Handbook for a career in medicine

UGAPREMED A MAGAZINE FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN SCIENCE AND HEALTH GRADY COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM

HANDBOOK FOR A CAREER IN MEDICINE

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HANDBOOK FOR A CAREER IN MEDICINE

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S TA F F Faculty Advisors Dr. Leara Rhodes

Executive Editors Annika Carter Selin Odman Sona Rao Galit Deshe Heather Huynh Jesse Hu Lily Wang Hanna Friedlander Writers Anisha Yagnik Emma Burke Hallie Smith Leah Ginn Nikhil Gangasani Nivedha Balaji Saakya Peechara Sarah Caesar Syeda Nausheen

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HANDBOOK FOR A CAREER IN MEDICINE

A M E SS AG E FROM OUR EDITOR

When PreMed Magazine began in 2013, its focus was solely PreMed students. We aimed to inform students on the medical school admissions process, interviews, MCATs, and career options. In this issue, our Handbook on Healthcare Careers, we are throwing back to our humble beginnings. We hope that, with this issue, premed students can better inform themselves on the path that lies ahead of them. We hope to also open students’ eyes to medical careers other than the standard M.D. This magazine is not only for premed students, though.

We hope that, through this issue, we are able to inform non-premed students of medical-based careers that they could pursue, because after all, not everyone is ready to complete the 4+ year doctorate program after their Bachelor’s!

On a final note, I would like to thank and congratulate our graduating Editorial Board members: Selin Odman, Jesse Hu, Lily Wang, and Sona Rao. I would also like to thank Galit Deshe, our graphic designer, over and over again for all her hard work on this magazine over the past three years. I would also like to welcome our new editorial board. Emma Burke, who will be filling my shoes as Editor in Chief, Grant Mercer, and Mickie Dao. I look forward to seeing where you three take this magazine in the next year! I want to thank our readers for their commitment to our magazine.

Without your readership, none of this would be possible.

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SOMEONE CALL AN EYE MORE THAN JUST THE DOCTOR? RIGHT NUMBERS

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MORE THAN JUST THE RIGHT NUMBERS

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HEALTH PROFESSIONS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

GRADUATION APPLICATIONS

A FAST TRACK TO THE MEDICAL FIELD

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PRIMARY CARE: THE FRONTLINE OF MEDICINE

HOLDING ON TO YOUR INDIVIDUALITY

EXPENSES FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONS

HANDBOOK FOR A CAREER IN MEDICINE

THE LEARA SCHOLARSHIP WANNA WIN $500?

THIS ISSUE Write about, design, or draw an image representing a charity of PreMed Magazine will now be offering a scholarship in each issue. Each scholarship will require a submission from you, our readers.

This submission can be a piece of writing, or artwork. In each issue, our scholarship will have a different topic for these submissions.

your choice and how they have made a difference in your life or make a difference to the world.

The winning author/artist will receive a $500 scholarship and $250 to their choice charity.

To enter, please send an email to ugamedmag@gmail.com

by April 1st with the following information: - Your Name - Your Email Address - Your Phone Number - Your Local Address - Your Expected Graduation Date - Your Major - Your Current GPA Please attach to this email a file containing your submission.

Preferred files are Microsoft Word documents, .jpgs, or PDFs. Remember, this scholarship is open to ALL majors, not just pre-health students!

The recipient of this scholarship will be announced in our December 4th issue. He or she will be rewarded with $500 to be spent on furthering his or her education both on and off campus.

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SOMEONE CALL AN EYE DOCTOR? L I LY W A N G Whenever I tell someone I’m a Microbiology major, they always ask, “Are you Pre-Med, Pre-Dental, Pre-PA, etc?” After I tell them that I’m actually Pre-Optometry, they either ask, “What’s optometry?” or “What’s the

difference between optometry and ophthalmology?”

Optometrists (O.D.) are primary health care professionals that diagnose and treat diseases and disorders relating to the eye, visual system and associated structures. In contrast, ophthalmologists (M.D.) are medical doctors that are trained to perform surgery. Even though optometry is a growing profession, there are still many people who do not know about or have not considered a career in optometry.

This article focuses on a pre-optometry student and her path towards optometry school.

Daisy Kipkemboi is a 4th year Biology student at the University of Georgia as well as the current president of the UGA Pre-Optometry Club. She has been accepted to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry for Fall 2017. However, she wasn’t always preoptometry. Daisy came to college intending on pursuing a career in pharmacy but found that pharmacy was not the route for her and started exploring other fields. It wasn’t until she started working at the vision clinic at the UGA Health Center that she realized: “there are eye doctors.”

