The Premed Years

(00:00) — Welcome and Early Roots: Kelsey describes growing up in a family of healthcare professionals and how watching her father's relationships with patients shaped her interest in medicine. (02:04) — Music vs. Medicine: Kelsey explains why she seriously considered a career in musical theater and how she decided she did not have to give up music to pursue medicine. (07:28) — Planting the Premed...

(00:00) — Growing Up Around Medicine: Hallie describes having two surgical physician associate parents and knowing from childhood that medical school was her path. (04:24) — Division I Fencing Meets Premed: How training at 5:45 a.m., attending class, and working overnight ER shifts defined her undergraduate years. (07:52) — Deciding to Delay, Not Quit: Why Hallie chose two gap years over dropping...

(00:00) — First Spark: How a hospital shadowing program in high school shifted Justin's view of medicine from negative to hopeful. (00:27) — Immigrant Family Expectations: The doctor-lawyer-accountant conversation that narrowed Justin's focus and why he's grateful for it. (04:34) — Choosing Seton Hall: Why staying close to home and picking a smaller school turned out to be the right call for stayi...

(00:00) — Born in India, raised in Canada: How early experiences with navigating healthcare planted the seed for a medical career. (03:03) — Canadian medical school odds: Why the stat-heavy, seat-limited system makes it one of the hardest paths in North America. (06:51) — First application cycle, zero interviews: What went wrong and what "being a perfect applicant" actually cost her. (09:02) — Sec...

(00:47) — Grandfather's Illness as Catalyst: Shemiele traces her interest in medicine to caring for her grandfather in Jamaica and losing him to a stroke. (02:30) — Immigrating in Sixth Grade: How moving to the US opened up possibilities she hadn't considered growing up in Jamaica. (05:37) — Deciding on Medicine in High School: The shadowing experience that confirmed she wanted to become a physici...

(01:57) — Father's passing at 13: the moment that pointed toward medicine (03:22) — Growing up in Nigeria with no doctors in the family (05:07) — Applying to med school in Nigeria and not getting in (06:53) — Leaving home at 17 on a scholarship to study in the UK (09:04) — Being premed in the UK with no advisor who understood US requirements (10:32) — Why US medical school was always the destinati...

(00:00) — First spark for medicine: Medical kit, microscope, and a fascination with how life works. (03:01) — Surgical tech discovery: How a quarter-life crisis and financial strain led Karen to a trade-school OR program during a UCLA gap year. (06:58) — Working and studying simultaneously: Managing OR swing shifts and on-call hours while finishing the last two years at UCLA. (12:35) — The seven-y...

(00:00) — Welcome and framing: What this conversation is for and who Dami is (00:40) — Growing up in Lagos: How health inequity planted the seed for medicine (02:16) — Medicine vs. public health: Why exposure shapes the choice (04:49) — Athletics first: Arriving in the U.S. and finding track and field before premed (06:13) — Picking a college for D1 throwing, not for premed academics (07:07) — Stu...

(00:00) — From physics to premed: Riley describes deciding to pursue medicine at the end of sophomore year after shadowing in medical physics. (03:37) — Patient transport as a first clinical role: what it taught him about hospital environments and patient interaction. (04:54) — Staying in the physics major: why switching wasn't necessary and how he fit in prerequisites. (08:24) — Building the prem...

(00:00) — Family in medicine: How a neurologist mom and a sister in pediatrics shaped Justin's early interest (03:28) — The chemistry PhD question: Why lab research pushed Justin back toward medicine (07:14) — Duke and the premed decision: Choosing a school and a major with med school in mind (09:40) — Applying straight through during COVID: The stress of a compressed timeline and limited clinical...

(00:00) — Pre-k graduation and "I want to be a baby doctor": Where the idea of medicine first appeared for Riya. (01:07) — Seventh-grade biology and Hashimoto's thyroiditis: The classroom moment that made medicine feel like a real possibility. (02:24) — Hospital volunteering in high school: First clinical exposure, patient interaction, and what sparked genuine interest. (04:57) — Discovering combi...

(00:00) — Welcome and origin spark: Kiki’s path starts without an “aha” and a teacher’s nudge changes everything. (02:24) — First shadowing, open-heart: A six-hour quadruple bypass leaves her captivated. (03:48) — Type B and present: Owning a goal without over-planning in high school. (04:29) — Balancing D2 hoops and premed: Small-school community and time management pay off. (07:19) — Burnout and...

(00:00) — Ear cleaning origin: A childhood earwax ritual lights the first spark for medicine. (01:25) — Writer first, then premed: Entering college for writing before finding patient care through EMT work. (02:10) — EMT on campus: Deescalation, student calls, and heavy mental health moments. (03:27) — Suicide hotline: Human-to-human conversations that clarified her desire to be a physician. (04:10...

