We had a chance to sit down with James Swanson and ask him a few questions about his pre-health journey.
1. What do you wish you knew 5 years ago?
I wish I realized the power of cold calling/emailing. As a 1st year student at Emory, I did not have connections to shadow medical doctors. Also, I was not aware of research opportunities. However, I circumvented this issue by cold emailing countless researchers and physicians. Most of my emails were ignored. But, for almost 15 medical offices I would call, 1 physician would respond and let me shadow them. The same case applied to research. While I eventually learned that most opportunities to shadow and research come from cold emailing, I wish I knew this earlier!
2. If you could start over, what would you change?
As I mentioned before, I believe it is better to learn and grow from challenges and failures rather than avoid them entirely. However, there are certain things that would make my time at Emory more enjoyable. Throughout the premed curriculum, we all fight times of low motivation. I remember this happened during the middle of my Sophomore year. My class schedule was busy and demanding, and as the semester went on, I felt more hollowed out and unmotivated. During this time, I serendipitously met a PA who offered me the chance to shadow him in an Emergency Department. Of course I accepted his invitation, and I spent hours shadowing in the ER. This experience motivated me in my academics and personal life because it reminded me of why I am working so hard as a pre-med. I wish I sought out more clinical and shadowing opportunities for that reason.
3. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
The transition from high school to college was very challenging for me. I'm more on the introverted side, and I had trouble creating connections with friends and feeling like I was a part of the community. My feelings of alienation and isolation manifested into issues with insomnia. By the end of my first semester, I really questioned whether my life at Emory would get better, so I applied to transfer to a few universities in my home state.
I know people go through a lot worse at Emory. However, I talk about this to hopefully challenge the idea that not fitting into college life is abnormal. Plenty of students have issues finding a sense of community in college, but oftentimes these people do not share their stories with others.
Fortunately for me, in the second semester, I became closer with a few friends and joined a research lab and a service organization. Through those avenues, I began to feel a greater sense of connection and community. Obviously, I did not transfer out of Emory (that decision is one of the best I could have made!).
4. Did you have a specific mentor that inspired you to get to where you are now?
My uncle is one of the most inspiring people I have met. He is an amazing father, runs ultramarathons, piolets airplanes, rides motorcycles, and is a great chef. His life reminds me that we all have huge potentials to make a positive impact on others and achieve personal goals.
5. What is the best advice you could give someone pursuing the same track as you?
An Olympic-level discus thrower once gave me great advice (he worked out at the same gym I did in high school!), he said, "you will meet a lot of mentors who will tell what steps you need to take to achieve success. The best thing you can do is take what they say with a grain of salt." The point he was making is that there are many roads to success. At the end of the day, if you follow your heart, you will become the best, most authentic version of yourself.
In a practical sense, I recommend that you pursue any passions and interests you have right now. You will become a unique and compelling applicant if you do this. In my own experience, I interned for a lawyer, spent the last three years working on a crisis hotline, learned how to ride a motorcycle, and learned to love long-distance running. None of these are related to my chosen path of medicine, yet these experiences have prepared me for medicine by giving me an original outlook on life.