Welcome to our second Win STEM blog of this Fall! During the midst of this academic semester, we are excited to announce that Win STEM is having its first general workshop! We are eager to present the ideas behind how to prepare for medical school and the advice for a prospective pre-medical student. We have had a bunch of support from our members, and wanted to provide an opportunity to learn more about the steps on becoming an aspiring healthcare worker! This workshop is focused on key advice for medical students as well as the opportunities we provide for our active and premium members. This event is also open to the general community (high school students, students that attend other Universities or Colleges, etc…) and is NOT exclusive to UT Dallas students.
Link to RSVP to our Workshop:
ZOOM Link:
Win STEM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Workshop (ft. Medical School Student)
Time: Oct 1, 2020 05:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 260 465 0099
Passcode: stem
Meet Aaleena
Before we get started, we would like to thank our guest speaker, Aaleena Zaidi for accepting the role as our Guest Speaker for this event and give words of wisdom to the upcoming class. She attends UTMB medical school and is in her second year. Here are a few words from the guest speaker herself:
‘My name is Aaleena Zaidi, I’m a second year medical student. I graduated from UTD with a bachelors in Biology in December 2018. My hobbies include painting, baking, and watching Netflix. I am looking forward to interacting with you all in hopes of helping you navigate this journey to medical school.’
Conferences and Consultations
As our first general workshop is being planned, we have some exciting opportunities to announce such as conferences and consultations! Conferences are one-on-one meetings with the officers of the organization, and for members who would like better clarity over certain aspects of the organization and a clearer insight on what they want to pursue further. Our goals are to assist them with various programs and activities such as MCAT/GRE prep, and this is also for students who need help studying or learning more about the MCAT, since we can provide practice tests in a standardized setting. Win STEM also offers mock interview sessions, where students can be further evaluated to help them prepare for professional interviews by going over basic important rules and asking them interview questions. In-person volunteering opportunities have been limited, hence we have found several programs one can volunteer with virtually. Shadowing opportunities are also offered, and how to apply for applications can be beneficial to the students and go over a few important application questions on how to answer them effectively.
Link to schedule a Conference:
Consultations serve as a ‘mentor-mentee’ program between our active members (and the rest of the UT Dallas community as well). If you have experience you want to share with your fellow colleagues, be sure to apply as a mentor! On the other hand, if you feel like you need advice, we always have the option to apply as a mentee as well.
Link to sign up to our mentor-mentee program:
Five Lessons
Let’s move on to touch base on some advice given on behalf of a group of students on the premed track this year.
Five lessons to learn as a premed student:
1. Study regularly: Being a premedical student requires constant studying and knowing your materials, review lessons on a regular basis, and try to avoid procrastination. Engage in activities, such as clubs and be part of programs by showcasing leadership skills and show your passion through serving the community.
2. Allow yourself to create a generic plan for the four years you learn in college, including all the premedical course requirements that need to be fulfilled in order to be considered for medical school. Courses such as General Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Organic Chemistry, Calculus, Statistics, Biochemistry, English, and a couple of other courses needed in order to follow the pre-med track. These courses will help for standardized tests such as the MCAT, so it is highly important you learn the fundamental concepts in each of these courses.
3. Gain clinical and volunteering experience: As a rising medical student, getting exposed to a variety of medical programs or health-related fields will allow you to learn and gain experience. Programs such as volunteering at hospitals or clinics, EMT programs, study abroad programs, volunteering at hospices, or any chronic measured facilities are very beneficial to the student, as they can gain so much knowledge from real-life applications. It gives an individual better clarity to assess their ambitions for the future.
4. Grades and transcripts: grades are very important, as they impact your GPA and it is crucial that one doesn’t take a class for granted. Put your effort and dedication to that specific class, and study hard for it, the GPA is an important piece of criteria that gives them information to consider an applicant. Both weighted and unweighted are considered, as well as science GPA and non-science GPA. Make sure to ask questions regularly in case of doubts or further clarifications required. There are several programs that offer tutoring services on campus, it would definitely be beneficial to utilize those programs.
5. Find something you love to do. Far too many people leave that ‘hobbies’ section of their medical school application empty. Far too many pre-med students find themselves stumped when they’re asked to talk about something that’s not on their resume. Take advantage of the free time COVID-19 has given you at home - develop a hobby. Find something you truly enjoy to do in your free time - it makes you more human when you have something like this to talk about in your application, your essays, and especially during your interviews!
A Four-Year Plan
Before we finish off with today’s blog, we wanted to share a generic four year plan for a pre-med student on behalf of our Win STEM Officer Team:
Freshman Year: Volunteering, possible job in healthcare, familiarize yourself with the healthcare setting, begin shadowing, consider joining a pre-med organization
Sophomore Year: Continue shadowing and volunteering, internships, job in healthcare, begin MCAT Prep, look into medical schools, look for possible recommenders
Junior Year: Continue shadowing and volunteering, undergrad research, take the MCAT (fall)
Senior Year: Apply for medical school the summer before senior year (primary application). During the year, complete secondary applications and wait for interviews
Keep in mind, this four-year plan is only a simplistic guide to what you should do throughout your Undergraduate degree. And remember, there is no ‘set’ way to get into medical school. You don’t have to have hundreds of hours of clinical experience to get into medical school, these are just guidelines. Your four-year plan needs to reflect you, what you are passionate about.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post!
Win STEM is a public funded charity. We are always open for donations. Check out our home page to learn more. #winstem
Check out our Nonprofit Social Media Accounts:
Instagram: @win_stem
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Win-STEM-Foundation-102998974799807
Twitter: @win_stem
And UT Dallas Social Media Accounts:
Instagram: @winstem_utd
Twitter: @winstemutd
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