(00:00) — Welcome and setup: from premed dropout to med student (00:47) — Corporate grind sparks the spreadsheets vs patients question (01:30) — Rewinding to undergrad premed and the 495 MCAT during COVID (03:15) — Finances and first-gen pressure push him off the path (04:35) — Articles, AI, and volunteering rekindle interest in medicine (06:10) — Leadership draw: why physician responsibility appe...

(00:00) — Early spark for medicine: Jasmine’s childhood curiosity and desire to help takes root at age four or five. (02:40) — High school split focus: AP sciences vs. seven-hour show choir and a one-week summer health program. (03:55) — Choosing Howard: Proximity to a hospital/med school and an open-door culture sealed the decision. (05:15) — Major, minor, and momentum: Biology major, chemistry m...

(00:00) — Avoiding medicine to committing at 22: Sports injuries, engineering Cs, and a hospital trauma that made medicine click. (03:06) — Doubting smart enough: Imposter syndrome, scraping through chem, and possible ADHD. (06:50) — Growing up around violence: Valuing life early and pushing through school and sport. (08:50) — Living in the moment: Lists, weekly survival, and triaging tough neuro...

(00:00) — Family roots and Flint crisis: Medicine in the house, art dreams, and volunteering during Flint’s water crisis point Omar toward health. (02:00) — Why physician, not just public health: Leadership and impact pull him to the MD path. (03:30) — Mentors and mission work: Seeing overseas service in Sudan clarifies what medicine can do. (04:55) — Did family help? Inspiration, yes; U.S. applic...

(00:00) — Meet Dr. Leila Amiri + her route from peer advising to admissions: How a peer advising job led to a career shaping medical school classes. (03:20) — What’s stayed the same—and why the “black box” persists: Core expectations endure while parts of the process remain opaque. (05:07) — Transparency hurdles: politics, misreads, and legal fears: Why some schools don’t publish every detail of t...

(00:00) — Opening and early spark: Maya recalls childhood, cultural expectations, and her mom’s cancer shaping her why. (03:05) — High school full circle: Research at Dana-Farber and reading her mom’s records makes medicine click. (04:26) — ER simulation at Midscience: Realizing she could do this for real. (05:38) — MCAT dread and doubt: Nights staring at the ceiling, wondering if this path is for...

(00:00) — Welcome and origin story: Kyle’s path into med ed without being a physician (00:46) — Early admissions work and philosophy: get students into—and out of—med school (02:58) — What AACOM’s VP of UME Services does: support across 71 DO locations (04:48) — Admitted-to-M1 is hard: student services and reps supporting the transition (05:12) — Time in the DO space: Marian start and osteopathic...

(00:00) — Late to medicine: Chris didn’t consider being a doctor until college, shaped by early family experiences with inadequate care. (01:20) — Struggling student to UC Davis: He describes a nontraditional path and surprise at earning a single college acceptance. (02:50) — “You won’t amount to much”: A sixth-grade dismissal and falling in with the wrong crowd set the stage. (04:40) — Misdiagnos...

(00:00) — Opening + Early Spark: PBS Nova lights up neuroscience and a reluctant interest in medicine. (01:11) — Family Expectations vs Autonomy: Pressure from a physician dad meets teenage rebellion. (02:38) — Why the Brain: Linking biology to behavior and people. (03:51) — MD vs PhD: Lab work that kept pointing back to patients. (05:19) — Learning the Process: What help a physician parent could...

(00:00) — Getting started: Early interest and a high school health pathway with real certifications (01:35) — Small border town roots: Del Rio, one high school, and limited options (02:35) — Finding a “seed”: Family illness, cancer curiosity, and early research (03:40) — Choosing a college: Looking for rigor, research, and premed support (05:54) — Where guidance came from: Personal research and pr...

(00:00) — Curiosity in the halls of Mass General: Her mom’s triple‑negative breast cancer and remission shape an early interest in medicine. (02:54) — Choosing a major without a premed major: From biochemistry to discovering neuroscience and why UMass ultimately fit. (06:04) — Double majoring without burning out: Overlap with prereqs, honest advising on dual degrees, and following interests. (09:1...

(00:00) — Welcome and setup: Ryan tees up Bayley’s many cycles and lessons learned. (00:45) — Early spark and Canada: Bayley shares deciding on medicine in grade 6/7. (01:52) — Family in healthcare: Great‑grandfather physician; dad a dentist. (02:20) — Undergrad choices in Canada: Picking science, not chasing a perfect premed program. (03:49) — College admissions contrast: Canada’s stats focus vs...