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Young and Successful

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Office of Pre-Health Advising and Mentoring Issue 1 Volume 1 December 2014 University of Miami

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Meet the Staff

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BE PREPARED! How to ace your medical school interview

When preparing for any interview the fear of the unknown is one of the most nerve-wracking things to deal with. Luckily, Dr. Deborah Gutman, an emergency medicine specialist, hosted an InGenius Prep Webinar to calm those nerves and help you ace your med school interview. Dr. Gutman opened the webinar with a few key points that are essential to understanding how to conquer your interview jitters. She says, you will know you’ve nailed the interview when you leave with a feeling that you nailed it. Also, you are looking for that feeling of connectedness. “A human’s nature is to remember outliers, interviewers are going to remember how you made them feel,” Dr. Gutman said. She goes on to explain that most times, when interviewers are jotting down notes, they are pinpointing things that made them feel a certain way (good or bad) – not exactly what you said verbatim. Continued on page 2

The Office of Pre-Health Advising and Mentoring is here to help students, new and old, with all of their needs prior to health professional school. Meet the staff on page 4.

At just 32-years-old, Dr. John Nelson opened his own dental practice in Miami, Midtown Dental. Read more about how this life-long dream came to fruition on page 4.

Every pre-health student has a story to tell. Check out one such story on page 5.

A Day in the Life of a …

Dr. Deborah Gutman, M.D., M.P.H.

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(Continued) GUTMAN Continued Below are tips Dr. Gutman wants you to keep in mind when preparing for your interview.

1. Know the school.

• Understand what the school is about.

• Flattery gets you everywhere. • Do not go in cold, asking questions

that you can find the answers to on the internet.

• Look at the Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) resource and the school’s website.

Know their mission statement because this is very important to the school. It’s the primary purpose of that medical school.

Review their curriculum and their unique features.

Review and research the hospitals they work closely with.

Go to their website and notice how they market themselves.

2. Bring a desire to learn.

• Read comments on The Student Doctor Network, but remember to take them with a grain of salt.

3. Know yourself.

• They want to invest in your story. • Get them to want to fight for you. • Have a clear image of yourself.

Be sure to visit the Office of Pre-Health Advising and Mentoring’s website and Blackboard site to receive announcements, updates,

special interest course notices, and more.

Committee letter interviews for the 2016 cycle can be scheduled now. Interviews will be held weekdays from February 2 through May 29. Call or stop by the office to make your appointment.

Forms/Documents for the 2016 health professional school application cycle will be posted on our website, on blackboard, and in our office by mid-January.

Information on spring 2015 Pre-Health Sessions will be available early February on our website, blackboard site, and in our office.

You may still sign-up in the office to be a part of the Pre-Health Peer Mentor Program.

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• Dr. Gutman suggests two exercises to help with knowing yourself. Elevator Pitch – “Think of a 30-second speech that summarizes

who you are and why you would be a perfect candidate for that medical school. Market yourself and what you think you can bring to the table”, she says. However, she encourages you not to recite it for you possibly will come off fake.

Write a personal mission statement – Make it less about selling yourself and more about your goals. “Ask yourself, what value do I bring to the table? Where do I see myself in five years? Basically, what it is you stand for,” Dr. Gutman said.

4. Be yourself. • Talk about stories. • Create a conversation between you and the interviewers. • Interviewers are generally on your side – in Dr. Gutman’s words, “They

don’t want you to screw up!”

5. Be attentive. • Active listening – “…Really, really, good listening. Shut down the voices

in your own head,” Dr. Gutman says is something she has to do all day long with her patients. It also makes the interviewer feel valued and respected. Be sure to use physical and verbal communication to let them know you’re listening.

6. Be curious.

7. Be adaptable. • You may encounter an interviewer purposefully trying to throw you off

your game. • Don’t be so hard on yourself if you make a mistake. Instead focus on

how you will recover. • Be sure you come in and leave with a positive attitude.

8. Be current.

• Read the paper (local and national news). If there are any dull moments you can always bring up a current event.

• Know what’s going on in the world of medicine.

9. SMILE because it’s contagious.

10. Be gracious. • It makes you memorable. • Remember to say thank you to everyone in attendance. • “Treat everyone the same. From the janitor to the students you walk

past to the interviewers,” she said.

In summary, first impression is everything. No matter what we should always carry ourselves with poise and a sense of confidence that no one can break. An important thing that life has taught us all is to “be you”. People generally choose to work with those they enjoy being around so it’s important to be natural when going into an interview. Dr. Gutman also suggested (if possible) to follow-up your interview with a thank you note - ask the interviewer(s) at the end of your interview if this is okay.

Never forget that the body is the temple of the

soul.

-Dr. Mehmet Oz, Cardiothoracic

Surgeon, Author, and Television

Personality

Follow Dr. Oz on Twitter @DrOz

Fun Medical School Fact:

New York

has by far the most

medical schools, with 13.

