Meet A Visiting Med Student

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, I'm joined by third year medical student at Jeff Mercy Jefferson, Anuya Akala, and you are from the great state of New Jersey. Welcome to Missouri. And your your rotation, so I just learned that there's you guys go through different rotations and you're currently in surgery. How's that going?

SPEAKER_01 0:16

It's going pretty well. It's definitely very interesting.

Fears About Cost And Tests

SPEAKER_00 0:19

I bet. Yeah, that's why you guys do it and I don't. So I'm going to ask you a question here about if you're a high school junior sitting at home that may be a little bit fearful of the cost of medical school, the confidence to get into medical school, thinking about the MCATs. Kind of what was your path to getting into LeeCom? What advice would you give them?

Removing Barriers And Choosing Home

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yep, of course. So I applied to LeeCom during my senior year of high school, actually, and I actually kind of stumbled across the program a month before I applied. And it was honestly the best choice I've ever made because during my 11th grade of high school, I was struggling with the SATs. And I knew I was passionate about the medical field, but I was worried that taking the MCAT would be a struggle for me, especially because I had testing anxiety. So that the 3 plus 4 program that I was in LeeCom had a no MCAT requirement and just a GPA requirement. And that really gave me the confidence boost to make sure that I would fulfill my dream of going to medical school. And also allowed me to relax the first three years and not stress about exams and just like learn as much as I can about the medical field. And also it also allowed me to have a little leeway on choosing where I wanted to go to undergrad. I wasn't really ready to move away from home, so I chose an undergrad that was closer to home and then proceeded to go to Lee Comm and Erie, which is a little farther away from home when I was ready.

How She Heard About It

Where To Go Next

SPEAKER_00 1:40

What a great story, because that's really what this program is about is removing those barriers. Test anxiety is a real thing. I know that as a former principal and teacher, that some kids just really struggled on tests. But then also that path to that maybe you didn't want to go, you know, across the country to a medical school, maybe it was the only one you could get into, and the pressure off the MCAT. If you want to join us a little bit more about her story, we're going to do a deeper podcast. But if you're a junior in high school and you're looking at the field and you have any questions at all, I definitely recommend reaching out to LeeCom and their and their connection crew to at least lay the path forward. Real quick, how'd you stumble upon it?

SPEAKER_01 2:17

I had a friend tell me about the program actually. Really? Yeah, and it was a month before I applied, and I'm so glad they did, and figured out about more programs as well.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Gotcha. Very good. We'll get back to you in a little longer podcast, but thanks for being here today.