Medical school. My suitemates will tell you I think about it all the time. I panicked in September as I waited for my MCAT score and completed 18 applications. Now, I panic every time I imagine the admissions committee snickering at my misplaced commas and run-on sentences. Adrift in my thoughts, I sometimes feel like an island, entirely to myself.

I sense that other islands do exist - that other seniors panic like I do. A friend of mine felt it the day before the LSAT. The finance kids felt it the day Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy and the day fear spread on Wall Street as the House failed to pass the rescue bill. That day the Dow dropped 778 points. Gazing at the cover of The New York Times, I shuttered, and I know I was not alone.

Pondering the highs and lows that have marked the past month, it is easy to let the applications mire us with anxiety. It is possible all 18 medical schools will reject me. Someone might fall through the cracks, and it might be me. And as I bow down to the establishment, in this moment of unparalleled vulnerability, the potential for failure has never been greater. The stakes have never been higher.

But it is also in this moment that I look to the invaluable lessons of Vanderbilt. For it was in General Chemistry where I learned you could earn a 60 on the first exam and still ace the class. Greek History taught me that a loss at the Battle of Thermopylae does not prevent victory in the Persian Wars. In research lab, I learned the importance of failure as a part of the learning process. The zebrafish will probably mate tomorrow, and the protocol will probably work the fifth time ... or the sixth time.

And I learned through Alternative Spring Break the most important lesson of all - the value of human life and its preservation through service. I attended the ASB retreat this past weekend as this years' 70 site leaders met their partners and found out their sites. In the words of an ASB member, it was like Christmas, except I was opening 70 presents. It was like bid day, except people were screaming about service. In this moment, I realized how foolish I had been all along, fretting about medical school when the grander purpose of life had been standing in front of me.

I hope not all seniors fear rejection letters the way I do. And as I cruise through senior year, I urge all seniors to remember the lessons we have learned in the past three years. In the world of adulthood, the potential for failure will manifest itself at all times. And yet we keep fighting because Vanderbilt taught us to do so. We contribute to humanity in our own way, we value honesty and hard work and we build careers that empower the men and women who surround us and who we love. That is, after all, the great lesson of Vanderbilt.

Ima Paydar is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. She can be reached at ima.paydar@vnaderbilt.edu.