July/August 2017

The Magazine For Pre-Medical Students

July/August 2017

CHANNELING YOUR PASSION THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN HIRING AN ADMISSIONS CONSULTANT I’M IN MEDICAL SCHOOL, HERE’S MY ADVICE TO PREMEDS

PREMEDLIFE.COM

WHAT TO DO WHEN FACE TO FACE WITH MEDICAL SCHOOL DEANS

premedlife July/August 2017

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I’M IN MEDICAL SCHOOL. HERE’S MY ADVICE TO PREMEDS

WHAT TO DO WHEN FACE TO FACE WITH MEDICAL SCHOOL DEANS

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN COMPLETING YOUR APPLICATION

Successfully jumping through the premed hoops is a huge accomplishment. Here are some words of wisdom from current medical students.

Here’s some advice to prospective students when they are face to face with admissions deans.

Successfully jumping through the premed hoops is a huge accomplishment. Here are some words of wisdom from current medical students.

July/August 2017 | PreMedLife Magazine |3

contents

JULY/AUGUST 2017

Thinking about hiring an admissions consultant? Read this first.

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Hiring an Admissions Consultant

But what really is on the minds of medical school admissions committees when going through your application.

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Channel Your Interest, Driving Your Career

There are a multitude of clinical and nonclinical career options that physicians with an MD or DO are qualified to perform. As a premed, you can investigate a variety of areas in health care to channel your interest and drive your career in medicine.

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WHAT’S INSIDE...

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Healthcare’s Next Big Trends

Healthcare is constantly changing and it might feel overwhelming to try and keep up with all of it. It is like the constant stream of news that continues to air, how do you sift through all of that information?

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Things to Do During a Gap Year A gap year is defined as the “period of time between the end of your undergraduate education and the start of medical school.”

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Balancing Medicine and Love

The Beatles said it first - all you need is love...and well, a nice GPA wouldn’t hurt. Think about it, as interesting and well scandalous Grey’s Anatomy can be, becoming a doctor is no walk in the park, especially if you through in some complex relationship statuses, it might seem impossible.

Digital

JULY/AUGUST 2017

istockphoto/Jacob Ammentorp Lund

How I Aced Biochemistry

College hallways abound with rumors on the blood, sweat, and tears that accompany biochemistry.

What’s on Premedlife.com Should You Take a Gap Year?

Staying True to Yourself

My Experience Taking an MCAT Course

The answer to this question, no matter who you ask, will always be “it depends.” It should come to no surprise that I’m here to tell you that it does depend. I’m not going to focus on the pros and cons of why you should or shouldn’t take a gap year.

In your journey to medical school, it is important to stay in touch with your identity and uniqueness. When signing up for volunteer opportunities, applying for research positions, and joining on-campus organizations, only invest time into activities that truly resonate with you.

There are many ways to study for the MCAT; group study, self-study, MCAT in-person courses or live-online courses. If you’re like me, you don’t even know where to begin studying for such an information-dense exam that combines several subjects and presents them in different ways.

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From the

Publisher

START NOW. “At the end of the day, you are solely responsible for your success and your failure. And the sooner you realize that, you accept that, and integrate that into your work ethic, you will start being successful. As long as you blame others for the reason you aren’t where you want to be, you will always be a failure.” - Erin Cummings if you want to get into medical, if you want to

practice medicine then the time is now. The time is now to start thinking about the present moment. The past is the past and the future is the future - and the time you have control over right now is right now. Yes, thinking about what happened yesterday, last month, or last year can help guide you in the right direction and on the flip side - thinking about tomorrow, next month, or next year may give you something to work towards, the fact of the matter is - making the most of the present moment, this present day is what matters the most. As a pre-med student, it may be difficult and challenging to stay in the present moment, but it can give more meaning the journey you are on towards getting into medical school and pursuing a career in medicine. As a pre-med you will constantly feel like you’ve got something to do, things are always on your mind, you are thinking and planning for your future and the next thing you know, years have passed. Time that you can never get back is a blur so I beg of you to pause from time to time to “lean into” the process, “lean in” to the tough times, celebrate your successes, but stop and appreciate the present.

PREMEDLIFE the lifestyle magazine for premedical students www.premedlife.com

Founder & Publisher | Tasheema Prince VP, Development| Monique Terc Contributing Editor | Njeri McKenzie Contributing Writers Seemal Awan, Marilyn Chu, Erin Fortner, Stephanie Vazquez Online Marketing Consultant | Portia Chu Find us on Twitter @premedlife Find us on Facebook.com/premedlife Here’s How to Reach Us: Kisho Media, LLC P.O. Box 10572 Rockville, MD 20849 Main (646) 571-8035 Have a Story Idea?

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Tasheema Prince Publisher @PrinceSheem tprince@premedlife.com

PreMedLife magazine is published six times per year by Kisho Media, LLC. and copies are provided to select colleges and universities free of charge. The information in PreMedLife magazine is believed to be accurate, but in some instances, may represent opinion or judgment. Consult your pre-medical/pre-health advisor with any questions you may have about the medical school admissions process and related topics. Unless otherwise noted, all articles, photographs, artwork, and images may not be duplicated or reprinted without express written permission from Kisho Media, LLC. PreMedLife magazine and Kisho Media, LLC. are not liable for typographical or production errors or the accuracy of information provided by advertisers.

