Category: Pre-Medical

Hello, my name is Chloe Looman and I am this year’s Captain of Michigan Tech EMS. Our agency certifies students and local community members to the EMT level, and in exchange, we volunteer as responders to the Michigan Tech campus and surrounding community. Our response time is mere minutes in comparison to the Mercy ambulance company, which can sometimes take 30-40 minutes to respond as they serve the whole Keweenaw Peninsula. 

As Captain, I oversee the three to four responding squads that rotate being on call every 72-96 hours. My journey with the agency began when I was lucky enough to be selected as one of a handful of incoming first-years to the EMT class. The course each year trains about 16-20 students to be EMTs (the lowest level certification that can work in an ambulance) in exchange for volunteering as a responder for a full academic year afterward. Coming to MTU I had my sights set on medical school. I love creative problem solving and people, despite being an introvert, but had little evidence that medicine would be where I would truly thrive. I joined the program not only as a way to gain experience prior to med school but also as a way to explore the clinical side of things.

Through my involvement with the agency, I got just that, and so much more. The EMT course for me was like 3D school. Our tests were practicals where we had to physically demonstrate our skills with the equipment and learn how to ask all the right questions as well as think on our feet. The personal growth I got during the course was immense, and it confirmed that medicine was absolutely the right path for me. After earning my EMT license I got a job as a medical responder at Michigan’s Adventure where I got to treat patients all summer long. This set me up to be very prepared for the next academic year when I was responding with MTU EMS. Living in the dorms gave me the extra advantage of often being the first responder on the scene many times. I got to initiate and direct patient care as well as establish how to take a good care report.

In my second year responding, I got to take the role of Squad Leader. With this position, I got to take a more directive role with my squadmates. In the second semester of that year, I got to move to Lieutenant of my own squad, where I was in charge of driving the EMS Tahoe to scenes and overseeing the patient care. I loved that in this role I got to use my leadership skills to delegate tasks and allow my newer responders to also get the same formative experiences I had gotten as a general responder.

For my final year at MTU as Captain of the agency, it has been incredible to get to direct the inner workings of the agency having served every role at some point myself. I love that with my experience as an introverted leader, I get to use my role to encourage the participation and ideas of every member as well as work closely with the class of students that may someday take my place. Michigan Tech EMS has allowed me to develop strong leadership skills as well as discover that medicine is where I feel most at home. I am currently on three medical school waitlists and eager for a lifetime of treating patients.

My name is Karmyn Polakowski. I am currently a first-year medical student at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

What was your undergraduate major at Michigan Tech? How do you feel this major has prepared you for medical school?

I majored in Medical Laboratory Science (MLS). This degree choice was vital to shaping me into the medical student I am today—I am a strong believer that in order to be a fruitful physician we must know the ins and the outs of medicine from the lab all the way to the patient rooms. Simply because if we don’t know how we got to the answers such as the origin of a particular lab result, it’s difficult to make a diagnosis and explain it effectively to a patient.

The curriculum devised for MLS students is one for students with a desire for perpetual learning and a mind full of curiosity. I promise you, the courses will feed these cravings. 

What experiences/resources did you have at Michigan Tech that you felt set you up for success?

Michigan Tech did an amazing job at shaping me into a competitive medical school applicant as well as a successful medical student by providing me with both the people and activities to make me a well-rounded person. Medical schools emphasize not only the necessary science skills but also the soft skills and I truly believe that MTU set me up to do both. In particular, I had awesome instructors, an amazing pre-health advisor, and extracurricular groups that pushed me to be this type of person.

Why did you apply to Michigan Tech’s Early Assurance Program (EAP) with Michigan State University?

I chose to apply to the EAP simply because I knew that MSU College of Human Medicine (CHM) was the perfect fit for me. MSU CHM places an emphasis on producing primary care providers in rural health care settings and that is my personal goal as well. So because my goal aligned with their mission statement so well I decided to apply and even better, apply a little early.

Do you have any tips or advice for future students applying to EAP? Or students applying to Medical school in general?

