Anecdotes and advice about preparing for a career in health

Category: Pre-Med (Page 3 of 9)

Mentorship Program

The confusion. The stress. The overwhelming feelings. These emotions are all too familiar for your average pre-med student as they begin their freshman year, and if we are being honest, they never go away. My experience with these feelings is one of the reasons why I was driven to become a mentor for the Pre-Medical Mentorship program. As a pre-med BME, I felt that I had a semi-unique pre-med experience that could be helpful to incoming freshmen planning on a similar college path to me, so I applied at the encouragement of a friend.

The summer before I applied to be a mentor in the Mentorship program I read a book all about the process of becoming a doctor starting from being an undergrad. In conjunction with my experience as a freshman BME, I felt that I could help incoming students with the same major interests. I was very excited to meet with them because I remember how I felt as an incoming freshman, and I was happy to help share my experiences.PreHealthMentorshipImage2

I met my mentees for the first time at the Mentorship Social last year. I spent a good part of an hour just fielding questions from them and helping calm their nerves. We talked about their fears and hopes for their undergraduate career, while trying to get to know each other. The social allowed my mentees to get comfortable with me and asking me questions. The following events covered many things from course selection for the spring and following fall to extracurricular and summer opportunities. My role as a mentor was to answer or help answer the many questions my mentees had related to the meeting’s subject. My mentees emailed me any worries they had about the unfolding semester, which I did my best to answer. The most important role I had as a mentor was being a reliable source of information (and comfort) for my mentees, which in itself made me feel good.

Why did I enjoy being a mentor? Why should someone want to be a mentor? Besides the obvious aspects such as developing leadership qualities and getting more involved on campus, the perks of being a mentor come down to the satisfaction of helping others with what you know, and isn’t that why you want to be a doctor in the first place?

 

Léon Taquet
BME Class of 2018
Co-coordinator, Premed Society Mentorship Program

Why look for a Mentor?

I started off my freshman year, like many do, eager to get involved on campus. Being premed, Tufts Premedical Society seemed like an obvious group to join. I learned about the Mentorship Program in the initial meetings. To be quite honest, I just joined the program because I saw a lot of other freshmen joining it. I did not have much hope because I am majoring in biomedical engineering and I assumed that most of the mentors would be science majors, so they wouldn’t be helpful in my situation. To my surprise, I was matched with a mentor that was also majoring in biomedical engineering.

My mentor became one of my greatest sources and truly helped me get through my freshman year. I had so many questions on decisions to make, classes to take, extracurricular activities, etc. and who better to ask then someone who had already been through everything that I was experiencing. In my case, I really needed help on how to juggle engineering with premed. In our first few meetings, my mentor and I mapped out when I would take all of my classes. He analyzed what credits I already had coming in and what classes I needed to take for for my premed and engineering requirements. There were so many classes that were sequential or that had to be taken before a certain time, especially if I wanted to take the MCAT my junior or senior year. I was extremely confused and stressed out about how I would make everything work. My mentor made the whole process easier by explaining to me what choices I had and by helping me make the best decisions for me.

Also, many of my rePreHealth Mentorsrequirements could be filled with a myriad of classes. I had no idea which classes would best fit my interests. So I talked to my mentor, the other mentors, and the board members. They told me about some of their favorite classes and gave me an idea about what the workload for the class would be like, as well as the teaching style of the professor. This was such a life saver. Having so many peers with first-hand accounts of classes was a great way for me to understand which classes would best fit my needs.

Additionally, my mentor shared with me a list of possibilities for extracurricular activities, many of which incorporated biomedical engineering. I had become interested in starting to do research and he gave me details about the research track for biomedical engineers, as well as the pros and cons of doing so. I also had considered trying to get involved with research on campus, so I talked to him, as well as some of the other mentors and board members that were doing research at Tufts. They informed me of who I should contact, as well as a little bit about the different research projects going on. (Check out departmental websites such as this).  This way if I was presented with options for a team to work with, I could choose the research project that best encompassed my interests. My mentor also got me thinking that working as a CNA could be an experience that I might enjoy, as well as learn a lot from. This was something that had interested me, but I was still nervous about whether this would be a good fit for me and if it would be a good use of my summer break. His encouragement played a huge part in helping me decide to go through with my decision to work as a CNA, which I can attest to being a great option for someone who is premed.

In addition to all of this, my mentor provided me with someone who I could talk to about what I was going through. There are not many people on the premed track majoring in the same field as I am, so having someone to talk to and to give me advice was very comforting. It was honestly so nice to have someone who I could vent to and who understood how I was feeling, but had already been in my position, to assure me that things would be just fine. Freshman year for a premed student can be difficult and overwhelming, but having my mentor by my side made the experience a lot less stressful!

If you are interested in joining the mentorship program as a mentee you can sign up online at https://goo.gl/forms/5lLygyynKIvG7Hlm2. If you would like to join as a mentor you can sign up online at https://goo.gl/forms/5W1XsQx9A2hlphW33.