PreMedLife magazine reserves the right to refuse any advertising. All inquires may be sent to: Kisho Media, LLC. P.O. Box 10572 Rockville, MD 20849 To reach us by phone call (646) 571-8035 or email us at info@premedlife.com.

Tasheema Prince 8 | PreMedLife Magazine | July/August 2017

Getting In I’M IN MEDICAL SCHOOL. HERE’S MY ADVICE TO PRE-MEDS.

SUCCESSFULLY JUMPING THROUGH THE PREMED HOOPS IS A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT.

istockphoto/ g-stockstudio

Unfortunately, it’s one that can seem unattainable at times; the percentage of applicants versus accepted students can seem overwhelmingly unfavorable. Plus, there are all of those voices of “advice” who enjoy telling you how to succeed in this route, even when they might never been there themselves. It can seem like a hard, lonely road at times. Because of the overwhelming process, we’ve spoken to eight successful former “pre-med” students. All currently either in medical school or within their first year of residency training, they’re all students and professionals who have “been there, done that” and have great inside perspectives on how to successfully navigate medical school applications, as well as how to success within medical school itself. >>>

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If you can’t stop thinking about it...

...don’t stop working for it. www.premedlife.com

Getting In Much of their advice definitely has a theme to it.

Even though everyone we talked with came from a variety of undergraduate universities and each took different paths to medical school, there are common threads that weave together their sound bites of wisdom. Studying hard, being pro-active within the application process, and staying true to your individual interests came up again and again during these interviews. If successfully making it through the medical school admissions process is a sign of a good source of advice, then paying attention to their suggestions will definitely be to your advantage.

DAVID | Med-Peds Intern

“Apply early--on the first day the app opens if possible--which includes talking early to recommendation writers. On a similar note to being ready to apply once applications open, be sure to apply wisely. Subscribe to the AAMC Medical School Admissions Requirements database to learn more about the tuition, admission MCAT and GPA 10-90th percentile ranges, and locations and strengths of programs. Try to apply broadly and make informed decisions. Finally, invest yourself and time into things that you’re passionate about, not just what you think medical schools care about. It’s better to see wholehearted devotion to mission work, marathons, or music than half-hearted research or something else that sounds science-ey.”

KATE | Fourth-year medical student “My advice to pre-med students would be to investigate--this isn’t the only medical avenue. It’s a hard road (that I would 100% choose again), so do what you can to make sure it’s what you want.

Plus, knowing exactly why you want to pursue a degree as a medical doctor instead of another medically-related career can often be a question that comes up while on the interview trail, so it plays well within interviews if you can articulate your reasons well. Also--pick a major that you are excited about. The vast majority of pre-meds are bio or chem or some spin off of those. But if it’s something you love, you’re more likely to do well in it, and if it’s interesting you’ll still get asked about it in residency interviews--I’ve been asked about my math degree in >90% of the interviews I did for medical school, and then it was brought up again and again for residency. If you love biology or chemistry, then study those topics and major in them. But if you want to spend time in college learning about something else in addition to your pre-med classes, then definitely do that.”

ALIX | Third-year medical student

“One of the things I wish I’d really thought about prior to going to medical school was just how being in school for those specific four years would affect the rest of my life. Know you’re going to sacrifice most major life events during those four years. Don’t expect to go to weddings or births or birthdays that aren’t local. Different medical schools have different policies, but overall you really can’t count on much flexibility or days off. Also, learn good study habits before going to medical school. If you’re smart and cruised through college by cramming, you are the person that needs to learn good study habits. When they say that learning in medical school is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant, they’re not really kidding. Last of all, remember that once you’re in medical school, it’s not a competition, and things work better and you’re perceived better if you are kind to others and act as a team. Be known as the student who is kind to others, who actually cares about other people.

STEPHEN | Fourth-year medical student “Don’t be one dimensional. Medical schools don’t want someone who just gets good grades. They know that good grades aren’t the only things needed to make a good doctor in the long run.

Have a passion, and understand how that passion will help you be a good doctor; understanding your passion for medicine will not only help you as you answer questions with confidence during medical school interviews, but it will also help push you through the long nights of studying, whether for your MCAT exam or for your National Board Step Series once you’re in medical school. Also, submit your applications right when they open. Medical school applications aren’t something that you should procrastinate on at all; you want your name submitted to schools to consider right when applications open, not right before they close. Finally, everything said above is with the caveat that grades and test scores matter.

Sure, doing these things will give you that extra edge over other students who have the same GPA and MCAT score as you do, but if you don’t have that good GPA and solid MCAT score to start out with, it will be harder for you to get an interview in the first place.”

JOHN | General surgery intern The question “Why do you want to be a physician?” needs to be answered in utmost completeness-- to the point the answer will carry you through the

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fire of a 20hr shift in a bad 100hr week. And while you’ll be busy in medical school, know that you’ll be even busier in residency. Practice how to make time for God, family, friends, while maintaining excellence. It’s easy to burn out if you don’t find a way to take care of the non-medically-related parts of your life. On the same theme of being busy all the time, know that the one thing that will set you apart from your colleagues as the responsibility of being a medical professional drags on at times is how little you complain in the midst of it. Be known for a good attitude, be known as the guy who doesn’t complain.”

