From Pre-Med to Oxford: Tackling Rejection, Burnout, and Embracing Enterpreneurship

Saatchi Chan, a guest on the Rejected Treatment Podcast, shares her experience of rejection and how it led her to personal and professional growth. She applied to medical schools in Canada but was not accepted. However, she later applied to Oxford and got accepted. Saatchi is an accomplished individual, with a background in health sciences, entrepreneurship, and photography. She started Invite Health, a newsletter that provides resources and job opportunities for healthcare and science students. Through her own struggles, Saatchi discovered her passion for creative pursuits and entrepreneurship. She shares her journey of realizing that medicine was not the right path for her and how she dealt with the rejection. Hi everyone, this is the 6th episode of the Rejected Treatment Podcast. I cannot believe we made it to the 6th episode. I appreciate you all listening in and hearing what my guest and I have to say about rejection. Talking about rejection does not usually make up for the most pleasant conversation, but in this podcast we unravel the taboo topics and reveal how rejection could actually be redirection and may even lead you to personal and professional growth. Our guest today, Saatchi, is a perfect example of this. She applied to several medical schools in Canada in 2021 and did not get in, but the next year though, Saatchi applied to Oxford and of course she got accepted, which we will talk about later in more detail. Honestly, Saatchi is probably one of the most accomplished girls I have ever met. Just check out her LinkedIn page and her Instagram page, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. She has been an entrepreneur and a self-starter since high school and there are many things she accomplished, but the thing that stands out to me the most and the one we'll talk about today is Invite Health, which is a newsletter created by Saatchi. It is filled with resources, job opportunities, and how-to career stories for healthcare and science students. And the beautiful thing is that the creation of the newsletter, which helped so many people, read by over a thousand, was driven by Saatchi's personal struggles to figure out what she wanted to do after not getting accepted into medical school and after realizing that medicine was not her path. So, without further ado, let me introduce to you Saatchi Chan. I hope I said your name correctly. Thank you for coming onto this podcast. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to interview you. Oh, thank you so much. I am so glad to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me. Yeah. So, why don't we start with you telling a little bit about yourself before we dive into more questions? Sure. Hi, everyone. My name is Saatchi Chan, as mentioned earlier. My pronouns are she and her. I'm initially from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, so I'm a Canadian student. And right now, I'm doing my Master's in Translational Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. I started last October, so it's been a year now, and I'm about to go into my second and final year of my Master's program. Prior to this, I did my undergrad in Health Sciences at McMaster University, and I loved my time there, even if half of it was kind of cut short or online by the pandemic. That was a little bit about my undergrad background. I've been doing a lot of health sciences work, and that's probably my strongest background right now. But I also love being a very creative person. I am a freelance photographer. I've been doing that since I was in high school, and I think it's honestly been one of the biggest things that's given me a lot of confidence. And I'm also a very entrepreneurial person. As you mentioned, I started Invite Health, which is a newsletter that I've been running for two years now. But on top of that, my photography is also an entrepreneurial passion, and I started two other organizations when I was in high school and university. So I love being a very entrepreneurial person because I think it's a way to take initiative on the problems that you care about and to actually create the change you want to see. Yeah, that's a little bit about me, but we'll dive into it, I'm sure, a little bit more later on. Yes, yes, we will. And first, we will backtrack a little bit. At first, you were set on medicine. And why do you think you wanted to pursue medicine in the first place? What motivated you to apply? Because it's a process, right? Yeah. What schools did you apply to? How was that experience for you? And what were your motivations? So there's a lot in that question. I'll try to go chronologically. So when I was in high school, I always had an interest in science and business, and I actually couldn't decide what I wanted to do. So that's why in my grade 11 and grade 12 year, I took courses in science and business, like I would have a physics, chemistry, biology, but I would also have accounting, marketing. And only by taking those courses, I realized I was good at both of them, but I enjoyed the sciences more. I mean, I did apply to undergrad programs that were both science and business, but I ended up getting accepted to McMaster's Health Sciences program, which at that time was a big deal. It felt like a big deal because I was the only one from my high school who got accepted at the time. And even from upper years, too, not many people that I knew above me in terms of years got accepted into that program. And it's just kind of those little jokes, right? Those little things like, oh, Sachi, you got accepted to McMaster Health Sciences. They're going to call you Dr. Chan now, and you're on your way to becoming a doctor, right? Even though it's not a pre-med program, like being in McMaster Health Sciences does not guarantee you go to medical school. But that's just kind of what its reputation was, and it still is a little bit. So I think from there, I was kind of socialized as being I was going to go to medicine. And I mean, I knew that I liked healthcare because everyone experiences health, illness, and disability at some point in their