 

Sakshi Wadhwa BME ‘19

 

From Shaker Alumni to Tufts Postbacs: Eden

Shaker Heights, my hometown, is a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. It is also one of very few naturally integrated suburbs in America.  This means that the school district was integrated, not by mandated busing, but through a grassroots organizing initiative started by the residents. The town continues to be committed to racial and class integration and high quality schools.

Shaker is also the home to many of the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and MetroHealth healthcare providers. As a result, inequality and healthcare were subjects of lunch table conversations throughout high school.

I left Shaker for Wesleyan University in 2008. During my time at Wesleyan I became interested in research on healthcare issues in under-served communities. Most of my research at Wesleyan and since graduating has focused on veterans but I also worked to examine the role of race in healthcare disparities in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Race and inequality were common threads that ran through my work experiences after leaving home. My time in Shaker inspired both my decision to go back to school to attend the Tufts Postbac and my desire to provide healthcare to under-served urban communities—maybe even back home in Cleveland.

Eli, a fellow Shaker alum, also attended the Tufts Postbac a year before I did. In a small program it was so great to find another Shaker alum, eight years after leaving home! For Eli, Shaker was also important in his decision to go back to medical school and in his commitment to serving under-served populations. Here is what Eli had to say to me about Shaker:

Shaker Heights (or “Shaker” as it’s affectionately referred to) is a community of multitudes. From its early racial integration initiatives, to its renowned public school education with classes and extracurriculars that gave voices to marginalized groups, to its proximity to the city of Cleveland which has for a while walked the line between prosperity and poverty. The Shaker I grew up in embraced the need for responsible citizenship in a world of heterogeneity.  How could I not use my medical career for treating the under-served growing up in a community like that?

Although I don’t want to call the suburbs my home (Shaker is a textbook suburb after all), I’ve found my calling to become a doctor in rural communities which are disproportionately plagued by poor health education and limited access to health care providers.  Growing up in Shaker Heights planted that seed of serving others that guide me in my pursuit of medicine, and I’m sure guide countless others no matter what their calling is.

 

EdenAndEli

Visit from a USUHS Admissions Dean

On April 7, about 40 Tufts premed students had triage duty at a medical base in Afghanistan. They received their assignment – to determine which of five badly injured and recently arrived soldiers needed medical attention first. Dr. Aaron Saguil was the chief of medical services, a family practice physician by education but a trauma doc by virtue of his military  role.

Dr. Saguil also happens to be the Associate Dean of Admissions at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (America’s Medical School). He was on campus to share his own experiences as a military physician as well as the good news about the challenges, rewards and financial benefits of being a military doc.

Accompanying Dr. Saguil were a number of military personnel from the Army, Navy and Air Force, and students learned of the Health Professions Scholarship Program. But not before they had used their tourniquets to stem the flow of blood from their wounded arms.

Students practicing tourniquets on each other

Students practicing tourniquets on each other

Altogether this was a very informative and exciting event for both students and our military visitors. Students interested in one of the scholarships should contact the appropriate service’s recruiter, or contact Dr. Saguil at Aaron.saguil@usuhs.edu if interested in applying to USUHS.

 

Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program

Air Force

Michael Labrie, Staff Sergeant, USAF Health Professions Recruiter

318 Air Force Recruiting Squadron

25 Burlington Mall Rd. Suite 412

Burlington, MA 01803

781-270-4134

Michael.labrie.3@us.af.mil

Army

Sotith Sim, Sergeant

US Army Medical Recruiting Center

495 Summer St

Boston, MA 02210

617-753-3015

Sotith.Sim.mil@mail.mil

Navy

Jamie Robinson, HM1 (SW/AW). U.S. Medical Officer Recruiter

NORS Boston

495 Summer Street, Suite 109

Boston, MA 02210

617-753-3995

Jamie.Dyal@navy.mil

Visit from a BU Admissions Dean

On Wednesday evening, March 30, the Premed Society and Health Professions Advising brought Robert Witzburg, MD, Associate Dean for Admissions at Boston University School of Medicine, to campus. Dean Witzburg talked about what students should think about as they choose a medical career. He then discussed the admissions process, the information that admissions committees receive and evaluate, and what they consider important. With three actual case studies, Dean Witzburg appointed all attendees  to his admissions committee and had us consider which of three applicants we would choose to admit to medical school.

One attendee said, “I really enjoyed listening to Dean Witzburg today. The case study was very informative as was his discussion on the criteria that admissions committees use to consider applicants. I have been thinking about his ‘homework assignment’ and reflecting on what he had to say.”

Dean Witzburg’s “assignment” was to really question why you wanted to pursue medicine because it is a lousy job – long hours, often frustrating or disappointing results, the need to constantly keep up with the newest research and never know it all. But it can be a wonderful calling if  you truly know who you are and why you are choosing it.

A holistic admissions review process – of which Dean Witzburg was a leading developer with the Association of American Medical Colleges – considers every aspect of a student’s application. In our session the student with the highest GPA and MCAT was not admitted, but one with a lower science GPA but significant commitment to what she believed, leadership and initiative got the offer to medical school.

Boston University Medical Campus

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