SDN Forum Thread of Secondary Essay Prompts

Since many of you are applying to schools this summer, we wanted to pass along the link to SDN's forum thread of secondary essay prompts. The questions you get on your secondary apps could very well be the same questions you get asked at the interview!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=293395&page=7

And don't forget! The How I Got Into Med School meeting with Cristina Barolet has been moved to Sunday, June 3rd at 11:30am! Location to be announced!

Guest Speaker - Having Babies During Med School

Hello, everyone!

As older pre-med students, you may be asking yourselves if it's at all possible to have babies during med school. Well, we found an amazing MD that did it! Dr. Bonnie Moura, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Keck School of Medicine (better known as USC Med School) had a baby AND got pregnant with her second baby DURING MED SCHOOL! She'll be sharing her experience with the club on May 31st at 7:30pm at a Downtown L.A. location (to be announced soon).

Significant others are welcome! Please RSVP to nontradpremeds@gmail.com as soon as you can!

Guest Speaker - How I Got Into Med School-DATE CHANGE!!!

Hello, members!

We're extremely excited to announce an important info session with guest speaker and fellow non-trad, Cristina Barolet! With her pre-reqs completed at UCLA Extension, Cristina got accepted into Albany, Loyola-Chicago, Chicago Medical School (Rosalind Franklin), and Northwestern. She begins her med school education this fall.

Send an RSVP to nontradpremeds@gmail.com and come join us on SUNDAY, June 3nd at 11:30am to find out how she did it! We'll get back to you on the location.

Upcoming Event and Free Practice Test from Kaplan

Event: “Insider Secrets to Med School Admissions”
Keynote Speaker: Houman Hemmati, M.D., Ph.D.
When: Wednesday, May 16th, 7-8:30pm
Where: UCLA, Geology 3656
Details: Dr. Hemmati went to the David Geffen School of Medicine and worked with the Admissions Committee for over three years. He’s reviewed thousands of applications and can tell you what it takes to get into Med School from an insider's perspective. He’s also worked with many UCLA undergraduates on research and is famous for assisting with the separation of conjoined twins in Guatemala. Just Google his name to see his many accomplishments!
Register: www.kaptest.com/enroll

Event: Free MCAT Practice Test!
When: Saturday, May 19th, 9:30am-2:00pm
Where: UCLA, Kinsey Pavilion 1240B
Details: See how you’d score with or without preparation on the MCAT. This is the perfect chance to get a detailed analysis of your strengths and weaknesses and to familiarize yourself with the content of the exam.
Register: www.kaptest.com/practice

UCLA Extension Registration Opens May 9th!

Hello, folks!

The summer quarter catalogue for UCLA Extension becomes available on May 9th.
The online catalogue will be available at 12:00am, May 9th, which also means that online registration for summer quarter classes opens at 12:00am, May 9th! Happy Enrolling, everyone!

http://www.uclaextension.edu/

AMCAS Application 2008 is OPEN!

Thank you to Club Member Kris for reminding us that the 2008 AMCAS Application for med schools is now available!

Go to:
https://services.aamc.org/AMCAS2_2008/

Club Meeting

Come join us for our first club meeting! It's this Saturday, May 5th, at 1:15pm in the Physics & Astronomy Bldg, Rm 1434, just after the Chem XL14C class at UCLA! We want to meet you in person! See you there!

Financial Assistance/Scholarship Programs

Most of us are about to go into an enormous amount of debt in medical school. Being a non-traditional student (read "older"), it's tough thinking about how we're going to climb out of it. Most of us will be at least 40 before we are out of residencies and making decent salaries (ouch and ouch). Many have, or will have, families and mortgages...and choice of specialty will also make a difference into how quickly this debt will go away. What I am getting at, if you're still with me, is that there are some options available to us.
There are financial assistance and scholarship programs that will pay for one-four years of school in exchange for your newly acquired skills as a physician.

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE CORPS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
This program is through the US Department of Health & Human Services.

http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.SEARCH_PGM_TXT_DYN.SHOW?p_arg_names=prog_nbr_in&p_arg_values=93.288&p_arg_names=keyword_in&p_arg_values=medical%20school&p_arg_names=_title&p_arg_values=

also here.... http://www.hrsa.gov/help/healthprofessions.htm

INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE
Here's a way to help pay back your med school loans AND help the communities on Native American reservations. The Indian Health Service of the US Dept of Health and Human Services has a Loan Repayment Program, where a doctor can live and work on a Native American reservation in exchange for a set amount of annual pay towards medical school loans.

http://www.ihs.gov/JobsCareerDevelop/DHPS/LRP/index.asp

HEALTH PROFESSIONS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS through the military.
The Army, Navy and Air Force are the only three branches that have this program.

Air Force: http://www.airforce.com/education/healthcare/moneyForSchool.php

Army: http://www.goarmy.com/amedd/medical/corps_benefits.jsp#hpsp

Navy: http://www.navy.com/healthcareopportunities/

Funny Blogs about the MCAT and Applying

If you need a little break from studying for the hardest standardized test in the nation, check out this blog. It's got some funny stuff about the MCAT experience!

http://medschoolpath.blogspot.com/


And here's the blog we mentioned at the first club meeting. It's got good info on the admissions process!

http://ahyesmedschool.blogspot.com/2005/08/ask-fake-doctor.html

Best of luck!