BE A GENUINE PERSON! Applying to medical school can be frightening because of all of the numbers and statistics about GPAs, the MCAT, etc– however, discovering why you want to do medicine and making that apparent through a genuine and compassionate attitude will take you so much further than a score will. That being said, make sure that you’re always trying your best to do well on your exams and projects, but make sure that you’re also doing things outside of school to shape yourself into a well-rounded person. After all, medicine is about human connectedness, not your best test score.

What type of experiences or extracurricular activities were you involved in?

I was involved in Michigan Tech EMS for a couple of years and it was definitely the highlight of my undergraduate career. I was not only able to deploy my patient interaction and care skills, but I found the EMS family that created bonds to last a lifetime. EMS brings out special qualities in everyone and learning how to utilize everyone’s strengths is really quite eye-opening. This lesson in itself makes me confident in my ability to work well as a physician amongst a group of other healthcare workers someday soon.

Preparing for Pre-Med

I graduated from Michigan Tech with a major in Biological Sciences and concentration in Ecology. I had a few majors during my time at Michigan Tech. I originally came in as a biomedical engineer and quickly realized that it wasn’t for me. I switched into biochemistry and molecular biology, which was my major for the majority of my time at Michigan Tech.

By the end of my third year however I was really inspired by my time with the conservation corps and I wanted to learn more about natural resources, so I once again switched, this time into biological sciences with a concentration in ecology. Completing my ecology concentration classes were by far the best preparation for medical school and definitely allowed me to develop a different way of thinking about interactions, whether it’s a wetland or an organ system.

Narrowing the Path

I am currently a student at Michigan State’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. One of my favorite primary care providers was a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine(DO), and after shadowing a DO I found that my personality fits more with the osteopathic providers compared to allopathic. I like the DO philosophy and its holistic view of people. I was also interested in having the extra tool of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine to treat patients. Having OMM classes now in the fall semester is definitely a nice break from traditional classwork and feels great to have classmates practice techniques on me after sitting and studying for long hours.

Striving for Success

Knowing who to know is everything as a pre-med. This includes advisors, upperclassmen, classmates and professors. No one becomes a doctor on their own. If someone was considering pre-med my first step of advice would be to contact Nicole Seigneurie, the pre-med advisor. She is incredibly helpful and will do her best to help you succeed. After that, it would be to network with those around you because you never know what opportunities will come from it. For university resources, I utilized learning centers often, took research opportunities that were available to me, and shadowed at local hospitals.

My favorite extracurricular activity that I participated in during my time at MTU was with MTU Emergency Medical Services. Everyone in the organization is dedicated to growth, learning, and genuinely cares about others. It gave me a great introduction to medicine. Other extra circulars that I enjoyed while being at Michigan Tech was being a member of Alpha Gamma Delta, a Girl Scout Troop Leader, a resident assistant, biology learning center coach, research, and working various jobs across campus. The best experience that I could have sought was doing an AmeriCorps service term and taking a break from school to investigate my other interests and understand what it means to volunteer and contribute to a community.

Passing it Forward

I would say to financially plan ahead, applying to medical schools is expensive and a lot of people have to do it more than once before they are successful. That being said, as soon as you’re accepted, find out information on as many scholarships as possible and don’t wait to apply for them. I learned about the National Health Service Corps scholarship, which pays tuition and stipend in exchange for working primary care in underserved areas from a doctor my mom was working with. I applied for it and with lots of help from letter writers, was awarded it. I would highly encourage anyone considering primary care to apply if it aligns with your career goals.

As far as how to pick programs, apply for programs whose mission statement you identify with and can see yourself being passionate about. Mission statements tell you a lot about a school’s priority and what kind of providers they want to graduate. If you are considering medical school I would really encourage people to look at both routes, MD or DO, and investigate what each one really means before choosing. DO has a lot to offer and will be competing for residency spots with MD’s now that the residency merger has taken place. I’m really glad that I was exposed to DO and think that DO programs have a lot of great things to offer their students.