JOSH | First-year medical student “Don’t do things just to put them on your resume, do things because you’re either interested in them or think they are fun/worthwhile. The top things people asked me about in interviews were my summer that I spent working in Yellowstone and my pottery. Having other interests outside of medicine or science develops you as a person and sets you apart from other applicants. From my perspective also, I’d tell pre-meds not to stress too much about grades; focus more on learning things to learn them (instead of just learning them to pass a test). Having this approach to school and studying and learning will help you the most in the long term. Also, have friends outside of your major. Having conversations and making friends with people with different interests will grow you as a person and allow you to relate to more kinds of people.”

CALEB | First-year medical student “I guess my advice is pretty simple. Balance focused studying with activities for personal wellness (exercise, spiritual pursuits, etc.). Taking this approach to studying and life outside of studying will keep you from being a boring applicant who is likely to burn out eventually. Another thing that is really important is to begin considering who you would like to write your Letters of Recommendation, whether in classes or in extracurricular work. Be intentional in your relationships with potential letter-writers. Having a recommendation letter from someone who really knows you and can write about your character convincingly is a lot better than just having generic letters from professors who barely remember your face.”

Read more advice from successful medical students at www.premedlife.com. p.

Getting In son I say that is because when you look at applications it is easy to tell the difference between someone who is making up activities vs. someone who participated. Admissions deans go through thousands of applications and have been doing this for years. For the most part, it is difficult to surprise these Deans and that is why lying on your applications is so apparent for these Deans. When you have been doing the same job for many years and filtering through applications, the type of student that you are interested in becomes clear quickly. You like the hard working, smart, reliable, and creative student. The only way to present yourself on paper as all or some of those things is to tell a story about the journey that brought you to Medicine and let everything else fall into play.

Some not so common sense...

Here’s some advice to prospective students when face to face with admissions deans.

RELAX

This is advice specifically for the interview process and then also for your personal statement. First off, so many applicants come in that are obviously nervous and although this is a very stressful process if you can show us that you are not nervous it is a big plus for you. If you are nervous it does not take away from you as an applicant but remember that everyone is nervous, it is just how much you let that nervousness show that differentiates you from other applicants. Medicine is all about confidence and many times you will not know what to do but you will have to remain confident and lead a team.

It is okay to relax and enjoy the process of applying and interviewing. You might think that is

crazy because how could anyone enjoy the process?

Everything that you do in life has both good and bad parts to it but you must try and make the best of each situation. Same goes for the medical process, try and make the best of it and this will show – not only during interviews but also your application. A forced personal statement is obvious and does not whisk the admissions deans away it rather gives them a reason to not be interested in you.

DO NOT LIE.

Although it is very difficult to go through and check all the sources of people that can vouch for you for the activities that you have done, it is still not a great idea to lie or embellish on your application. The rea-

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There is so much that you do as a premed student and so much of it goes “wasted” or without any “recognition.” All those sleepless nights studying, volunteering at the hospital, and working on research can never be wasted. Your efforts are seen and appreciated by medical schools but sometimes you should realize that no matter how hard you try, those efforts may not be enough or may go unnoticed. So, what do you do then at that point? You either try again or give up. Giving up your dreams is difficult and can be one of the most difficult decisions that you can take.

For this reason, realizing that pushing yourself to try again and realizing that you have to give up on your dreams because they may no longer be realistic are both very hard decisions to make. But no one will ever fault you if you try as hard as you can.

Let me give you an example to put things into perspective – I was helping to take care of a very sick patient in the Intensive Care Unit. Generally, I work extra hard when I am in the ICU because we are dealing with the sickest patients in the whole hospital. I usually have a great system for triple checking my working and making sure that nothing has been missed. One particular night was extremely busy and I did not have a chance to go over the tasks that I needed to have done by the next day. When we were rounding with the Attending, I realized I forgot to do something that was important for one of our patients. First things first, I did not lie. Second off, I admitted my mistake (no embellishing) and because the Attending was familiar with my work ethic, she excused me from that mistake. What I am trying to say is that hard works goes a long way. Yes I had built a relationship with my Attending but you build a relationship with the Admissions Dean by connecting to he/she through your application. p.

To read the full article, visit www.premedlife.com.

istockphoto/ SanneBerg

TRY AS HARD AS YOU CAN.

istockphoto/ Ilyabolotov

Getting In

MANY THINGS TO BE CONSIDERED But what is really on the minds of medical school admissions committees when going through your application?

As much as I would want to be the one to say that your scores and grades are not the MOST important pieces of your applications, your scores do play a significant role in your application. Many times, there is a certain cutoff so that if your MCAT or GPA does not fall above their cutoff then for the most part they do not consider you. However, this does not have to be a hard and fast rule. There are times when people have fallen below the cutoff and still interviewed and subsequently matriculated into medical school. But there is a certain score that medical schools feel comfortable is a solid amount of knowledge for a matriculating medical student. There are cases where students have put in information under the “extreme circumstances” location which can sway an admissions committee member to delve closely into a student’s chart even with a glaringly low MCAT

score or low GPA. If you are right below the cutoff, your admissions packet might be set aside to see if the rest of your application might make up for a not so great score/ grade on your transcript.

