The Pre-Med Playbook
The Pre-Med Playbook is the definitive roadmap for the next generation of physicians, hosted by Casey Pearce to deconstruct the pre-med journey from freshman year to the White Coat at NYITCOM at Arkansas State. This series provides a localized, end-to-end perspective on the medical school pipeline, offering direct access to the faculty and students navigating the Arkansas healthcare landscape. By transforming the daunting path to medical school into actionable steps, Casey and his guests provide the structure to turn a dream into a clinical reality at Arkansas State.
Episodes
12 episodes
Pivot and Practice: Shaping Your Medical Career
Choosing a medical specialty dictates the trajectory of your entire career and daily work-life balance. Dr. Sam Palmer breaks down how family medicine training equips physicians to handle everything from rural ERs to private outpatient clinics....
Zero Debt Doctors: Navigating Military Medicine
Medical school debt dictates the future of too many young physicians. With tuition costs climbing and federal loan programs shifting, finding alternative funding paths is an immediate priority for incoming medical students. Student Dr. John Bro...
Finding Community: Why You Can't Do Med School Alone
Burnout is a silent career killer for first-year medical students. With orientation season wrapping up and the academic pressure cooker officially turning on, aspiring physicians need to know exactly what they are walking into before the worklo...
Consistency Beats Intensity: How to Study for Med School
The shift from undergraduate studies to medical school will quickly punish anyone relying on last-minute cramming. With incoming classes preparing to step onto campus and pre-meds planning their future applications, understanding the daily real...
Career Pivot Reality: Medicine in Your 30s and 40s
You are going to be that age anyway, so you might as well be that age with a medical degree. The fear of being the "old" student in the lecture hall stops too many capable people from pursuing a career in medicine, but non-traditional applicant...
Study Smarter: Crushing Med School's First Year
You can be the “smart kid” your whole life and still get humbled fast by the first year of medical school. Right after finishing their last exam, three NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine students sit down with me to unpack what the transition...
Beat the MCAT Roadblock: The Post-Bacc Bridge
Med school dreams don’t always follow a straight line, and that doesn’t make them any less real. We sit down with three NYITCOM students who took a post-bacc Master of Biomedical Sciences (BMS) route before starting a Doctor of Osteopathic Medi...
Debt Without Panic: Smart Medical School Budgeting
The number that freaks people out is easy to say and hard to picture: $300,000. We wanted to slow that down and make it real, so we sat with Dr. Shane Speights, Dean of NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State, and Dr. Vicki Walke...
A 'Special' Decision: Deciding the Right Medical Specialty for You
Most people think choosing a medical specialty is a single decision you make near the end of med school. We see it as a long chain of moments: the first patient you connect with, the rotation that surprises you, the mentor who challenges you, a...
Med School Survival: Finding Time and Studying Smarter
The MCAT can feel like a gatekeeper, and a “perfect” timeline can feel like the only timeline. We sit down with three NYITCOM Arkansas medical students who prove that neither is true. Their stories include a strategic gap year for MCAT prep and...
The Passion Behind the Medical Application
The medical school admissions process feels confusing for a reason: it is part academics, part storytelling, and part long-term planning. We sit down with our NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine team at Arkansas State University, plus a curren...