Premed interviews, surival tips,

PulseIssue 1; Spring 2015

m1 Letter From the EditorHear what our editor has to say about the magazine and being pre-med at UChicago.

2 Committee BiosRead what our magazine committee members have to say about themselves, their interests and plans.

3 Academic ResourcesFind out more about the academic resources you can take advantage of.

6 Career Resources Learn about the resources Career Advcance-ment and UCIHP ofers!

7 Double the TroubleUndergrads talk about managing time while double majoring as a pre-med at UChicago.

9 Out of the BoxRead how UChicago undergrads and Pritzker students have combined their non-scientific academic majors with an interest in healthcare

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Pulse, a magazine for undergraduates interested in healthcare careers. The magazine has been brought to you by the Pre-medical Students association at The University of Chicago.

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Visit us at our facebook page, Pre-Medical Students Association:

https://www.facebook.com/uchicagopmsa?fref=ts.

and website: http://pmsa.uchicago.edu

My name is Joyce Chang, and I am currently a first year interested in studying Biology, specifically Neu-roscience. I am from the Bay Area in sunny California, and although I do miss the beaches and the nice sunny days tremendously, I have really enjoyed exploring this new city (and I’d have to say, I think I handled my first Chicago winter pretty well). Apart from PMSA, I do the long and triple jump on the Track & Field team here and love going out to play IM’s with my house. I am also involved with Al-pha Phi Omega and enjoy engag-ing with the community through service.

Committee Bios

Letter From the Editor

When she immigrated to the U.S. during first grade, Preethi didn't know how to read. She set out on a mission decipher the hieroglyphs of English and harness the power of language. Now, in addition to be-ing an avid bookworm, she loves to write, design, and create. Preethi is currently a first Economics and Bi-ology first year at the University of Chicago. She is also a founder of a health education nonprofit called PIMed, University Merit Scholar, Dougan Scholar at the Booth School of Business, Clinical Excellence Scholar, and Premedical Student As-sociation Board Member. In her free time, she loves to run, dance, and (badly) (attempt to) sing.

Check out her website here: http://preethi-raju.strikingly.com/.

Preethi Raju Class of 2018

Joyce Chang Class of 2018

Shilpa Mantri Class of 2018Shilpa Mantri is a first-year under-graduate student from Los Angeles, California. She is currently a Biol-ogy major and aspires to be a doc-tor one day. In taking a gap year be-fore her first year, Shilpa decided to become pre-med after her intern-ship at a biomedical device startup based in Silicon Valley, where she worked in the Research and Devel-opment department.

On campus, she is also involved with volunteering in the ER at The University of Chicago Hospital and dancing in two South Asian dance teams, Apsara (Indian Clas-sical Dance) and Bhangra (which competes nationwide). With previ-ous journalism experience, Shilpa hopes to combine her passion for writing and interest in medicine as an editor of the Magazine.

Syeda Akila Ally Class of 2016

Hello everyone!

I’m Akila, a current third-year in the College majoring in Biology, and possibly minoring in Physics. I'm broadly interested in nucle-ar physics, bioengineering and novel therapeutic approaches using these techniques, especially in the treatment of cancer and neural diseases. As an international student from Dhaka, Bangladesh, I also enjoy reading and engaging in discussions on global health and education policy, socially responsible startups, telemedicine, and how these intersect in the increasingly connected world we live in.

Apart from academics, I also try to engage with these interests through my co-curricular activities, whether as an outreach co-ordinator working in CPS schools with the Society for Women in Physics (SWIP) or as a marketing manager advertising the largest celebration of science on campus, Sciencepalooza, with Phoenix Biology. In my free time (do we even have free time as UChicago students?) I also enjoy singing with my South Asian fusion a capel-la group, Chicago Aag. I’ve also increasingly dipped my toes into

the activities and consequences of working with nonprofits in resource lacking areas through my involvement with MEDLIFE and Jumpstart. As a corps member of Jumpstart, an Americorp subsidy, we work in select low-income CPS (Chicago Public School) preschools in the South Side to improve childhood language, vocabulary and social skills. As a board member of MEDLIFE at UChicago, I enjoy coordinating quarterly fundraisers for our parent organization while at the same time participating in weekly discussions with college students about the ethics and role of voluntourism, international NGOs’ and the global health industry.