Through her job, she learned more about the profession, but what attracted her to optometry was the constant positive attitude she noticed from the optometrists at the clinic and how for every patient, they are almost always able to do something to help him/her see better.

Besides working at the vision clinic, Daisy learned more about optometry through her personal research, shadowing and joining the university’s Pre-Optometry Club. She shadowed at private practices, commercial settings and optometrist-ophthalmologist group practices

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adding up to 45 hours of shadowing. Not only that, on top of being president of the Pre-Optometry club, she is also an exec member for Habitat for Humanity and volunteers for Learning Ally.

After taking her Optometry Admissions Test, it was time to apply to optometry schools. There are only 23 optometry schools in the United States and Puerto Rico. Of those, Daisy heavily considered UAB and the Southern College of Optometry. When asked why those two, she explained how cost was a large factor and that those two schools have contract seats for Georgia students. Contract seats allow students from states without optometry schools the opportunity of attending those schools with in-state tuition; the process of obtaining those seats is very competitive.

Daisy explained how she especially liked UAB due to the smaller class size and the healthcare community surrounding UAB since the medical and dental schools in the UAB system are there as well.

The healthcare world is constantly growing, and students like Daisy and I will soon be joined by more and more individuals pursuing a career in optometry. When asked what is her best advice for students considering the pre-optometry track, she replied, “Interview a couple of optometrists, which you can basically accomplish throughout your shadowing experiences which will give you a better idea of the field and whether you could see yourself doing this. Even try to see if you can get more involved in an optometrist office setting, so you can get a feel of the business and operational aspects. I think that this is important in solidifying what you want your role to be as a future optometrist.” For those of you who want to dedicate yourselves to helping others but feel misplaced in other fields, optometry should be a profession you consider.

YOUR ROLE IN THE COMMUNITY A N I S H A YA G N I K Many pre-health students participate in service organizations in order to be more involved on campus or to pad their resume, but it is important to realize that service remains a part of your career after college. Pre-health students can aspire to combine their trained skills and their passion for helping others to reach out to impoverished communities across America.

Community service in the health field should be approached with the big picture in mind. There are many components to ensuring the health of a community; according to the World Health Organization, they are socioeconomics, physical environment and an individual’s “personal characteristics and behaviors”. This lends itself to the idea that the health of a community is a collaboration that you can be a part of as a healthcare professional.

Many operations rely on healthcare professionals who take time away from their full-time professions. Dr. Trina von Waldner, Pharm D., Director of Postgraduate Continuing Education and Outreach and Senior Public Service Associate at UGA College of Pharmacy, began working in Public Health in 2001 after fifteen years of practice as a hospital pharmacist. She believes in the community involvement of all healthcare professionals who are able, as “it is important to be visible in the community,

understand what is going on in the community and work with the community to meet healthcare needs.” Along with working at UGA College of Pharmacy, she is periodically on-call for the Georgia-3 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (GA-3 DMAT), which is made up of pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, physical therapists, nurses, paramedics and logistical support personnel who are deployed to provide disaster relief across America when the local and state are inadequate to meet the needs of their citizens. If a tornado has damaged the closest hospital in an area, and no other relief critical options are available, victims of the disaster rely on the G-3 DMAT team for their healthcare. Dr. von Waldner is a valuable member of the community because her skills and good intentions ensure access to healthcare for those in need.

As an undergraduate, you may not yet know all the opportunities available to you after you graduate from professional school, but given the collaborative nature of community health, your skills can be applied almost anywhere. By combining the experiences you gain from serving your community in undergrad with the skills you will learn in professional school, you will become an integral part of not only the private health system, but the public health system.

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M O RREI G HTT NHU MAB EN RS

JUST THE HAMZAH ALI

3.98 GPA, 518 MCAT Score, 150+ hours of clinical volunteering, 75+ hours of shadowing, president of a premier pre-medical club and five semesters of undergraduate research experience are the credentials of a student who was DENIED admissions to medical school.

If you are a pre-med student reading this article right now, I am sure that your blood pressure is rising and stress level is at an all-time high. Nonetheless, take a deep breath because getting into medical school requires more than just the right numbers. As a pre-med student myself, I have always turned to peers for advice on what medical schools seek in their applicants. We tend to overlook the most reliable resource available: medical school admissions committee members.

