Who are you.
Think about that.
That's an important question that every pre-medical student
is going to have to answer to get to the medical school
of their choice.
Over the next few minutes I'm going to dissect that question
and help you to answer,
"Who are you?"
Hi, my name is Kevin Ahern and I'm very happy today to be here
with you to describe the great adventure known as getting into
medical school.
It's a pathway that many students aspire to
and of course everybody gets there.
But everybody who goes that direction is very serious about
it and very curious about.
And so I've been working with medical students like yourself
for many, many years.
And I've worked in that time with hundreds not
thousands of them.
So I hope that the advice that I have to give you here today
would be helpful for you.
When I work with students and I think about what kinds of things
that matters, I will ask you the question for you to think about.
And that is, "Who are you?"
That's a very simple question.
Who are you?
And it's also a very deep question.
Who are you?
In the class I teach at Oregon State on this subject that's
the first thing the students have to answer.
And to be honest they struggle with it.
Struggling with that question is a difficult thing.
Because in a lot of cases people haven't thought about that.
Who are you?
What makes you, unique.
Because answering that question in a manner that defines you
uniquely as a person, is one of the most important things
that you can do.
You are an individual.
And one of the problems that students encounter in the
pathway to medicine, is they still are the sheep in the herd
mentality.
And they don't see themselves as distinct.
And they don't distinguish themselves.
That's what stands out to medical schools.
Learning to see yourself to define yourself creatively
and insightfully as a unique person is important.
Now when we think of uniqueness, we think about,
well maybe it's economic or maybe it's social.
Or maybe it's how brainy you are.
Well, in fact uniqueness comes in many, many ways.
And some of the most unqiue people are those who see
themselves creatively.
Being able to define themselves creatively is absolutely
an essential part of success of getting into medical school.
Now you've gone on this journey so far, you probably been in
school most of your life.
By this age of your life most people have done that.
How is it that schooling has shaped you?
But how is it also that the external things in your life
have shaped you?
Your growing up experiences.
Your economic environment.
What is it about you that has made you different
from everybody else.
And that's one of the most important things that you can
think about.
How are you different?
And emphasize that difference.
Now the importance of diversity that is really related to this
is essential.
When I say diversity, how is it that you are diverse,
that is unique, different from everybody else.
Diversity isn't just ethnic diversity which is the way
that many students see themselves.
Have you had to work your way through college?
Have you had to pay the bills?
Have you lived independently?
Are you married?
All of these things are elements of diversity.
Ethnic diversity is part of that.
But so too is economic diversity.
So too are the circumstances of your life.
Making sure that you can communicate and understand
that diversity is important.
Because of the things that medical schools are going to ask
in the application process is what makes you different.
How can you contribute to the diversity of our incoming class?
And students struggle with that because they have not given
thought to it.
So it's really important to be able to answer that question.
When I talk to students about medical school
and I'm giving them questions about,
"Ok, let's go through some practice questions."
One of the ones that I hear them struggle on is I say,
"Can you define the word professionalism?"
And they'll usually give me a two or three phase answer on
that question.
"Well, it's somebody who works hard."
"It's somebody who has great skills."
"Somebody who thinks about a problem very hard."
And all of those are really important elements of
professionalism.
But professionalism is a bigger grander thing.
And I'm going to say a few things about it here.
But I think it's important for you to understand
professionalism before you get too far into the process.
Because what you're going to be as a professional and you're
going to have to convince a group of professionals who are
considering your admission that you have what it takes
to be a professional.
Understanding your profession and the responsibilities that
go with that profession is really what professionalism
is about.
It includes your knowledge.
It includes your personality.
It includes ethics.
It includes the way you consider others in doing things.
I like to say that a professional is a person
who puts their clients, their patients, their whatever
out of their own interests.
That absolutely central to what a professional is about.
So being able articulately answering the question,
of what is a professional.
It something that I would really urge you to be able to do.
Because you never know when you can pull that out of
your back pocket and say,
"Okay, well, here's what I think about that."
We all know for preparation for medical school one of the things
all pre-medical students get involved with is involving.
That is, Well, what can I do?
What should I do to the community?
I want you to think about that.
And what I want you to think about is
not to ask the question,
"What's the right thing to do?"
That's one of the most common questions that students give me.
What's the right thing?
What should I be doing?
And so my answer to that is often times disappointing
to the students.
The answer to that question is you should do
what interests you.
There's no formula.
There's absolutely no formula for what works.
And the reason that there's no formula for that is
because it relates back to the uniqueness of you.
The more you try to do things to satisfy others, and the more you
try to do things that you percieve that the medical school
wants to see.
The less you will do things that interests you.
And the medical school absolutely wants to know that
you have pursued everything that you've done for you.
And if they percieved in any way, that you have been doing
things to satisfy somebody else.
Well, what that really says is, you're not an individual.
And individuals are what make it to the medical school.
And people who follow other sheep or other cows,
don't get there.