#5 Advice for Students Considering Medicine and Healthcare Careers Transcript

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED TRANSCRIPT…PLEASE FORGIVE THE TYPOS & GRAMMAR! xo-Lisa

 

You are an educator. All good doctors are educators. You must be able to explain as a physician complex information in a very understandable, easygoing, charming, and motivating manner to your patients. So they will lose that 10 pounds or they will go and get that colonoscopy or whatever it is they need to do.

 

And they’re only going to do that. If you, as doctor explained to them how important it is. So in high school, what did you do to test that? It’s easy to sort of brainstorm that you could be a peer tutor. You could tutor younger children in the school. You could do some sort of afterschool program, perhaps for children from at-risk communities.

 

You could do things like that. That can help. Decide whether or not we really do enjoy teaching people and helping people. Admissions expert Luis Arabia has been working with students, interested in the medical field in has helped nearly 1000 students gain acceptance into medical schools of their choice.

 

When working with her, if a student discovers in the process that medical school isn’t for them, she helps guide them in a better direction that fits their wiring. Louisa reveals what’s needed to get into med. And how to discover if your team really wants to be a scientist, healer, and educator in the medical field, you’ll learn the skills and qualities, a good doctor embodies and recommended high school in college extracurriculars, college, GPA, and majors that are recommended for future medical school.

 

I was surprised to learn what a glide year is. And if you are familiar with the term, you’ll definitely want to consider it in your plan. I’m Lisa marker Robbins. And I want to welcome you to college and career clarity, a flourish coaching production. Let’s dive right in to a great conversation.

 

hello and welcome. Louie said thank you for taking some time to talk to me today. I am so excited about this conversation. I’m excited too. I said, it’s going to be fun. And we have lots to talk about on all kinds of levels. I know. I feel like we could do three episodes with you, but today we’re going to focus specifically on the amazing and helpful work that you’re doing with families who have students.

 

Thank perhaps medical school might be in their future sharing some tidbits of what they should know and be thinking about and how they can get that discernment. And gosh, if that is a good fit, what would that journey to med school look like? I know you do a lot of things. I would tell everybody a little bit about what you’ve been doing in your professional career.

 

Oh, absolutely. Lisa for over 20 years, I’ve been working with students, mostly those who want to join the healthcare professions. So that would be doctors, dentists, definitely with the nurse practitioners and sort of a lot on the healthcare spectrum. But then I also work with students looking at other graduate programs where maybe healthcare wasn’t the right choice.

 

So we shift gears and look at other things. So that’s pretty much what my life looks like. This. Those students who switched direction are they students that came too focused on something in the healthcare professions. And through that process, the light bulb goes off. Like that’s not a good fit for.

 

Exactly. Occasionally, there will be some who comes for a wall or business. They know that’s exactly what they want to do and press, I worked with one of their friends or one of their parents’ friend’s children, that sort of referral network. But in general, most people come to me because they’re interested in joining the health care.

 

Physical therapy, nutrition. It could be anything most often it’s. I want to be a doctor because that’s all people really think about is I want to become a doctor, but when you stop and think and begin to really explore, you find that in healthcare there’s so much you can do. Being a doctor is just one tiny piece of what is available to students and what will be available to the current high school students.

 

If we sort of fast track and imagine their lives 10 and 15 years from now will be very, very different from what it is that is available right now. It’s easy to think. I’m sure. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a chance to see a physical therapist, but in the good old days, the physical therapist probably had a massive.

 

Right now you do not practice physical therapy unless you’ve earned. On the other hand, many people never saw position assistant. They don’t know what a PA is. They think it’s maybe just an assistant, a kind of a clerk in the, when in fact, a physician assistant is a licensed medical profession. So there are many things that have shifted on share so many more things.

 

I totally agree. I’m really curious about the students who come to you thinking they’re going to go into healthcare and then they, they make a change because something’s an alarm bell perhaps goes off and they’re ding, ding, ding, this isn’t a good fit because my passion for the past 30 years, I’ve worked with high school students and.

