Esther is one of the coolest people we know, hands-down. Dawson met Esther through the Institute for Leadership Program his freshman year in which they worked together on the Stitch team. Since then, Esther has been an incredible mentor and friend. Saanvikha met Esther through The Backpack Project of Athens, a non-profit that aims to ease the burden of homelessness in Athens, GA, and has always been inspired by her leadership, empathy, and work ethic. We have loved getting to know her professionally and personally and can’t wait for her to share her story with you. Being on the pre-med track can often feel rigid, and from our experience, it often seems as if people feel like there is a specific “check-list” to successfully get into med school. Esther challenged this notion and continues to do so, so join us in reading her story about how she balances her in becoming a physician with a Public Relations degree.
Choosing a major seems like a life or death decision — or at least it did for me. Maybe life or death is a bit of an exaggeration; but even now, I think about how crazy it is that the world asks 18-year-olds to choose a major that will “define” the rest of their lives. Of course, your major doesn’t define who you are, but it sure seems like it does at that age. Think about it, the four things you’re usually asked freshman year are: your name, high school, major, and fun fact. My major was ever changing the first few semesters. My family and friends probably wouldn’t have been able to tell you what I was majoring in. In hindsight, I should’ve stayed undecided.
Now that I’m post-four months of my graduation, I feel confident in introducing myself knowing these facts won’t change.
My name is Esther Kim, and I went to Lanier High School. I graduated in 2024 from the University of Georgia with a degree in public relations and certificates in Personal & Organizational Leadership and New Media. Fun fact, which really isn’t that fun: I’ll be joining the class of 2029 at the Medical College of Georgia (yay!).
Okay, okay. I know your first question is going to be what in the world can a PR degree do for medical school? The short answer is nothing really. But the longer answer is a bit more complicated. This introduction has been my roundabout way of leading to one simple point: you should pursue what’s most authentic to who you are (and it doesn’t have to be only one thing!). For me that was both communications and medicine. Here’s three reasons why you should also just do what you want, for lack of better words.
You won’t regret it. Instead, you’ll live to regret not doing what you wanted to do.
Entering college, I knew I wanted to become a physician. Except, I didn’t know how. No one around me was in healthcare. The only information I had were from YouTube videos, other pre-med students, pre-health advisors, and the internet.
The only problem was that everything I wanted to do went against the advice of others. I was told I should major in a science like biology. I was told I needed to volunteer; find research; gain clinical experience; have leadership; and so on. And so, I did just that my freshman year. I was a chemistry major, started volunteering with various groups I found interest in, and put in the hours so that I could show my commitment in leadership. But in the midst of all of that, I started getting involved in TEDxUGA — a decision that would more or less change the course of my college experience.
Really brief context of TEDxUGA: At UGA, you can take a course with the New Media Institute to learn how to curate presentations, but more specifically TED talks. It’s like a public speaking course, but professional and on steroids. You’re then paired with a real TEDxUGA presenter and help them develop their talk as they prepare to take the stage.
I ended up taking this course the fall semester of freshman year, and it was the best experience I’ve ever had. It was all things that other courses couldn’t provide. It was such a different and rewarding experience that I took the class again. During the second time around, I worked with Dr. K. Paige Carmichael, who spoke about the importance of One Health and how the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health can create a more sustainable future.
There’s a few things that I learned here. One is that I’m a pretty good writer (though, it would be pretty embarrassing if you disagree after reading this). I always thought sciences and math were more my forte, and at that point, I actually would’ve sworn I was horrible at writing and anything to do with language arts. The second lesson I learned is (at least for me) I think the people we meet, connect with, and learn from is way more important and valuable than the content we learn from class.
Case A: Five years later, I still keep in contact with Dr. Carmichael, and I have learned so much from her through many one-on-one conversations than I ever could from just a class. As our relationship evolved from professor and student to mentor and mentee, we have now become colleagues, which is truly an honor.
TEDxUGA was an experience that I sort of stumbled into. I took it as an elective simply because I wanted to, but it became so much more. After two semesters of taking the course, I was hired to become the head curator and teaching assistant for the course. After four years of working with TEDxUGA, I have met and worked with incredible people including different deans and administrators at UGA, famous alumni, and really cool students. I grew in leadership, fundraising, event management, teaching, and so much more. All of which didn’t particularly “fit the bill” of a pre-med.
