The confusion. The stress. The overwhelming feelings. These emotions are all too familiar for your average pre-med student as they begin their freshman year, and if we are being honest, they never go away. My experience with these feelings is one of the reasons why I was driven to become a mentor for the Pre-Medical Mentorship program. As a pre-med BME, I felt that I had a semi-unique pre-med experience that could be helpful to incoming freshmen planning on a similar college path to me, so I applied at the encouragement of a friend.
The summer before I applied to be a mentor in the Mentorship program I read a book all about the process of becoming a doctor starting from being an undergrad. In conjunction with my experience as a freshman BME, I felt that I could help incoming students with the same major interests. I was very excited to meet with them because I remember how I felt as an incoming freshman, and I was happy to help share my experiences.
I met my mentees for the first time at the Mentorship Social last year. I spent a good part of an hour just fielding questions from them and helping calm their nerves. We talked about their fears and hopes for their undergraduate career, while trying to get to know each other. The social allowed my mentees to get comfortable with me and asking me questions. The following events covered many things from course selection for the spring and following fall to extracurricular and summer opportunities. My role as a mentor was to answer or help answer the many questions my mentees had related to the meeting’s subject. My mentees emailed me any worries they had about the unfolding semester, which I did my best to answer. The most important role I had as a mentor was being a reliable source of information (and comfort) for my mentees, which in itself made me feel good.
Why did I enjoy being a mentor? Why should someone want to be a mentor? Besides the obvious aspects such as developing leadership qualities and getting more involved on campus, the perks of being a mentor come down to the satisfaction of helping others with what you know, and isn’t that why you want to be a doctor in the first place?
Léon Taquet
BME Class of 2018
Co-coordinator, Premed Society Mentorship Program
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