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.
The Pre-Med Playbook
Med School Survival: Finding Time and Studying Smarter
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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 clinical hours, a nontraditional route that includes a biomedical sciences master’s program, and five gap years shaped by burnout, patient care work, and the realities of COVID. The common thread is perseverance paired with smarter preparation, not luck.
We get specific about what helps pre-med students most: how to decide on a gap year, how to turn clinical experience into confidence, and how admissions committees often value growth over a single test day. We also tackle common myths from online forums, like the idea that research has to start immediately or that medical school leaves no room for friends or hobbies. The students share practical strategies for efficient studying, “parallel study” with classmates, and building a routine that prevents burnout while keeping grades strong.
You’ll also hear concrete guidance on picking a major, finishing prerequisites, and which undergrad courses tend to pay off in the first year of medical school, including immunology, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, and anatomy. If you are applying to medical school, planning your MCAT, or wondering whether you are “behind,” this conversation brings clarity, calm, and actionable next steps.
Subscribe for more pre-med and medical school advice, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review with the biggest question you want us to answer next. @arkansasstatemedianetwork
Welcome And Meet The Students
SPEAKER_03Welcome to the Pre-Med Playbook Podcast. I'm your host, Casey Pierce, with NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine. We're here on the Arkansas State Media Network. NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine operates a branch of our medical school in partnership with Arkansas State University on the Jonesboro campus. And we're here to provide some insight for med school hopefuls, for med school applicants, pre-med students to help you navigate that process and hopefully become a physician. Like these three are currently in the process of becoming right now. I'm joined by three of our medical students from our NYIT Commodase State campus. They're going to tell you guys a little bit about their journey today, how they got to become medical students, and hopefully give you guys some great advice to help you all as you navigate that process. So I'm going to start by just asking you three to introduce yourself. Corey, tell us who you're from, who you are, where you're from, and what specialty you eventually want to pursue as a physician.
SPEAKER_02All right. Again, uh, hi everyone. My name is Corey Gillespie. I'm originally from Memphis, Tennessee. Especially, I'm interested in pathology, uh, also interested in internal medicine and radiology.
SPEAKER_03Awesome. And Emma, tell us a little bit about yourself.
SPEAKER_00Hi, I'm Emma. I'm from Valonia, Arkansas. And right now I'm thinking emergency medicine and possibly going into critical care afterwards.
SPEAKER_01And Stephen, how about you? My name's Stephen Benedict. Um, I'm originally from Panama City Beach, Florida, and I'm interested in emergency medicine.
SPEAKER_03Awesome. So you guys all three took a little bit different paths, and I want to speak specifically to uh to
Gap Year Choices And Clinical Work
SPEAKER_03that. I'm gonna start actually here with Emma. Emma, you went to undergrad at Arkansas State University. I did. And which is a unique experience to now get to go to medical school on that same campus. Tell me about uh what you studied and just kind of your path to get here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um my undergrad degree is in bio biological sciences. I also got a minor in Spanish while I was here. Um I graduated in May of 2023 and I started medical school in fall of 2024. So I took a gap year in between where I worked and got some clinical experience before applying and starting up medical school.
SPEAKER_03Why did you take that gap year? And what would you recommend, how would you recommend students make that decision?
SPEAKER_00So I took a gap year because my when I was approaching my senior year in at Arkansas State, I didn't feel ready um to take the MCAT or to apply. And so I decided that it would be better to take a gap year so I could have, you know, dedicated time to study for the MCAT so I could perform well and um get some more clinical experiences. What I really wanted is to just beef up my resume, really.
SPEAKER_03And what did you do? I'm sorry, from that clinical experience. What specifically were you doing?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I was a medical assistant actually at a pain clinic um in Little Rock. And I was just helping around the clinic. I did a lot of stuff, learned a lot.
SPEAKER_03Awesome.
