The Woes of Microbiology

"I got a 66% on my Microbiology midterm," I tell my team at Stanford.

The attending physician looks at me with a smile. "We have something in common...Microbiology almost kept me from sitting in this chair right here."

"Really?" I say, incredulously. 

"Yeah, I literally made the least possible passing grade. If I had gotten one more answer wrong on any exam, I would have not passed, and it would have been a major pain to re-do the course. Yep, microbiology, pathology, and histology. Which is why I do not use those courses now in what I do."

Just earlier the resident had told me that she spent a lot of time in office hours battling with chemistry and physics. What was remarkable, after they were discussing the struggles with both undergrad science courses, and parts of medical school, is that if these set backs affected these doctors, it did not stop them from being part of arguably one of the best hospitals in the West Coast, if not the whole nation. We're not talking about your run-of-the-mill doctors, these are people who are bright and accomplished, and have proven, in one way or another, to be special. To be stand out's. To hear them speak of struggling with organic chemistry was encouraging. They did not let these difficulties undermine their beliefs about how intelligent they thought they were or whether or not they thought they should be doctors. They just plowed through anyway. They greeted the challenges with strength and determination, which is a sign of character.