The process is very dynamic and is very difficult to predict what will happen because we do not know the cutoff scores from these medical schools in terms of what they are looking for. Now even if we knew the cutoff score, it would not necessarily help because after the scores are reviewed the next step is to look another piece of the application.

At each step of the way, certain applications are placed in the “further review” pile while others are placed in the “decline” pile with others in the “standby” pile. Further review means your application will be further explored – your scores were good enough that the admissions committee would like to read more about you. The “decline” pile unfortunately means that you are not a good match for that medical school and they would not like to spend more time reading through your application. Do not get too overwhelmed and think that if your MCAT score is average that you will automatically go into the “decline” pile – this is not the case. This pile may include people that have not completed the requirements for medical school, scored very low on the MCAT, have a GPA of 1.0, etc. Most medical schools do not only use your scores to dictate whether you would be a suitable candidate for their school.

I HAVE READ PLENTY OF PERSONAL STATEMENTS and let me tell you, almost 75% of them are your run of the mill essays about why you want to attend medical school. These types of personal statements just check off the box for the personal statement in your application. These do not get you any extra points that put you ahead of another applicant. The best way that I can think of describing this process is that everyone starts off with the same number of points – let’s take for example 100 points. If your scores are average you do not get any extra points, if your scores are great you get 50 points, and if your scores are terrible you subtract 50 points. Now let’s say that your personal statement is just average and your scores were average, you once again do not get any points. However, with poor scores and a phenomenal personal statement maybe your total score goes from 50 → 85, that increases your chances of being considered for a position. Basically, what I am trying to say is that your personal statement can go a long way and although it may be easier to write a basic personal statement, if you want to push yourself to the next level you will take the time to make sure that it is phenomenal. p.

To read the full article, visit www.premedlife.com.

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HEALTH CARE’S NEXT BIG TRENDS 20 | PreMedLife Magazine | July/August 2017

Health care is constantly changing and it might feel overwhelming to try and keep up with all of it. It is like the constant stream of news that continues to air, how do you sift through all that information?

istockphoto/ KuLouKu

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GIVE TRENDS SOME THOUGHT. If you tried to sift through all the news articles about health care trends you would end up spending countless hours to try to get a good understanding of what was going on. That is way too time consuming especially for an undergraduate student. Instead, you need to come up with a method or ritual that could help you make your way through all that information.

FIRST, decide what sort of information you are searching for. Health care is a pretty big topic so rather than trying to get through everything it would make more sense to try and focus on a sub topic. Some examples include: health care and new laws, health care specifically in the US, health care reform, etc.

SECOND, use the topic that you decided on to narrow your search. Use this topic as a keyword in a news magazine, online news source, or search engine to display the most commonly read topics about this topic. Another easy way to find articles to read is to pick up a free newspaper – they actually have free newspapers all the time. There is a health/medicine section in almost every newspaper – maybe not the school paper- but you can flip to that section and the articles that have the most space dedicated to them on the page are usually the more active issues. Sometimes these “featured” articles though are not necessarily informational and are more political.

THIRD, how do you assess if the information you are reading is accurate and not biased. Almost each article that you read will have some internal biases that are either purposeful or unintentional. It is very difficult to

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know whether someone is writing an article with certain biases unless you know the person writing the article. The best way to figure this out is to read articles with a suspicion that the person writing it was completely biased. When you do this, you are ACTIVELY reading an article rather than passively which keeps you open to catching possible biases in an article.

When you read aggressively you are more prone to question information you may read.

FOURTH, how do you even know what to look for in terms of biases? Before you can jump into reading an article actively with your “bias” glasses, you need to know enough information about a topic to have formulated a basic opinion. Once I find an article that I want to read, I like to do a quick search of the main topic that will be presented in the topic. For example, if there is a new law that was recently passed on health care reform I will type into Google the name of the law and read about it for a couple of minutes so that I have some background information. This helps to bring into focus information that I will be encountering later. When you have the background information it is much easier to comprehend the more complicated information that you may encounter in a news article.

A good example of this is if you go to lecture without knowing any of

istockphoto/ Pratchaya

the background information. Depending on which Professor and which class it is, it may be okay if you did not prepare for your lecture however some of your more difficult courses you may be completely lost throughout the whole lecture.

For your harder classes, you know that you should at least review a little bit of information prior to going to class otherwise going to class will be a waste of time. This is very similar to when you just jump into an article and depending on the author of the article, it may be easy to read and understand however more often than not, these articles have topics on health care reform that we are not well versed in. For this reason, it would be better to have at least a general idea of the topic of the article prior to reading about it and wasting your time getting confused.

FIFTH, after you have read the article it would not be a bad idea to discuss what you read with a friend, family member, or professor (that knows about Medicine). The reason I say this is because other people may have a better understanding of what you read and from these people you can learn more than what you read about. Or the people you talk to may have no knowledge of this information and for these people you would need to provide them with a quick summary of what you read about. Providing someone else with a quick sum-

mary is one of the hardest things to do since you need to know the information very well to teach it to someone else.

