Hey yall! It's been a while since I've written a school related post, so I thought I would do one on how to spend your breaks as a pre-med/pre-health student. I'm currently a senior in college gearing up to apply for allopathic, osteopathic, and podiatry schools so I thought this would be the best time for me to compile a list of what I did.
1. Volunteering at hospitals. I know this seems generic, but I found that volunteering at hospitals during winter and summer break was one of the best ways for me to spend my time. By volunteering you really get to see the patient care side of medicine, and in my case, volunteering reaffirmed why I decided to pursue medicine. Additionally, during the semester, I don't really have time to volunteer at a hospital because I don't have access to a car and I'm involved in many extracurricular activities/work. Furthermore, because I volunteered during winter and summer break, I was able to dedicate full days to volunteering so I got sign up for a number of different shifts and experience many different areas of the hospital!
2. SHADOWING!!! Shadowing is, in my opinion, the MOST important thing you should do as a pre-med. Medicine is unique in that you actually have the ability to shadow the career before you want to pursue it (not many other careers have that option). Shadowing is super important because it gives you first hand experience on what it is like to be a doctor. Every physician I have shadowed was completely honest with me in terms of work/life balance, what they don't tell you about running a private practice, and so much more. Furthermore, I think it's important to shadow a VARIETY of different specialties and different locations. For example, if you decide to shadow an orthopedic surgeon, it's important to shadow one that works in a hospital, one that has their own private practice, and one that works in rural locations vs city. So for example, when I have shadowed, I shadowed a pediatric and that predominantly worked with low SES patients, I shadowed a cardiologist in a hospital (got to see so many surgeries!), I shadowed a surgical PA, and I shadowed a thyroid surgeon, orthopedic surgeon, and podiatrist that worked in private practice. These experiences not only exposed me to different specialties, but also showed the differences in being physicians in certain situations. Side note: Finding shadowing is definitely hard but not impossible. I am part of a pre-med org at my school and found many of my shadowing opportunities there. Furthermore, I highly recommend calling offices to see if they let students shadow, you never know what can happen! In fact, in November, I randomly decided to call a podiatrist's office in Houston and not only did I LOVE shadowing at a podiatrist office, but the Dr. was kind enough to let me shadow his colleagues in orthopedics and cardiology!
3. Research different medical schools and paths. It's SO important to understand the different paths that are available for you and the different medical schools you cant apply to. In fact, until last year, had no idea what osteopathic (DO) medicine was. Furthermore, it wasn't until a couple of months ago that I found out what podiatry (DPM) was. Interestingly, as someone who saw herself as a future allopathic (MD) physician, I am actually looking more into podiatry because I fell in love with the field after shadowing a DPM physician this past week. Also while you're at it, look into nursing, PA, dietitian, and other medical fields. It's easy to only see MD as a path, but you may surprise yourself if you have the opportunity to look into other fields!
4. Keep a log of EVERYTHING. When you start college start logging EVERY volunteering hour, ever shadowing experience, anything and everything that could be relevant. This was something my mom told me to do and i'm so grateful I listened. When it came time to apply, I had everything logged and it was so easy to import everything into my application.
5. Remember to have fun! You're pursuing medicine because YOU love it! This shouldn't be a chore, but rather something you're excited about. Have fun while you're going through the process :).
LMK if y'all have any other tips!
Peace and Love,
Srini
Comentarios