I had at one point thought if I had made the right decision. I worked 20 hours every week since my sophomore year, with many weeks going overtime. I sometimes sacrificed school work for editing and working on presenter’s scripts (don’t tell that to anyone though). I thought about how if I didn’t say yes to this job, which has absolutely nothing to do with medicine, would I have gotten better grades? A higher GPA and MCAT score? More time for clinical experiences or research? Or even gotten into a top medical school? Who knows. Maybe? But I don’t have any regrets. Even if it may have not been the “right” decision as a pre-med (which I don’t think there actually is any), I am extremely grateful for the experience and know I wouldn’t be who I am without it.
And honestly, so what? I can’t go back and change the past, but what I can do is take advantage and make the most of every opportunity that I’m in. And that’s what I did. I now use this experience to my advantage and see how skills in writing, communicating, and public speaking, all of which may be intangible, are so important as a physician.
When One Door Closes, Another (and dare I say more than one) Will Open.
And thus, I changed my major to public relations. It seems like it was a simple, obvious choice when you look at my journey. But it was far from that. It took me three semesters to convince myself (and others) that changing my major to something wholly unrelated to medicine was the right decision.
When we pursue our passions, it might seem like we’re giving something up or need to make sacrifices. For me, that was, as I mentioned above, time to study, time to work in a hospital or clinic, and time to partake in research. I was afraid if I went after what I wanted to study that I would have to give up medicine — a desire and calling I’ve had for a long time. I had to be honest and ask myself if I really wanted to become a doctor. Sophomore year I wasn’t 100% sure. And so, I changed my major. I knew that I didn’t have to major in science to go to medical school, and I still had that choice. But it felt like I was giving up. It felt like I was closing the door on the opportunity by taking this path (dramatic I know).
Soon after making this decision, doors and opportunities that I didn’t even realize existed started opening. One of which includes joining in on the first Health and Medical Journalism study abroad trip to Havana, Cuba — a niche I didn’t even realize was a complete blend of what I was passionate about. I continued studying abroad at the University of Oxford and grew so much from that experience.
But the biggest opportunity of all was taking part in a nationwide competition for the PRWeek Awards, one of the most prestigious award programs in the PR industry. Selected as 1 of 4 UGA students, I conducted a survey, interviews, and data analysis to examine how psychological and social factors can affect environmental behavioral change. Then developed a PR campaign to emphasize the serious threat of climate change. Again, a complete blend of two things I’m passionate about. Something I didn’t realize I could do. It was honestly a pinch me, I’m going to cry moment because somehow, in some way I ended up placing first place in the competition and received the Outstanding Student award at the 2024 PRWeek Awards gala in NYC.
It felt like I was closing the door on medicine to pursue communications. But as time passed, not only did the door to becoming a physician open back up, but the wall between that door and the door of PR was knocked down. You never know what doors will open for you. Ones that you didn’t even know existed. Or I guess you could also just knock down the wall and do it all.
Who Cares? Not me (at least anymore).
My third point is pretty simple. For a while, I was very conscious about what people thought and how I was perceived. We let the opinions of others influence us more than we think and more than we’d like to admit. Of course, I think that’s the whole point of college. We make mistakes. We grow. And we lean into our unique identities. We realize that we don’t have to be like everyone around us and will be accepted for who we are. And if not, then honestly, I don’t think they deserve a say in your life.
So what if people think you’re a bit crazy and a risk taker? I’ve definitely been called that before. As I made mistakes, grew, and became the person I am today, I saw the people around me also begin to change. And I realize that it’s the people I’m currently surrounded by that accept me for who I am and support me in everything I do.
I could give more examples like how I took a risk and worked for a public relations agency for six months instead of at the clinic I was at, and I’m so glad that I did. Because now I know what the path in communications would’ve been like had I not pursued medicine. I am now 100% fully committed to becoming a doctor without any regrets. It’s also a major plus that I have this skill set in my toolbelt and know it will be used at some point in my career, just not sure of the specific yet.
If there’s something you want to do that you’ve been hesitating on, I say just go for it. You never know what will happen.