Jumbo Magazine - Fall 2023

THE MANY PATHS OF A PRE-PROFESSIONAL STUDENT PATHS

By Raga Chilakamarri ’23

Unlike Train’s “Soul Sister,” there’s no “one-track mind” to being preprofessional at Tufts. Driven by their genuine passion and curiosity, students hold exploration and interdisciplinary studies at the core of their academic and extracurricular pursuits. Here on the Hill, students who are readily preparing for an education beyond their undergraduate degree will thrive within a collaborative support network of fellow students interested in law, dentistry, medicine, veterinary science, and more!

Hear from Zach Ferretti ’23, Chidilim Menakaya ’23, Laurelle Sum ’24, and Dan Nguyen ’24 on each of their experiences pursuing a different pre-professional path at Tufts. Taking advantage of the diverse courses and research opportunities, these students are great examples of striving to generate meaningful change in the field that excites them most.

ZACHARY FERRETTI ’23

Pre-Law; Majoring in Political Science, Double Minor in Economics and Urban Studies

Zach, a pre-law student from Long Island, New York, originally applied to Tufts as a chemistry major; however the Intro to Civic Studies course he took that first semester instantly clicked with him. Having done Model UN in high school, Zach reflected that “I felt like I’ve always been drawn to that side of speaking, building relationships with others, and drawing upon facets of collaboration to solve issues together.” He’s since served as the president of the Pre-Law Society and the Leonard Carmichael Society, conducted research through the Laidlaw Scholars program, and been part of the TCU Senate since his freshman year. Given that there’s no rigid requirements for pre-law students, Tufts gave him the flexibility to explore a diverse range of classes that informed his perspective on law. “I’m very interested in environmental law,” he said. “The best way to go about [my education] was to bridge a lot of my interests. I have an interest in environmental studies and the natural world, but I also do have an interest in talking to people and using the power of law to advocate for change. So, the best way to bridge those two together would be becoming an environmental justice lawyer.”

When asked about his favorite class, he chose one that helped bridge interests and experiences. “My favorite class I’ve ever taken is Spanish in the Community with Professor Nancy Levy-Konesky. The thing that I appreciated so much [was the] experiential learning…I was assigned to East Somerville Community School, [where] I worked in a bilingual fourth grade classroom weekly. I felt it was really cool that we were able to have that background, and I think that also fueled some of my aspirations in terms of incorporating social justice into my legal work.”

One summer, on a grant from Tufts’ Tisch College of Civic Life, Zach put his learning in the classroom to practice. “I worked at the Urban Justice Centers which is an advocacy group in New York City. I worked with those experiencing homelessness… and I was in charge of distributing the Robin Hood Foundation COVID-19 Relief Fund. I realized how powerful it is to use the law, but I was also able to see how certain people are disproportionately burdened by the shortcomings of the law. So I think it works both ways. And the fact that the law burdens so many people, but in the same way can be used carefully as a tool for social change.”

But that’s not all. As part of the Laidlaw Scholars program here at Tufts, Zach also got involved internationally. Laidlaw is a multiyear program, where students pursue independent research their first year and put that into practice in the following summer. “My experience in Mexico City with Laidlaw encouraged me to take a career in law, and especially incorporate areas of social justice. I was able to pursue a project about environmental justice and water contamination on Long Island first. And then in the second year, I actually lived in Mexico City working with Spanish-speaking communities to increase resilience for the anticipated consequences of climate change. I’ve talked about how I have a lot of interest in becoming an environmental justice lawyer. And to me, I think it’s really important to have a client or community focus.”

CHIDILIM MENAKAYA ’23

Pre-Dental, majoring in biology with a minor in dance

Since the tender age of four, Chidilim knew she wanted to be a dentist. Her parents had immigrated to the United States in the late 1980s and developed a great relationship with their family dentist, who they still go to. She was inspired by how invested he was in her and her family, beyond simply attending to them as mere patients. “My love for dentistry transformed when I started to know more about social determinants of health and wanting to tackle a lot of challenges that specifically Black and Brown communities face when trying to access dental care,” Chidilim added.

At Tufts, she originally thought she would pursue the community health major, but in her sophomore year she shifted towards the biology department, interested in the subsections within the subject and how hands-on labs facilitated understanding with the course material. “It got me excited about the material and how it all connects because I got to see it in real life. It wasn’t just like, this is science because…people from years ago say it’s science. It’s science because we’re seeing the result of an experiment that we’re doing in class,” Chidilim said. Even so, the community health courses like US Healthcare Systems resonated with her, illuminating the many facets of the expansive public health field. “It was kind of heartbreaking to know about the plights of a lot of Americans at the same time,” Chidilim said. “But also, it just spurred me on in what I’m doing. And I’m hoping to get my master’s in public health after Tufts because of it.”