As you can probably tell, with this unfocused range of interests I had quite a lot of trouble choosing classes and declaring a minor or major. It was on one such frustrated morning after hours of online research that I emailed Stephanie Grach, then President of PMSA, asking if she would be willing to let me work on and launch a magazine for undergraduates interested in healthcare.

And, she said yes!

If you have had the opportunity to interact with Stephanie before she graduated, you will know that this is typical of her - she is extremely supportive of new initiatives! However, none of us predicted how incredibly gruelling the process of getting this maga-zine together would be. But here we are - after almost a year long search for committee members, brainstorming sessions and late nights fiddling with InDesign at Crerar, we present our first issue. We hope the magazine will serve as a platform for undergradu-ates to share more about their path to healthcare careers and an invaluable resource, whether you are a first-year learning more on combining your non-science major with pre-medical requirements or a fourth year looking into post-bac programs or gap year opportunities.

Thank you for your interest in the magazine! We hope the next few pages will be informational, interesting and fun to read - please let us know your comments and ideas through PMSA's facebook group or page!

--Akila

Harper Library TAs Most classes have teacher’s assis-tants, who are often first-year gradu-ate students paid to assist in classes. TA’s are especially useful for large lecture classes such as in general chemistry, since they are extremely available to meet with and answer questions about material covered or (in humanities classes) about pa-pers you’re writing. Moreover, TA’s hold discussion sections (prevalent in the sciences) that may or may not be mandatory for students, usually to review material or discuss how laboratory assignments should be conducted.

Many people find TA’s invaluable to surviving the course, from complet-ing problem sets to humanities pa-pers.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR TA. My TA's helped me survive classes and gave me invaluable life advice. They are generally pretty cool peo-ple.

CLiCUpperclassmen guide small groups of students in optional, limited enrollment weekly workshops. Team Leaders coach students as they work collaboratively in small groups on new problem sets (NOT the assigned ones). This zero-credit course is graded Pass/Fail based on the student’s level of attendance. I’ve heard mixed reviews from stu-dents. One first-year described CLiC as somewhat helpful for the first quarter of general chemistry, but regretting giving up Sunday after-noons to attend the program. CLiC

students generally do perform better than other students, though whether it is due to the program or more so to their own diligence is debatable. Spots fill up quickly, so do sign up early if interested. However, make sure you can make most of the ses-sions- this course is graded only based on attendance!

Harper Library

"UChicago is the school where fun goes to die.""All that goes down is your GPA."

Although UChicago is notorious for grade deflation and difficult classes, it's not impossible to do well here. In fact, the university offers many resources you should definitely take advantage of, from CORE tutors to the Collaborative Learning in Chem-istry program.

CORE Tutors The College Core Tutor Program is a peer-based tutoring program for undergraduate students. You can drop in without an appointment to ask questions about chemistry, eco-nomics, math, statistics, computer science, physics, and biology. Tutors are graduate students—most former Teaching Assistants—or College up-perclassmen. The one caveat is that tutors will help explain concepts but will not help with problem sets.

When and where is this? You can find tutors between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. in the North Read-ing Room of the Arley D. Cathey Learning Center Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thurs-day evenings starting the Sunday of second week in fall, winter, and spring quarters, excluding holidays and breaks.

What subjects can I get help in?

Tutors are expected to help with the following priority courses: • Biology (Core and A, B, and C Tracks)• Comp. Sci. (105-6, 121-122, 151-152) • Economics (198, 199, 200s Core)• Chemistry (General and Organic Chemistry, inc. Honors) • Statistics (200, 220, 224, 234) • Humanities (essay revising)

During periods of low demand, they will help with advanced courses.

