A Changing Timeline
Written by Julia Kallet, Volunteer Chair of AMSA
As many pre-med students do, I like to plan ahead and think about the future, but one thing I struggled with as a first- and even second- year student was understanding that my plan could change. While there are certain aspects of pre-med life that require a stringent timeline (applications for example), your undergraduate experiences can be more flexible than those of other pre-meds or medical professionals. My first year, I spent a lot of time trying to create a plan for myself. I wanted a timeline for when I should complete certain classes, when I should study and take the MCAT, how many years of research I should complete, and basically anything else that would help me follow the path I thought all pre-meds followed. Don’t get me wrong, planning is great. There are certain opportunities that require planning, but I recommend you try to allow your grand plan to be flexible too. I’ll give you my timeline breakdown as an example:
First year: I thought I would be going to medical school right out of college. I honestly thought most people did that, and I had in my head that I would continue my education straight into the working world with no breaks in between levels of education. I was switching majors (which was change #1 in my plan) and still trying to find my place at Cal Poly. I had some health issues I was figuring out, but I was doing a little volunteering in the community, and I was just getting started in research by the end of the year, so I thought my original plan going to med school right after college was still doable.
Second year: After a summer of research I was starting to consider if an MD/PhD program would be a better fit for me, but I was worried that a seven year+ program would totally burn me out, so maybe taking a year off between undergrad and grad school could be an option. After learning more about studying for the MCAT and the classes that would be helpful for taking it, my plan changed more. I knew I wanted to study over the summer. While studying during the school year is definitely an option for many, I knew how I studied best and what would help me be the most successful, and studying over the summer was what would be best for me. It was looking like the summer after my 3rd year would be best mainly because of the classes I would have taken by that point. This would mean a gap year was in the works, and I opened up to the possibility of having some time between graduating and starting medical school to pursue other interests.
 Volunteering with the SLO Public Health Department teaching elementary school students about nutrition and physical activity Third year, Fall Quarter: After a full year of research at Cal Poly and another summer of research at home, I still loved it, but realized I didn’t really see research as a career for me. Volunteer experiences allowed me to explore something I never thought I would be interested in: education and teaching. |
I was finding myself more interested in public health fields, harm reduction, and preventative medicine. At this point, I had thrown the whole MD/PhD thing out the window. Not because I stopped liking research, but because I had new priorities.
Third year, Winter Quarter: I decided I wanted to get my CNA (certified nursing assistant) certification and planned to work as one during my gap year. I contemplated a variety of jobs (scribe, EMT, etc.) but felt CNA would provide a particular experience I had been looking for. After deciding on a course, I had also decided on the date I was going to sign up for the MCAT and what study course I wanted to take.
Now: I’m sure you know the timeline may be unknown for a little while because of COVID-19. It’s one of the reasons I thought I would share my ongoing timeline adjustments. I’m not going to lie; it’s been a whirlwind of anxiety, disappointment, and frustration. I like having a plan (which I’m sure you can tell by now). I can imagine many of you are frustrated too. Graduation is an unknown, maybe a summer internship was cancelled, you’re missing Spring in SLO. While having a plan is good, flexibility is important too, especially now when the timeline of the world is changing by the day. My one-gap-year plan might be extended to two or more if it takes a little while to return to “normalcy”.
I know that was a lot, and it’s just one timeline example. I’m sure any other AMSA officer would be happy to tell you a completely different one. Sure, we may all do research of some kind, volunteer somewhere, have shadowed someone, but all of those experiences can happen in any order, at any time, and look different for everyone. I think an important thing to consider when creating your timeline (that can and probably will change a little) is how YOU can be successful. There is no problem with modeling your plan after somebody else’s, but consider how you study best and under what conditions, what your interests are and which ones you would like to pursue (and they don’t have to be medical-related), and what kind of experiences you want to have. It could be studying abroad or other traveling, working a completely non-medical-related job for a little while before grad school, spending time seeing family, etc. There are some important experiences needed to get into med school, but there’s no set way.
My first-year self thought I just needed to keep on the path directly to becoming a doctor, but there really is no one path. It sounds cheesy, I know, but based on my experiences and from what I have learned from others, the best way for you to get to medical school or reach your goal in an enjoyable way is going to be through a plan that’s best for you. Not me, not some pre-med student at some other school or in some other state, but for you. Maybe you want to go to med school right out of college and that’s great. Maybe you take a few years after your time at Cal Poly to decide to apply, and that’s great too. And maybe you’re somewhere in the middle or really have no idea what you want to do right now. There’s no problem with that either. While it’s good to plan, your plan may also change a lot (possibly due to COVID-19). By keeping an open mind you may find opportunities that will help you be as academically, socially, emotionally, and physically successful as you can be.
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