Still premed?
Whether the answer is yes or no, you're not alone.
Last year 122 members of the Class of 2007 applied to medical schools across the country. Of these, 103 received offers of admission. One doesn't need to have slogged through Math 32, however, to realize that these numbers are probably less than the number of "premed track" students that entered Duke as freshmen in 2003.
On the journey to becoming a physician, the premed phase is a period of questions, self-reflection and deciding if medicine is the right career choice.
"Even in the freshman year, we encourage students to start exploring [their commitment to the premed track]," said Daniel Scheirer, director of the Office of Health Professions Advising and associate dean of Trinity College. "Do they know what life in a hospital is like, what being around sick people is like and can they handle a stressful environment? These are questions that need to be answered."
Programs like the Career Center's Health Careers Exploration Program aid students in answering the questions by providing opportunities to work directly with both patients and health professionals, a service premeds said is helpful.
"HPEC is amazing," sophomore Connie Chai said. "I was paired up with a cardiothoracic surgeon over the summer, so I had the opportunity to watch open-heart surgery in the operating room."
Student organizations also encourage premed students to volunteer and gain experience within the medical community. Last year, junior Bilal Lateef and senior Nandini Palaniappa felt the need for a mutually supportive organization of premed students and co-founded a chapter of the American Medical Student Association at Duke.
"We wanted to start a chapter at Duke because we realized there was no umbrella organization, which is rare among schools," Palaniappa said. "We could use it as a way to facilitate communication between students and staff. We also wanted to create a network of students, so it was easier to be aware of opportunities available and easier to seek out peer advice on what classes or professors to take."
AMSA has instituted an informal mentoring program, matching up juniors and seniors with freshmen and sophomores.
Some students, however, said they did not feel the need for additional mentoring.
"I can ask my friends for advice on classes and professors," sophomore Amee Patel said. "But I can see how it might be helpful to freshmen, who might not know that many upperclassmen."
Last year's first meeting of the newly-formed organization attracted more than 250 interested students. This year, AMSA has hosted a number of lectures, including a talk by Dr. Brenda Armstrong, director of admissions at the School of Medicine. The group also tries to provide students with an extensive list of medicine-related job and research opportunities.
"We contacted all the physicians at Duke specifically interested in hiring undergrads," Lateef said. "We compiled a pretty comprehensive list on our Web site of over 30 research opportunities for undergrads in areas ranging from public policy to molecular biology to chemistry."
Although majors like biology or chemistry are popular for premed students, many pursue bachelor's degrees in the social sciences or humanities. Palaniappa said she balances her premed track courses with a major in public policy studies.
"I want to be a practicing physician but remain involved in health policy," she said.
Palaniappa is also waiting a year or two after graduation to apply to medical schools. Between then and now she said she hopes to work in health policy.
"It's increasingly common for students to delay applying to medical schools for a year or more," said Deborah Wahl, a premed adviser and associate director of the Undergraduate Research Support Office. She added that students often spend gap years working to earn the money to finance the considerable medical school expenses.
Palaniappa said premed advising has been very helpful and supportive of her decision to wait a few years to apply to medical school.
Although some students may decide not to enter medical school immediately following their senior year, many students who enter Duke with medical school as their goal end up deciding to pursue a different career path altogether.
Brittany Rhodes, Trinity '07, now works as a strategy management consultant, but she entered Duke intent on becoming a doctor. During her time at Duke, however, she became interested in other aspects of health care besides practicing medicine and graduated with a certificate in health policy. She suggested that premed students consider if medicine is really what they want to do.
"I think kids are sometimes afraid to change," Rhodes said. "I was afraid to change from the premed track because that's what I thought I wanted to do since middle school."
She added that it's important for students to find a career they can devote themselves to without reservations.
"If they're not doing something they really love, they won't be fully happy or fully satisfied, and they won't be working up to their full potential no matter how hard they try," she said. "Just because you have the ability to do something doesn't necessarily mean you should do it."
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