How helpful is it, really?

I've heard from students essay re-vising was helpful, with more mixed reviews for other subjects. Note that tutors do have limits. For example, computer science tutors will help students write code but not debug. I recommend going to professors and TAs more than to the Harper tutors, but the Harper tutors are a good fall-back. Just be warned- Harper tutors are first-come, first-serve for priority subjects, so structure your drop-ins wisely during midterms or finals!

BY: PREETHI RAJU '18

Academic Resources

Kent Classroom

TA's Classroom

Mansueto Library

Joni KrapecSenior Program DirectorUChicago Careers in Health Professionskrapec@uchicago.edu

UChicago Careers in Health Professions is a comprehensive, four-year pre-professional program that provides College students and young alumni with the resources and sup-port to develop an individualized portfolio of knowledge, experiences, and competencies required for advanced study in health and medicine. UChicago Careers in Health Pro-fessions supports students interested in an a full range of health professions, including al-lopathic (MD) and osteopathic (DO) medicine, public health (MPH), dental (DDS and DMD), podiatric (DPM) practice, veterinary medicine (DVM), pharmacy (Pharm.D), and health ser-vices research (PhD). We also advise students and young alumni with an interest in non-clinical career paths in health and medicine, including health care consulting, health policy, and health care administration, to name a few. We encourage you to sign up for our email list by logging into your Chicago Career Connec-tion account. In the Profile section, edit your Academic Profile to include the UCIHP email list. Through this list we send out regular an-nouncements regarding upcoming program-ming, events on and around campus, volunteer opportunities, and summer internships. The Resource Center of our website contains a number of resources designed to help you navigate the pre-health landscape, including:• Curricular Guidelines• 4-year Pathway for Considering a Clinical Health Career• Using AdviseStream (to make an appoint-ment with us)• Summer Research Opportunities• Gap Year Opportunities

Career Resouces

UChicago Careers in Health Professions (UCIHP) pro-vides College students with resources and support to de-velop a customized portfolio of knowledge, skill sets, and experiences required for advanced study or employment in health and medicine. As early as their first year, pre-health students are advised on how to assess their strengths, hone their interests, and identify appropriate course work, research, internships, and clinical opportunities.

Fourth-year pre-medical student Anya Krok has been using UCIHP since her first year and describes her experiences with them. “I used UCIHP for advice on academics, as well as advice on pre-med things. Navigating the medical school application process is very confusing (and quite stress-ful), and UCIHP has always been very helpful in explaining what to do and how to best approach things,” says Anya.

The UCIHP team works closely with pre-health stu-dents to ensure they are prepared for both the applica-tion and job search processes. UCIHP frequently part-ners with other campus offices, including the University Community Service Center, Study Abroad, and the Office of the Dean of Students in the College to provide advis-ing tailored to each student's interests and strengths.

Upon reflecting on her pathway for considering a health ca-reer, Anya explains, “I entered this school and was very in-terested in research, and then decided that I also wanted to pursue a career in the health professions. UCIHP helped lead me to resources (such as the Pritzker MSTP Admissions) that helped me decide to pursue a dual MD/PhD degree.”

Advisor's Note

ASAP Program The Academic Study Skills Assess-ment Program (ASAP) assists stu-dents with improving academic performance through coaching and quarterly workshops. The College periodically e-mails students about time and location. Past workshops for College students included time management, reading skills, and note taking.

I’ve been to two workshops. It’s nice to hear from others on strate-gies to coping with academic prob-lems. Be warned that you won’t walk away from these sessions with the golden answers to your prob-

lems, however- these are general sessions designed to foster good habits.

Counselors and Professors If you’re struggling in a class, make sure to talk to your professor or academic counselor before third week’s add/drop period closes. Avoid taking classes you’re not prepared for or can’t put in a rea-sonable amount of effort to suc-ceed in. Lastly, your professor is an amazing academic resource. Reli-giously attend office hours, espe-cially before midterms. Professors may hand out hints or tips freely during these sessions, and hearing

other students’ questions being an-swered will probably help you on the test.

