Skip to main content
Logo

Mobile Main Nav

  • About AUC
    • About AUC
    • Residency Placements
    • Accreditations & Approvals
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Meet Provost Heidi Chumley, MD, MBA
    • Board of Trustees
    • St. Maarten Campus
    • UK Track
    • Caribbean Center for Disaster Medicine
    • Facts & Figures
    • News & Publications
    • Blog
    • Events
    • Community Affairs
  • Admissions
    • Admissions
    • Admissions Requirements
    • Tuition & Financial Aid
    • Scholarships
    • MCAT Information
    • Non-US Applicants
    • Career Changers
    • Admissions Assessment
    • Request More Information
    • Request An AUC Campus Tour
    • Webinars
    • Events
  • MD Program
    • MD Program
    • Medical Sciences Curriculum
    • Clinical Sciences
    • UK Track
    • Medical Education Readiness Program
    • Hospital Teaching Sites
    • Medical School Guides and Resources
    • USMLE Preparation
    • Meet Our Faculty & Staff
    • Student Handbook and Course Catalog
    • Student Forms
  • Student Life
    • Student Life
    • About St. Maarten
    • Virtual Tour
    • Safety & Security
    • Clubs and Organizations
    • Spouses Organization and Families
    • Housing
    • OSPD
    • Class Profiles
    • Alumni Class Notes Form
  • Galleries
  • Alumni
  • Faculty
  • Students
  • Parents
  • Careers

Secondary Mobile Menu

  • Request Info
  • Apply Now

Social Media Navigation

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Call
  • Request Info
  • Apply Now
  • Alumni
  • Faculty
  • Students
  • Parents
  • Careers

Social Media Navigation

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Utility Navigation

  • REQUEST INFO
AUC Med Logo
  • About AUC
    • ABOUT AUC

      Our medical school offers a collaborative learning environment that features a multitude of student organizations, small class sizes, international training opportunities, and a team-based learning culture.

      Learn More

      • About AUC
      • Residency Placements
      • Accreditations & Approvals
      • Diversity & Inclusion
      • Meet Provost Heidi Chumley, MD, MBA
      • Board of Trustees
      • St. Maarten Campus
      • UK Track
      • Caribbean Center for Disaster Medicine
      • Facts & Figures
      • News & Publications
      • Blog
      • Events
      • Community Affairs
  • Admissions
    • ADMISSIONS

      Our medical school admissions team is eager to assist you as you embark on your journey to become a physician. Our goal is to provide you with all of the information and guidance you need to explore AUC as a medical school option.

      Learn More

      • Admissions
      • Admissions Requirements
      • Tuition & Financial Aid
      • Scholarships
      • MCAT Information
      • Non-US Applicants
      • Career Changers
      • Admissions Assessment
      • Request More Information
      • Request An AUC Campus Tour
      • Webinars
      • Events
  • MD Program
    • MD PROGRAM

      A US-modeled curriculum designed to prepare you for practice in the US, Canada, and beyond.

      Learn More

      • MD Program
      • Medical Sciences Curriculum
      • Clinical Sciences
      • UK Track
      • Medical Education Readiness Program
      • Hospital Teaching Sites
      • Medical School Guides and Resources
      • USMLE Preparation
      • Meet Our Faculty & Staff
      • Student Handbook and Course Catalog
      • Student Forms
  • Student Life
    • STUDENT LIFE

      Learn what it's like to be a student at AUC, including living in St. Maarten, opportunities for community involvement, and clubs and organizations.

      Learn More

      • Student Life
      • About St. Maarten
      • Virtual Tour
      • Safety & Security
      • Clubs and Organizations
      • Spouses Organization and Families
      • Housing
      • OSPD
      • Class Profiles
      • Alumni Class Notes Form
  • Galleries
  • Apply Now
      • Start Your Application
      • Submit Your AMCAS Application
      • Submit Your AACOMAS Application
      • Continue Your Application
Pattern Two
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - 12:00

Share

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • pinterest
  • email

Breadcrumb

  1. About Us
  2. News & Publications
  3. How to Prepare and Succeed In Medical School

How to Prepare and Succeed In Medical School

I have been in medical education – as a student, a professor, and now a medical school dean -- long enough to know that truly successful medical students typically possess a few common traits or experiences. When aspiring medical students ask me what they can do, other than perform well academically, to become outstanding physicians, I tell them to do five things.

Heidi Chumley, MD

Preparing for Medical School


1. Get work experience – of any kind.

Waiting tables teaches you how to build rapport and provide service. Work construction and you will see what hard labor does to the body over time. Make your way up to manager at a fast food restaurant and you will learn about managing processes, managing people, and setting standards. As a faculty member I was impressed by a first-year medical student who had an ability to connect with all types of people, establish an instant rapport, and get right to their real story. Did he have healthcare experience prior to medical school? No. “I bartended my way through college,” he said. “That made me comfortable with just about anyone.”