This article provides two very credible perspectives on medical school admissions. The Campus Associate Dean for Campus Integration and Academic Enhancement, Dr. Leslie Lee, and Associate Professor of Medicine, Dr. Howard Cohen have been on the admissions committee at the AU/UGA Medical Partnership for many years and have excellent advice for prospective medical students.

Premed students often struggle to balance commitment to healthcare and also show diversity in their interests.

Dr. Lee states that students should show an awareness of current healthcare issues and pursue interests that they have a strong passion for. An example of this would be volunteering consistently with Habitat for Humanity while also keeping up to date with conflicts between the Affordable Care Act and the American Health Care Act. The key is to be able to show that you are an active citizen and a dedicated, lifelong learner.

Another question that pre-med students ponder over is what attributes medical schools look for in their applicants.

Dr. Cohen looks for two fundamental characteristics in applicants: at the forefront is a commitment to serve

humanity and the other a desire for a long term career in medicine. It is important to shadow physicians in clinical and hospital settings to understand the degree of commitment that healthcare requires. In addition, Dr. Lee looks for humility, compassion and intellectual curiosity in applicants. Pre-med students are by far one of the most academically inclined groups of students on campus.

Unfortunately, one quality that this group often times lacks is humility. It is important to know that while you may know a lot and have earned high achievements, there is still a long road ahead with more to learn and many levels to keep climbing.

Whether a student is in their first year or last year of their undergraduate degree, they are both stressing over getting into medical school. However, underclassmen should not be worried over this goal. Dr. Lee and Dr. Cohen both agree that college is a time to explore your passions and discover new talents. They encourage you to take courses unknown to you and to not put blinders on with preconceived notions. A student who has explored his/ her options before finalizing upon medicine will have a breadth of experiences that they can expound upon in an interview. Dr. Lee states, “Put yourself out there and create life stories that you can talk about.” For upperclassmen getting ready to apply to medical school, do not shy away from considering gap years. If you can take time off, do so and pursue dreams that you could not otherwise if you were in medical school. This time will not come back again, so do not let it go. Do not feel pressured by what others are doing.

If you take away anything from this article, it should be that the road to medical school is not a “one size fits all” ordeal.

It is a process where you are allowed to develop yourself into a unique individual and show the world that you are more than just the right numbers.

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HEALTH PROFESSIONS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FUNDING YOUR EDUCATION

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EMMA BURKE

For many students, the path to gaining acceptance to medical school is challenging enough. However, after you get into a program, the financial burden of attending medical school quickly becomes apparent. If you are a resident of Georgia, tuition for the Medical College of Georgia is roughly $132,000 for all four years. This pales in comparison to out-of-state tuition for the same program, estimated at about $244,000. Medical school is not a cheap endeavor.

Approximately three out of every four medical school graduates have some type of debt related to their education. The average amount of debt a future doctor accrues during the span of his or her graduate education is $189,165. Student loans are always an option to fund further education, but they eventually have to be repaid... with interest.There are various types of loan options including government loans. Stafford and GradPLUS loans, two of the most popular federal loans for medical students, have interest rates of 6.8% and 4.276%, respectively.

Various United States government agencies provide scholarships to medical students on the condition that they are paid back via service upon graduation. The U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) all have similar programs. All four completely cover the cost of tuition, books and the majority of study materials, as well as provide a small living stipend. The three branches of the armed forces also offer a $20,000 sign on bonus for students who receive scholarships for all four years of medical school. Their stipends are approximately $2,000 per month, while the NHSC pays students $1,330 monthly.

The old saying that “there is no such thing as a free lunch� indeed holds true for medical school. Each of the aforementioned scholarships require repayment through service as a practicing physician for the armed forces, which equates to roughly one year of service per year of school funded by the institution. For the Army, Navy and Air Force, Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP)

recipients must complete 45 days of Active Duty Training (ADT) each year. This requirement can be fulfilled through attending Officer Development School, completing clinical clerkship or other similar activities. While in ADT, students are paid as a second lieutenant and are given a glimpse into the inner workings of life as an armed forces physician.

To repay a NHSC scholarship, service must be completed at an approved primary care facility in an underserved area. Students who take an HPSP scholarship are required to apply for a residency position with their branch.

However, they also have the option to complete a civilian residency. Residencies within the military are well known for their respectable pay and can be used to pay back some, but not all, minimum service obligation.