In the end... There are many academic re-sources at UChicago to help you succeed. It’s definitely possible to get a good grade in a class if you’re prepared to put in the effort. Just make sure to ask for help early and be proactive. That means no wait-ing till the night before to do your HUM paper, or cramming ten min-utes before an exam. Make sure to sleep, find good study spots with-out many distractions, and manage your time wisely.

UCIHP's Health Policy Trek participants at The Advisory Board Company in Washington, D.C.

BY: JOYCE CHANG '18

Double the trouble?

Pre-med and thinking about double majoring?

Worried that you don't have the time?Here is what current pre-med, double major students, Swathi

Krishnan '15 and Andy Rapoport '16 have to say about this topic...

Swathi Krishnan '15 Andy Rapoport '16

Q: What is your double major?

Swathi: Biological Science (B.S.) and Anthropology (B.A.)Andy: Biological Science (B.S.) and Public Policy (B.A.)

Q: Why are you double majoring?

Swathi: I was pretty set on the Bio major coming into college. I was already really considering starting on the pre-med track, so I started the AP 5 sequence my first year. At the end of my first year, I realized that having started the bio major early with the AP 5 sequence, I had a lot of room to play with the rest of my classes. If I were to only finish the Core and the Bio requirements, I could have easily graduated in three years. I realized that I had other in-

terests that I wanted to explore, so after exploring the College Catalog, I found that a lot of the classes and sub-fields that fell under the Anthro-pology major really fascinated me. These would be topics that I would probably never have a chance to ex-plore after UChicago.Andy: When I entered UChicago my first year, I was convinced that I

wanted to major strictly in Biology or Biochemistry; medicine was a career path I was considering but in no way definitively, and public health was not a topic that I knew much about. Then, during the summer, I was granted the opportunity to partici-pate in UCIHP’s Katen Scholars pro-gram during which time I conducted molecular biology research full-time

(and discovered that I really didn’t enjoy it all that much) and attended seminars and discussions on health-care inequities: health literacy, dis-parities in research funding for sick-le cell anemia, global health, and the ACA (to name just a few). We heard from UChicago doctors who were passionate not just about developing relationships with their individual patients, and helping those patients medically in a very tangible way, but also about “big-picture” infrastruc-tural and ethical issues that they would not feel comfortable leaving unapproached. It was primarily as a result of this summer experi-ence that I decided to work toward developing a strong biological back-ground while also taking classes in policy-oriented disciplines in order to understand healthcare provision from other perspectives.

Q:How would double majoring help in your medical career?

Swathi: The Bio major is obvious-ly useful in completing your medi-cal school course requirements, as well as preparing you for the type of subjects that are necessary for the MCAT. Through my Anthropology classes, I’ve had the chance to really explore the idea of cross-cultural experiences in a variety of different contexts, including that of medicine. I’ve learnt how different points-of-view can be put into dialogue, espe-cially when those differences arise from cultural, ethnic, or religious considerations. As a physician, it is extremely important in knowing how to communicate with a large variety of people, including patients, nurses, and other doctors. I do be-lieve that with an Anthropological background, learning how to com-municate with people who might not always agree with you is a valu-able skill that I have gained.

Andy: By double majoring in Bio and Pub Pol, I’m still able to take several upper-level Biology classes, while also being able to take sociolo-gy, economics, politics, and statistics courses. The Public Policy sequence courses (for everybody in the major) invoke concepts from education, im-migration, and environmental poli-cy, as well as many other topics. By choosing a health policy specializa-tion, I am afforded a more complete understanding of healthcare deci-sion-making by providers and insur-ance companies, as well as patients and their families.

Q:Do you think it is manageable to double major as a pre-med?

