Life After Mason

Why Pre-Med?

"So, what's your major?" A very familiar question, no? When I tell people that I'm "pre-med", I get the usual reaction of "wow". Yea, I think that's pretty cool, too. But, to be honeset with you, I didn't know that I wanted to go into the medical field until I was 17 years old. Many students I know, have always known that they wanted to be doctors. I was an honor student back in highschool but I was undecided with what I wanted to do in life. But, after my father was diagnosed with diabetes, I knew that I wanted to be a doctor. Many people often assume that my overbearing parents must have coerced me into going into the medical field just because I'm Asian. That could not be further from the truth. My parents are not overbearing and I decided this all on my own. Both my parents have all the risks associated with heart disease. My father has recently been diagnosed with diabetes and he's been on 10 different medications for his high blood pressure and cholesterol for a good part of a decade now. My mother, who is very fit and active, unfortunately, has high blood pressure as well. See a trend here? So it's not surprising that I have diagnosed with high blood pressure. Even with proper diet and exercise, my physician told me that I will always be on the high end of normal, which is still considered risky, unless I take medication to control it. Prescription medication, however, is quite expensive. So that's when I decided that I didn't want to deal with the costly doctor visits. I didn't want my parents doing the same. That's when I decided that I would be in charge of my own health and look out for the people that I care about so they don't have to experience the financial burden of health care. I've even chosen a specialty field that I want to go into: non-invasive cardiology, or the field of medicine dealing with preventative and corrective measures of the heart, without surgery. I chose this particular field because heart disease is the #1 killer in the U.S., especially among woman and Asian Americans. Being an Asian American woman with a history of heart disease and stroke in her family, I am personally affected, therefore I want to do my best to stop this trend. But, before I can begin doing so, I must go to something called, "school".

Plans At Mason

I opted out of the traditional "biology" major for pre-medical students, instead, choosing to get a B.S. in Integrative Studies with a concentration in Pre-Medical Studies through New Century. Do I have any regrets? Yes and no. Through this program, I will still be able to fulfill all my pre-requisites of medical school, but sometimes I feel that I won't be prepared enough for the rigorous science curriculum of medical school. Being in New Century, I am in a lot of writing based classes, which is not necessarily a bad thing because I truly believe that I am getting a broader learning experience as opposed to my peers taking only science courses. Still, medical schools weigh the gpa of your science courses more than they do your non-science courses, which is why I have decided to apply to these special graduate programs that are offered at Georgetown University and the Medical College of Virginia down in Richmond. Basically, these 1 year programs are for students who have a desire to attend medical school but feel that they are unprepared or have been denied acceptance into medical school.

Life After Mason

Being accepted into these special programs and successfully completing them with a 3.0 gpa or higher greatly strengthens your chances of being accepted into medical school. As my advisor has told me, it shows the medical schools that you are capable of handling a rigorous graduate curriculum. A few neat perks of being accepted into the Special Masters Program at Georgetown University is that you take 6 out of your 10 classes with first year medical school students, students who have successfully completed the program have a 75% chance of being accepted into medical school and you recieve your M.S. in Physiology in only 11 months.

Because of my slightly higher than mediocre performance in my science courses, I believe that applying to these graduate programs will strengthen my core science background. In addition, although my science grades are not stellar, hopefully my interdisciplinary education and extracurricular activities such as volunteering for the INOVA Blood Donor Center, volunteering and working as a Peer Health Educator and becoming a Blood Donor Specialist will increase my chances of being accepted. My future is hopeful, yet uncertain.