For my interview, I spoke to Paul Emenogu. He has been my RA for the past year and I enjoy speaking to him on a regular basis. He is a junior with a Neuroscience major on a pre-medical track. Below are the questions I asked him and his responses to these questions. All of his answers were very helpful to me in my undergraduate career and preparing for my future medical career.
- Why did you choose the pre-medical track?
- “I chose the premed track because I obviously want to be a doctor. I want to help people (which is a cliché and you should never use in a med school interview) and I want to be the doctor that was there for me and my family when we had our medical emergencies”.
- What is something you would tell your freshman self to improve in your academic life?
- “Go to office hours and learn to say no to hanging out with friends. Especially when I was struggling in a class. Also space out my classes there’s no need to pack 16-18 credit hours of science hours a semester”.
- What extracurriculars do you take part in at Ohio State?
- “So I’m an RA, I’m in a political science club, a fraternity, a mentor, and as of yesterday going to be helping with a foundation that will help educate people about politics and world affairs”.
- What is the hardest class you have taken at Ohio State?
- “The hardest class I’ve taken would be biochemistry 4511. Strangely enough though out of all the premed classes though this has been my favourite one”.
- How are you preparing for the MCATs?
- “Lots of studying and taking the Kaplan Prep course”
- How much have you shadowed and what was your best shadowing experience?
- “I’ve shadowed about 50 hours and my favourite experience was watching the pulmonary doctor place a chest tube in a lady after her lungs collapsed from a procedure”.
- How much should I shadow in order to be competitive for medical school?
- “This varies but from what I have heard 30-40 hours is a safe number. Obviously the more the better but at the very least 30-40 is suffice”.
- “If you need shadowing experience I strongly recommend taking the shadowing class here at OSU (MedColl 2022)”
- How many letter of recommendations do you have?
- “It varies from school to school, but usually 4 is a safe number. 2 from science professors, 1 from a physician and 1 from a supervisor or an nonscience professor”.
- How do I approach someone to get a letter of recommendation?
- “Start going to the professor you want a letter from office hour. Just talk to them and get to know them. Be a regular at their office hours and show interest in the subject and their research if they are conducting research. Ask for a letter 3-4 weeks, however because professors are busy always give them a date that is earlier than the date you actually need the letter by.”