Swathi: I really do think it is man-ageable, especially if you plan well early-on. Having decided to double major at the end of my first year, I had mapped a four-year schedule ensuring that I would be able to complete all my Core, Biology, and Anthropology requirements in four years, and still have some fun on the side!Andy: I didn’t take my first Public Policy course until the spring of my second year, called "Urban Health." It helped that I took AP5 my first year, but that’s in no way required. I’ll (fingers-crossed) be able to graduate with a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Public Policy, taking a few quarters with less than four classes. I guess I can only speak directly to-ward the Pub Pol/Bio combo, though I do know people with lots of other cool combos (Bio and Spanish, Pub Pol and HIPS, etc.), in saying that it’s totally attainable.

Q:What are the advantages and disadvantages of double majoring as a pre-med?

Swathi: The biggest advantage of double-majoring as a pre-med is the opportunity to take classes in fields that you might not get to explore af-ter college. The pre-med career path is a long, and narrowly focused road, so I think it’s definitely worthwhile to try some new things before you set into stone a career path. It might allow you to discover new passions and interests that you would not nec-essarily though to explore. That be-ing said, it can be a little overwhelm-ing to be taking that many classes and still have time to focus on other experiences that are important for someone considering a medical ca-reer—shadowing, research, volun-teer work, leadership. The key really is to really understand your priori-ties and what you want to get out of your undergraduate experience here at UChicago. This university has a lot to offer which I really encourage all students to take advantage of, but balance is still the key.Andy: Double-majoring does mean that you have less room to take upper-level Biology courses, as well as courses in “random” other areas in which you are interested, but it also means that you get to work toward a tangible end-goal that demonstrates you’re excited about a concentrated set of topics other than just the pre-medical re-quirements.

Pre-Med Requirements

BY: SHILPA MANTRI '18

• 3 quarters of calculus (recom-mended)• 3 quarters of physics• 3 quarters of general chemistry• 3 quarters of organic chemistry (one quarter may be biochemis-try)• 3 quarters of biology with a lab-oratory• 3 quarters of humanities

You can choose any major, as long as the following require-ments are fulfilled:

What did you major in as an undergraduate? Why did you decide on this major? I majored in Government at George-town University. This course of study had been my intention ever since I

cided to stay as a Government major because I was passionate about it, but I took the additional pre-med courses as well. What extracurriculars were you involved in as an under-grad? I dabbled in a lot of clubs as an un-dergrad; eventually my main one became the Interfaith Council. I be-came really passionate about pro-moting interfaith dialogue, toler-ance, and cooperation on campus, and Georgetown was really support-ive of my efforts because it is a Jesuit school with the largest campus min-istry in the nation. I was also very in-volved with the South Asian Society, and performed every year in Rang-ila, Georgetown’s big South Asian cultural show. Finally, I worked as an EMT for 3 years (as I mentioned before). Are you still continuing those at med school? Tell us more about your extracurricular experience as a medical stu-dent.

Fortunately, Pritzker’s pass/fail

took AP US Govern-ment in high school and became involved with Model United Nations. I went to Georgetown because of its strong political science program and location in DC. I also picked up a Theol-ogy minor because I became interested in studying religion and interfaith dialogue. Why did you chose a career in healthcare?

I came into college se-riously thinking about pre-law, but I decided to take some pre-med

courses just in case. I became certain about being pre-med when I took an Emergency Medical Technician course through the university and began working as an EMT-B on the school’s ambulance service. I loved the thrill of being the first health provider on a scene, and I enjoyed being able to make a tangible differ-ence while working as a team. I de-

curriculum allows us a lot of time do-ing fun things outside of class. We even have a term called “35 percent-ing” which means not studying certain things because they are not important and you can pass (get a 65%) without knowing them! Even some professors are fine with this! I’ve kept up the interfaith work, and I won a $5000 grant to create a Spiritu-ality and Medicine Interest Group. We hold lectures every few weeks on inter-sections between religion and health-care. In fact, one reason I chose U of C for med school was because of their strong research in this area. I am part of the med school a capella group “Say Aahh” (lol), as well as the Emergency Medicine Interest Group and the American Medical Association chapter at U of C. It’s actually great to be part of SASA because I get to break out of the med student bubble and make friends with people in other parts of U of C. How has your major translated into useful skills during medical school? How do you think your major help you in your later medical career?