 

In the last 10 years, a little bit over 10 years, really focused in, on helping them as high school and college students, early college students get discernment on what is the end goal of this education that I’m getting and really discerning fit, or at least starting to narrow their options on the earlier side, because to me as both a mom, so.

 

Three young adult children and two step-children. I go, Ooh, I don’t know that I would want to have my student figure out junior or senior year. Like this is not the direction we should go. What are some things that happen with those kids who decide medical school or even a health, any other healthcare profession isn’t going to be in my future?

 

What do you see as like them figuring out? And this may not be. I think the classic, this may not fit for me. It will be the students who go off to college, take bio 100 and chem 100 the same year earned CS and say, I cannot do this. The fact of the matter is. They might still be able to do it and they might be good healthcare professionals long-term they could be great surgeons who knows they could be great position.

 

Researchers taking two sciences that freshmen year in college might not have been the smartest move better to think back when they were in high school about the skills and qualities, a good doctor. What does it take to be a great doc? And what I say to the kids sometimes think about your pediatrician.

 

What does she like most she’s curious. She asks the questions. Oh, good curiosity. Incredibly important. What does she do? I mean, who’s in the waiting room. Well, there are all kinds of people in the waiting room. The ability to get along with all kinds of people is important. There’s a team, you know, the ability to lead a team.

 

So you begin to think about those sorts of things. And then I say to them, sometimes in the good old days, people would actually come to the opposite. We could see them sometimes actually reach out to. A client and they say, you are touching people. If you’re going to become a doctor, how you feel about touch.

 

And that can be an incredible deal breaker for people. That’s just something they don’t want to do. They’d rather be gear radical. And that’s great. There are plenty of other options for them, but your ability and willingness to sort of reach out and physically touch other doesn’t mean. So that bullet pointed list, curiosity, touch.

 

What were your other? Give me the, just the key terms, right? I would look at it as definitely. You’re always curious about the other. You must be incredibly welcoming to the other because the other person, it could be any race, creed. You have no idea. Who’s walking through the door, you have the homeless, you know, who has not had a shower for 5 million.

 

How do you feel about that? You have no idea and you must be incredibly set aside yourself and what you might be thinking or feeling and put yourself basically in service to the other. So it’s more about being in service to the other being incredibly clear. And being detailed oriented. We didn’t talk about that and being a real leader because medicine is a team score.

 

So enjoying being on a team and in many cases, being willing to step up and take that leadership role, that’s, what’s going to matter. And you mentioned at first, like some students who perhaps it would have been a great fit, they realized quickly in college that they’re not going to have the grades to get into medical school.

 

So smart kids can have down semesters in. And college. I always warn my high school clients that typically not always, but typically we’re going to see your GPA be a bit lower in college than it was in high school. So just because you had a 4.0 in high school does not mean you should go in and think, oh, Got this.

 

And you’re going to have to pull off that easily. Pull off that 4.0 in college. Can you talk a little bit about grades? So keeping the grades up both in high school and college is going to be important. Is there a college GPA cut off that you see as being a deal breaker? There’s no such thing. I would argue as a real cutoff, but the fact of the matter is that most med schools are expecting the student to be in at least the 3.6 range.

 

That would be 3.6 in their overall GPA. But most primarily in the site. Biology physics, chemistry, and math. They call that their DCPS. They’ll always say, what is your BCPM gives us no idea. What you’re talking about basically means it’s code for the sciences. So you want to be at least at the 3.6 level in the sciences and above that, if possible in all of your.

 

Yeah, I’ve seen with high school students, cause I’d, haven’t worked as a college consultant or a graduate school consultant with college students. I just do career coaching for them. I’ve seen over the years, high school students who they want to be a nurse. I think people underestimate how rigorous and selective getting into a nursing program, let alone some of the direct admit nursing programs, which are fewer than fewer.

