Yesterday I talked to an undergrad women in STEM class abt my career path.I spoke honestly abt how I hated basic science in college,never felt like I fit in in medicine(& still don& #39;t),& have tried to make my own space in med/writing/advocacy.

Today, I received BEAUTIFUL emails.

The theme of all of them was that I was the only person who told them they could stick with their non-science major, or writing/journalism AND STILL do medicine.

They EVEN said that they would stay in their non-science majors, because I showed them they didn& #39;t NEED to choose.

These are TRULY the best e-mails I have ever received.

I hope they(& anyone reading this) stay themselves,&keep their interests, & if that still leads them to medicine, I hope they infuse it with their diversity of thought & our field becomes all the better for it. We need it.

I SO wish someone told me I didn& #39;t need to try to fit my circle into a square.Or that it was OK to question being a dr even if its what "I always wanted." Or that writing & pop culture could b part of my job.

It made my week to think I could have helped younger me,even by proxy.

Oh, & of course, I told them to go to therapy, &learn about themselves as early as they could.

It could help with the questioning & the understanding & the figuring out of all the things....much earlier.

Like, for example, how one could know u want to be pre-med in 7th grade.