Nontraditional Route Through A Master’s
SPEAKER_03Corey, you took a little bit of a non-traditional path. Um, tell us about where you went to undergrad, your major, and then kind of the path that you took to get to eventually to medical school.
SPEAKER_02Um, all right, I'll try to make it brief. Let's see. Um I went to undergrad at Morris College in Atlanta, Georgia. Um, my major was biology. Um after that, I did research, breast cancer research at Morris School of Medicine. Um, from there, I went to Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and got a master's degree in biomedical science. Then this happened because I took the MCAT, but my score wasn't good. So um I went to the master's route and then I used that time to retake to study to retake the MCAT again. I took the test again. My score still didn't, it still wasn't a great score. So from there I started teaching. Um, I still had the desire to go to medical school. I didn't lose that burn or that drive. So I just kept applying. Long story short, um I applied to NYIT. Um, I didn't get in, but I got invited to the master's program here and it worked out great. And so I came here, did the master's program, um, the biomedical science program. And then from there, I received acceptance to medical school the following year after completing the master's program. So your story is one of perseverance. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Uh and so you can encourage students who, I mean, if this is your dream, keep after it. There's a way to get there, right?
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah. You got to have the support too, though. So it's not only because I was working hard, people supported me along the way as well.
SPEAKER_03But specifically, the NYITCOM, uh, we offer a Master of Biomedical Sciences program on the Jonesburg campus. Right. And that's something that you took advantage of. What did you get out of that program and how has it helped you in your first year of RDO program?
SPEAKER_02Um, let's see. So I would say one of the things I got out of it was transitioning from life that's not in clinical or medical. It helped me think more clinical because one of the reasons I don't think I was doing as well on my exams is because I didn't think clinically. I just didn't know how to think that way. So that's one thing. And I think the second thing was study skills, test taking, and like learning how to study with like a lot of material, but a short amount of time. It helped me adapt. It helped me adapt to the pace and speed of what medical school is like because I really wasn't ready for that. And without that master's program, I wouldn't, I would have been accepted, but I also wouldn't be doing decent in first year if I didn't do the master's program.
SPEAKER_03Tell me what you mean by think clinically. Break that down for me.
SPEAKER_02What does that mean? Um so uh I had the bat I have the bachelor's in biology, but then I did research. And when you do research, you think long, you think you you think maybe way too deep about some things, and you're not shallow enough, and sometimes you're just not trying to get to the clinical answer. And um, and in the medical world, you you're trying to figure out what's clinically wrong and what can we do about it. And I I really wasn't thinking that way. And I think I was taking some of my biology, biological science questions on the MCAT. I was struggling on them because I was thinking about them as a researcher and not as a clinician. So it's kind of a long answer, but that's kind of what I got for the master's program. That and how to study, but how to study is really like how do I approach each week of the material because it's different every week.
SPEAKER_03Well, and we're trying to give these pre-med students some advice on ways to approach all of this process. So I think that's some really good perspective. Thank you for that. Stephen, want to want to ask you as well. Uh, you had a little bit of a wider gap between undergrad and medical school. Tell us where you went to uh to college, what you studied, and then tell us your your career uh path, just how you got to medical
Five Gap Years And Real Hospital Experience
SPEAKER_03school.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So I like I said, I'm originally from Panama City Beach, Florida. I did my undergrad at uh Lyon College in Batesville. Uh I got a major in biology and then I mired in chemistry and psychology. I also played football while I was there. So when I graduated, I took DMCAT. Uh I didn't score well on it. So I took time to reflect and uh I realized that I was kind of burnt out from school from practicing all the time and studying all the time. So I made the decision to take five gap years. I didn't make the decision to take five gap years right out the gate. I was only going to take one, but then I started working at UAMS as a patient care tech and a nurse assistant, and then COVID came. So then I just I didn't want to go to med school through COVID. I wanted to continue working to get more experience clinically. Um I wanted to gain the experience of talking to patients, uh, the hands-on experience of actually caring for patients before I came to med school. So I just I took the MCAT a few more times after that. It still didn't do well, but I didn't I didn't give up. I still applied and I gave myself a shot to get into med school. And ultimately I ended up here at NYTCOM at Arkansas State.
