As I recall, my UCLA premedical education seemed like an unholy combination of high stress, adequate teaching and tedium.
And as I reflect on the value of my undergraduate education, I realize that all of the relevant premedical science material is repeated in medical school in much more depth.
On the other hand, psychology, social work, nursing, philosophy, sociology and religious studies all help you understand and communicate with others. Music, art and sports broaden your perspectives and coping skills to deal with the stress you are going to face.
You will certainly forget the minute details you learn from premed coursework.
But the interpersonal sensitivity and problem-solving you will learn in many other courses and community experiences are the most important part of your undergraduate learning experience.
At its essence, medicine is a cooperative and collaborative field that requires you to use interpersonal skills and clinical knowledge to solve problems.
Despite what doctors on TV portray, there is little room for the secretive and selfish physician in the medical field.
Our quandary in the medical school selection process is how to select students with positive personal and intellectual characteristics who will yield the best physicians.
We look for cogent stories of caring students as depicted in their personal statements and as supported by their reference letters.
We probe during interviews to see whether the student sparkles with a special sense of goodness, creativity or distinctive brilliance.
One medical school even asks patients with chronic diseases to interview their applicants, looking for students with a sense of empathy.
Also, about 98 percent of the reference letters to medical school are very good and are thus almost useless to the admissions committee in ranking applicants. It is the 2 percent ““ the truly exceptional letters ““ that count most.
A glorious letter requires someone who truly knows you through exposure outside of the standard classroom. I advise applicants to pick their references well.
Better yet, I would recommend that applicants get a letter or two from mentors rather than rely only on professors of classes in which they excelled.
Try asking a physician or two to serve as your mentor. You would be amazed how open many physicians are to working with college students. Other excellent references are from nurses, social workers, patient educators, medical researchers and other allied health professionals.
American medical schools pass up too many students who have good but not outstanding academic records, but with excellent records of social service and positive personal attributes.
Many premed graduates of American colleges who are not accepted into American medical schools are therefore seeking a medical education outside the U.S.
I wouldn’t be too concerned about which medical school you attend. Medical education at American and Canadian schools is closely monitored.
While competition to get into medical school at UCLA and other California schools is extremely high, nationwide the acceptance rate is about 50 percent.
There is a growing shortage of physicians in the United States, and American medical schools are just starting to address our increasing aging population.
It will be decades before there are enough American medical school graduates to fill all the residency training sites. For example, there is a serious lack of physicians sensitive to the language and cultural needs of our growing Latino/Latina population.
Finally, being a physician means you are seeing individuals when they are sick and distressed.
You’ll be tired and frustrated on occasion: The hours are long and the paperwork is taxing.
During training, you’ll be eating more cafeteria food than you ever imagined, but the hospital eventually becomes a comfortable home away from home. You’ll get to know many wonderful people, both patients and fellow employees.
A Kaiser Family Foundation study revealed that 84 percent of physicians were satisfied with their relationships with patients and 79 percent were satisfied with professional challenges.
Overall, medicine provides great happiness and intellectual challenges and will yield a rewarding career for most who choose to enter.
Dr. Goldsmith is a UCLA alumnus of the Class of 1969. He is Garnett Professor and chairman of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of Arkansas.