Keeping up with health care trends is not an easy task but gets easier once you do it regularly. If you just read about advances in health care once a year, you will not be able to build a skill set of searching through articles and learning from them. This is something you should try to do maybe on a weekly basis so that you get into the habit of keeping up to date on information in the health world. Just remember though that just because I listed a five-step process does not mean that you should follow the process religiously. You can pick and choose which steps that you like and which work well for you and stick to them.

Identifying and evolving with health care trends is not a passive process unfortunately. It requires upkeep for yourself to remain up to date. In the beginning, it may feel like a pain looking up information prior to reading an article but you will get yourself into a good rhythm and become more efficient during the process. Just grab your phone and read an article while on the subway, when you are using the bathroom, waiting in line for Chipotle, or when you get to class early. p.

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istockphoto/ Sapunkele

Advice

HIRING AN ADMISSIONS CONSULTANT Every year, thousands of pre-medical students think about ways to make themselves stand out.

But going the consultant route is not always for everyone, so how do you decide if it’s right for you?

THE FIRST QUESTIONS YOU PROBABLY WANT TO ASK yourself is “why are you hiring a consultant?” This is an important question because if you do not have a good reason for hiring an admissions consultant then you may not benefit as much from getting an admissions consultant. Make sure that you understand your reasons for wanting a consultant. Admissions consultants are very knowledgeable and know a lot of information about the field that the rest of us might now know. But if you are hiring a consultant to get into medical school you might be surprised at the end of the process because that is not the purpose of an admissions consultant. Poor grades or poor MCAT scores will not be covered up by the fact that you have an admissions consultant.

Here’s a misconception - rich people can afford admissions consultants and this is how people that are not as smart get into medical school. This is a big misconception that I have heard from many students. This is not true at all. The purpose of an admissions consultant is to provide you with support in your journey to medical school, give you advice that is specific to you, help you with your personal

statement, and provide you with feedback regarding choices of medical schools to apply to after reviewing your application. An admissions consultant in my mind is the equivalent of an older sibling who already is in medical school and can provide you with the support.

The difference between an older sibling and admissions consultant though is the consultant works around your time and gives you an unbiased opinion of what he/she thinks you should do. Sometimes students do not want parents involved in their journey so that their parent’s personal motives do not cloud their advice.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO GAIN FROM A CONSULTANT? Your aim from what you hope to gain from a consultant should be very straightforward not only in your mind but also should be clearly relayed to the admissions officer so that he/she knows what it is you are looking for. If he/she does not think they can provide that to you then that should be brought to your attention immediately.

Just like when you go to a lecture, one of the first slides of the lecture

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include a slide on the “goals� of the presentation and what the professor hopes you can achieve from their lecture. Before hiring an admissions consultant, make sure you have those goals well defined in your mind and let the consultant know. Finding the right consultant does not mean just picking one and hoping that he/she is the right one.

An effective way to see if a consultant would even make a good fit for you is to ask the consultant what he/she brings to the table for you and the goals they hope to achieve by the end. Then check to see if those goals match up with your goals and if they do not, thank them for their time and continue the search. No need to get stuck with the first consultant you talk to!

WHAT ARE YOUR QUESTIONS THAT YOU HOPE TO HAVE ANSWERED? This is like what we were just talking about in terms of goals for the consultant. Similarly, if you have big questions that you want answered make sure that you have thought about those and present them to the consultant to make sure that the consultant feels comfortably answering your questions. Consultants tend to know a lot about this field but each consultant has his/her own special niche of topics and you want to make sure your questions line up with his/her niche.

For example, if you have a lot of extracurricular activities and you feel this is not a part of your application that you need help with but a specific consultant really enjoys helping students work on ways to increase their extracurricular activities then this might not be the consultant for you.

Another good reason for writing down your questions is because it is really easy to feel overwhelmed by the process of applying and it may not actually mean that you need a consultant to help. Writing down all of the tasks/questions that you have may end up being very manageable and something you would rather not hire a consultant for. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a consultant, you could potentially apply to a cou-

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ple more schools. This way, you have a good understanding of what you hope to gain from the consultant and if it is even worth it for you to get help from a consultant.

Are you able to find answers to these questions or ask someone you know?

Once you come up with your questions that you hope a consultant will answer for you, step back and consider asking someone you know for help with these topics. You never know who may be able to help you and you should never feel shy of asking someone for help. Examples of people for resources include upperclassmen, fellow classmates (although this can be difficult sometimes when everyone becomes so competitive), doctors that you shadows, residents/medical students that you may have talked to, and family members in the field of Medicine (does not necessarily have to be Doctors).

Not all of us can have the opportunity to use an admissions consultant but that does not mean anything needs to hold you back from getting to medical school. So many people matriculate into medical school as the first in their families to pursue medicine or the first in their families to even go past college or high school.

WHEN WOULD BE THE BEST TIME TO HIRE A CONSULTANT? There is no right answer to this question but I think if you are a traditional student and are applying during the summer after your third year to go to Medical school then it would not be a bad idea to start talking to a consultant at least a couple of months prior to applying so that you can get the most out of the consultant.

There is no right answer for this unfortunately. Whenever that list of questions you have comes to a point where you cannot answer the questions or becomes too overwhelming, it might be time to get outside help. p.

