The Road to Medical School Brandon Free Devashish

The Road to Medical School Brandon Free Devashish Joshi Andrew Stein Jacob Patz

Brandon F. • Hometown: Sauk Prairie, WI • College: UW-Madison • Major: Spanish and Biology • Interesting Activities: • 6 months abroad in Dominican Republic with host family • 6 months abroad in Tokyo, Japan • 4+ years at free clinic in hometown (shadowing/Spanish interpreting, etc. ) • Monkey research at UW-Madison

Drew S. • Age: 25 • Hometown: Lino Lakes, MN • College: University of Northwestern - St. Paul • Major: Started Business - Switched to Biology • Activities: Sports, Music, Cultural Experience

Jake Patz • Age: 23 • Hometown: Mukwonago, WI • College: UW-Madison • Majors: Microbiology, and Neurobiology • Activities: • Hospital Gift Shop • Mosquito Research • EMT • Volunteer CPR instructor

Devashish (Dev) Joshi ● Age: 23 ● Hometown: Sunnyvale, California ● College: California Institute of Technology (Caltech) ● Major: Bioengineering ● Activities 1. Research 2. Tennis 3. MDA Volunteering 4. Shadowing

How Long is Training? ➢ Undergraduate 4 -5 years ➢ Medical School 4 years 2 basic science years 2 clinical rotation years ➢ Residency (Paid training) 3 -8 years ➢ Fellowship (Paid training) 1 -3 Examples: Family Practice 4 years of medical school 3 years of residency Optional 1 year fellowship Total years after college=7 -8 Neurological (Brain) Surgery 4 years of medical school 7 years of residency 1 year fellowship Total years after college=12

Getting accepted to Medical School ➢ Shadowing ➢ Volunteering ➢ Research ➢ Leadership Roles ➢ Extracurricular Activities ➢ Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) ➢ Pre-medical Requirements ➢ Connections for Reference Letters

Medical Schools in Wisconsin ➢ Private: Medical College of Wisconsin (formerly Marquette University School of Medicine)-Milwaukee ➢ Public: UW School of Medicine and Public Health. Madison

Tips and Tricks to Shadowing Start with asking your pediatrician and/or family physician • Ask in-person during an appointment • Call the front desk • Send an email to the physician/front desk, wait 4 days and if no response, try again! • Persistence and politeness are key • Work towards a minimum of 50 hours • Example E-mail: Hello Dr. Peterson, My name is Brandon Free and I am a high school junior at Memorial High School. I am eager to learn about the career of a physician and am wondering if you allow students to shadow you? If so, I would be interested in joining you for an afternoon. Please let me know at your earliest convenience and I look forward to hearing from you. Best regards, Brandon Free

Volunteering ➢ Very Important! ➢ Find something you enjoy doing, whether or not it is healthcare related! ➢ Try to make a consistent and organized volunteer schedule-most places are willing to take volunteers ➢ Examples: Play piano at a nursing home Work with wildlife conservationists Deliver food trays/flowers/gifts to patient rooms at a hospital Help at a local free clinic Participate in regional, national or international mission trips Anything that gets you involved with the community!

Does your major in college matter? ➢ No! ➢ Study what you would want to do if you did not get accepted to medical school (i. e marketing, nursing, engineering, etc. ) ➢ Being “pre-med” is not a major. Pre-med means you are taking additional requirements needed to apply to medical school ➢ Example: Business Major + Requirements in chart Source: UW-School of Medicine and Public Health

Application Statistics ➢ The average science grade point average was 3. 73, and 3. 76 overall. ➢ The average MCAT score of applicants accepted in 2015 was 32/45 (the 88 th percentile). Source: UW-School of Medicine and Public Health

MCAT Overview Subjects tested on the MCAT: Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Biochemistry, Biology, Physiology, Psychology, Critical/Verbal Reasoning Skills

Special Entrance Programs ➢ Programs consisting of 6 -8 years combined undergraduate degree (BS or BA) and medical degree (MD) Brown University of Florida University of New York Upstate University of Minnesota University of Missouri ➢ Usually apply senior year of high school, but most programs require a minimum of 26+ ACT score to be eligible to apply ➢ Successful applicants have extensive shadowing/volunteering/extracurricular activities in high school and have shown a dedication to pursue medicine

What We Wish We Would’ve Known ➢ Work towards your clinical hours while working as a scribe, EMT, CNA, etc. ➢ Pick a degree that you can excel in and one that you enjoy studying ➢ Try to study consistently and work towards long term retention of the material, since you will apply it later on the MCAT

Questions? ? Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have! Brandon Free bfree@mcw. edu Dev Joshi djoshi@mcw. edu Jacob Patz jpatz@mcw. edu Andrew Stein astein@mcw. edu

Being a Medical Student

What is a typical day like for a medical student? Years 1 and 2: ➢ Classes and Studying ➢ Typically 4 hours of lecture each day with 1 clinical day per week Years 3 and 4: ➢ 4 -8 week long rotations (family medicine, psychiatry, general surgery, emergency medicine, OB/GYN, additional electives)

Dual Degree Programs in Medical School MD/Ph. D • Physician Scientist Pathway MD/MBA • Running a clinic or management and leadership MD/JD • Medical ethics or malpractice law MD/MPH • Public health MD/DDS • Medical and Dental degree