 

Even here at the university of Cincinnati. If you have a seat. And biology or chemistry, you are inadmissible for their nursing program at the university of Cincinnati. And I think that students are oftentimes surprised to learn that. So you had great advice. Don’t double up on probably bio one and chem one first semester, freshman year, right out of the gate.

 

Cause it can be a little bit much to navigate all at once. Absolutely. You want to definitely listen to your advisor once you get to college and also listen to good common sense. You know, we all know when we are overwhelmed and somehow when you’re in high school, you can say to yourself, well, I can just kind of muscle through this and I’m supposed to do this because this is the curriculum we always, once you get to college, it’s all you.

 

You the student get to decide what you want to take. And when, and as long as you graduate from college with you need to courses in biology, you need two courses in gen chem. You need two semesters of organic chemistry and you need two semesters of. One of biochem, two semesters of English. That’s 11 semesters of course work.

 

That’s all you need to go to the medical school. So let’s not rush. You have plenty of time. You have eight semesters of college to complete this coursework. You could major in anything as long as you’ve taken those courses is that. Absolutely anything at all. And the more varied think about that, the more varied your background as you approach medicine, probably the better doctor you’re going to become.

 

If you majored in say anthropology or sociology, that would give you a very unique perspective on healthcare, then. You love music and decide you want to major in music theory or whatever, how wonderful that you have some other part of your brain that’s going to be at work and something else that’s going to get you excited besides, you know, sticking directly to the sciences at the same time, I will say there are many students who love.

 

Chemistry or love bio that’s. What’s motivating them. They want to take science and use it in a very tangible way to impact people’s real lives. And they just, they get so excited about their sciences. And in that case, we don’t avoid them. If that’s what you love, that’s what you want to major in, in college.

 

And that will also prepare you well for medical school, it goes a long way. In my launch career clarity course, we have three pillars. No yourself, no the careers and then know your path for getting there. Right. And I think it goes back to your saying exactly what we say, start with knowing yourself well, and be true to who that is.

 

Occasionally I’ll get students who are aiming for a particular college that they want to attend. And they’ll say, oh, should I maybe apply to this other major? It might be easier for me to get in. And, and the answer could be, it might be easier to get in that you may not be able to make a switch into that other major.

 

Are you being true to who you are, right. So important. I want to hear about the students that you start with. Don’t suddenly go ding, ding. That’s not a good fit for me. The students who start working with you and you’re working with them. They know what they’re getting into. I also, because I’ve been experienced at this for 20 years, I can see this as a fantastic fit.

 

What are the things that those students were doing? Because you’ve talked about the traits that they have that make a good doctor, but what are the extracurriculars or even curricular choices that they were making in high school all the way back in high school. That’s who a lot of my clients are. You think perhaps help them to discern that something in healthcare is a great fit and how would you encourage students to pursue their extracurriculars?

 

We start off with great, great, great question. If we start off just academics. The best thing student can do will be to take the maths and the sciences to the highest possible level. You love it. And you’re good at it. Go for it. I don’t think I could stress that more highly. It’s just, it’s what matters in high school and the same is going to be true in college.

 

You love it and you’re good at it. Go for it. There really are very few times in your life when you can set aside. Sort of everything and focus on calc and really take that all the way through or get the very basics in chemistry, the basics in biology and physics, and have the chance to take that to the highest level your school district offers that.

 

I hope that those listening to this aren’t going to be worried because their school doesn’t offer AP this and AP that don’t worry about that. Just take it to the highest level you can in your school and in your environment. There’s online resources and extra courses you can take. But I wouldn’t stress about that.

 

I would say, do the most, you can given the opportunities before you so academically. That’s what I mean. Then outside of that, we talk about all good doctors, sit on a three legged stool. We sort of make fun of that a little bit. The first leg is that they’re a scientist. And so you prove you’re a scientist by the academic coursework that you do.