Service assignment locations can widely vary. The Navy, Air Force and Army have hospitals in practically every corner of the globe. Some physicians might be sent to war zones, but many remain in the United States working at the various hospitals of the Armed Forces. Repayment of the HPSP can be completed at any of these locations.

For the NHSC Scholarship Program, service can be completed in the United States at hospitals in federal or state correctional institutions, impoverished areas or various U.S. territories. While the NHSC only recruits future primary care physicians, the armed forces accepts students with aspirations in most medical specialties.

For many aspiring doctors, the cost of medical school can serve as a steep barrier to entry into their dream profession.

However, the numerous scholarship programs provided through government institutions can serve as an alternative to traditional student loans. Once service is completed, scholarship recipients are free to transition into civilian practice or continue working with their agency. These programs allow for students to attend medical school free from financial stress, while given the opportunity to serve those who need it most.

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GRADUATION APPLICATIONS HOW TO CONTINUE YOUR EDUCATION (GO-TO TIMELINE FOR APPLYING TO GRADUATE SCHOOL)

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LEAH GINN

As if senior year wasn’t stressful enough for college students, for those of us who are pre-medicine, it feels as though the hardest days of our education are coming in the near future. The fear of applying to medical school haunts each of us, and accompanied with that fear are a lot of questions: when do I apply? How do I apply? What do I need to do before sending in my application? These are only a few of the uncertainties (not counting the most daunting question: what if I don’t get in?) that instill stress in junior and senior pre-med students across the country.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel; drawing out the application process makes each step seem much more doable, and being organized with a plan beforehand will significantly help any stressed student who feels like they’re lost amidst a sea of deadlines and requirements.

A typical applicant cycle for medical school and most other graduate and professional schools starts long before senior year. While many of us choose freshman and sophomore year to make friends and experience college life to its fullest, it is important to keep in mind that our GPAs are difficult to improve just before graduation. Pre-health students also should consider integrating volunteer and shadowing hours into their monthly schedules, because these opportunities are hard to schedule and will most likely shape your career decisions to some extent before the graduate school applications ever begin. It is important to do what you’re passionate about with these hours. If you dread participating in certain shadowing or volunteer opportunities, you probably won’t sound intriguing when talking about them during medical school interviews.

Many students who aspire to attend graduate school straight out of undergrad will begin preparing for the applicant cycle during the fall of their junior year, but all of the real fun starts during the upcoming spring. From January to June, students should study (intensely) for and take the MCAT, DAT or other graduate school admissions tests. These tests will play a great role in determining what the next year holds, but at this point in your education, you should be equipped with the appropriate knowledge to succeed. Determination and coffee will help tremendously during this arduous semester.

Aside from admissions tests, the spring is important for gathering all other materials needed for applying to medical schools: around 4 letters of recommendation from qualified professors (ones that knew and liked you) will need to be collected virtually on websites like Interfolio, or by hand—but don’t peek. Also, your personal statement needs to be written and critiqued. It’s a good idea to begin working on your personal statement, which is your testament to why you should be accepted into med school, early in the semester so that your best work may be captured in the final product. March and April are a good time for this preparation.

By the time May rolls around, you’ll be fairly exhausted from studying, testing, writing and acquiring letters of recommendation, but a big step is still just around the corner: the AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service,) TMDSAS (Texas Medical and Dental School Application Service) and AACOMAS (American Association of Osteopathic Medicine) become available during the first few days of May to begin working on your application. While you cannot generally submit the applications until June, it’s nice to have a full month to work out all of the logistics. Beginning on June 1st, (the moment you’ve all been waiting for,) you may begin submitting these applications. (AACOMAS may be submitted on June 1st of 2017 and AMCAS on June 7th of 2017.)

It’s important to send these applications in as early as possible. Certain medical schools have what is called rolling admissions, which means that whoever looks good on paper first will likely have the first chances at receiving secondary applications and interviews. Submitting these applications before July 15th is strongly recommended.

The AMCAS or AACOMAS constitute what is referred to as your primary application, which details all of your personal and academic qualities. On the primary application you will choose several schools to which it will be sent. Around mid-September, the schools that you applied to will begin sending you mail—your secondary applications will come quick, and need to be filled out and submitted as quickly as possible. Secondary applications are those from the specific schools you applied to, and these are where you will find extensive essay questions about why you are interested in that particular school and other personal inquiries. After the primary application is sent out, it’d be wise to prepare essay answers to a range of possible questions that may be asked of you on your secondary applications. Have a deep understanding of why you’re applying to the schools you’re applying to.