I was sitting in my car outside the dentist’s office, wondering how on earth I was supposed to call my mom and about 5 others with only 3% battery. I had just opened the email telling me I had a conditional acceptance to MSU’s College of Human Medicine for August 2019, and I was overwhelmed with emotion. I did it, I couldn’t believe I really did it.

Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a doctor. I began shadowing at a young age and I soon noticed many obstacles our town faced from being medically underserved. The more I saw and learned, the more I knew I wanted to work in rural and underserved areas as a physician. This realization is what drew me to MSU, as part of Michigan State’s mission for CHM is to train dedicated doctors that will return and practice in underserved areas. For me, MSU was a perfect fit, and it seemed my aspirations met their criteria as well. I decided to apply through the Early Assurance Program (EAP), as it would be a great opportunity to show that my goals were aligned with theirs. Some of the positive aspects of the EAP application is that they have a preference for Michigan residents who are first-generation college students, graduated from low-income schools, and lived in medically underserved areas. I fit all of this criteria, which in combination with their mission, made the EAP seem like an opportunity I could not pass up.

I majored in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Pre-Medicine, so the majority of what I studied was MCAT orientated. I personally knew many doctors and medical students whose major was not geared towards the health professions and had a bachelor in Art, Norwegian Culture, and Religious Studies. However, I chose Biological Sciences not just because I felt it would help me prepare for the MCAT, but also because I loved the subjects I would be studying.  

When I was first looking at colleges as a high school senior, Michigan Tech was not my first choice. Now I know it’s exactly where I needed to be as Michigan Tech had many different resources and options that would allow me to succeed. Medical schools need to see that you’ve had experiences that have cultivated skills and assets that you’ll need in the medical field. This puts an enormous pressure on students to have everything; research, volunteer, shadowing, health-related jobs, teaching, lots of involvement in multiple organizations with leadership positions in those organizations, all on top of a stellar GPA. It’s helpful to keep in mind that most of these are guidelines and that anything that has meaning to you can be used to show others how it has helped to mold you into a well-rounded individual.

I will always be grateful for the bonds I have made at Michigan Tech and the experiences that have helped to shape me into the person I am today, and I am so excited to begin the next part of my journey.

Experiences are about quality, not quantity, and Tech is able to offer both. There many different Student Organizations available at Michigan Tech so that you can be involved and do something you enjoy. Also, the shadowing program Nicole, our Health Professions Coordinator, has set up with Portage and Aspirus makes it easy to build physician shadowing hours. There are always notifications for volunteer opportunities, as well as many resources to help you succeed in class, such as Learning Centers. Michigan Tech is full of above-average professors and teachers that always have their doors open to students, and there are many options to those who are interested in pursuing research such as working in labs, volunteering as a participant, or applying to conduct research of your own.

I worked 30 hours a week the entirety of my college career and worked overtime during breaks and holidays. Although I was not involved in as many activities and organizations as I would have liked, work was filled with many experiences that helped to build character and skills that are necessary for the health professions and everyday life, even if the work I did was not directly health related. I invested my free-time in organizations that I really felt I was making a difference, such as MEDLIFE, Pre-Health Association at Tech (PHAT), and later the AED Pre-Professional Honor Society. All these things and more gave me the opportunity to grow as an individual and gain experiences that helped to shape me and allow me to be successful.

The Pre-Med journey has not been an easy one, but it’s not supposed to be. Every stressor is an opportunity to condition and better yourself for the future. In terms of tips or advice, I have quite a bit from my own experiences. With every opportunity to succeed, there will also be the possibility of failure, so if you fall short, don’t make excuses for yourself. Instead make an effort to re-evaluate, learn, and then try again.

Take the time to talk to your advisors, professors, and Nicole, because they are all trying to help you succeed and they all know what they are doing. Begin studying for the MCAT early, and surround yourself with people who have the same drive and determination as you do, as it really helps to have that support from your peers. Last of all, do not let someone decide your future or discourage you. As I said before, it’s a hard road ahead, and there will always be those who don’t think you will cut it. You determine your own goals and means of success, and you do not need to be a cookie-cutter applicant to be successful. Never let there be a time where you ask yourself “what if I had…”, and instead, do everything possible so that you know you did your best.