 

The second leg is that you’re a. You’re about helping people feel better, being more, be more whole, and it’s not just physically hole. You can bring communities together and bring people together. You can be the one who helps to settle arguments, who friends go to for advice, that kind of healing, that kind of being a sounding board for other people.

 

That can be a very good experience. So when you think of extracurricular activities you could do on a healing. The easy ones to think of are well, all volunteer for the red cross or this homeless shelter or that, or all of which are wonderful. And all of which I hope the students are doing, whether they’re going to become doctors or lawyers or business people, these are important, valuable things to do, but I wouldn’t be focused necessarily just on those in terms of healing.

 

I would also look at things. Maybe opportunities to work in a retirement community or to volunteer at a hospice center or sometimes in a hospital there’s a transport, you know, reeling people out, that kind of thing. You have to take advantage of whatever opportunities you can find that will show you as someone who cares about healing, about caring, about making.

 

And then the third leg of that net school stool is that you are an educator. All good doctors are educators. You must be able to explain as a physician complex information in a very understandable, easygoing, charming, and motivating manner to your patients. So they will lose that 10 pounds, or they will go and get that colonoscopy or whatever it is they need to do.

 

And they’re only going to do that. If you, as doctor explained to them how important it is, So in high school, what did you do to test that ability to easy, to sort of brainstorm that you could be a peer tutor, you could tutor younger children in the school. You could some sort of afterschool program, perhaps for children from at-risk communities, you could do things like that.

 

That can help you decide whether or not you really do enjoy teaching people and helping people. So when you think about what a student could do in high school, Test the waters and, or maybe instead of testing, thinking about affirming that, yes, this is what I want to do with my life is to think about is what I’m doing, helping me become a better scientist.

 

This is what I’m doing, helping me come more of a healer is what I’m doing, helping me become a better educator. And the more they sort of look at those three areas, I think the better off they’re going to be. And most often that student is where you really do have the sense, this is what they are called to do.

 

They are going, you know, each time they do one of these things, they’re going to come back and say, I learned a ton, you know, helping so-and-so at such and such a place. You know, I, I realized. It’s really a team sport. I realized, you know how exciting it can be. That’s how I approach that. Yeah. Fantastic advice.

 

I love hearing that. Even that teaching part, I say to people all the time, I was a high school teacher for eight years. That’s what I started out. And I’m still a teacher. Thinking about teaching really outside the box. So there’s another example that I never really considered myself, many of the families that we’re working with because they do have high school students that are headed into college.

 

They’re going through this process right now of what am I going to major in and where do I want to go to college and visiting colleges? Can you tell a little bit as we’re wrapping up. What does that process look like? Once you’re in college and the student is really sort of redoing the whole right.

 

College selection and application process all over for perhaps medical school, or like you said, Back when we were young and we were in school, it was a master’s degree to do many of these fields like PT and OT announced a doctoral level degree. So it might even be I’m sure the process is somewhat the same.

 

Like at what point in college do they start that search? When are they applying? When are they taking again? They’ve got their own graduate exams that they have to take. But if that process looked like. That process is very much not like applying to college. So you want to encourage the kids to say you got into college, you pick the perfect spot and move on, enjoy it.

 

So this first year in school, you definitely want to be exploring, you know, all that your university or college has to offer both academically and outside the classroom. And to remind yourself that you also live in a new neighbor. Yeah, wherever that university is placed to want to make sure that you’re reaching out and exploring and taking advantage of all those opportunities.

 

And if you enter college convinced, or maybe not even convinced, maybe just wondering about healthcare, when you get to college, there’s no such thing as sort of a medical school advisor, but they have pre health advising offices, pre health advising, and they will work with students who want to do anything from.

 

Optometry to podiatry, to physical therapy, to nutrition, to medicine, to nursing. These offices are serving everyone in that institution who wants to do something. So I think the first thing you’d want to do is make friends with whoever is in that office and talk to them a little bit about what it is you think you want to do and see what sort of resources there.

