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.

Links and Other Resources:

www.medicalschoolhq.net/mockinterviews