“It’s completely worth it,” Glynias says, adding that her main requirement for a future career is that it be “fulfilling.”

For Lee, the task of exploring new options takes place both in the classroom and the real world. He says that enrolling in courses relevant to his interests—including health policy, statistics, and Spanish—has been a satisfying complement to his summer experience.

“My long-term goal right now is ... to work for an NGO or an international global health agency like UNAIDS or WHO,” says Lee. “My ideal job would be to play a direct role in helping design a healthcare system in a developing country.”

Du emphasizes that at Harvard, the wealth of resources and opportunities actually makes switching out of premed a viable option.

“I think if I had gone somewhere else, I wouldn’t have been able to learn about the things that I’m more passionate about now,” he says.

—Staff writer Amy Guan can be reached at guan@fas.harvard.edu.         —Staff writer Radhika Jain can be reached at radhikajain@college.harvard.edu.