 

And so when would they be applied if it’s medical school, when would they be taking the M cat? It all depends. It all depends. Medical school. The application process is very lengthy. The application opens on May 1st of a calendar year. So May 1st I’d say 2022 and the students can hit submit on June 1st, 2022.

 

They will get secondaries for their medical schools at the end of June of 2022. And they will be turning them around the first two weeks in July. They will be interviewed in the fall of 22. And there’s a long, complicated process before ultimately admission. So it wouldn’t begin until 20. So the application process is very lengthy.

 

And in order to apply, you have to have your M cat, which would be their version of the sat for medical school, but you need to have the coursework done. So students very frequently, and this is sort of maybe flashing headlights for today. Very frequently need to take an extra year. It’s not a gap year.

 

It’s called a glide. And it makes you think, like you’re sliding into med school and you’re definitely not sliding yet. You’re working very hard. Take one or two glide. And it’s a chance to get more clinical hours, which they’re going to need to get to medical school and, or maybe do some more research and also a chance to have the time to do the handicap prep that they need to do to apply.

 

So the timing for med school and when you would do it is complicated as it were probably maybe the thing that it would be great for students and parents to understand that at this point, about half of the students who go to med school apply. Junior year. So you’d have all your academic work done by the end of the year.

 

But the other half that I think that’s a better half to focus on or applying the end of their senior year or after that glide year so that they would have, excuse me.

 

Right. It is a marathon, not a sprint. Once you had at school, there’s, you’ve got med school. You have your residency, you might want to do a fellowship and this, that, or the other, it’s going to be many years before you’re actually off to the races. So definitely take your time. Use all the resources that your undergraduate institution is offering in the classroom, outside of the classroom, and more broadly in the community and enjoy every moment.

 

And, you know, we’re bored. Our fingers will be crossed that the students will want to continue to pursue medicine because you and I are going to need them to be doctors to take care of us in our old age. Right. And that’s getting nearer and nearer. I feel like I could talk to you about not only. But many topics related to healthcare.

 

Um, so I’m going to have to have you back in the future. I hope that you’ll come back. I can see how beneficial the, we said that you would be to a family in this it’s so complicated and you have so much to offer. What is the best way for people to find you if they wanted to find. People can look for me.

 

You can email me at Brisa, L U I S a@pruittre.com, P R U E T T R a B as in boy, e.com. Or look at our website. Lisa knows the way I get to, and I will put your email address and our notes with. Recording for sure. And you’re inside our launch career clarity, Facebook community as well. So somebody could probably tag you in there if they had a question that they wanted to ask as well.

 

Great. Well, great. Well thank you for making time and we’ll have to continue this conversation again in the future. My best Alisa. Superly so great to see you as always take care. YouTube.

 

I learned something new with every guest, so I’m sure you have. If your student has expressed a possible interest in healthcare, I encourage you to curate a conversation by the end of this weekend on Luis’s five important traits of a doctor, have a discussion around how curious is your. What is their comfort level with physical touch, even with perhaps someone lacking good hygiene, do they want to be in service to others of all races, religions that a vast array of diverse people?

 

How detailed oriented are they really? Because getting the details right in medicine can be life or death. And finally, are they prepared to be a strong team player and step up as a leader when necessary. If they aren’t sure continue to have these talks and pursue activities that will foster discovery to choose a college major in future career that aligns with who they are.

 

We continue these types of discussions every single day in our parent Facebook community, launch college and career clarity. I hope you’ll join us there and I’ll be sure to link to it in the show notes. So you can find us if today’s episode was helpful. Please share with a friend who needs us to sharing, following the podcast rating and reviewing helps us resource more students to launch into a successful future.

 

Thank you for listening to the college and career clarity. Where I help your family move from overwhelmed and confused to motivated, clear and confident about your teens future .