MCAT Myths And Staying Motivated
SPEAKER_01Awesome.
SPEAKER_03So you all three have mentioned the MCAT, and what we know is the MCAT has a big impact on where you get into medical school, if you get into medical school. But NYT, we've publicized the fact that we don't show that it has a lot of impact on how well you do once you get into medical school. And Emma, you're nodding, so I'm gonna let you take that thought first.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think the MCAT is a really big hurdle for a lot of pre-med students. It weeds a lot of people out. And I want to say, like, don't let it stop you because it really doesn't, it's completely different from what you're gonna be learning in medical school. I a lot of my classmates didn't perform that well on the MCAT, and they're honoring here in medical school. Like they're succeeding and they're doing amazing things. So I mean, I didn't do the best on the MCAT, and it was really discouraging. I took it twice, um, and only a one-point difference between the two times. And it's really discouraging, but you just have to have the mindset like that you can do it. And um, as long as you can keep that mindset, you can you can do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Corey, you want to follow up on that? I think my only thought about it, first of all, I said I took it five times. I took three different versions of the test. I first took the test in 2011, so I'm an old guy. Um, I I think the only thing about it is it it shows that you like you're you you want to do something. So it's like the it's like a benchmark. You should take this because you want to do it. And I think that it has some indication of how you may do, but like she said, each school is different. And yeah, I I'm performing now better here than I did in undergrad. So right.
SPEAKER_03Then Steve, I want to give you a chance there too. Do you have any thoughts to yeah?
SPEAKER_01I'll just add to it. If if you don't score what you want to score on the MK your first time, don't give up. Take it again. And if you see an improvement in your score, that's a win. Like you improved, you gained knowledge, and it shows like the med school uh admission committees that you did what you needed to do to improve. It may not be what you wanted, but you did the best you could to improve. And like they said, it doesn't matter how you do on it. What matters at the end of the day is how you study in med school and what your grades are like in med school because no one is going to ask you what you got on the MCAT five years from now when you're practicing as a resident or you're an attending.
SPEAKER_03Right. Yeah, you know, we went into this saying we were going to address some myths, and I was going to get some to some specific questions about that, but that's one that I think is kind of has framed up is uh a myth that an an MCAT defines your entire medical career. May and maybe that's a little bit over the top, but uh I think that's good advice to give our listeners about um how you guys navigated that process. You're now in medical school and thriving, um, and that's not necessarily been a barrier. Well, uh, want to move forward specifically. So you all
Choosing A Major And Prereqs
SPEAKER_03three have biology degrees. Is that correct? Yeah. So um, but you have classmates maybe that studied chemistry, psychology, um, other things. You all have said that that was the right choice for you all. Is that the same advice you would give pre-med students? You should major in biology, a real hard science.
SPEAKER_01I w I would say do whatever you're interested in. If you want to major in Spanish, major in Spanish, but just know that you're gonna have to take the prerequisites to get into med school. So when you're talking speaking with your advisor at Arkansas State, let them know, hey, I want to do Spanish. I want to do I don't know, agriculture. I know Arkansas State's a big agricultural school. Let them know that, but let them know you also want to go to med school so they can register you for the classes that you need to get into med school. I did go to undergrad with some kids who were Spanish majors and they're all went to med school, they're residents, and they enjoyed it. So I don't think you necessarily have to do a whole biology course, course load or chemistry course load or science, what whatever science you choose. I think you can do what you want. Do what makes you feel happy.
