{"id":413,"date":"2015-10-18T19:42:58","date_gmt":"2015-10-18T23:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/?p=413"},"modified":"2016-03-13T11:20:56","modified_gmt":"2016-03-13T15:20:56","slug":"5-things-williams-pre-med-students-should-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/news\/5-things-williams-pre-med-students-should-know\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things Williams Pre-Med Students Should Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

5 Things Williams Pre-med Students Should Know<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Meagan Goldman ’16<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cPre-med\u201d is a loaded term at Williams. It comes with tough classes, stress about maintaining a high GPA, and more stress about getting into med school. Countless freshmen start off on the pre-med track but decide it\u2019s not for them. At the same time, those who do go to med school often find a deep passion for their work. I decided to speak with four pre-med seniors with very different stories \u2013 Chanel Zhan, Tendai Chisowa, Lacey Serletti, and Katie Westervelt \u2013 to figure out what they think about pre-med at Williams and what advice they\u2019d give to younger students. Here\u2019s what I learned.<\/p>\n

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  1. There is no right path.<\/strong> There are straight paths to med school and more winding paths. It\u2019s great to have the self-knowledge as a freshman, like Tendai, that you want to be a doctor and strictly follow the pre-med path. But it\u2019s also important to be sure that\u2019s what you want to do. Don\u2019t rush into the decision. Don\u2019t make the decision because it\u2019s what your parents want. Make it because you\u2019re certain it\u2019s what you want. For example, Chanel realized she loved what doctors do on a daily basis during the summer after freshman year, when she shadowed a doctor at a hospital and interned with a private practice physician. Katie realized that med school opens up a wide variety of jobs, from surgeons to radiologists to executives at biotech companies. Sometimes these realizations come later. If they happen after junior year, like Lacey\u2019s did, you can always take a summer class or a class after graduation to finish your credits, and that\u2019s okay.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    1. \u201cGive yourself permission to explore the liberal arts <\/a>curriculum,\u201d <\/strong>says Lacey. You could be at a STEM-oriented institution, but you chose Williams. You should get the most you can out of your time here. Take non pre-med science classes; they\u2019ll enrich your understanding of your other science classes. Take plenty of Division 1 and Division 2 classes. As Tendai points out, reading, writing, and discussion skills are important for any career. Plus, med schools want well-rounded students, and those skills will help you on the MCAT.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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      1. \u201cWilliams gives you what you put into it,\u201d <\/strong>says Chanel. You have to put in the time and effort, but support and opportunities are at your fingertips. Reach out to your professors, and they will give you help and advice \u2013 on your classes, your internships, your future plans. The relationships you develop with faculty and staff are as important as those you develop with students. Contact alumni through the alumni network, and they will gladly give you insight into their careers. Talk to as many alumni as possible to learn about their jobs. Both alumni and professors have been in positions similar to yours, and their advice is invaluable.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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        1. Work in a lab and don\u2019t restrict yourself to specific pre-med internships. <\/strong>Okay, maybe this is two pieces of advice in one. Any lab work \u2013 be it at Williams or in the summer \u2013 will help you figure out what you like and dislike. The type of lab work, what you do on a daily basis, and the area of study are all important to consider. Katie, who works with flies at Williams and does constant dissections, realized she likes using her hands. This realization contributed to her decision to go to med school. As for the summer, there are limited pre-med focused internships. Regular research internships are just as valuable. \u201cSummer is a great chance to branch out and do research that you can\u2019t do at Williams,\u201d says Tendai.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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          1. Stop comparing yourself to your classmates. <\/strong>We\u2019ve all heard of the myth of effortless perfection<\/a>, and we need to realize that it\u2019s really that \u2013 a myth. Pre-med is hard. It\u2019s competitive. There\u2019s a lot of pressure. But those students who seem like they\u2019re masters in the lab, like they have their futures planned out and internship lined up, are not effortlessly perfect either. I know; I\u2019ve talked to them. Don\u2019t lament that you\u2019re not as qualified or talented as others. Rather, be proud of your achievements, no matter how small, and celebrate your successes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Photo: science quad. By Elizabeth Jacobsen ’16.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            5 Things Williams Pre-med Students Should Know By Meagan Goldman ’16 \u201cPre-med\u201d is a loaded term at Williams. It comes with tough classes, stress about maintaining a high GPA, and more stress about getting into med school. Countless freshmen start off on the pre-med track but decide it\u2019s not for them. At the same time, … Continue reading 5 Things Williams Pre-Med Students Should Know<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":922,"featured_media":396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21878],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/922"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":443,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions\/443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}