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Prof. Michael Gaines, Director

Dr. Tiffany Plantan, Assistant Director

Ashley Montgomery, Sr. Administrative Assistant

Arnose Byfield, Sr. Administrative Assistant

Walk-ins Accepted As committee letter interview season approaches more and more students need questions answered. NO WORRIES, we are here to assist YOU! Stop by M-F 8:30 am to 5 pm to speak with Dr. Plantan or to schedule an appointment with Prof. Gaines.

Dr. John Nelson: True Meaning of Young and Successful

A graduate from Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Nelson earned his baccalaureate degree in chemistry from the University of South Florida and then attended Howard University's College of Dentistry. “Since I was basically 10 years old I’ve had this dream,” Nelson said. “When I went with my sister one day to her dentist appointment, the dentist allowed me to stay around and explore… ever since then I have had an interest for it.” In 2009 after Nelson passed his Florida Board exam he started working for someone. His ultimate goal then was to buy the practice of the doctor he worked for, but the two couldn't agree on terms. “It was then in 2012 that I made the decision to go out on my own and start hunting out different neighborhoods in Miami to start my own business,” Nelson said. He was approved for loans months later and although it has been “crazy for the past year and a half it's all been worth it.” So far, Nelson recalls the journey of opening his own office — which is fully equipped with modern sterilization systems and a friendly staff that Nelson hand-picked — hard work. “I wasn't expecting the business side of it to be so hard,” Nelson said. One of his mentors in the industry, Dr. Dirk Fleischman, DDS, gave Nelson a lot of beneficial advice when it came to the business aspect in addition to dentistry. Nelson said that although he received an above average education from Howard University, he wasn’t taught things like “how to operate, how to bill insurances or how to coordinate your staff.” Upon returning home from eight years of school, adjusting to Miami’s culture all over again was “pretty challenging.” Nelson currently is the President of the Miami-Dade County Dental Society, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, and a Ronald E. McNair Scholar.

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A Day in the Life of a…

Pre-Medical senior Ceshae Harding sheds light on her journey thus far

while a student at UM.

I knew I wanted to be a physician… after shadowing for my first time in the ER department at Jackson Memorial Hospital. I had pictured emergency medicine differently. We didn’t have any crazy cases, no blood and guts, no fresh gun-shot wounds, no hollering or screaming. We just had regular people, living without insurance who needed care. I realized that I loved the work of a physician in the hospital setting. I enjoy interacting with the patients and the patients enjoy interacting with me.

Choosing the right school is… a matter of finding a supportive environment where I know I will thrive.

The application process is… a lot easier than most people say, if you plan ahead and apply early.

I’m looking forward to my first day… as a faculty member at a medical school. I know it’s far into the future but I’m a big believer in voicing both your short and long term goals.

I’m anxious for… April 30th, the day I will have to finalize what medical school I will be attending.

The hardest thing… has been waiting to hear if I’ve been accepted after each interview.

I first heard about the Office of Pre-Health Advising and Mentoring… when I came searching for an undergraduate research opportunity. It doubles as the office of Undergraduate Research and Community Outreach. As a pre-health student, the personnel in this office have informed me of excellent research opportunities and helped me throughout the medical school application process.

Interested in advertising your club announcements and/or looking to share a personal experience about the health professional school

process in the next issue of this newsletter?

Contact Ashley Montgomery via email aam104@miami.edu.

Dental School Facts

Did You Know...? •There are 65 Dental Schools in 36 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

•The state of California has the most dental schools, at six.

•In 2013, only 13.4% of the applicants to dental school were from underrepresented minorities. Source: American Dental Education Association

•There are three dental schools in Florida: Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, School of Dental Medicine; Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine, Ft. Lauderdale; and University of Florida College of Dentistry, Gainesville.

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Optometry Facts Optometrists are

located in nearly 6,500 communities throughout the United States.

The optometry profession has a greater geographical distribution and thus optometrists are more accessible than other eye care professionals.

There are approximately 150 million wearers of corrective lenses (eyeglasses or contact lenses) in the U.S., representing slightly less than half the population.

Source (all above): American Optometric Association, 2011

FACT VERSUS MYTH:

DO PEOPLE SHRINK WITH AGE?

Memory isn’t the only thing that we may lose as we get older. According to research done by the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences (UAMS) our height can

begin to decrease as early as our 30s.

“Older adults can get shorter because the cartilage between their joints gets worn out and osteoporosis

causes the spinal column to become shorter,” says Dr. Pham Liem, a geriatrician at the UAMS Donald W.

Reynolds Institute on Aging.

Join UM’s Pre-Veterinary Society by contacting club president Becky Mencseli

r.mencseli@umiami.edu. ___

Visit aavmc.org for more information on how to

apply for the upcoming 2016 veterinary medical school application cycle.

To join UM’s pre-optometry club, OptomEyes, contact President Amanda Reyes a.reyes14@umiami.edu.