SPEAKER_00I do think it's beneficial, the biology degree, because it's kind of the coursework's kind of laid out there for you. And my degree specifically was built for a pre-professional student. So, like if you want to go to dental school, vet school, whatever, post-grad school, um, it was kind of built that way. So you get all your prereqs in it. So I felt that was most beneficial. But as Stephen said, if you're not interested in biology, you don't like it, and you like history or you like English, go do that. But just make sure that you have the time and the wherewithal to do the prerequisites that are required for medical school as well.
SPEAKER_02Corey, how about you? Uh I think for me, um, I'll first uh address the question. I think that no, you don't have to, as they stated, you don't have to be a biology major. Um, one of the reasons I chose biology is because at the time it was like if you didn't do biology, you would be ranked down as far as an applicant. Well, and that's not true now. Um, I think you should imagine, as Steve said it, you uh you should imagine whatever you choose because you want to do something that you like so that you can do well at it. And you also don't want to have a degree, I'm sorry, you don't want to have a major that's straining down on your GPA. So if you get a if you get a major that you actually like and you thrive in it and you do well, and you then you do those prereqs, it'll strengthen your GPA and then it'll make you look better as an applicant, but also you just enjoy school more. Um, I I that would probably be my take on it. So you don't have to major in biology. On the flip of what Emma said, I think that it makes it a little easier when you're learning new materials. So if you've never had some of the physiology courses or some of the coursework when you get to medical school, then it could be a down or then. But if you're a smart student, you can figure out how to learn. I don't think it matters, but it's just kind of personal preference.
Undergrad Classes That Pay Off
SPEAKER_03And there are some prerequisites that we do require. Um, and I don't want to speak off the cuff or miss some of those, but I do want to speak to were there specific courses that you all pulled out that okay, I I recall that, I lean back on that. I am glad that I took that. I'm glad I had that base.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I definitely think um immunology was an elective for my degree, and I think I pulled on that most out of anything, especially in FOM. Those lectures I remember, everybody hated immunology. It was like the bane of everyone's existence. And I was like, you know what? Some of this is familiar. Um, it was still hard, but I was still able to recall on that and um, you know, use that knowledge from undergrad as well in genetics too. Everybody hates genetics, but I love it. I had a great professor in undergrad. Um, so it makes a difference. Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_03FOM Foundations of Osteopathic Medicine. Oh, yes, yeah, which is one of our first year core courses. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_03Awesome. Stephen or Corey, either one of y'all want to take any Stephen a specific class that you I drew from biochemistry a lot.
SPEAKER_01I know in medicine, biochemistry is one of the tougher subjects, but I feel like if you get a good grasp on it in undergrad, you understand it, then coming into med school, biochemistry is one of the first subjects you learn, and you can succeed at it. You have a great knowledge base of the stuff you learned in undergrad, then it would make your studying easier. It would make that whole first year a little bit easier for you.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. And Craig, for me, it's a two-part answer. Um, the class, I would say for me, uh it's been on physiology. In my undergrad, it was called human physiology. But it's strange because it was only physiology with no anatomy. So, in my opinion, I think if a student could take anatomy, I think anatomy would be most beneficial because the first time I had anatomy as a student was in medical school. I've never had anatomy before. That was actually difficult. But by having the physiology alone, a lot of the anatomy they taught in the course, I was like, I've kind of heard this before, but hadn't seen it. So um, since I've had the physiology, it really, really helps. So that would be the course I would say was human physiology. But if it's best if you can get the anatomy and physiology combined. Or if it's gonna be isolated, straight anatomy. Because I think if you understand the anatomy, it helps with the osteopathic learning, but it also helps with the textbook and throughout all our courses as well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that that's great advice. You know, we said we were gonna get to specific myths.
Debunking Med School Myths
SPEAKER_03There's a lot of information out there, especially, you know, Reddit, Student Doctor Network, uh, and just a simple Google search is gonna bring you up a million different opinions. But I just want to speak kind of very open question. Are there things you've heard, maybe advice that you've heard student, something you've heard a pre-med student say, um, that you're just like, no, no, no, no, that's just not the case. Um, I want to give you guys an opportunity to provide to break some myth. Is there anything out there you've heard that you just looking back think is crazy?