If all goes well during the application phase, interviews will begin rolling in anywhere from September until the following March. While many students find the interview phase to be the most intimidating, all of the hard work is basically done by this point and all you have to do is be yourself, stay prepared and hope for the best. By the end of March, most medical schools have made decisions on acceptance, rejection and wait listing. By May, you should know whether or not your journey to becoming a doctor will continue in August. If anyone is amidst this tedious and trying process, don’t forget that you are not alone. At UGA Pre-Med Magazine, we relate to your stresses. There are also several resources on campus that may direct you when you feel lost. Best of luck to each of you; may we meet again in our white coats.

-Leah

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A FAST TRACK TO THE MEDICAL FIELD K AT I E LU Q U I R E At this point, you probably know the ins and outs of medical school. You have shadowed a few doctors, spent countless hours studying for the MCAT and somehow made it through Organic Chemistry. Twice. But what if there’s an alternative to earning an MD? In 2010, the Affordable Care Act named three primary care providers: physicians, physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners. So, what is a physician’s assistant, and what exactly do they do?

Like physicians, physician’s assistants (PAs), commonly work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, private practices and health maintenance organizations. PAs work on teams with physicians, surgeons and other healthcare workers, and the extent to which they must be supervised varies from state to state. The majority of PAs work independently of the doctor and only collaborate with the physician when a complicated case arises. In fact, PAs are responsible for many of the duties that doctors also share, including taking medical histories, examining patients, diagnosing patients, giving treatment such as setting broken bones and giving immunizations and even prescribing medicine.

One of the most appealing aspects to a PA career is the flexibility. Because the training of PA school is largely holistic, PAs have the freedom to change clinical specialties over their careers. It is not uncommon for PAs to switch their focus every few years, and according to annual surveys by the American Academy of Physician’s Assistants, 49% of all clinically active PAs changed specialties at some point in their careers.

Additionally, the training for PAs is similar to that of medical school. Half of the curriculum in PA school is spent on rigorous sciences and clinical medicine, while the other half is designated to clinical rotations. However, while medical school is a four year program, PA school usually averages around 26 months. PAs also are not required to have an internship or a residency; however, many schools require their students to have hundreds of hours of healthcare experience upon matriculation.

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While many PA students do take a gap year between receiving their undergraduate degrees and entering secondary school in order to gain these patient care hours, they are able to graduate in just two years, producing a much faster route to the medical field and a more direct route to caring for patients. Less time in school also means accumulating less debt. While the average cost of medical school in 2017 was $186,520 for four years, PA school costs an average of $71,369.

The rise of PA and similar professions will be key in the upcoming years. With the aging baby boomer population and the Affordable Care Act, there will be a greater need for healthcare professionals. In fact, the PA profession is projected to grow by 30% from 2014 to 2024 and has been named by both Forbes and USA Today as the most promising job in America.

While it may seem like there is only one track to the medical field, there are other routes to serving patients. While medical school is right for some students, being a PA is a great career for those who want to pursue a career in medicine but do not want to devote extended years (or savings) to a medical career.

There are some great resources offered by UGA for learning more about the career of a PA. The Pre-PA Association is a wonderful resource, and their website includes meeting minutes that contain more information on a PA’s role in medicine. Additionally, the Pre-Health office has great resources for students who are interested in careers in medicine. One of the best ways to determine which of these diverse medical careers is best for you is through shadowing. Take a few days this summer to shadow in areas that appeal to you in order to really see which career or specialty aligns best with your interests.

You might just find that a career as a PA is right for you.

Optometry Audiology Physician Assistant Studies Occupational Therapy Blindness and Low Vision Studies Public Health Biomedicine Speech-Language Pathology THE FUTURE OF HEALTH SCIENCE SINCE 1919.

salus.edu

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PRIMARY CARE: THE FRONTLINE OF MEDICINE GRANT MERCER The fourth-year medical school students gathered around a table in the Vanderbilt Medical Center cafeteria. Over hurried bites of salads and sandwiches, the topic of conversation was the same one hashed over daily by most fourth-years – Who’s choosing what specialty?