lives. And if it's not us right now, it's going to be someone we know and we love. And I care a lot about making an impact on people's lives. So I thought healthcare and medicine would be the way that I do that. And I think a lot of the skill sets that I had would complement me if I went into medicine, because it's not just about enjoying science and enjoying the clinical side of healthcare, but it's also the social side of it, too. Looking more holistically at people's health and also having good bedside manner, because being a physician is not just about do you know what you're studying? Do you know diseases? Do you know anatomy? But also, can you trust your patients, build trusting relationships with them? And I think from a lot of my teen experiences, like working with other people, like I do enjoy that. I do enjoy getting to build relationships with people and getting to talk to them and being their support system. So when I was an undergrad, after second year, I wrote the MCAT, because that's kind of typical for people in undergrad. And then by the time third year comes around, you're starting to apply for med schools, because you need to do at least three years of a bachelor's in order to apply to med schools, at least in Canada. I applied to McMaster University, Queen's University, and the University of Toronto, and I got rejected from all of them. But to be fair, I had pretty good grades. And then I did the MCAT. I did not do that well on the MCAT. I got a 502, which is like just above the bare minimum to be eligible for USP, because USP, you need to have like a 500. If you're applying to med school, you know what this means. So I didn't have a very good score. So I didn't know if my chances were going to be that great anyways. And then yeah, I didn't do that great. I did pretty well in TAFRA though. So like I had a TAFRA and I had good grades. And I thought I had a well-rounded background. But I also was not someone who had like a lot of research experience or a lot of clinical experience. But I don't know, we never know why I got rejected. It's competitive anyways. Yeah, so I only applied to McMaster, Queen's, and the University of Toronto. Yeah, that was a little bit about where I applied. Right, right. Probably you've encountered this, and I've encountered this, that once people hear that, oh, yeah, we decided to not apply to medical school anymore after not getting accepted one time, they think the only reason you don't want to is because you just fear being not accepted again. But I think there's that reflection period that comes, maybe you kind of start to think, is medicine even for me? And you had that similar reflection period as well, where you realize that there's possible reasons why maybe it's good that you didn't get accepted. And that's what leads to my next question. How did you realize that medicine is not for you? And how did it feel realizing that? Because that must have been like a big hit since you was thinking of medicine for a while. Yeah, it's a good question. And I think there's a lot of things that actually ties into this. So first off, during the summer when I was applying for the MCAT, I mean, MCAT's not an enjoyable experience for anybody. But some people I found could motivate themselves to study through the MCAT because they know it was going to be worth it in the end. They it was like a short-term pain, long-term gain. I did not really feel that way when I was studying for the MCAT. I did not like the MCAT. I did not like what the MCAT's good for. And I was not enjoying it. And I couldn't really motivate myself to say, it's going to be worth it. It's going to be worth it. I didn't feel that way at all when I was studying for the MCAT. I'm like, hmm. But I experienced some cost fallacy. I was like, okay, I've been like studying for this for like a month. I've already bought the textbook. I've already booked a test date. Might as well just go through with it. Because I don't like quitting either. Because it's like, what's the point of quitting now if you've already studied this for this for like a month or two. And like half your summer is gone. You're not going to just quit and stop it. But I went through with it. And I mean, I'm glad I did. But that was the first step that I realized that medicine wasn't for me. And the second step was actually when I got my rejection. I wasn't that upset. I didn't feel like I had a dream crushed. I did not feel like, oh, life is over or that there was nothing else for me to do. I was just like, okay, I got rejected. I was kind of expecting that considering how bad my MCAT was. And it still sucks to get rejected. But it was more that I felt bad that I wasted other people's time and that I wasted my own time applying to this and then didn't even work out. Like I felt bad that my referees wrote me reference letters and that I spent my summer writing MCAT when I could have been doing something else. To normal feeling, I've went through this whole thing. And my MCAT was, and I said this in my first episode, was lower than yours. Let's just say that. CARD section, the Critical Analytical Reading section, is notoriously difficult. And I've studied for a year for this test. First, I did it at 2021. And I studied for a whole summer. I'm like, okay, I didn't do good. Let me do a whole year. No. So I understand all the feelings. It's so normal. And then there are students out there studying for it and also experiencing this. I just want to say that you're not alone. And MCAT is a hard test. And it doesn't define your intelligence. And I get it. They want to weed out potential applicants who might not do well on tests in medical school. I heard that's why they do the MCAT. But it does not define how good of a doctor you could have been. So this is just one thing I want to emphasize. But all those things, kind of just like realizing that medicine is not the path for you, at least for now, I really resonate with that. So thank you for sharing that because it makes me feel better, especially considering how accomplished you are. Thank you. Can I add something to that, though? Because I think that's something that's also really helped