MACHINES DO NOT LISTEN.

I DO.

Before you talk to a doctor, choose one trained to listen. Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine practice their distinct philosophy in every medical specialty. A DO is trained to first consider the person within the patient.

Learn more at DoctorsThatDO.org

If you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t stop working for it.

www.premedlife.com

C

D

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CHANNELING YOUR INTEREST, DRIVING YOUR CAREER There are a multitude of clinical

and nonclinical career options that

physicians with an M.D. or D.O. are

qualified to perform. As a premed

istockphoto/ m-imagephotography

student, you can investigate a

variety of areas in healthcare to

channel your interests and drive

your career in medicine. Here are

some questions to ask yourself:

July/August 2017 | PreMedLife Magazine |31

istockphoto/ m-imagephotography

A

ARE YOU A PEOPLE PERSON? HOW LONG ARE YOU WILLING TO BE IN SCHOOL? DO YOU HAVE A PATIENT POPULATION YOU’D LIKE TO WORK WITH? WHAT TYPE OF LIFESTYLE IS IMPORTANT TO YOU? DO YOU NEED A LOT OF VARIETY? HOW DO YOU PERFORM UNDER STRESS? DO YOU WANT TO DO PROCEDURES? For instance, if you want to someday treat patients, you can explore fields such as family practice, emergency room medicine, psychiatry, and surgery. However, those interested in nonclinical paths can explore positions in medical research,

health administration, and health policy. In addition to choosing a career option that involves working with patients or not, it is essential to find a fit that suits your personality and skill level. 2 Let’s examine some factors to consider.

Dr. Roy Smythe, chief medical officer for healthcare informatics at Philips, a technology company, and former chairman of surgery at College of Medicine at Texas A&M Health Science Center, stated in an email interview for a U.S. News & World Report article that, ‘“Orthopedic surgeons have a culture and a set of behaviors that tend to be different from pediatricians and nephrologists, for example…[y]our ability to fit into the culture and behavioral norms of a specialty will impact your happiness, regardless what you ‘like most.’” Smythe continued by stating that it would be ‘“unwise for someone to specialize in pediatrics if they were the type of person who becomes extremely irritated by crying children, and it would be foolish to attempt to become a surgeon without good hand-eye coordination.”’ The takeaway is that the idea of a specialty may prove different than the reality of it in practice. To some degree, a clinician needs to have

32 | PreMedLife Magazine | July/August 2017

some natural inclination for their specialty in conjunction with an academic mastery of the subject.

Dr. Brian J. O’Neil, professor and chair of the emergency medicine department at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, stated for the same U.S. News & World article that you have to be ‘“adaptable”’ and “’resourceful”’ because you never know what’s coming through the door. If you’re someone who enjoys an adrenaline rush, is comfortable working with unpredictable situations, can handle high stress, and doesn’t mind temporary physician-patient relationships (as opposed to long-term), then you might be well-suited for ER work.

For premedical students interested in the nonclinical route, a career in an administrative capacity or health policy role could be optimal.

Moreover, physicians are increasingly filling nonclinical positions in “hospitals, health insurance companies and government health agencies, such as the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”4 Also, physicians with a knack for entrepreneurship can succeed in businesses such as medical consulting firms. Of course, the most

traditional nonclinical route is medical research.

This allows physicians who enjoy lab work and experimentation to potentially impact the medical field in a far-reaching way.

So far we’ve examined fairly distinct specialties – those that involve interacting with patients and those that do not. However, what if you’re the type of person who wants to practice clinical medicine but with minimal patient contact?

The field of pathology is one option. Pathology involves examining the tissues and bodily fluids in a laboratory setting (usually via slides) in order to detect and diagnose disease. Most patients never meet the pathologist that diagnosed their biopsy as cancerous because the pathologist sends a report back to the patient’s treating physician for results. This specialty may appeal to those who want to actively contribute to individual patients yet have little-to-no face-to-face patient involvement.

Similarly, another area of medicine that may be an appropriate fit for more introverted personalities is radiology. Radiologists diagnose and treat diseases (e.g., cancer) and injuries “using medical imaging techniques, such as x-rays, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) and ultrasound.”5 Sometimes radiologists will meet with patients and sometimes they won’t, so this can be a satisfactory career for physicians who want to treat patients in a clinical setting but have less patient contact.

A third and final specialty that involves no live patient contact but is still in the clinical realm, is the job of medical examiner. Medical examiners possess specialized training in forensic pathology and perform autopsies. They inspect organs, tissues, and bodily fluids to determine the cause of death in violent or suspicious cases.6 In some cases, medical examiners may be required to testify in court. If you aren’t spooked by the idea of spending all day with the deceased, enjoy solving mysteries and/or crimes, and can testify to a courtroom full of people, then the career of medical examiner may be of interest to you.

There are different types of people who enter medicine and plenty of diverse specialties to choose from that can suit an individual’s personality. Although you have many years to go before needing to consider a specialty, as a premedical student you can begin the process of exploring

“TO SOME DEGREE, A CLINICIAN NEEDS TO HAVE SOME NATURAL INCLINATION FOR THEIR SPECIALTY IN CONJUNCTION WITH AN ACADEMIC MASTERY OF THE SUBJECT.”

your natural inclinations via volunteer work, shadowing, or working in the health care field in some capacity.