Neurology, dermatology and emergency medicine were all hot contenders among the future doctors, but family medicine was, for most, not on their radar. At many medical schools, students have stigmatized primary care as unchallenging and meant for those unable to handle the demands of specialized care. A false stigma, indeed, as primary care physicians are tasked with mastering the entire breadth of the human body, rather than specializing in one particular organ.

One Vanderbilt medical student who did choose primary care questioned his choice at a recent get-together brimming with fourth-years. Another classmate, choosing to pursue orthopedics, quizzed the student as to why he would waste four years of medical school by becoming a family doctor. Attracted to primary care by the long-lasting connection to patients and its ability to positively influence wellness, he still left the party wondering: “Am I selling myself short?”

By the year 2025, the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) predicts a shortage of 50,000 primarycare physicians. “The doctor shortage is real and it’s particularly serious for the kind of medical care that our aging population is going to need,” AAMC President Darrell Kirch noted. Over 50 percent of all doctors’ visits are made to primary-care offices, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), but only 30 percent of U.S. physicians practice primary care, down from

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nearly 70 percent in the 1970’s. The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) health care scandal of 2014 occurred when veterans suffered needlessly, in part, due to unreasonably long waits to see physicians. There simply were not enough general practitioners within the VFW health care system to handle the patient demand. Indeed, the VFW’s 2014 Congressional report cited numerous cases in which veterans had to wait 12 months for an appointment with a general practitioner.

To alleviate the shortage, the AAMC has proposed federal support for an additional 3,000 new residency positions each year for the next five years. Since 2010, medical schools have been increasing their class sizes, but the number of residency positions has remained roughly the same. Fear of a doctor surplus prompted a 1997 payment cap on Medicare funding for residencies, which has served as a stumbling block for doctor training ever since, according to the New England Journal of Medicine (2013). This bottleneck has stymied the number of primary care residency slots available. Congress must approve an increase in financial aid for new doctor training if the United States is to meet the demand for general practitioners.

Primary care physicians are the gatekeepers to a healthy population. These doctors develop a comprehensive understanding of each person’s needs, working to keep patients healthy rather than always reacting to ailments.

Individual patients, as well as overall public health, benefit.

As for the Vanderbilt student who questioned if he was selling himself short by pursuing primary care: the answer is a resounding no.

1-888-ALL-NAVY

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HOLDING ONTO YOUR INDIVIDUALITY B E M S I WA L L A N G What are individuals without individuality?

And at what point does it become acceptable for a person to sacrifice the things they like for the betterment of a potential, distant reality? Young adulthood is all about finding what works and sticking to it, which sets standards for your late adulthood.

As pre-health students, we are bombarded with stressors on a daily basis. Our grades mean so much to us - they are our lifelines - but we will not carry them to the grave.

Thousands of us are fighting for the very same thing and the length some of us are willing to extend ourselves to get there has no limit.

We’ve absorbed the mindset that every move we make in our undergraduate careers predetermines the degrees of happiness and flexibility we will one day carry in our adult lives. When our parents ask us how school is going, we do not even know how to answer. We end up constantly reminding ourselves of the valuable things we have done to dull the temptation to covet the lives of our friends, like your pal James with 400 volunteer hours, a full time job and a 520 MCAT. You are you. You have what you have going on. You are working hard. You are succeeding.

When we are not careful, we allow worries to infiltrate into our personal lives and steal our joy. How can we stay above the roaring waves of pressure and temptation to abandon what we’re working so hard for? How do we know that our lives are still worth it, if our futures do not turn out the way we plan?

Sometimes pre-health students get so consumed by the that we have to mold ourselves into polished, infallible individuals and that we have to forsake the things we care about and trade them for typical resume builders because “med schools like that.” How many times has a student given up on poetry or ballroom dancing because it met during the time of a pre-health club? I am sure these decisions benefit students academically, but not emotionally or socially, which is just as important when your career involves connecting with your patients.

While we are busy framing our futures with our tired, yet callow hands, we have to remember who we are framing them for.

we ever been able to “order” all we want and actually receive it? Instead, life is more like the weather: it can be pouring rain in Singapore, snowing in Colorado and swelteringly hot in Texas all at the same time. Conflicting instances can occur at the same time.

In addition, you can plan, and planning goes a long way.

It shows how much you truly care about getting somewhere and making something significant out of your life. But planning is not definitive. Live in the moment and do not be disheartened if your life differs from your plan; keep going.

