Here are some things a student who is serious about preparing for a medical sciences professionsal school  should consider, beginning now.  The professional schools look for applicants who are serious about their careers, and whose track record shows it!

Student Organizations.   Attend, get involved in, career-related student organizations such as Chemistry Club, Biology Club, and especially the Caduceus Club.  The  Premed Committee will be well aware of whether you have shown any interest in such organizations.  If you haven't . . . well, not showing up to hear presentations and programs about important aspects of your chosen career just does not fit very well with a serious career commitment!

Work Experience.  Try real hard to get career-relevant summer jobs (or volunteer work) in hospitals, rescue units, nursing homes, hospices, and the like.  In contrast, you should avoid
non-career-related jobs, especially during the school year.  They take too much time away from more important activities.  Getting a job just to have a little more spending money shows poor judgment and raises questions about your priorities.

Ask the Pros.  Talk to your doctor, dentist, pharmacist about career preparation; often they will be very responsive and will have good advice to share with you.  They may even offer you a job, or at least offer opportunities to observe and learn more about their profession.

Read!  Read books related to your career dreams; there are more of them (fiction and nonfiction) than you might expect.  The premed committee nearly always asks about your extracurricular reading interests!

Honors Program Presentations.  The experience of participating in presentations at state, regional, and national honors conferences is not only challenging and educational, but it looks very good as a part of your track record.

Research Experience.  Look for, ask about, opportunities to assist faculty in lab or field research, or assist in labs, especially in biology or chemistry.  Or make your honors thesis a career-related research project (start mulling over and inquiring about possibilities now).  This will also greatly enhance your track record.

Join Biomed-L: Joining a medical professions email discussion list is a very good way to learn about current issues, which you definitely should do.  There are a lot of email lists, but here's one that's highly recommended -- it is for anyone intested in health care (mainly medicine) issues.  When signed up you will get messages usually several times a week.  If you're busy, just delete them without reading them.  It will give you the chance to see how doctors, lawyers, faculty, and others think about important issues.  No need for you to ever respond to anything (you can if you wish); just "lurk" and occasionally read some of the comments!

For instance, now (8/28/98) there is a discussion of animals in medical research that's been going for about a week.  Someone has said that veterinarians won't use drugs on animals until they've first been tested on humans!  Interesting turnabout, don't you think?

To sign up, send an email to:    IN%"LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU"

No need to put in a Subject for your message.  The message itself should say exactly this:

   SUBSCRIBE BIOMED-L [put your name here, without the brackets]

That's all!  You'll be signed up and sent confirmation that you are on the list, plus some instructions that it is not terribly important to read.

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