For instance, if you are interested in emergency room medicine, consider becoming a certified emergency medical technician (EMT) or emergency room technician (ERT). Volunteering or working as an EMT (or ERT) over summers would be an excellent way to gain substantial clinical experience and form an initial impression of a particular area in medicine.

If you’re interested in a specialty area that you simply cannot volunteer or work in, consider spending several hours shadowing a physician to gain clinical or nonclinical shadowing experience. The term “shadowing” refers to a premedical student observing a licensed physician or other licensed health care professional under appropriate supervision.

Overall, working, volunteering, or shadowing are all important components of a competitive medical school application for premedical students. In fact, the American Medical Association (AMA) compiled quotes from last year’s medical school admission directors across the United States in a sheet called, “The Scoop from the Admission Directors.”7 The admission directors stated, for various reasons, that it is beneficial to have shadowing experience on your resume.

It should be noted that many of the admissions directors encourage premedical students to gain actual volunteer or paid clinical experience (e.g., as an EMT, medical technician, scribe) because it carries far more weight than simply following a physician around. However, shadowing a physician can be an important addition to your application and a potential talking point during medical school interviews. Whether it’s shadowing, volunteering, or working in health care, these activities will give you a glimpse into a physician’s daily routine in a particular area of medicine.

In the end, even if you enter medical school with a specific specialty in mind, remember that it’s okay to change your mind. Medical school is a journey and part of that adventure includes exploring and finding out what the right career track in medicine is for you. As the proverb quite aptly states, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” p.

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istockphoto/ bobmadbob

34 | PreMedLife Magazine | July/August 2017

THINGS TO DO DURING A GAP YEAR

A GAP YEAR IS DEFINED as the “period of time between the end of your undergraduate education and the start of medical school.” Students take gap years for various reasons including: Clinical employment or volunteer work, classes, MCAT, finances, other interests or travel, second cycle medical school applicant and other degree program As you can see, there are several reasons why students take a gap year. The AAMC website even mentions that it’s not uncommon to see students take a gap year between graduating college and starting medical school. The overall point is to use your gap year to improve areas of weakness so that you become a stronger medical school applicant and better future physician. Let’s take a closer look at the above listed areas.

A gap year might be helpful if you need to gain medically-related experience. If you heavily focused on academic achievements in undergraduate college, a gap year of clinical work or lab research will enhance your medical school application. Conversely, if your academic record is acceptable but not as solid as you’d like, working in a lab or facet of the medical field will strengthen your application. Overall, gaining real-world medical skills such as being a scribe, medical assistant, EMT, or lab researcher will go a long way to making you a more well-rounded medical school candidate. When contemplating taking a gap year to gain real-world medical experience, consider the fact that the majority of successful applicants have some background experience in a hospital, clinic, lab or other health care setting.

On the flip side, if you were consumed during undergraduate college with extra-curricular activities, lab research, or clinical experiences but underperformed in the academic arena, you might need to spend a gap year bolstering your GPA by taking post-graduation coursework.

This might mean completing an official post-baccalaureate premedical program or simply picking up some higher-level science coursework.

Similarly, if you did not achieve an initially competitive MCAT score, it might be necessary to re-take the MCAT and improve it during a gap year. The total new MCAT score ranges from 472 to 528, with 500 representing the 50th percentile or average. In order to be a viable applicant for medical school, earning a score of at least 508 is recommended. We all know, however, that re-taking the MCAT is not ideal and brings us to an additional point about the MCAT. It has become increasingly common for premedical students to use a gap year to prepare for taking the MCAT for the first time in order to achieve their maximum score. As admission to medical schools has become increasingly competitive, academic measures such as an applicant’s GPA and MCAT score can serve as objective weed-out factors.

While medical schools do consider more than an applicant’s GPA and MCAT score, a strong MCAT score has the ability to open doors while a mediocre to low MCAT score can shut them.

Another reason to take a gap year is to work and save money. The average medical school graduate leaves with a substantial amount of debt.

According to the AAMC, the average cost of attendance for one year at a public medical school (including tuition, fees, and health insurance) was approximately $35,000 for in-state students and approximately $60,000 for out-of-state students in 2016-2017.2 Private school averages are well above $50,000 a year regardless of whether you’re an in-state or out-of-state student. Unfortunately, medical school costs have only increased from previous years. Being frugal and having some amount of savings before the start of medical school can help with expenses. In addition, since you’ll be accumulating substantial debt to attend medical school, using money earned during a gap year to pay down or pay off debt can be an important step to reducing your debt load and improving your credit score.

Sometimes premedical students choose to take a gap year so they can have a break from academics. After four years of intense undergraduate science coursework and the MCAT, it might be healthy to take a break for travel, hobbies, rest and relaxation, or to explore other interests.

The point is that it can be important to enjoy time away from academic studies and take some personal time. After the start of medical school, there won’t be time to do anything much but study!

Unfortunately, some premedical students will have to take a gap year because they were initially rejected from medical school and must re-apply the next cycle. Although this is not an ideal situation, it can be an opportunity for premedical students to further develop their application and re-apply the next cycle. Re-applying after using your gap year time wisely can show medical schools that you are resilient and persistent. These character attributes are valuable qualities in future physicians.

