
Sarah Coffey '20
Pursuing an MD/PhD through the MSTP at Washington University in St. Louis, entering class of 2022
Undergraduate major: Molecular Biology with a certificate in Spanish Language and Culture
Significant college activities: Outdoor Action Command Center; senior thesis research; Molecular Biology Undergraduate Committee; Princeton Young Achievers volunteer; summer camp counselor; summer study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Post-college activities: Research Assistant at Yale School of Medicine (2020-2022)
Words of wisdom about being prehealth at Princeton: I took a less traditional path to being premed at Princeton and didn’t decide I wanted to apply to MD/PhD programs until spring semester of my junior year. I really enjoyed learning about biology and took classes based on what I found interesting more than worrying about grades or filling all the prerequisites, and I found I was less stressed than many of my premed peers but also ended up with a very challenging senior fall semester to do some catch-up work.
My advice is therefore to look ahead at your time left at Princeton (as much or as little as you have) with guidance from HPA and plan a timeline of fulfilling requirements to balance doing what you find interesting and really care about with planning to spread out your course requirements, thesis research, and MCAT studying. I think it’s really important to take courses based on what you want to learn and fill your electives with subjects that will give you a break from the hard sciences and expand and challenge your horizons in other ways. I also found that the premed mentality was not a positive headspace for me, so I put conscious thought into not comparing myself with others and working to develop into the person I want to be for myself—to learn as much as I could in class because I found it cool and interesting, to exercise often for endorphins and a break from work, and to schedule my weeks so I had time for meals with friends and some nights out because I find those social connections are meaningful and positive.
I also found that making lists and using a calendar for planning my time each week helped balance everything and feel like competing demands were under control. This process is a marathon and I think healthy balance is hard to achieve but really important to consider from the outset.
If you want to talk about balance at Princeton, deciding to apply MD/PhD, coming into being premed later in your Princeton career, or anything else above, please reach out to me at [email protected]—I’m an open book and happy to chat!