Yes, my Government major gave me a great background in health policy, something that is extremely compli-cated, yet important to understand. We are required to do research at U of C, and I’m hoping to use my ex-perience in political science to study aspects of the healthcare system that could be improved. In addition, my Theology minor gave me a great intro-duction to ethics and various hot top-ics in healthcare such as reproductive health and end-of-life care. What are the prons and cons of majoring outside the sciences? For someone interested in a non-traditional path to med school, but not entirely sure, how would you recommend them to reconcile it? I completely recommend majoring outside the sciences, even to people who like science. This is because you will be studying science for your en-tire life, and college is the only time where you can learn about whatever you want. You can relate mostly any-thing to the healthcare field, and you will get a unique perspective that hard science majors may not have. At U of

C, you all have an advantage because the Core gives you a background in a variety of fields. However, it’s important to make sure you actually LIKE the sciences that relate to medicine. Honestly, the in-tro science classes like physics are not at all indicative of med school, so base your decision off of anatomy, physiol-ogy, or something like that. If you real-ly don’t like them, don’t force yourself into medicine. Any thoughts or words of ad-vice on the med school applica-tion process, MCAT's, etc. Nothing specific, but definitely con-sider taking a year or two off after col-lege. This will give you a break from school, and often allow you to get real-world experience before plunging back into studying. Also, don’t stress out too much about your MCAT score. As long as you are in the general range for a med school (they post their 25-75th percentile), you can still get in. A lot of people don’t even shoot for the highly competitive schools because they think they’re not qualified; if you’re on the fence, you might as well go for it! I thought I wouldn’t get into U of C and it still happened.

BY: SYEDA AKILA ALLY '16

Out of the BoxInterested in a healthcare career, but confused on how to apply your non-scientific pursuits in healthcare? Hear what Anna Tropnikova, a third-year DOVA major and Aamir Hussain an MS1 student at Pritzker have to say...

Aamir Hussain '18

I’m a DOVA major (Department of Vi-sual Art). I’ve enjoyed creating artwork for as long as I can remember, and I continue to retain the inexorable need to, well, create; to make things using my hands, eyes, and that part of the self that doesn’t think rationally and logi-cally, but feels its way around blindly in the dark. Perhaps this is intuition, maybe it’s a “soul” if you believe in such a thing, or perhaps it is just emo-tion completely abstracted from well-organized and tangible thoughts.

What are you majoring in? Why did you decide on this major?

Anna Tropnikova '16Department of Visual Arts

I do not think that investigating the emotional side of humanity is in some way inferior to a STEM disciple; hence, I’m proud to say that I’m ma-joring in Visual Arts. I initially was convinced that I was going to be a DOVA/Biochemistry double major with an emphasis in Russian (you can imagine my stress in trying to ac-complish this), but as a third year, I’ve finally learned my lessons - that I am not a superhuman, that I need sleep, and that trying to tackle too many bears at once will get you eaten.

Why are you interested in healthcare?

Healthcare is this beautiful synergy of science and the humanities, in a way that’s unparalleled in just about any other field. The most exciting thing is the applicability of the sci-entific knowledge you gain to the improvement of others’ quality of life. It’s a dynamic field where every day brings the learning of something new, and where the people who do best are able to bring their intellect and compassion together to truly make a difference. I want to opti-mize my own skill sets to yield the highest positive impact on the lives of the others.

What are you involved in on campus? How do they relate to your major, or healthcare?