SPEAKER_00I think a lot of pre-med students, I was um an orientation leader this past year for the incoming first year class. And a lot, I had a lot of students come and ask, like, even before school had started, like, how can I get involved in research? Like, I really want to do this competitive specialty. What do I need to do? And I'm like, honestly, you need to pass your courses. You need to focus on school. A lot of people don't do research until like the summer after their first year. Is that that's when they'll really start? And so I think that's a especially if you want to do something competitive like dermatology or um like neurosurgery or whatever. Um, I think that's a cause of anxiety for a lot of people is that they always feel like they're not getting it doing enough. And I I think it's um just take a step back, take a breath, pass your courses first and worry about the rest later.
SPEAKER_01Stephen or Corey? I would say one of the big myths that's out there is you don't have time for anything. We sh should probably put that to rest as students going forward. If you study effectively and efficiently, you will have time to hang out with your friends, you will have time to to golf, to play video games, to do whatever you like to do. But you have to study efficiently and effectively to be able to have that time. I hang out with my friends pretty much two or three times a week. In the afternoons, I'm not studying and I'm doing great. So I think that's a big myth that needs to be debunked that you won't have time in med school to do things. You absolutely will if you put in the time like to make a great study schedule and you stick to that study schedule as long as it's working for you. If it's not working, then you need to find something that works for you. But I would say making time to do things with your friends or extracurriculars that you like will help reset you so you're not burnt out going through med school. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03That's that's I think that's good advice. And Corey, what about you?
SPEAKER_02Anything come to mind? I don't think it comes to mind, which is kind of like a sub thought of what Steve said, um, is uh people I heard a few physicians tell me it would be the worst part of my life, worst time of my life. Um, and while it's definitely challenging, I'm a first year, but while it's definitely challenging, um, I don't think that it's the worst, worst time of my life. So I I don't know if anyone's thinking that, oh, I'm just gonna do another career that may be okay, that I may like, and it should be fine 20 years from now. But then they're still itching and thinking maybe I should have done medical school because they love it or they're interested and they really would be good at it. It's I don't think it's the worst time of your life. Yeah, you're learning, and um, we have classes that that show us like we learn the skill, but then we use the class, we use what we learned in those classes to use those skills, and you almost sometimes get instant gratification like, I'm only learning a little, but I can see the impact that it could have. So I don't think it's the worst, worst time of your life ever.
SPEAKER_03Anything worth doing is gonna have some challenges. There's lots of elements of life that are gonna be hard. I mean, early in a career, going out to is gonna be hard. So I think that's really good advice. And I think kind of what you're pulling out of that is you got to find joy in what you do no matter your circumstance. And even though this is hard, you guys have a pretty good support system around you. Is that all yeah accurate?
SPEAKER_00You gotta find your people that are willing to push you and you push them. And if you're if you find those people, you're gonna be successful.
SPEAKER_03That's something you bring up too, that I think specifically at our medical school at NYIT Commode State, uh, the student camaraderie is a good thing. You I think students come in with this perception that all medical students are overachievers or super competitive, you're fighting for the top grades. I know it, I think that's a myth to kind of address. At our school, I've heard that you all cheer for each other, that there's not that race to the top pushing each other down. Is that fair to say?
SPEAKER_01I would say it's a fair assumption.
SPEAKER_00I would say so. I'm just trying to pass maintenance. Right. I'm not trying to beat anyone and nobody's I don't feel like anybody's trying to come for me either.
SPEAKER_01So I feel like it's I mean, you can't do med school alone. I know a lot of us in undergrad study by themselves. You can't do that in med school. You have to have friends to study with, you have to have other classmates to ping ideas off of, let them teach you something, you teach them. It's it's a group effort. Medicine is a group effort, especially when you're in the hospital or in a clinic setting. You have nurses, you have other professionals that are there with you. So why not make studying a group effort? Uh I know exams are not, you have to take this by yourself, but don't study alone. I mean, you get you can get real depressed studying alone. You're you don't see anybody, you're not talking to nobody. Make it a group effort, rely on your classmates, ask them questions, and you'll succeed.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. Or go ahead. No.