with my experience. So when I got rejected from med school, it was the third of 2022. So that was like my second semester of third year. And around that time, I was also applying to the summer program called SHAD, which is a summer enrichment program for high school students across Canada. And I was applying to be a program assistant there. And I ended up working there summer of 2022. And working at SHAD was honestly life changing for me. First of all, I love the job because I get to spend a month with high school students, some of the brightest high school students in Canada. Helping them succeed in their education and their careers and just being there at such an important time of their life was so important to me. But it was also the team that I worked with that really changed things for me. I worked with them in July 2022. And the thing about our team is that it was very diverse. I was one of the younger people on the team. I had teammates who were almost like 20 years older than me. And there was only one team member who was in medicine, like he was an ER doctor, but everyone else was not in medicine. But they were so passionate about what they were doing, whether they were teachers, whether they were engineers, whether they were in the arts, whether they were in politics. It was just so exciting to be around because we had some overlaps in our interest, of course, and that's why we all worked really well together. But getting outside of that medicine bubble and getting outside of that health science bubble was transformative for me because it's like, these people, they're not just passionate, but they're also making an impact wherever they are, whether it's in the classes that they're teaching, whether it's in the conversations you're having with them, there's so many ways of making an impact. And I would verbalize with them, I would have a lot of conversations with them about, you know, I don't know if I want to go into medicine again. And especially because a lot of my teammates were older than me. They also really emphasize that careers are not meant to be linear, and that they had a lot of twists and turns throughout their careers. So it's like, Sasha, even if you make the decision now to not go into medicine, it doesn't mean you don't have to do it ever again. And they talked about their personal experiences, their lived experiences. And that was just a really good reminder for me to say, I'm only in like my third year of undergrad, this is only like one year, I can always do this later if I want to. And like, my life is not over, I don't have to make all these big decisions now. And that you should follow what you're passionate about, too. Because I think in undergrad, you kind of feel like if you want to make a very impactful career, the best way to do that is by going to become a doctor. But you can make an impact wherever you are with whatever you're doing, and especially teaching. Teaching was something I really loved doing that summer, and being a mentor. And I was like, this is what I really care about. And so I will really be grateful for Chad for giving me that insight into all of my teammates. That was definitely a life changing experience for me. And it's nice that it came right after your, let's say, your rejections are not getting accepted. It really did help you understand what your priorities are and where to kind of guide yourself in the future. When did the realization came to you that you do not want to apply to medicine again? Was it during Chad? Was it right before? Was it right after? When did you come to that? Um, probably at different points. Like after I got rejected, I was just thinking, okay, what am I going to do now? I knew that I did not want to study for the MCAT again that summer. I didn't want to write it a second time. So I ruled that out first. And in the summer of 2022, I also was doing most of my research on different grad programs, because I met some students who are upper years who did grad school. And I knew I enjoyed being in school. So I knew I would rather go to grad school than enter the workforce straight out of graduation, because you have to start thinking about these things when you're in fourth year. And yeah, I mean, before I went into Chad, I was thinking, do I want to apply again? Is this something I want to do? I couldn't commit to a decision, is what I'll say. If I was going to apply or not, I was still kind of going back and forth. But then after Chad, I was very certain and also very confident that, nope, I'm not going to go apply to med school again fourth year. I'm going to go all in to applying to grad school. That is probably the journey of like deciding not to write the MCAT again. And then kind of going back and forth with it over the summer while I was doing research on different grad schools and seeing what other options were and then going to Chad. Yeah, I just want to emphasize, it's hard to say when to go further into medicine and persevere or kind of admit to yourself. You're not really feeling it if you're not really committed to medicine that, okay, this is not something for me. So if any of you listeners are out there kind of going back and forth, it's normal, first of all, to go back and forth and having those self-doubts. It's okay not to know right away what you want to do. But ultimately, and maybe this sounds super cheesy, but it's an advice that helps me a lot and I'm really learning to follow that, is follow your heart. Follow your heart. What's your passion? What are your interests? Like where are you gravitating towards without really forcefully pushing yourself? Because people who go into medicine ideally are people who are really passionate about it, who are really motivated. Because I've seen people who've been so down by not getting accepted once, twice, thrice. And something inside them just tells them, I still want to be a doctor. I'll go for it every time. But it takes time to realize it. But if you feel yourself that you're not fully committed to medicine, it's okay to try something else. And it takes courage to admit that to yourself sometimes. But eventually, you can reach it. But it's okay if