Chidilim has been involved in the Pre-Dental Society since her first year, serving as a freshman representative and later the president. “I think something that drew me to Tufts when I was applying for undergrad was the connections that we had being in such close proximity to the Dental School,” Chidilim said. Dental students would talk with interested undergraduates and they had a mentor-mentee program both with dental students and within the society itself. “Even hearing from upperclassmen as an underclassman is really cool, and since we’re so small, it was a really close knit community.”

Coming from a more rigorous high school where academics were at the forefront of her priorities, Chidilim shared an appreciation for Tufts’ professors’ patience for students as individuals beyond classroom grades and performance. “Seeing how even in large lecture classes I can go to a professor and talk to them during office hours, and they cared and they would remember things about me and follow up was really helpful.” She mentioned how “the flexibility and access to information [demonstrated by] professors” she’s encountered at Tufts has inspired in her a potential interest in doing dental education in some way.

When asked to reflect on “why Tufts,” Chidilim spoke highly of the collaborative spirit. “I’ve taken ‘weed out’ STEM classes, and I never felt like I was competing with people. I felt like my peers [and professors] were always there to help me. And we’re always just encouraging each other to think more critically and deeply about concepts. For a lot of pre-health people, we’re aiming for the same thing, but we realized that in this profession teamwork is such a critical thing. We all bring something to the table. There’s room for all of us. And I think that’s really strong at Tufts.”

DAN NGUYEN ’24

Pre-Med, majoring in biology and community health

Dan Nguyen, a junior from East Longmeadow, MA has been busy on campus. He’s a co-president of the Vietnamese Students Club, a FOCUS pre-orientation leader, a dancer in the hip hop and contemporary group Spirit of the Creative, as well as the founder of Tufts Thirst Project and Talk to Me About Global, two global-health-oriented clubs. As evinced by his many experiences, Dan is a pre-med student who is passionate about the intersections between public health and treatment-oriented medicine.

His path to studying the pre-med track was diverse. “Originally, I wanted to study international relations because I was interested in global health advocacy and thought the IR foundation would be a good complement to the pre-med coursework I was already taking. Ultimately I switched to community health and just fell in love with that department. Before I realized I wanted to enter the field of infectious diseases and global health, I wanted to pursue neurology because of my inspiration from my grandmother for whom I was a caretaker in high school. But then after taking those classes, I realized it wasn’t for me. So I switched from IR to community health and from biotech to biology because I was interested in the intersections between microbiology, infectious disease, and how public health interventions can prevent those diseases.”

One particularly impactful course in Tufts’ Experimental College helped Dan understand his passions more fully. And given he is also a Laidlaw Scholar, the course helped him decide on his project. “I took an ExCollege class called Global Health co-taught by Dr. Anatole Manzi, the chief medical officer of Partners in Health and the CEO of an NGO called Move Up Global. With Laidlaw Scholars, I’m mandated to go abroad and do a leadership project...I was drawn to this particular organization because he was from Rwanda and we are working in the community that he was born and raised in, so he understands the needs of the community. I’m going to be doing neglected tropical disease and malnutrition research while I’m there in Rwanda. I always thought research was a very unapproachable thing for undergrads, but Tufts made me realize research is everywhere.”

LAURELLE SUM ’24

Pre-Vet, majoring in biopsychology with a minor in child studies

After a semester as a biomedical engineer, Laurelle realized that engineering wasn’t the path for her. In high school, she had been involved with a dog rescue club, used to ride horses, and had an interest in learning more about animals—a passion for veterinary science that she solidified when shadowing at a general practice hospital near her hometown in New York during her freshman summer.

She explored the course catalog and the Tufts Arts and Science majors webpage, ardently reading through the myriad offerings and coming upon biopsychology, a combination of departments that interested her. Laurelle discovered her child studies minor in a similar way, drawn to the interesting course descriptions. “There are so many different fields in the child studies department,” Laurelle said. “I took a course called Human Animal Interaction that was actually really cool because the professor [Dr. Megan Mueller] is also a professor at the Tufts Veterinary School….she brought a lot of guest speakers that were from the vet school or worked out of the vet school. So, that was really awesome.” Laurelle also worked with Dr. Mueller one summer on a research project about animal assisted interventions in adolescents and analyzing anxiety behavior, developing a mentorship relationship that extended beyond the classroom.

As the president of the Pre-Vet Society, Laurelle described how the small community organizes and shares resources, mentorship opportunities, and even a suture lab led by their advisor. It is open to all students, whether that means they are on the track towards vet school or simply interested in working with animals. “We gauge what people want and invite [guest speakers] based on that…it’s cool to have people that have the same interest as you work together,” Laurelle said, especially since prevets often take the same required courses.

For students who are thinking of pursuing a prevet path, Laurelle advises them not to be afraid to explore classes outside of their major requirements. “I’ve taken two philosophy courses and they kind of changed my thinking…don’t be afraid to reach out to someone that is doing something that you can see yourself doing, like a summer internship, because honestly, a lot of my experiences probably came from asking my mentors when I was a freshman.”