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Session 185
In today’s episode, Ryan talks with Brian who shares a wonderful story about his path to medical school. Brian has been serving as a teacher for 9 years until he finally decided to attend medical school where he is currently on his fourth year at Brown.
Listen in to find out more about Brian’s struggles as a nontraditional student and some learning he has picked up along the way which hopefully you too will be able to learn from.
Here are the highlights of the conversation with Brian:
Brian’s path to medical school:
No initial interest in medicine
A chem major and worked after college as a medicinal chemist for a pharma company
Leaving graduate school and figuring out what to do
Teaching for 9 years
Volunteering for the fire department in EMS and knowing he wanted to become a doctor
How he got into volunteering for EMS:
Getting into an accident at a canyoneering trip
Not wanting to be in a situation again where he wouldn’t know what to do
The biggest struggles during his medical school application:
Not getting interview invitations the first time he applied
Teaching while studying for the MCAT
Reasons for not getting invitations the first time:
Trying to be too independent
Not seeking available resources to seek advice
Getting invested in waiting for the letter of recommendation that he applied late
The role of teaching in his application:
Allowing him to have an interesting story to tell to the admissions committee about what it is to be in the service profession
What’s it’s like being a 34-year old, first year medical student:
A difficult adjustment in a number of ways
Difficulty to connect with people with different mindsets
Getting used to being the one being taught to rather than the one teaching
Learning how to study again
Some pieces of advice for premed students:
Having self-doubt is healthy as it helps you really decide if it’s something you want to do. Really sit down and think about it and ask yourself the tough questions. Once you’ve made the decision, you really have to throw yourself into it. Don’t let other people’s cynicism sway you away from that decision you’ve well thought about.