it takes time. That's what I'm trying to say. I guess we can switch gears a little bit. You've realized that medicine isn't for you, and you start applying to several master's programs. And the one you chose and were accepted in is Oxford University, which is so cool. And you studied Translational Health Sciences. That was the master's you pursued. Can you tell a little bit about the program? What made you choose a specific program? Yeah, sure. I guess I'll start with the last question, actually, why I chose to study the specific program. Like I mentioned in the last question, I knew that I enjoyed being in school. And I like being in that intellectually stimulating environment. And maybe also I wasn't ready for the workforce. I wasn't ready to be an adult. And I actually specifically knew that I wanted to study Translational Health Sciences or Translational Research after graduating because I like that it takes a very interdisciplinary approach to solving healthcare problems. And interdisciplinary meaning like you need to have expertise in multiple disciplines rather than just one. I went to like info sessions and I read about doing like maybe public health or global health, but I didn't feel like I wanted to be in that field specifically, or I felt like maybe it was a bit too narrow for me. Like it's good for other people. But it was just like, for me, I'm more of a generalist, I want to look more holistically. And I wasn't like super enthusiastic about public health or global health. And like undergrad, I was more like, I want to be excited about all of it. Like I love both of these fields, but I don't want to have to like choose one exactly per se. And I didn't know if I want to follow a career in that way. And I wanted to study Translational Health Sciences because I found that in undergrad, we spent a lot of time talking about healthcare problems. We talked about challenges with technology, talking about how marginalized groups faced worse healthcare outcomes. And I was like, okay, these are good problems to know. That's what the research is telling us. But what's next? Who's addressing it? Who is solving the problem now? And maybe because undergrad was a bit too short, and our courses were only like three to four months, and maybe just the nature of undergrad teaching too, I just didn't feel like we spent enough time talking about solutions and talking to people who were actually trying to address this, like working on the ground to address this. So I knew that Translational Health Sciences where it talks about how to translate research into practice and how to actually implement innovation, how to implement research that can actually help and benefit people. You're not just a specialist in one field, but you need to know a little bit about everything so you can kind of get the bigger picture. I can see how passionate you are about this. And I'm so happy that you pursued a program that you are feeling so positively about. And we need people like you, like you said, you're a generalist who sees things holistically because it's such a skill that not everyone has. You need people who can translate knowledge and research from academia to real life, to policy, to actually implementing it. Because there's such a gap sometimes between academia and then it stays in their circle and doesn't get to the organization, the non-profits who are doing the work. So thank you for pursuing a degree like this and to other people who are pursuing similar degrees because it's very, very useful to say the least. It's very useful. And what are your future plans with completing your degree? And now that you're pursuing this and you know you moved to Oxford, studied all this and looking back now, are you happy with the decision you made not to pursue medicine? Even somehow knowing what if you got in second time you applied? I am so grateful to be here. I think Oxford has been a life-changing experience for the better. It's been both the most rewarding and challenging year of my life because obviously moving to a new country, starting grad school, being away from friends and family, navigating a lot of guilt and a lot of newfound independence is quite challenging. But because I'm here now and I made it to the other side, or I'm still in it, but I've become more resilient because of it. I'm really grateful for that experience. And also there's very few places as international as Oxford like having so many people from different countries around the world in one place, especially in the master's community. First off, there's a lot of diversity in age. I'm usually the younger person in my class and there's people who are like 10, 20, 30, 40 years older than me and they're pursuing education, which is so inspiring because it really goes to show that anyone can be a student and getting the international perspective, especially for someone like me who's very curious and loves traveling and wanted to spend my 20s living abroad. It's been so valuable for me to just learn these different points of views of the world, especially in my class, like with translational health sciences, like learn about different initiatives that are happening in different countries, what kind of innovations they're bringing to the classroom essentially. But yeah, so then tying that then to what I also really enjoy about it is that everyone's doing very different things. It's very different from undergrad where everyone wants to kind of do the same thing because everyone here already has a career kind of, especially in the master's level. So very interesting to learn about what people are doing and get ideas for what I want to do with my own career, which is still something I'm trying to figure out, but I don't really have a linear career path that I'm thinking in mind. I want to do multiple things with my career. I feel like I believe more in the motto of make your own career instead of follow a career. So I want to do my entrepreneurial stuff. I want to be creative. I want to travel. I don't know what I'm going to do immediately after I graduate. I'm probably going to go for a job that's going to give me some more financial stability and allow me