Two things that relate best to my major are my board position on Pre-Medical Students Association (Pub-licist) and my job at Logan Media Center/Hack Arts Lab. The former is self-explanatory; the latter involves a personal journey to discover the various forms of art making (esp. the novel, digital forms) by assist-ing fellow students with 3D printing and laser-cutting, as well as working with Adobe products.

I’m an Alpha Phi Omega brother (though currently inactive), which is a community service co-ed frater-nity on campus, and a research as-sistant at the Institute for Molecular Engineering, where I investigate the structure and properties of novel, polymer-based materials, many of them with a focus on eventual appli-cation in healthcare.

The largest portion of my extra-curricular time, however, goes to MEDLIFE. My role as Mobile Clin-ics Chair keeps me busy with re-cruiting/guiding and reimbursing fellow UChicago students in trips to Latin America (soon, hopefully

teract with their cause and come back from an expedition - they see firsthand how NGO work functions abroad, and their discourse changes from a distanced (emotionally) and theoretical rhetoric of “I’m making a difference because…” to “These are the issues! This is what needs to be done! I helped a little, but what the people still desperately need is…” and so on. This is probably the most rewarding thing I do.

How do you think your ma-jor help you in medical school and medical career?

Absolutely! Especially if I have it my dream way and become a plas-tic surgeon. I’m interested in re-constructive surgery - particularly of the face and hands. I believe that this is the place where I’ll most eas-ily find a home as a doctor, and I’ve heard many stories about medical students who aspired to be plastic surgeons and were brilliant intellec-tually, but continued to lack a cer-tain finesse required to re-position a person’s features, and ended up needing to change their specializa-tion. An artistic eye is a must in this ultra-competitive field.

What are the pros or cons of majoring outside the scienc-es? For someone interested in a non-traditional path to med school, but not entirely sure, how would you recommend them to reconcile it?

I can always get the ball rolling in conversation! People studying in either the Arts or the STEM fields often have a slight resentment to-wards the other side, so the question I get most from fellow undergrads is “Why??” I’m always happy to ex-plain why both are equally impor-tant (in very different ways) in a well-functioning society.

Thankfully, this doesn’t at all apply to my interactions with superiors.

UCIHP has been very supportive and nurturing of my passion for the arts - every advisor has commended me on doing something unorthodox and already standing out in front of a crowd of identical-looking can-didates with traditional majors, similar GPAs and test scores. The emphasis in medical school admis-sions gravitates more and more to-wards the “non-traditional” path, so the recruiters see that the applicant has stepped outside the bounds of a neat laboratory and has interacted humanly with the people whose lives they will be potentially in charge of.So this is how the “non-traditional” path is reconciled. Biology, chemis-try, physics, etc. you’ll repeat again in medical school - thus, undergrad-uate studies are actually the best place for one to discover and explore their passions, commit yourself fully to them, and be ready to integrate the skills you learn into healthcare.

Anything else you'd like to share about yourself?

This summer I’m excited to intern with UChicago’s Summer Links, and expand my knowledge of NGO and non-profits beyond my work with with MEDLIFE, locally! I’ve concentrated a lot on communities abroad; it’s about time I focused on problems steps away from where I study, and expand beyond doing oc-casional community service. I also plan to take a gap year or two! That way I can utilize the time remain-ing in my undergrad education, and then I’ll devote 100% of my time to the MCAT and school applications. So many bears.

Aknowledgements

Stephanie Grach A.B. 2014

President of PMSA 2013-2014

Teresa ChenA. B 2015

President of PMSA 2014-2015

Joni KrapecSenior Program Director

UChicago Careers in Health Professions (UCIHP)

Andy Rapoport, College '16Swathi Krishnan, College '15Aamir Hussain, Pritzker '16

Anna Tropnikova, College '16Fandi Meng, College '16

andPMSA Board 2014-2015!

Make sure to share the magazine link with your friends!

Email us with your questionsand comments at

akilaally@uchicago.edu or share them on

our Facebook page or group: Pre-medical Students Association

at UChicago

Look out for our 2nd issue on Fall2015!