre-med students, these students are going to want to make sure that they produce the best work they can, which will provide them with the best experience possible and will one day be relevant to their career. As you can see, the "sin" of overachieving applies not only to pre-med students but also to any student who aims for a competitive job position after college.

Furthermore, students who already have an idea of what they would like to do after college, have arrived at that conclusion because they hopefully have loved the courses they are taken and enjoy putting effort into their work. For students who love what they are studying, or at the very least love where they're studying, hard work is not torture. Usually, people view ambition as an admirable trait. Paradoxically, there is an unfair stereotype cast upon pre-med students. People assume that a student's ambition to be a doctor is poorly founded or naïve. When people come across pre-med students, they wonder how a 21-year-old student can possibly be prepared to make such a large life commitment. Have they considered going into research? Are they blinded by a parent's ambition or a desire to a financially lucrative career? Do they realize what the demanding style of living that accompanies life as a doctor? Have they passed up the opportunity to study the humanities, thereby missing an equal, if not greater academic love?

Yes, deciding as a junior, or even as a senior in college, that you would like to spend your career as a doctor is a large commitment, and medical school is a massive financial obligation. Of course, as with any career, there is an aspect of blind faith involved in ultimately choosing to pursue a career in medicine. Just as one should not dissuade a talented and dedicated student from pursuing a career in journalism or law, it is unfair to assume that a pre-med student is misguided in her determination or interest in medicine.By the time students need to begin applying to medical school, they have been provided ample opportunity to "get their feet wet" in medicine, whether it is through volunteering in hospitals, working as an EMT or personal experience within the field of medicine.

Additionally, many pre-med students choose to pursue their other passions while at Brandeis, either by majoring in humanities or by being involved in one of Brandeis' 200 -plus clubs. Often, students who decide to apply to medical school take comfort in the fact that, despite the added rigor and competition that are inherent to their science classes, they still enjoy the competitive work just as much as their humanities classes. Although setting one's sights on a career in medicine is an ambitious and bold move, it is important for non-pre-med students and professors to understand the source of the ambition and rationale that accompanies such a decision.