to still be living abroad or living in a different country because I don't think I'm ready to come back to Canada yet either. I get it. But I think long term though, I do want to be running my own enterprise and having that be my main job and also be my main source of income because I just realized from me and my personality too, I think I work best and I enjoy work the most when I get to be the one in charge. I realized that lesson the most when I was doing my photography business because it was like my photography was so fun. I got to go to a lot of events. I was getting paid to go to them. I got to choose who I work with and I was getting paid for it. This sounds like the dream. How do I do this long term? But in different fields. So I'm just going along the way. We'll see what happens. First of all, you're a true leader. You're the one who's going to set the standard in your workplace, whatever that's going to be, and people will follow you. As one of my mentors told me, go with the flow. You know approximately that you want to be in startups. You like putting the research into practice and I feel like everything will align for you and you will find your place. I have no doubt about it. Go with the flow and don't stress at all. That's what I tell you and I tell this to myself. Everything will be good. Similar to what you said, there are many careers in healthcare where you can help people and take up a leadership position. It doesn't have to be a doctor. It can be. It's good. You can pursue it. Go for it if you decide that it's for you. But just like you said, just go outside of your bubble. See what else is out there. That doesn't just go to pre-med. I think that goes to just all people, especially who are in their 20s. Just kind of explore. Don't rush to commit to one career. Just get all those stepping stones you make. They can change the trajectory of your life in such ways you can't imagine. And then I guess your journey of starting with preparing applications for medical schools, writing the MCAT, and then applying to grad schools, and now studying in Oxford. You're a busy girl. Doing these things I imagine can feel very overwhelming at times. How do you maintain your mental wellness, your mental health, in the midst of all these tasks or commitments that you have? It's a good question. I'm still figuring that out. Yeah. I'll be honest. I do really enjoy being a busy person. I like having a lot to do. I'd rather be someone that has a lot on my plate rather than not a lot. And that's just someone who I am. Call that being an overachiever, being a perfectionist, whatever you want to say. Oh, I get it. Maybe. Yeah, I will recognize, too. I think it does come from a deep-rooted insecurity I have about feeling like I'm not doing enough and that I have to be a good role model, especially being the oldest sibling, too. There's just that innate personality trait of, okay, you're a role model. You are doing things first. You want to do them well. I do do a lot, and I do recognize that it does probably come from an insecurity I have, as well. But I think I also built a lot of confidence through doing a lot of different things. It's a balancing act, for sure. And I will be honest, too, in that I probably burnt out every semester of undergrad. By the end, I was so tired. I don't think it physically took a toll on me in a way that I can remember. I was fortunate that my health was good enough for that, but I can remember feeling so exhausted, so ready to be done, waiting for the next break. And I think I burnt out this summer, too, at Oxford. So I am not the best person to advise on how not to burn out, but I try to only commit to things that I really enjoy and that I think add value to my life. And I think that's where a lot of people, they're not enjoying their classes and they're not doing their time where they feel extra stressed because they're signed up for things that they don't want to be doing. They're doing it because they think it's going to help them in the long run. But I feel like I just always did things that I really enjoyed. I took courses because I wanted to take them. I did only the extracurriculars that I really enjoyed doing. Honestly, your mental health is just a lot better when you're doing things that you care about and things that you enjoy. And you're in control of that, too, because it is your life. It is your time. You have to recognize that you are going to be busy. Because I work hard. Whenever I do something, I want to be doing it well and I want to put my best effort into it. And if you're always going to be busy, which I feel like I am, and I don't mind that, I want to be doing things that I'm enjoying. No, I love that. Definitely do things that you enjoy and be intentional with your time. That's very important for mental health. Maybe cushion some self-care here and there. I resonate with what you said a lot. It's very hard for me to kind of stop what I'm doing and kind of tell myself, OK, just kind of stop. Go rest now. Watch a movie. It's very difficult for me. So sometimes I have to be really forceful with myself to rest. And then at first it feels weird. But then eventually it's just like my productivity increases. I think more big picture sometimes, no matter how I mean, maybe that's just my opinion, no matter how busy you are, just even if it's like five minutes per day, just kind of lie down. Sounds funny, but like lie down on the bed and just kind of close your eyes and don't think about anything, just five minutes. Or it can be a nap or meditation, whatever your preferable choice of relaxation is, just to kind of reset yourself. Because if you don't reset, like you mentioned, you might burn out. And burnout doesn't always contribute to the work that you do. But ultimately, yeah, it's having that balance because, you know, you're such an ambitious person and there's projects you're working on and they're successful. And of course, you want to contribute more to them. So having that time for yourself. No, 100 percent. Like you don't do work well either when you are tired and when you are burned out. And that's something I've learned just through talking to