Being a pre-med student and sticking with it has been perhaps the most difficult experience I had ever dealt with in my entire life.The amount of focus it takes just to do my O-Chem homework should not be legal. All jokes aside, I have been fighting for my future from the moment I decided that my destiny lies in medicine.

I have encountered many roadblocks: insufficient finances, feelings of inadequacy academically, not having enough of the “right things” on my resume to make myself seem ideal or perfect--I am well acquainted with all of these things. However, I know that my worth as a person has nothing to do with them. I am on my way to believing that and exuding that in all aspects of my life.

I am at a stage where I am realizing how precious life is and how great it could be for me if only I would take more chances on myself, and my current situation is not exempt from that idea. It is difficult to still push myself to be joyful in the midst of failed exams, threats to a timely graduation and an overall raincloud of stress incessantly pouring over me, but I am prevailing.

Personally, my faith in God is what gets me through. I am honestly nothing without Him. And I know that His timing will prevail, as will His plans for my life. He never fails to make something out of nothing for me, even when I don’t deserve it. I do all that I can and I leave the rest in His hands. He always delivers.

I want to encourage whoever is reading this. I know it is not always consoling to hear that someone else knows “exactly what you’re going through.” But I understand what it feel like to be perpetually stressed. You have to remind yourself the reasons why you are doing this. What inspired you to pursue medicine? Whose wise words helped you get to where you are? What work would you like to see yourself doing in a potential specialty? Encourage yourself and get excited for your bright future! It is coming soon.

Keep your best interests at heart when planning, but remember that life is nothing like a restaurant. When have

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EXPENSES

FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONS

DENTISTRY

In-State Public University $22,800–$139,200 for 4 years Out of State Public University $22,800–$139,200 for 4 years Private University $68,000–$272,200 for 4 years The Dental Admission Test $190.

National Board Dental Exam Part 1 $260 and Part 2 $340.

Books $4,490–$11,985 1st year and decreases to $900–$5,650 by 4th year Boarding $11,000–$25,000 per year

PHARMACY In-state Public University $14,800–$82,000 for 4 years Private University $74,800–$160,000 for 4 years The Pharmacy College Admissions Test $125 Books $1,200 per year Boarding $20,000 per year

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HANDBOOK FOR A CAREER IN MEDICINE

MEDICINE In-State Public University $66,750 for 4 years Out of State Public University $139,600 for 4 years Private University $139,000 for 4 years The Medical College Admission Test costs $310.

Boarding $23,000 per year Books $3000 per year United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 $605 Step 2 Clinical Knowledge $605 Step 2 Clinical Skills $1,280 Step 3 $845

OPTOMETRY In-State Public University $42,000–$74,800 for 4 years Out of State Public University $89,600–$173,600 for 4 years Private University $60,000–$116,400 for 4 years National Board Examiners in Optometry Part 1 $725 Part 2 Patient Assessment and Management $725 Part 3 Clinical Skills $725 Licensing and Certification $400 The Optometry Admission Test is $330.

Boarding $20,000 per year Books $4,000–$6,000 per year

PHYSICAL THERAPY 2.5 year Master’s for in state residents $12,500 2.5 year Master’s for out of state residents $32,000 Books $2,500 for the Master’s Boarding $13,000 per year The Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy exam $350.

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YOUR NEXT STEP TO A CAREER THAT MATTERS. Doctoral Applied Health Sciences Physical Therapy Master«s Clinical Laboratory Sciences Medical Illustration Occupational Therapy Public Health Physician Assistant

Bachelor«s Clinical Laboratory Sciences Health Information Administration Dental Hygiene Nuclear Medicine Technology Radiation Therapy Respiratory Therapy Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Augusta University Dietetic Internship

Learn more about our programs at augusta.edu/alliedhealth or cahs@augusta.edu

127333 - MCG UGA Pre Med Ad [HALF PAGE] copy.pdf

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They chose to serve.

At the state of Georgia's public medical school, our students define us. They are academically excellent and personally altruistic. They consistently rank at or above average on objective measures such as the Medical College Admission Test and United States Medical Licensing Exam. They consistently secure spots in the nation’s top residency programs. They volunteer to tutor and mentor local grade-school students. They help ensure our urban neighbors get seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables. They work in clinics for the underserved.

They even inspire the next generation by sharing what its really like to be a doctor with high school and college students from underrepresented-in-medicine populations across our vast state. They are great students who become great doctors.

Come change the world with them.

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augusta.edu/mcg