SPEAKER_00I was just gonna say that I agree with that, but um, sometimes, like I know me and my friends, we study together, but we're not necessarily always studying the same thing. We kind of parallel study is what I like to call it. We're in the same room, we're all locked in, focused on our own thing. It sometimes we'll ask each other questions, but for the most part, it's just the having somebody else there that's doing, you know, something similar to you, I think is important as well.
SPEAKER_02I think the only thing I can add to that is no matter what type of learning you are or study person you are, I think you can find, you can find your person no matter what type of study. Well, like if you like isolated, if you don't like isolated, if you like large groups, if you're like every day, you want to meet with people every day, only twice a week, once a week. If you want to have friends to go out with, you know, outside of class, I think no matter what type of student you are or how you approach the learning, I think there's someone in your class that will that will fit the mode. They will they will fit you and it'll make it fine. Um, you don't have to try to be, you know what I mean? You don't you you don't have to come in thinking like it's not gonna be good for me. There's gonna be you know five to ten people that really understand you.
SPEAKER_03Right. You're all going through this together. You I mean it's a camaraderie that people outside may not quite understand, but you all empathize with each other, that kind of process and challenges that right um, but also the successes that you all are getting to experience. Yes. So looking back to when you were a pre-med, what's something that you know now that you wish you had known then?
Study Skills And Time Management
SPEAKER_03Does anything come to mind now that you're experiencing this, now that you're living this?
SPEAKER_01How to study. Knowing how to study really makes it your life a lot easier. You're not pulling all nighters, you're learning the material and actually understanding it instead of just memorizing the material. So, like I said earlier, you're being more efficient with your studying. You're not just sitting there looking at the material saying, Oh, I know this. I don't you're actually understanding it. You know how to apply it when it's asked in three different ways. Or if they ask you a question and then it's a fourth order question, and you're like, Oh, I can I know this, but I don't know that. That's something that you have to learn to do in med school is study. And I wish I knew that in undergrad because it would have made undergrad so much more easier.
SPEAKER_03So you say you wish you knew how to study better. How do you study differently in medical school than you did in undergrad?
SPEAKER_01Well, in undergrad, I would just I would look at the lectures and I would write on the PowerPoints and just I would try to memorize them. Um, I would really wouldn't understand what I was looking at. I would pull all nighters. I really wasn't efficient with my time. In med school, now I I watch the lectures, I take condensed notes and I compare them with the board studying material that is provided to us. That way I'm studying the stuff that is most likely gonna pop up on test. And then I do questions. The reason I do questions is they're gonna ask those questions on board. So if I see them multiple times in a row or the different ways they ask the questions, it's gonna make me think differently. So the day I get to my board exam, it's I've seen that question asked four or five different ways. So I'm understanding the material and I'm not just memorizing a fact that I can't apply on test day.
SPEAKER_03That's good advice. Emma Corey, either of y'all something that you know now that you wish you'd know then.
SPEAKER_00Time management skills. Um, at least in our curriculum, it's asynchronous lectures. So we get them in video form and it's up to you what you do with that. They give us resources and everything we need to succeed. But in undergrad, it was like, okay, you have you have these classes five days a week and you have lab and then you go to work, and that was my schedule. And now I'm I don't have work. I don't even have class. I have lab a couple of times a week, but um, it's something you have to, I treat it like a job. Um, I show up at eight, I leave at five, and that's my job, and I study all day.