like friends and family. Like I need to be reminded, like it is so important for you to rest because you're not going to do good work anyway when you're tired. A task that usually will take you 10 minutes when you're well and healthy might take you two hours when you're not feeling well. So there's no point anyways. But yeah, easier said than done. Of course. Of course. Like I get crap from my family all the time. I just go out. I just like enjoy your time. It's hard for me to learn my lesson. Exactly. I don't know how many times I'm going to have to like burn out for me to actually make a transformational change. Since you're such a leader and such an ambitious person, it's extra hard and you're an overachiever. And there's like a whole book written for overachievers called The Gap in the Game. And it's how overachievers usually, a lot of them have this mindset of, okay, what else do I have to achieve? Because they have this ideal self in mind. But the ideal self is meant to be ideal self because you never truly achieve it because it always grows. And then instead, switching to that game mindset where you compare your current self to your past self, and just kind of seeing what you've accomplished, give yourself credit along the way to help yourself build that self esteem and realize how cool of a person you are just for achieving what you already achieved in spite of what other goals you put for yourself. So yeah, and I've been so impressed just by looking at your page. You're a very entrepreneur, like you mentioned, and you should be so, so proud of yourself. Honestly, you're an inspiration, truly. Just kind of remind yourself and give credit to yourself along the way. That's very, that's very kind. And that's something I'm definitely going to take with me this week. I'm easily my own risk critic. So your words mean a lot to me when you say that. Everyone wants to be acknowledged once in a while, and you deserve to be acknowledged, and for all the work that you do. So thanks. Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay, let's let's move on. So your journey of not getting sent to medical school, in a way, led you to start a newsletter, one of your many initiatives, and the newsletter is called invite health. So please explain it in more detail what invite health is, what it's about how you were led to start it. Yeah. So invite health is a newsletter that I started two years ago, when I was in the start of my fourth year, my fourth and final year of undergrad. It's a newsletter where I interview students and early career professionals and ask them basically how they built their career in the life and health sciences. I also do try to share resources and job opportunities, especially paid job opportunities, because those are very hard to find in health care. And the point of invite health is honestly very multifold. It's to show you about different career pathways in health care, but also not just showing you what they are, but like how to get there, because I know that you can do anything you want with a life science degree, but how do you get there? What kind of program should you do? And I think it also exists to be the opposite of gatekeeping culture, where everyone tries to keep things to themselves, opportunities to themselves. It's not really sharing those with others. Instead, it's a place where we're being very transparent about how people build their careers and what type of opportunities they did and how did they get it, whether they got it through applications or networking or just sheer luck. Yeah, so that's a little bit about invite health. How did I start it? So it's honestly a very interesting journey. As I mentioned earlier, in 2022 winter, that's when I got rejected from med school. And actually, one of the things right after that, when I got rejected was thinking, why does my program not have co-op, co-op as in the cooperative education where students get to do placements at different companies and work there, they get paid as like interns get paid as students, they're learning on the job or getting valuable work experience. I was like, why doesn't McMaster Health Science have a co-op program? It seems like such a good idea. Students would get paid, students would get experience. You're connecting these incredible companies with super talented, super keen, super ambitious students. It seems like a win-win situation. But actually, after I got rejected from med school, I gathered two of my friends and we wrote an email to our dean asking if we could have a co-op program. And it was a good meeting. But ultimately, what our takeaway from that meeting was, it's like a co-op program is something that's on the health side agenda, but it's not something that's going to be immediately action. So I was like, okay, there's that. And then that was kind of like rejection number one. And the second time was that I thought, okay, I really want to address this issue, though, of like, they need to show us different career pathways. And I want to promote different opportunities and healthcare. So I thought I was going to make change from like inside the health side program by running to be the BHSS, which stands for Bachelor of Health Sciences Society. It's kind of like a student government for McMaster Health Science. I ran to be the academic coordinator, because it's an election based position, you have to be voted into it. And I campaigned, and I thought that was going to be the place where I get to use that platform with the entire health side population and implement different ideas, like different career nights, showcasing different opportunities, basically all the changes that I wanted to see. And then I lost that election, I came second place. So I was like, okay, that's not going to work for me either. So then that summer, when I was also applying to grad school, I knew I had this idea, this itching idea, like I want to create a platform where I share opportunities. And that would ultimately be Invite Health. I decided to create a newsletter, because there's a few different reasons I like newsletters, I think I followed a few of them, they were becoming more popular as like