Students may take a gap year (or more) to pursue a second graduate-level degree. For instance, earning a master’s in public health degree may be of benefit if you want to work in health policy or health care administration. There are many complimentary degrees that could be useful alongside an M.D. including an M.P.H. (master’s of public health), M.B.A. (master’s of business administration), J.D. (Juris Doctor) M.H.A. (master’s of healthcare administration), or M.P.P. (master’s of public policy).

In the end, there are various legitimate reasons as to why a premedical student may decide to take a gap year. Just remember that if you do take a gap year, the goal is to improve areas of weakness in your application background. In other words, at the end of your gap year, you want any “gaps” in your applications to medical schools to be “closed.” Use your gap year time wisely and plan it out. Of course, if you’re contemplating a gap year there are cons that you’ll have to consider. Some of the drawbacks of taking a gap year are as follows: have a delayed medical career and starting at an older age; making at least one year less of a physician’s salary; and readjusting to student life after taking time off. These are challenges that need to be contemplated before taking a gap year.

Deciding when to apply to medical school is one of the most important decisions that you’ll face as an applicant. Taking a gap year prior to the start of medical school may be beneficial for you both academically and personally. Be sure to list the pros and cons and make sure that in your situation the pros outnumber the cons. Reflect on your career goals and plan to use gap year time in a way that will deepen your interest in medicine and strengthen your application as a medical school candidate. p.

July/August 2017 | PreMedLife Magazine |35

Premedlife

THE GOODS

“Meh� 20oz Sculpted Ceramic Mug

White mug with forest green interior, rim, handle, and text

u

u

Bone Shape Ballpoint Pens

Fun pens just perfect for pre-medical students. These ballpoint pen fashioned in the shape of a femur can add some variety to you usual set of writing utensils.

u 36 | PreMedLife Magazine | July/August 2017

DIY Blood Typing Test Kit

A few drops of blood, a little water, and the special card are all you need to find out what blood type you are.

Then, you will never not know what blood type you are.

“Overreacting” Funny Chemistry Beaker Chemicals “Don’t Feel Stable” - Pillow Cases

If you’ve taken chemistry or are getting ready to take the course, here are some pillow that can help you see the brighter side of things.

u

Smart Notebook

u Schrödinger’s Cat Executive Decision Maker

Ask your question. Slide open the door. See your decision solidify before you.

The Rocketbook Wave cloud notebook instantly connects and stores your notes, doodles and lists in the cloud with the free smart notebook app.

u

July/August 2017 | PreMedLife Magazine |37

Premedlife

LAST WORDS

Balancing Love and Medicine that being said, how does a premed student find balance in dating in their twenties and making sure they are scoring in the eighties for exams? These 3 tips might help!

SCHEDULE THEM IN I know- What is spontaneous and romantic about scheduling dinner between 6pm-7:30pm on a Tuesday night? Well, it’s the fact that you’re making sure you’ll have time to see your significant other within both of your busy schedules. Because let’s face it, being a biology major and chemistry major ask for extra time in the lab. You’ll also be ensuring you have enough time to get to know Dalton, Boyle and Avogadro a little better for your exam on Thursday morning.

BE ON THE SAME PAGE Opposites may attract (according to the physics major), but it is very important to find someone who will understand and complement the drive you have as a premed student. For instance, if you have the drive and motivation to get your work done and your partner is lazy, there will be conflicts. This is especially if they become less understanding of the time that you will need to dedicate to get your work done.

BE YOUR OWN PERSON If there is something we have learned from late night conversations with our friends, it is that we often regret letting our significant others influence our big decision in our lives. Don’t get me wrong, we should consider their feelings. However it is important to consider if someone cares about you.

They should never alter our decisions on things that will affect your own future. This can include things like studying abroad, volunteering or needing more study sessions, just because they feel they won’t see you enough or have time.

by Stephanie Vazquez

THE BEATLES SAID IT FIRST - ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE...AND WELL, A NICE GPA WOULDN’T HURT. THINK ABOUT IT, AS INTERESTING AND WELL SCANDALOUS GREY’S ANATOMY CAN be, becoming a doctor is no walk in the park, especially if you throw in some complex relationship statuses. It might seem impossible. Yet, the thought of having a romance with McSteamy and/ or McDreamy shouldn’t stop a premed student from dating in college. However, how can someone even think about finding time for a significant other? The idea of what applying to medical school and deciding what to practice for the rest of your life is entirely overbearing. So let’s not even get that started until we get through undergraduate studies first (especially with that lab practical next week). So with

38 | PreMedLife Magazine | July/August 2017

We want to hear from you! Reach out to us at info@premedlife.com, on Facebook, or Twitter and tell us how you are (or aren’t) balance love and medicine.

istockphoto / zorandimzr

So all in all, there is a balance between books and boo-thangs. It is just important to remember at the end of the day to prioritize your time and self.

A CHART DOESN’T EMPATHIZE.

I DO.

Before reading a chart or lab report, a DO sees a human being. Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine practice their distinct philosophy in every medical specialty. A DO first considers the person within the patient.

Learn more at DoctorsThatDO.org