SPEAKER_02I think for me it's about um, how would I put it? It's about it's not like a one one size fits all. So I think if I can go back and tell my older self, or as I'm telling the undergrads or the premiers now, how you study for chemistry might not be the way you study for biochemistry or biology or even your English course. I for me, I found that like some things that work in medical school for some courses don't work for others. And I think not being too rigid, not being too rigid and thinking like, well, this worked in chemistry, so it must work in biology. So giving yourself some fluidity or some ability to make it on the adjustment and uh accept criticism maybe from your peers or your professors that like you should you should make this adjustment. Stick to whatever your stick to whatever your main bread and butter is, but if you need to make an adjustment to perform just slightly better in a particular discipline or area, then I think you can just make that adjustment. Um that's worked for me in medical school. So if I can go back to undergrad, I think I studied the same for all my classes. And it didn't work in all my classes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So we're getting kind of the end of our conversation, but I just kind of want to generically give you all, you know, what's some advice? What's a question that I haven't asked that if you were speaking to a pre-med audience right now that you want to make sure that they knew?
Final Advice Plus How To Connect
SPEAKER_00One of my uh favorite quotes here recently has been comparison is the thief of joy. Um everybody, as this panel shows, um, has a different journey to medical school and a different journey through life. So I don't think it's fair for you to compare yourself to your peers. Um, just know that if you're showing up for yourself and making sure that you're doing your best and every day and you're getting better every day, that's that's all you can really ask for. And you, and as long as you have the growth mindset and you know, your eyes are on the prize, you'll be successful.
SPEAKER_02Corey, any thoughts? Uh yeah. For me, I've always had mentors. Uh, and I'm currently a mentor to BMS students now. Um, I think no matter where you are, you're a freshman, sophomore, junior, or even already graduated and you're trying to figure out the path to get here, find a mentor because it's not that you can't do this without finding, you can't get you can get to this point without having a mentor. But I think it's easier to navigate it no matter where you are in your trajectory. If you have a mentor, specifically if it's someone in the medical field, but even if it's a medical student or someone that works at a medical school, if you can find that person, they keep you motivated, they keep you engaged, but they also you can go to them and check and they can they can more inform you what you should be doing each step along the way. So you just don't feel like that you're just out here isolated and no one sees you. If you have a mentor, that person can kind of guide you and kind of help critique you to make you a better applicant, applicant, but they could also be making you a better uh academic student at that point of where you are in your stage. Awesome.
SPEAKER_01And Steven, how about you? I would say that it's okay to fail. If you fail, it's not the end of the world. Some of the best minds in the world have failed multiple times. Like we said earlier, I took five gap years. I wasn't ready for med school at the time I graduated undergrad. And if you do some self-reflection and you realize that that about yourself, then take the time off. Uh, you can't be successful when you're worried about failing the entire time. So take some time off if you have to. Get your mind right, and then apply to med school. Med school's still gonna be here. No matter how many years you take off, it's still gonna be around. So I would say just if you want to live a few years of your life before you get into the grueling journey of med school, do it. No one's gonna fault you for it. No one's gonna tell you, oh, you're not gonna get into med school now. Just make sure that you're doing things at the right time, though, because grades and MCAT scores will technically expire or they won't take them after a certain amount of years. So make sure you're still keeping up with that if you have to. But I would say take time for yourself if that's what you need to succeed in med school. Do it before you're getting in.
SPEAKER_03Awesome. Well, I think you all have given some really good advice today. I've really enjoyed our conversation. If you want to learn more about our medical school, visit us online. It's nyit.edu slash Arkansas. We have some active social media channels. You can follow us on Instagram or Facebook at nyitcomar, as in New York Institute of Technology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Arkansas. I'll give that to you again since that's such a long name. It's our uh Instagram and Facebook addresses are at NYITCMAR. We hope you've enjoyed this conversation. We hope you'll check out our medical school and we hope to one day see you sitting wearing one of these white coats, just like these medical students are. For our friends Stephen, Emma, Corey, I'm Casey Pierce. Thanks for joining us on the pre med playbook.