a creator tool, not just something that is meant to do like sign up for mailing lists and stuff. And I like that no matter if you have social media or not, you can access a newsletter, because it's just your email. So I got the idea for Invite Health to be a newsletter. The idea was that I was going to share opportunities I found online, like research groups, internships, especially paid opportunities, because I hate unpaid internships. And especially in healthcare, it happens way too often. And I just think it's so ironic, considering how much dialogue there is around trying to make healthcare and medicine more equitable. Yet, unpaid internships seem to be the standard and they just perpetuate inequity even further. Anyways, yeah, so Invite Health was going to be a place where I wanted to share opportunities. But then a week after I launched Invite Health, I went on LinkedIn, and I saw someone make a post about an internship they just completed, like a research internship. And I was like, wait, and I had a huge light bulb in my head go off thinking, I want to interview this person, I want to ask them, like, what did you do during your internship? How did you get the position? Were you paid? And I reached out to them, asked them about it. And they wrote up an interview for me. And I was like, the reason I reached out to them was because I had this platform. I'm like, wait, I have this newsletter, would you want to talk about your experience for it? And they interviewed me for it. And I published my first Invite Health interview. And after that, I was like, this is what I'm going to be doing for Invite Health from now on. I'm going to be sharing opportunities, and I'm going to be interviewing students because that's such an effective way to learn. You want to learn from people who are like one or two years older than you who are doing things that you want to do so that you can learn from them because they have been in your shoes recently. And yeah, again, it goes back to like breaking down that day keeping culture. So yeah, Invite Health, since I've launched, I've now published 51 interviews, because I just published one today. I've been running for two years. And yeah, it's been read by over 1000 people, which is crazy. I'm like 1000 people, 1000 people in a room is a lot of people stumbled upon this newsletter. That is what Invite Health is about. And that's kind of my journey to starting it. And I'm still running it now, just hoping to share more stories and encourage more people to learn about different career pathways in healthcare and to be transparent about how they got there, too, because we all win when we're all successful. And I just want to reiterate how, again, like, I don't know, maybe I sound like a cheesy grandmother. But how beautiful it is that it stems from kind of your uncertainty about what you want to pursue, but you knew you didn't want to do medicine, eventually, and then you figured out what to do. But also in the process, you started this newsletter, and you use this opportunity of rejection, which a lot of people associate with negativity to create something new and help people because listen, I've read your newsletter, and I've read many articles, and they're very helpful, because right now, even though I already completed my bachelor's, but I'm not really sure if I want to pursue my bachelor's in neuroscience, and I'm not really sure if I want to pursue something in neuroscience specifically. So reading your newsletter, it was really helpful for me to figure out what my next steps could be, what are some tips to cold female professors to do research in labs that you have not been in before, and you don't know the professors. There's so many good tips. So I'm not even a tidbit surprised that there are so many people subscribed to it. So thank you for for launching it. I recognize that one of the reasons that I think invite health has been so impactful is because not everyone in their life has the privilege of having connections or family or friends who are in healthcare. So there's a lot of extra barriers and a lot of extra work that someone needs to do if they want to learn how to break into healthcare or go into the healthcare field. And it can feel trickier, and it can feel isolating. And invite health just tries to be that platform that anybody can access, because of course, it's on the internet, it's free, you can subscribe to it at any time, it'll always be available. Because not everyone has that privilege of having opportunity. So at least with invite health, I hope it could help people get at least a start to finding mentors to finding connections to finding their first job and telling them how to get there. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing that you're doing. And please continue doing it. And we are soon coming to an end of this episode. And we've talked about a lot, we've covered so much. Any last thoughts, main takeaways you have for our listeners before we wrap up? And also mentioned, please, where can the listeners connect with you if they want to learn more about your journey, your masters or whatever it is else that you're doing? Yes, I think the first goes back to that gatekeeping and competitive culture. I understand why people do it, because there's a scarcity mindset, like there's not enough opportunities to go around. Like objectively, it's very difficult to get into like graduate schools and to get a job nowadays. So I understand where people come from when they want to be competitive. But realistically, especially in healthcare, healthcare is a very collaborative field, you have to learn how to work together, you have to learn to embrace other people's ways of thinking, and you have to learn that you're not going to solve all these problems by yourself. So I think it's best to learn that earlier rather than later, getting an opportunity is difficult, but there's enough for everybody. And like I said, I believe in making opportunities to like, if you can't find an opportunity, you can create one for yourself. So we should all be working together, not against each other. I think the second thing I'll talk about is that it's