Interview with Bow Tie Ben, 4th Year Med Student

Session 24

In today’s episode, Ryan talks with Ben Azevedo, otherwise known as Bow Tie Ben, where he explains why he has such a nickname. Ben is a 4th year medical student who runs a bow tie business, New Orleans Bow Ties, a perfect example of what this show has been preaching about that you need to give yourself a break outside of medical school.

Today, he shares with us his path to medical school and how his business has helped him during medical school.

Here are the highlights of the conversation with Bow Tie Ben:

Ben’s path to medical school:

Starting the premed path a little late
Taking the MCAT after graduating from UC Berkeley
Spending a year of service at a children’s hospital in Cambodia

Ben’s application process:

Writing his personal statement on his Palm Pilot, sitting at McDonald’s in Bali
His years between college and med school were dedicated to applying to med school

Choosing the medical schools to apply to:

Location (interesting culture and need for service)
Applying to a med school in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
Being in medical school feeling all fired up

How the Bow Tie Ben was conceived:

Coming to New Orleans and seeing “real” bow ties
Diving into the city’s culture and pursuing his love for art
Feeling the need for something creative to work on
Making a bow tie out of a Thai silk using his mom’s sewing machine

How the arts has helped him get through medical school:

Activating the right side of his brain
Putting things in perspective to pull himself out of studying and seeing a brighter side of life
Meeting different kinds of people he wouldn’t have otherwise met

The future of his business:

Knowing things will change once he starts residency
Figuring out what he’s going to do with it

Some pieces of advice for premed students:

Use that energy. Every student has it. It can take you a long way.

Links and Other Resources:

New Orleans Bow Ties

Ben on Twitter @BenAzevedo and @NOLABowTies

New Orleans Bow Ties on Instagram

New Orleans Bow Ties on Twitter

New Orleans Bow Ties on Facebook

Ben’s Tumblr Page

Tulane University School of Medicine

If you need any help with the medical school interview, go to medschoolinterviewbook.com. Sign up and you will receive parts of the book so you can help shape the future of the book. This book will include over 500 questions that may be asked during interview day as well as real-life questions, answers, and feedback from all of the mock interviews Ryan has been doing with students.

Are you a nontraditional student? Go check out oldpremeds.org.

For more great content, check out www.mededmedia.com for more of the shows produced by the Medical School Headquarters including the OldPremeds Podcast and watch out for more shows in the future!

Free MCAT Gift: Free 30+ page guide with tips to help you maximize your MCAT score and which includes discount codes for MCAT prep as well.

Hang out with us over at medicalschoolhq.net/group. Click join and we’ll add you up to our private Facebook group. Share your successes and miseries with the rest of us.

Check out our partner magazine, www.premedlife.com to learn more about awesome premed information.

Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep): Get one-on-one tutoring for the MCAT and maximize your score. Get $50 off their tutoring program when you mention that you heard about this on the podcast or through the MSHQ website. Check out their 10-full length practice tests and save 10% using the code “MSHQ”.

Listen to our podcast for free at iTunes: medicalschoolhq.net/itunes and leave us a review there!

Email Ryan at ryan@medicalschoolhq.net or connect with him on Twitter @medicalschoolhq

Subscribe for Free

Listen to Other Episodes

[smart_podcast_player url=”https://medicalschoolhq.libsyn.com/rss” color=”004075″ show_name=”Medical School Headquarters Podcast” ]

Leave us a Review and Rating!

Just like Yelp reviews or IMDB ratings help you choose your next restaurant or movie, leaving a 5 star rating and/or a written review is very valuable to The Premed Years. It allows us to be able to share our information with more people than ever before.

I am so incredibly thankful to those who have recently gone into our listing in iTunes to provide a five start rating and a written review of The Premed Years.