September 6th, 2013 - Second Meeting

Post date: Oct 9, 2013 6:39:12 AM

Opening

The meeting of the MCC Pre-Medical Club was called to order at 1:30pm on September 6th, 2013 by Chris Valentin, President of the MCC Pre-Medical Club.

Present:

No sign-in sheet

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting was unanimously approved after corrections of the senator's name.

Approval of Agenda

Guest speaker, Jeff Rhoads, Coordinator of Recruitment of the School of Letters & Sciences. Below are the key topics of Rhoads' discussion.

• Provided a print out on Applied Biological Sciences (ABS) at Arizona State University Polytechnic campus.
• Medical schools are looking for social ability. As a student, you may go away from hard sciences to demonstrate this.
• Cumulative grade point average (GPA) matters even though it resets after transferring to a university. 3.7 was the national average and as the average for the MCAT was 31. While in your junior year it is a good idea to take the MCAT providing you time for improvement. They are looking for an upward trend--not how many times it's been taken.
• Take advantage of the Pre-Medical advisors/Pre-Health advisors at ASU, they may be able to write letter of recommendations, revise your personal statement and introduce you to the right faculty.
• Key elements that improve your medical school application:
  • Shadowing
    • Ideal while in your junior year, get you rfoot in the door by volunteering at a hospital (longevity).
  • Volunteer Work
    • Can begin working at the hospital kitchen. Hospice is a great place! University of Arizona is big on hospice. Also ask your family doctor.
  • Community Service
    • Volunteer at church, during the summer, and so on. This is not a requirement but it is highly encouraged.
  • Laboratory Experience
    • Not the end-all, be-all.
• A combining balance of these elements is the ideal applicant.
• The average pre-medical students apply to 14 different medical schools. State funded schools favor in-state students versus out-of-state students. U of A is about 50:50 ratio (half in-state, the other half out-of-state). U of A College of Medicine is has a campus located in downtown Phoenix and the other in Tucson.
• Once accepted by more than one school, they will inform you of a decision deadline. Until then, you have the choice btween schools that have accepted you. Not to scare us but Rhoads stated a realistic breakdown: 2,500 applied, 1,300 applicants thrown out, 500 out of 1,200 were invited for interviews, 160 applicants were accepted but 80 follow through.
• Medical school interviews may use a new system called Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) which is similar to speed dating. They want to see applicants that have the holistic view. Expressing, showing, and having empathy is key.
• Going through 2 or 3 application cycles happens, do not get discouraged.
• Aztransfer.com will inform you on what credits are comparable between colleges and universities.
• The Barrett Honors program at ASU is worth it. You can meet with physicians from the Mayo clinic and work with professors in the Biology Design institute on the latest developments in nanotechnology to name a few. See more at: http://barretthonors.asu.edu/about.

Open Issues

• Entertainment Books
  • These need to be sold as soon as possible so that we can be trusted and increase our profit from 10% to 50%. Books were distributed and signed out.
• Restaurant Fundraising
  • Members are to follow the links on our website or refer to emails. Pick one restaurant to sign up for the fundraising and inform an officer. They will in turn communicate with other officers and fill out the form for selected restaurants.
• UC Davis Trip
  • Due to uncertain funding it has been agred that those who are confident on attending need to reserve their seat with a deposit of some sort. Please await the upcoming email from Chris Valentin, President of the MCC Pre-Medical Club.

New Business

• Dr. Chad Rudnick, author of "The Ultimate Guide Book for Getting Into Medical School" has offered to let us sell the book for $18 and have us pay $9. Another 50% profit for us. Should we consider?

Agenda for Next Meeting

• Presenter: Becky Price of Grand Canyon University will be discussing about the 1-year transfer program in the LS108 classroom.
• Nicole Erjavic, the Vice President will present samples of shirt designs to vote on.

Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 3:30pm by Chris Valentin, the President of the MCC Pre-Medical Club. The next general meeting will be at 1:3pm on September 13th, 2013 in the LS108 classroom.

Minutes submitted by: Shoshone Hayes, Secretary of the MCC Pre-Medical Club