Concentrating on Interests, Not Just a Career

Though interested in a career in medicine, Nicole Cabe ’23 is among a growing number of students with this shared interest who have chosen to major in something other than biology, chemistry, or one of the other traditional pre-med majors.

“The biggest thing I've come to learn since coming to Grinnell is that what I want to study and what I want to do may seem like two different things, but they can and do relate to each other,” says Cabe.

As a Spanish major with a declared concentration in Science, Medicine, and Society (SMS), Cabe is using the strengths of Grinnell’s liberal arts curriculum to explore the social and cultural dimensions of health in addition to the STEM courses that she will need for medical school.

Since SMS was a new concentration in 2020, Cabe was one of the first students to declare an SMS concentration. Her decision represents well how students can use this concentration to complement their existing majors and career goals.  

“I have always been interested in medicine, and looking at this field through a humanities lens intrigued me,” says Cabe. “[The SMS concentration] ended up being a perfect blend of my interests in fields that I previously didn't know much about, and I really enjoy how interdisciplinary the concentration is.”

As a student who enjoys both STEM courses and humanities-focused classes, Cabe finds the SMS concentration to be a perfect mix of both. And while the concentration allows her to focus in on medicine specifically, she’s says there is enough variety in the coursework to appeal to anyone.

“If you’re interested in technology or how our society shapes the world of science, it's a perfect field for you,” she says. “The bottom line is that anyone with any interest can find something meaningful in SMS. It's expanded my perspective on what kind of career I want to have, or at least what I want it to emphasize. It's locked in my desire to be a part of the medical field, but it has also shown me that I want to be in a position where I focus on people first.”