So You Want to go to Medical School? Tori Whitlow, MS 3 University of Maryland School of Medicine March 28, 2012
Feb 23, 2016
So You Want to go to Medical School?
Tori Whitlow, MS 3University of Maryland School of Medicine
March 28, 2012
20 years of School*
• Potomac Falls High School, class of 2005• St. Mary’s College of Maryland, class of 2009• University of Maryland School of Medicine, 2013
*and then there’s residency…
Residency Training• Intern = post-graduate year 1 (PGY-1)
• Resident = PGY-2 through PGY-?– Chief Resident: resident in final year of residency
training or year after residency training– Resident on Research Sabbatical (surgical)
Residency Training: How Long?
• 3 year residency: Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine
• 4 year residency: OB/GYN, Psychiatry, Pathology, Combined Residency– EM/IM– Med/Peds– EM/Peds– EM/FM
Residency Training: How Long?!• 5 year residency:– General Surgery, Orthopaedic
Surgery, Otolaryngology– Anesthesia, Dermatology,
Neurology, Ophthamology
• 6-7 year residency:– Neurosurgery, Plastic Surgery,
Urology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Vascular Surgery
– Diagnostic Radiology, Radiation Oncology
Fellowship Training
• Fellow: physician who has completed residency training in a specialty and is training within a subspecialty
• 2-3 year fellowship: Medicine, Pediatrics, OB/GYN
• 1-2 year fellowship: Surgical Specialties
Applying to Medical School
• College GPA• MCAT scores• Coursework• Work and experiences– Clinical, volunteer, leadership, research
• Letters of Recommendation• Personal Statement• Essays
Class of 2015• 4,808 total applicants• 539 interviews
conducted• 347 acceptances
offered• 159 new entrants
• Average GPA:– Science = 3.67– Overall = 3.71
• Average MCAT:– Verbal Reasoning = 10.09– Physical Sciences = 10.42– Biological Sciences = 10.75
Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR)
• Most reliable resource on medical schools– GPA and MCAT data for
each school– Class profiles– Education costs– Data on applicant
volunteer and research experience
My College Coursework
• Biology and Psychology major• Neuroscience minor
• Prerequisite courses:– Biological Sciences with lab– General Physics with lab– Inorganic Chemistry with lab– Organic Chemistry with lab– English
My Clinical Experience
• St. Mary’s Hospital student volunteer– Behavioral Health and Women’s Health Units
• Clinical technician at Loudoun Hospital– Intensive Care Unit
• Physician Shadowing– Surgical Oncologist, Neurosurgeon, Radiation
Oncologist
My Volunteer Experience
• St. Mary’s College Judicial Board
• St. Mary’s Hospital student volunteer coordinator
• Honors societies
My Leadership Experience
• Member of the executive board:– St. Mary’s Advising Students in Health (SMASH)– Psi Chi– Omicron Delta Kappa
• Biology teaching assistant
My Research Experience
• U.S. Geological Survey, Stable Isotopes Lab
• Independent Research Project:– Genetics laboratory– Microbiology laboratory
• Directed Research in Psychology
• St. Mary’s Project in Neuroscience
Medical School: What to Expect
Year 1• Structure & Development• Cell & Molecular Biology• Functional Systems• Neuroscience• Introduction to Clinical
Medicine I
• “The Last Summer”
Year 2• Host Defenses &
Infectious Diseases• Pathophysiology &
Therapeutics• Introduction to
Clinical Medicine II
• USMLE Step 1
Medical School: What to Expect
Year 3• Core Clerkships
– Internal Medicine– Surgery– Family Medicine– Neurology
– Psychiatry– Pediatrics – Obstetrics &
Gynecology
Year 4• Sub-Internship Rotations• Elective Rotations• Rural Medicine Rotation
• Away Elective Rotation(s)
• USMLE Step 2– Clinical Knowledge (CK)– Clinical Skills (CS)
My “Last Summer”
• Backpacking in England and Scotland
• Medical mission trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua with International Service Learning
University of Maryland Medical Center:Face Transplant!
• 36 hour surgery on March 19-20, 2012 at Shock Trauma Center at UMMC
• Multidisciplinary Team– Plastic, Reconstructive, and Maxillofacial Surgery– Transplant Surgery
Face Transplant
• 37 year old who lost his lips and nose and was left with only limited movement of his mouth after a gun accident in 1997
“We utilized innovative surgical practices and computerized techniques to precisely transplant the mid-face, maxilla and mandible, including teeth and a portion of the tongue… the transplant included all facial soft tissue from the scalp to the neck, including the underlying muscles to enable facial expression, and sensory and motor nerves to restore feeling and function…”
– Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez
Face Transplant• Most extensive full-face
transplant to date!• Anonymous donor gave
organs to save 5 additional lives over 72 hours at UMMC– Liver– Heart– 2 Kidneys– Lung
Questions?