PRE-MED HANDBOOK

Concluding Remarks

Pre-medical students should be aware that medicine requires a life-long commitment to learning. Mandatory continuing education for physicians has become commonplace and more than half the states require continuing medical education credit for re-licensure. The maintenance and expansion of professional competence must, to a large extent, be done by home study and regular reading of medical journals. Voracious readers are much more likely to have the kinds of skills which will allow them to keep up with the rapid expansion of knowledge in their field. Students should also recognize that medical admissions committees seek a broadly educated person who is well-informed about current events. An entering freshman in pre-medicine is well advised to subscribe to a weekly news magazine such as Time or Newsweek (student discounts are available at savings of one half or more) and get into the habit of reading every issue essentially from cover to cover. Another useful magazine is Scientific American. The broadly educated person will have an interest in and an awareness of happenings in many different fields. Most physicians recommend that students cultivate outside interests which may be pursued for recreation (and perhaps contribute to physical fitness) during medical school and beyond. It is important to have other interests which may be used to "get away from it all" occasionally and in this way handle the stress that will be a part of every physician’s life. Some run or play handball, others play musical instruments, paint, or tinker with sports cars. The list is long, but it is important to find something that is an enjoyable pastime that can be used to forget about medicine and the problems that may attempt to overwhelm you.

It is never too soon to begin planning how to pay for your medical education. Students who plan to finance a major part of their educational costs through loans must be prepared to assume rather large debts. They should also be aware that accumulation of a large debt while in medical school could limit the type of practice or medical specialty that may be pursued after completion of training. The heavily indebted graduate may place greater priority on financial rewards rather than type of practice or specialty when making this decision.

We wish you success not only in gaining admission, but also in your practice and in your personal life. To reiterate a point made earlier, the success of our advising program will be judged by the success of our students. It is to our mutual benefit that you succeed!

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