News-Letter

You probably don't realize it, but you're in a race. And you're losing. If you're a freshman pre-med at Hopkins, right now a hundred of your peers have left you in the dust. They've talked to their teaching assistants or advisors about the best classes to take. They've joined labs at the med school and are starting up research projects that will last as long as their Hopkins career.

They've got a great sense of their next four years including when they will take their MCATs (and MCAT prep courses), when they'll apply and when they'll volunteer. They've got their dress shoes for their med school interviews picked out.

So how can you keep from falling behind? You can't really. Hopkins is the school of the prepared and the better prepared, of the extra edge. But there are steps you can take to keep yourself from getting left behind. Here are five things I wish someone had told me my first year at Hopkins.

1. Check Your Head

You better want it because if you don't, you'll get burned. More people decide to drop their premed declaration in the first year than any other. They're the lucky ones. Staying a premed while you're unsure or afraid to admit it's not for you will only lead to regrets.

Take this year to really get to know yourself and your goals. Try to get a real clinical experience, shadow some professionals, volunteer at a hospital and realize if this lifestyle is for you. Once you're certain medicine is your field, it will make everything else you must do much easier.

2. Make an appointment with the Premed Advising Office today

Think of applying to medical school as a game. By attending this university, you've agreed to play that game by Hopkins' rules. That means that you need the medical school recommendation committee standing behind you.

Know what they expect of you and use their resources as early as you can and often. They have a lot more programs, contacts and options available than they let on in their e-mails.

3. Befriend a grad student

You might have noticed that not all your professors are thrilled about befriending or mentoring their students. It's discouraging but ends up being true more often than not. So while getting to know your professors is supremely important (not just for recommendations but for your own personal growth), maybe you should get acquainted with some graduate students in your department first. They'll treat you like peers, help you gain research posts and they probably know more about their departments than the professors do anyway.

4. Learn how to study

It took me three years to realize that all my books sucked. In a science class there is almost no chance that your assigned textbook will be the best one for you. Decisions to use textbooks don't always have students in mind. Sometimes professors use textbooks they or their friends have written, or sometimes departments make decisions based on cost or availability rather than quality.

As soon as your class starts, get yourself into the library and spend some time scouting out textbooks that you think will work for you. If it's a subject like chemistry or physics, trust the masters -- Pauling and Feynman. However, if you're trying to find a cellular biology or organic chemistry textbook, it'll require a little more work.

First, go to the reference section of C Level, right as you walk out from the stairs. Find the groupings of reference textbooks based on your subject. There'll be anywhere from over 100 to about five or 10. You can't check these books our so do one of two things. Write the call number of the reference book down and check that section in C Level. You won't find textbooks in the regular stacks though, they'll be in the folios (oversize) shelves at the end and they'll be grouped together.

If you can't find any good books here, write the ISBNs down from the reference section or search Amazon.com and request them for free from Interlibrary Loan.

I can still remember a handful of classes that assigned textbooks with disorganized or poorly presented information. In ten minutes, you can find a textbook that organizes and explains concepts much better than your book or maybe even your professor can. This is especially useful if you find yourself missing class.

5. Don't shy away from summer school

Summer school has a number of drawbacks. For one, it's usually nice out during class. For another, it can be fairly expensive on top of an already high tuition. But don't let these concerns stop you from taking your general science requirements taken care of during the July/August terms.

Why? Well, think about the students who take summer school courses. The majority are students retaking classes they may have done poorly in during the year. It is not in this school's best interest to have these students fail classes twice.

There is a marked difference in the difficulty of these classes and those offered during the school year. Perhaps it is because the school does not use summer courses to discourage unsure students from applying to medical school, but that's just my guess. Maybe professors are just more laid back during summer months. Whatever the reason, why question it. Go with the flow. For some students, the daily pace and weekly tests keep them on task much better than a free form college schedule.

As far as cost is concerned, what if taking these courses is the difference between you graduating in four years or three and a half? Imagine spending your senior spring working, spending more time on your research or preparing apps and interviewing while all your friends are stuck taking classes they don't really care about anymore. The money you save on tuition will more than cover your summer courses and will allow you to take lighter loads through your tenure. I didn't do this, but it's a suggestion worth considering.

Hopefully these tips will help, but they are just bits of technical advice. They're concerned with the process, not with the journey.

College is more about self-discovery than med school admissions offices would have you believe. Classes and MCATs can be retaken, research experience can be gained after graduation but college is only four years long. Don't waste it being too caught up with your graduate future to have a truly robust undergraduate experience.

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