“Let’s have Erika pick the music this time. What artist are we playing next?” A simple, yet powerful question, which reveals much about an individual, can dissolve a budding relationship, or be a rite of passage! In this case, it’s the music my surgical preceptor, surgery team, and I, the fourth year medical student, would listen to during our upcoming cholecystectomy. My affinity for metal and science have always been naturally intertwined in my identity throughout my journey as an aspiring physician. My interest in health science developed in middle school, the same time I stumbled into Linkin Park for the first time. The emotion behind Chester’s vocals left me with a voracious curiosity about the genre. I studied their lyrics; one song led to one album, which led to a discography, and so on. The release of Guitar Hero III further catalyzed my interest. I longed to resemble the vibrant, bigger-than-life characters, and knew every song in the game by heart. While my academic studies earned me the opportunity to attend high school and college simultaneously; studying the music, notable stars, and fashion history of the genre drew me to metal even more. By high school, my wardrobe consisted of an alphabetic collection of band shirts, ranging from A7X to ZZ Top, and tickets of acts from all around. I celebrated my high school graduation at the 2012 Mayhem Fest, a memorable lineup of the Mayhem Series. Seeing Slipknot and Slayer bringing fantasy to real-life was enchanting to witness, but my favorite was Motörhead. Lemmy describes being a rock star as “not the guy next door”, but “somebody you’d never meet in ordinary life”. At the time, metalheads and doctors felt like people from different worlds. The confusion of outsiders seeing someone in a band shirt and corpse paint as a first-gen college graduate, and professors seeing a cheerful and studious pupil name bands like Cradle of Filth and Behemoth as their favorite artists, was a juxtaposition that felt unique to me. This followed me through medical school, and surprised students when their suture workshops and medical mission trips were led by a joyous person with pink hair and medical bag with illegible band patches. Becoming a real-life rock star by Lemmy’s definition and merging these two personalities is my goal. Academic goals consist of passing my board exams to be eligible for residency applications and be one step closer to my dream career, a reconstructive surgeon. I have fulfilled my rotations in medical school with excellent marks, which have granted me experience in general surgery, trauma, and orthopedic surgery, among other specialties. Outside of class, I helped found interest groups for surgery and psychiatry, teach med students essential skills and etiquette for the Operation Rooms, and help write handbooks to excel in clinical rotations; like metal bands, I relish in bringing the fantasy to real life. However, I was most honored to serve as my medical school’s ambassador, a position granted to distinguished, high achieving students. Applying for surgery residency can be as costly as it is competitive, especially for an international graduate like me, who attended medical school in Guadalajara (and first in my family to gain a medical education). With costs for exam prep, sitting exams, and supplemental rotations, one can spend upwards of $11k in one application cycle. This scholarship is the perfect sum to perform an audition rotation with a surgical residency program, and will enable me to apply generously to surgery programs across the nation, further increasing my chances at a residency spot. This is my final stretch, and securing a residency spot is crucial to allow me to practice as a surgeon, while repaying my medical school loans. I want to continue inspiring future generations of metalheads, and one day, be the one asking my student to pick the music for our next operation. Will they play it safe, or choose Pantera, like I did? I hope to find out, and be pleasantly surprised, like my preceptor was.