really important to have things that you're doing outside of your academics. I didn't get to talk about it as much. But being a photographer has been the best thing that I've done outside of school, because it's given me a lot of confidence, it's allowed me to meet so many people, it's allowed me to make extra side income too, and have a creative hobby and teach me skills that also helped me in school, like I'm a better communicator because of it, I'm a better conversationalist because of photography. And I also have different perspectives on the world because I've met people through photography as well. Like I got to learn about different cultures, I go to cultural events, I got to go to conferences that I probably wouldn't have been able to go to unless I was a photographer. I'm not saying that like, everyone needs to become a photographer. But I'm just saying that it's really important to have things outside of school that you're doing, so that you can also be reminded that school is not the only thing in your life. And I recognize it also is a privilege too, because I didn't need photography to be financially sustainable when I was an undergrad. And I recognize that not everyone has that luxury of time to pursue different hobbies, but try to find something that will work for you, whatever situation you're in, whatever background you're in. I think the third thing, and maybe the most important thing is to be around supportive communities and have a supportive community, whether that is or is not your immediate family, whether that's your friends, whether that's people you meet in class. But especially for people like us, who are prone to being strong self critics, you need to be around people who remind you that you are doing enough and that you are doing a lot. And that will remind you to rest and will make you feel good on days that you don't feel great about yourself. Because also, if they're your friends, especially in your family, and you trust they have good judgment, you should listen to them. You know, they're smart. You know, they're telling you good advice, but you're not doing this alone. And I'm also someone who struggles to ask for help. But when I have friends and family who can tell me, hey, I recognize you're going through something, or I recognize you're not at your best right now. You need that because sometimes we're not always the best judges of our own character and our own health and our own habits. So make sure you're around supportive communities. I have been a very entrepreneurial person as I iterated throughout this podcast. But it's also because every time I've launched something or started something new, it's because my friends were there to support me and say, this is a great idea, or they would share it with other people. Everyone has a fear of rejection. And everyone has a fear of, I don't know if I want to start this because what are people going to think? And what if it fails? But no one has actually come up to me and told me my content is cringe or what I do for inner health, whatever I post on LinkedIn is cringe. They tell me the exact opposite. They enjoy seeing it and it's helped them. It's easier to do things and it's easier to go after what you want when you have a supportive community. So I think that's the final piece of advice that I will give for people. Yeah, I'll agree with that. And yeah, please rely on your family to give you more objective evaluation of your character, especially when you're feeling down. You shouldn't listen to yourself because the thoughts that run through your head are not reliable. So have your family or like you said, if not immediate family, friends. And I really do hope that whoever you are listening to this, you do have people who will support you. I remember when I was starting this podcast, I remember it felt like a light bulb too, but it felt so silly as well because I even have the title in my head right away, The Rejected Pre-Med. And I'm like, wow, that sounds so weird at first. And then I talked to my family about this and then they're like, no, go for it. So they're very pivotal people who told me and they encouraged me to start this podcast. And otherwise I think if they said that it's a bad idea, I probably wouldn't have done it. So that's why it's very important to surround yourself with people who do support you. Oh, sorry. I forgot to answer the question. How can people connect with me? I am very active on LinkedIn. There's Saatchi Chan. You can search me up or you can search up Invite Health. And apparently if you put Invite Health into Google, the second search result will put my name beside it. So just search up Invite Health Saatchi and it'll show up too. I try to be active on social media. I have Invite Health Instagram page, but I also have a Saatchi and Oxford Instagram page where I try to show my life here and also share more resources. I am not as active on there as I am on LinkedIn. So LinkedIn is probably the best way to reach me. But I also have a photography page. So if you want to see some of my photography, you can check that out. It's called Photo by Saatchi with two I's at the end. I'll send all these links to you too. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, I'm just going to put it in show notes, all the links to Invite Health, your social media, the photography page. I'll just put it in show notes so people can access it. But yeah, thank you so much Saatchi for appearing on this podcast. It was a pleasure interviewing you. And thanks to you, our listener as well for tuning in. I'm very excited to be releasing this episode because it just shows how much rejection is simply a redirection. And at the end of the day, it all depends on our perception and the steps we take after our so-called failure. And I would love to hear from all of you listening in what you liked about this episode and what topics you want me to cover in the future episodes. So please DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn to share your insights. And thank you again, Saatchi. Thank you so much. Yeah. This was Valeria Ruthner, the host of the Rejected Pre-Med Podcast. And thank you for listening.