Medical School and Careers

This meeting covered basic information about the medical school process/medical field. It also covered how to explore different medical professions and find the one you are most passionate about.

Speaker's Background

Majored in psychobiology because he likes a mixture of psychiatry, psychology, and biology
he did a summer of bench research
there's a lot of things to learn; however, the process of getting results is slow
He is more of an instant gratification type of person, so he decided to do medicine (working with people)

Attended Tufts University medical school
he was a decently competitive candidate but trying to get into the UCs or California schools was very challenging (ex: even though he did research at USC)
After doing three years of Internal Medicine (residency), he did another two years of fellowship

Requirements for going into medicine
(not just about being a physician)

four years of college with any degree
some of the more successful or well rounded people in medicine majored in English, political science, etc.
you don't have to major in biology or psychobiology
you do need these three classes to take the MCAT (medical admissions test): biology, chemistry and physics
the most important thing is to look at yourself and ask "why do you want to go into medicine?"
His reason is because he sees his job as fulfilling
every day he is helping people, trying to make people better
it's not just about medicine, it's a way of helping people make the right lifestyle choices

Improving your curriculum vitae (resume)

tell the story about why you want to go to medical school (ex: through volunteering), all people have very unique stories
you may have have dealt with some sick family members that have inspired you
improve your resume through research, volunteering, or working (ex: for a pharmaceutical company)

a lot of people applying to medical school have a gap year during which they are doing something fulfilling (volunteering, traveling to another country to understand how medical processes work in that nation)

BSMD Programs

These programs shorten four years of college to three years
It's good if you definitely want to do medicine
the people that are successful are the people that have a purpose (why you want to wake up every day)
One of the major points in school is to be able to understand what is going on in the patient's shoes
why are they lashing out by not taking their medicines
Could be because of the side effects, requires a lot of driving to pick up the medicine, etc . .
Why are they unable to exercise, etc.

Your life experience is also important

One of his most rewarding experiences in college was studying abroad, not an organic chemistry lab

studying abroad in Edinburgh to see a different place for four or five months

Right now it's less about material things and more about experiences, so an accelerated program may give less time to have those experiences

Studying for the MCAT

he spent just one of his semesters when he was only taking two classes studying for it
Includes: English, biology, chemistry and an essay
he would have spent a lot more time studying, but he wasn't the best at English
After he graduated from college, med school is when everything just started clicking in terms of grades and board scores. This allowed him to get back to LA easily.
If you don't do as well as in college, there's still a lot of opportunities in medical school
In medical school, there's no grades (except the first and second year are pass/fail)
No one's going to ever know that you were last in your class
try to get rid of the competition and just look at the big picture of what you want to do

How to become a competitive med school applicant

Tell your story

Why are you doing this
What is your passion for going into medicine
You really have to dig deep and ask yourself why you want to do medicine
Creates a stellar story for your interviews

2. Research

3. Volunteering

Shows that your passion/dedication is health, you want to help people get better

You'll get better letters of recommendation from a smaller school since you get to know the faculty better and they can guide you as well

Medical school

It is changing
Before, you wouldn't be seeing patients until the third and fourth year
Now, they're trying to incorporate patient care in the first two years so you understand your "why"
why are we doing this, why are we learning the Krebs cycle in biochemistry, etc.
it's understanding how people work, what are their motives
why are they eating a dozen donuts a day?

Then two years of years of clinical medicine

After two years of classroom learning, you may have ~1 year of some small groups, when you're doing clinic

Rotating between medicine, general surgery, OBGYN, pediatrics and psychiatry to figure out what you want to do
he was torn between emergency medicine, dermatology, and internal medicine
Once you finish your residency, you can become a primary care doctor
Internal medicine appealed to him because he is more cognitive

He wanted to understand the physiology to be able to treat the patients
Emergency medicine: decent lifestyle but you're working on all hours of the day (day and night shifts)
May be easy early on, but later it takes a toll on the body
He took three years in internal medicine
After graduating medical school, he did a residency for nephrology

Nephrology: study of the kidney
he likes to deal with patients with more diseases/sicker patients because he wanted to influence and make bigger changes (unlike a welfare visit)
If the kidney fails, it affects all organs (heart, brain, blood pressure)

Pay attention to debt!

you go to college (some debt), but then you also do med school (even more debt)

Transferring from college to medical school

Medical school is just a little bit more intense, but his college was pretty rigorous
but he felt pretty well prepared
The first semester of medical school was pretty easy (had free time to explore the college campus)
But when second semester came, he had anatomy lab (like drinking from a garden hose in terms of learning information)
He's not a good three dimensional person
trying to figure out the musculoskeletal system and remember all of the ligaments and tendons was really challenging
In the second year, he felt he was in a better place because it wasn't as much three dimensional information
Also in third year, you begin clinical work (ex: clerkships)
May require staying in overnight
It's all about being respectful to the attendees, house staff, and patients

Paying for medical school

He got loans from the bank and his parents
NYU: once you are in there, it's free.
Kaiser Permanente University: the first four years are free

Medical school is not sustainable

It's $700,000 plus residency (50,000- 70,000)
But a computer programmer can come out now college make 140,000 immediately
It's challenging, but your purpose drives you (why you wake up every day)

about 50% of his friends initially wanted to be premed, but after drowning in chemistry and definitely organic chemistry classes they decided to drop out
Some of his temp work back when he was in high school at the Kenya Institute at USC helped him to stay in medicine
Volunteering, interning can help you out to figure out before you decide to spend $75,000 a year for medical school

Positions outside of being a physician with decent lifestyles

Pharmacy: do research, work with hospitals to develop systems for medication safety and also make sure that patients are getting the right medicine
Other options: physician assistant, nursing, consulting, pharmaceuticals, insurance, physical therapy, stroke rehabilitation
You have the freedom to choose your area