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Writer's pictureMcMaster Life Science Society

With Hardship Comes Ease

Hello McMaster! My name is Talal Siddiqui, and I am currently in my fourth year of the

Honours Life Sciences program, and I anticipate pursuing a career in medicine. I believe any

career pathway takes intense dedication and commitment to fully reach one’s potential and

attain the most from a competitive society. However, the reality is that difficulties and challenges

are inevitable and have the power to certainly hold someone back from their dreams. I believe

that these obstacles in life define a person’s mindset to cleverly work past their hardships while

having patience for success.


In the long and committed medical degree journey, students are bombarded with dozens of

assignments and exams every other week. These are also followed by extracurricular activities

such as research volunteering or shadowing health physicians. You will always find students

complaining about stress throughout the semester when they desperately need to get those A+s

to present a competitive medical school application. However, I believe that the most stress

comes from overthinking and pondering so much over a single “bad” grade. The worst that

could happen is a rejection from your top med school, but does that mean you lose all hopes of

becoming a health physician and hold yourself accountable as a failure? Of course not, the

absolute worst has yet to even happen! That is why I believe everything, especially the

challenges, should be appreciated as it shows you the world’s reality and prepares you for the

absolute worst.


Patience is a key element. If you can genuinely understand its significance, you are in line to

meet the ease and rewards that come through periods of hardship. For instance, I had that one

super-talented and intelligent friend who graduated with a 4.0 GPA and a competitive MCAT

score. Unfortunately, his application was declined. As said, he took that additional “gap” year to

work on his extracurriculars, such as research work at the Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. This

allowed him to network with health professionals through which he gained references for his

med school application. His patience and belief in himself to make a comeback helped to get

admission to one of the finest med schools in the US.


In conclusion, having patience helps through difficulties in life.

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