2. Broaden your world view.

If you grew up with missionary parents in Africa, then you have this one covered. But if you were like me, you grew up around people who looked like you, thought like you, or were the same socioeconomically. I encourage you to put yourself in situations where you have a chance to work alongside or at least engage in meaningful conversations with people who are different from you. If you have the opportunity to travel somewhere, do so, but don’t just show up and leave. Learn about people. Listen to their life stories and hear about their challenges and victories. By doing this you are taking on a most important task for every physician – uncovering your own hidden biases and embracing a much broader definition of normal.

3. Live away from home.

Preparing for medical school presents a challenge to your endurance, mental capacity, and commitment. You will be better suited to manage this if you are not also learning how to manage laundry, home repairs, meals, and the other basic components of being a human out on one’s one. If you have never had to do those things for yourself, you are missing a critical set of life skills. I’ve seen many students with high MCATs and GPAs completely flounder after arriving to medical school. For them, it’s not the academic load – it’s the rest of life that presents difficulties. Develop those skills and then come to medical school.

4. Prepare yourself academically with classes other than your science prerequisites.

Take your pre-requisites, do well, and take some advanced science classes, but try something different. There are many courses that can help you develop the mindset to become a good physician. Study another culture, language, or religion – start to get a sense of how to deal with a multicultural, multilingual waiting room. Take a visual arts class that sharpens the powers of observation that physicians rely upon. Take a class that builds communication skills either orally or in writing. I have asked many senior medical students what college course helped them most with how to succeed in medical school and the answers are interesting: African American Women Studies (from a white male), Speech (from an introvert), and the most common answer – Spanish.

5. Overcome something.

When I was in college I had Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks part of the nervous system. I wouldn’t wish this or any other ailment on anyone, but it makes me think about how admissions committees look at your past experiences to see how you may react to the challenges of preparing for medical school. If you have never experienced a challenge or life has not yet thrown you a curve ball, you need to test yourself. Chances are, if you have done 1-3 above, you have been challenged – physically, financially, or emotionally, and this will be of great benefit to you as the challenges increase.
 
I always loved science as a young person and wanted to become a doctor from an early age, but I remember other experiences that helped to mold me: my first job at the Potato Parlor when I was 16, my mission trip experience with a Mexican community, and the simple act of dividing up household chores with my first college roommate. And I remember the disorder that knocked me down for a while but also taught me perseverance and humility.
 
I hope any reader of this who aspires to become a physician will keep this advice in mind. These five points are not just about improving your CV – they’re about gaining the experiences that all physicians must take on as their responsibility. And so yes, do the best you can on the MCAT and in your undergraduate courses, but also drive yourself to have the experiences and interactions on how to prepare and succeed in medical school that will truly prepare you for what physicians face today.

GET STARTED TODAY

TAKE THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS YOUR

MOST PROMISING FUTURE

Request Information
Top
AUC Med Logo

Footer Social Media Navigation

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Careers
  • Student Email
  • Colleague Email
  • Contact
  • Sitemap

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE

880 SW 145TH AVENUE • SUITE 202
PEMBROKE PINES, FL 33027
PHONE: 305-446-0600

TOLL-FREE: 866-DR2B-AUC
(866-372-2282)
FAX: 305-444-6791

ST. MAARTEN CAMPUS

1 UNIVERSITY DRIVE AT JORDAN ROAD, CUPECOY, ST. MAARTEN

PHONE: +1 721-545-2298

FAX: +1 721-545-2440

PRESTON, UK PROGRAM SITE

VERNON BUILDING ROOM 64, SIZER STREET PRESTON, LANCHASHIRE PR1 1JQ

PHONE: +1 721-545-2298

FAX: +305-444-2440

AUC is accredited through 2021 by the Accreditation Commission on Colleges of Medicine (ACCM, www.accredmed.org), which is the accreditor used by the country of St. Maarten. The United States Department of Education, via the National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation (NCFMEA), reviews the standards that countries use to accredit medical schools. The NCFMEA has determined that the ACCM's accreditation standards are comparable to those set by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which accredits medical educational programs in the United States. 

 

© 2021 American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine. All rights reserved.   Privacy Policy | Student Consumer Information | Online Cookie Policy | Accessibility

  • Call
  • Chat
  • Request Info
  • Apply Now
  • Alumni
  • Faculty
  • Students
  • Parents
  • Careers
  • "Chat Now"