Have you met Patty? Patty Prehealth is our tool to exemplify a well-rounded pre-health student. She is not a strict formula to follow, but rather a reminder of the components of a well-rounded applicant. Learn more about Patty below!
Patty begins with her head, or the grades component. This highlights the importance of grades and the idea that grades build a strong core for students to build off of. Next, Patty's arms include health professions experience and community service.
Students are encouraged to explore multiple health professions experiences to gain insight into careers and to find the right fit. Things like shadowing and informational interviews or working as an EMT or CNA are great ways to gain exposure to various careers in the healthcare field. On top of this, community service helps connect students with issues that they are passionate about in the community; whether this is fighting food insecurity, supporting education, or working with animals, there is something for everyone.
Moving on to her hands, these represent leadership and research experiences. These typically come next in a student's pre-health journey and are ways to demonstrate responsibility and action. Leadership comes in many forms like being a WOW leader, captain of an intramural or club sports team, or a club officer (just to name a few). And research gives students the opportunity to work with faculty to gain hands-on experience that applies material from classes in a tangible way.
When students get to the point where they have decided on a career/grad school path and have taken adequate courses, they will prepare for the entrance exam required for their specific professional school (MCAT, DAT, GRE, OAT, PCAT, etc).
Once a student is preparing to apply to schools, they enter the lower half of Patty: letters of reference and the personal statement. For these, resources on campus (i.e. Career Services and Pre-health Advising in CSM Student Services) can help guide and prepare students for these components of the application.
And finally, Patty's feet represent the end of the pre-health journey, or the application and interviews. This is the final accumulation of all of the above experiences. Students showcase their passions and involvement to the admissions teams as they navigate through the applications and eventually meet admissions staff in person for interviews.
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