So You Want to go to Medical School?

Tori Whitlow, MS 3University of Maryland School of Medicine

March 28, 2012

20 years of School*

• Potomac Falls High School, class of 2005• St. Mary’s College of Maryland, class of 2009• University of Maryland School of Medicine, 2013

*and then there’s residency…

Residency Training• Intern = post-graduate year 1 (PGY-1)

• Resident = PGY-2 through PGY-?– Chief Resident: resident in final year of residency

training or year after residency training– Resident on Research Sabbatical (surgical)

Residency Training: How Long?

• 3 year residency: Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine

• 4 year residency: OB/GYN, Psychiatry, Pathology, Combined Residency– EM/IM– Med/Peds– EM/Peds– EM/FM

Residency Training: How Long?!• 5 year residency:– General Surgery, Orthopaedic

Surgery, Otolaryngology– Anesthesia, Dermatology,

Neurology, Ophthamology

• 6-7 year residency:– Neurosurgery, Plastic Surgery,

Urology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Vascular Surgery

– Diagnostic Radiology, Radiation Oncology

Fellowship Training

• Fellow: physician who has completed residency training in a specialty and is training within a subspecialty

• 2-3 year fellowship: Medicine, Pediatrics, OB/GYN

• 1-2 year fellowship: Surgical Specialties

Applying to Medical School

• College GPA• MCAT scores• Coursework• Work and experiences– Clinical, volunteer, leadership, research

• Letters of Recommendation• Personal Statement• Essays

Class of 2015• 4,808 total applicants• 539 interviews

conducted• 347 acceptances

offered• 159 new entrants

• Average GPA:– Science = 3.67– Overall = 3.71

• Average MCAT:– Verbal Reasoning = 10.09– Physical Sciences = 10.42– Biological Sciences = 10.75

Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR)

• Most reliable resource on medical schools– GPA and MCAT data for

each school– Class profiles– Education costs– Data on applicant

volunteer and research experience

My College Coursework

• Biology and Psychology major• Neuroscience minor

• Prerequisite courses:– Biological Sciences with lab– General Physics with lab– Inorganic Chemistry with lab– Organic Chemistry with lab– English

My Clinical Experience

• St. Mary’s Hospital student volunteer– Behavioral Health and Women’s Health Units

• Clinical technician at Loudoun Hospital– Intensive Care Unit

• Physician Shadowing– Surgical Oncologist, Neurosurgeon, Radiation

Oncologist

My Volunteer Experience

• St. Mary’s College Judicial Board

• St. Mary’s Hospital student volunteer coordinator

• Honors societies

My Leadership Experience

• Member of the executive board:– St. Mary’s Advising Students in Health (SMASH)– Psi Chi– Omicron Delta Kappa

• Biology teaching assistant

My Research Experience

• U.S. Geological Survey, Stable Isotopes Lab

• Independent Research Project:– Genetics laboratory– Microbiology laboratory

• Directed Research in Psychology

• St. Mary’s Project in Neuroscience

Medical School: What to Expect

Year 1• Structure & Development• Cell & Molecular Biology• Functional Systems• Neuroscience• Introduction to Clinical

Medicine I

• “The Last Summer”

Year 2• Host Defenses &

Infectious Diseases• Pathophysiology &

Therapeutics• Introduction to

Clinical Medicine II

• USMLE Step 1

Medical School: What to Expect

Year 3• Core Clerkships

– Internal Medicine– Surgery– Family Medicine– Neurology

– Psychiatry– Pediatrics – Obstetrics &

Gynecology

Year 4• Sub-Internship Rotations• Elective Rotations• Rural Medicine Rotation

• Away Elective Rotation(s)

• USMLE Step 2– Clinical Knowledge (CK)– Clinical Skills (CS)

My “Last Summer”

• Backpacking in England and Scotland

• Medical mission trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua with International Service Learning

University of Maryland Medical Center:Face Transplant!

• 36 hour surgery on March 19-20, 2012 at Shock Trauma Center at UMMC

• Multidisciplinary Team– Plastic, Reconstructive, and Maxillofacial Surgery– Transplant Surgery

Face Transplant

• 37 year old who lost his lips and nose and was left with only limited movement of his mouth after a gun accident in 1997

“We utilized innovative surgical practices and computerized techniques to precisely transplant the mid-face, maxilla and mandible, including teeth and a portion of the tongue… the transplant included all facial soft tissue from the scalp to the neck, including the underlying muscles to enable facial expression, and sensory and motor nerves to restore feeling and function…”

– Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez

Face Transplant• Most extensive full-face

transplant to date!• Anonymous donor gave

organs to save 5 additional lives over 72 hours at UMMC– Liver– Heart– 2 Kidneys– Lung

Questions?

vjwhitlow@gmail.com