Friday, December 24, 2010

SPRING SEMESTER

Our new meeting time is Tues at 12:30 in room LL130. Starting January 11 with social activity. We hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas break!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Home Stretch

As this semester winds to an end, we wish everyone the best. Thanks to everyone that has participated last week in the suturing workshop. Dr. Chung gave a great presentation and had some great tips on how to improve our technique.

Yesterday, Dr. Trask gave us some tips on writing our personal statements for our applications. She told us to start early and to make a list of all our activities and achievements. Decided what attributes or topics that you wish to display to medical schools. This is very important because readers must want to continue reading and be interesting enough that they will want to interview you.

Good luck with finals and have a happy holidays!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

PA, ENT, and pigs feet

AMSA at Weber State University has had some great meetings lately.

We had a physician's assistant from McKay-Dee Hospital come and speak to us about the how physicians and PAs work together. Also, she explained about who PAs were, their pros and cons, and compared them with other healthcare workers like nurse practitioners.
Some highlights from her message included that PAs in her office had great autonomy and while this varies from clinic to clinic it really depends on the doctor they work under and state laws. Some of the pros of being a PA include the ability to move around between specialties without needing extensive training (i.g. residencies). She also mentioned that she gets to focus more on the patients that she sees and doesn't have to worry about running the clinic or paying malpractice. However, she said that if she was in our shoes, as students, she would recommend us go all the way to medical school.

Also, Dr. Schuller an ENT doctor from the community spoke to us about getting in to medical school and the life of a ENT doctor. Dr. Schuller spent three years on the admissions board at Dartmouth where he went to medical school. He told us that all of us are unique and that we need to show that to medical schools, because when they go through a hundreds of applications they need something to remember us by. He also told us that coming from a small school like Weber State we are at a disadvantage and that we should rock to MCAT to displace any grade inflation due to WSU's small size.

Coming up next week we have the opportunity to learn some suturing techniques! Reps donated suturing equipment and the club is buying pigs feet from the market so that Professor Chung, M.D. can teach us some suturing techniques. It should be sweet, if you haven't signed up email us and we will see what we can do. Don't miss it this Wednesday 11-24!


Thursday, November 18, 2010

APPLYING Spring or Summer 2011

If you are planning to apply Spring or Summer of 2011 and did not make it to either of the MANDATORY APPLICANT MEETINGS you will need to contact Dr. Barbara Trask or set up an appointment as soon as possible. This is the beginning of the application process - DO NOT DELAY!!!

TO SET UP APPOINTMENT CALL SUSAN: 801-626-7755
or e-mail DR. TRASK: btrask@weber.edu

GET ON TOP OF THIS BEFORE IT
SLIPS OUT FROM UNDER YOU!

FREE PRACTICE MCAT!!!

This Saturday Kaplan is offering a FREE practice MCAT on Weber State's campus. It will begin at 10:00am and is located in Lind Lecture 130. 


Monday, November 8, 2010

What it takes to be an ER physician

This last week we had the opportunity to hear from Dr. Croft. He is a local ER physician that gave us some pointers on the current changes in medicine and some advice on how to be a good physician. Dr. Croft was very optimistic about the use of technology in medicine, and worried about the increased debt load of new physician and the increase in malpractice suits. He also gave us some pros and cons about emergency medicine, noting that you must look at yourself and understand what you are good at to see if you are a good fit.

Finally, he gave some advice to anyone looking into medicine. 1) Must enjoy working with people, hard work, and be smart enough to handle the challenges of medicine. 2) He recommended getting a background in finance, business and accounting. 3) Be opened minded, with respect to your ultimate specialty choice. 4) Don't put off happiness for some arbitrary date. In other words, those that are happy now in life will be happy in the future. There is always something on the horizon, and we should not put off happiness till after we finish our undergraduate, medical school, residency, or whatever. Be happy now.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Medical Malpractice and Classes

Over the last two weeks we have had some awesome speakers. Last Wednesday we had a Jack Helgesen, a malpractice attorney come and speak to us. He spoke about both the process of malpractice suits, and how not to be sued. He had great statistics and a tons of information. He gave some great advice at the end on how not to be sued. He said the key was to be honest and humble, doctors who are liked by their patients are not sued.

Today we had a guest speaker talk about Kaplan's test prep program, and offered a $300 discount to AMSA members. If anyone is interested contact an AMSA officer. Dr. Trask then took up the remainder of the time informing us of a new and upcoming class being offered in the Spring. "Life in Medicine" will be a one credit, pass/fail class offered Thursdays 7:30-8:20. Two local surgeons, Dr. Goff and Dr. Moesinger, will teach the class and discuss everything from getting in to medical schools, to current problems in health care, to everyday activities of a physician. It should be a super class, look for it when you register Chem/Zoo/Micro 1810!

Monday, October 4, 2010

MCAT and Science Saturday

This last weeks meeting focused on different methods to prepare for the MCAT. We had some outstanding students inform us about the pros and cons of Altius, Princeton, Kaplan, and self prep study. The bottom line was that the most important thing is to know yourself and your study habits.

Saturday we had great time teaching kids about viruses and bacteria. Some of our students made a slide show of bacteria, viruses, and how they compare in size to a hair. The kids enjoyed it while they made bacteria and viruses out of craft supplies.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Guest Speakers

Last week was a very busy week for us!

During Wednesday's AMSA meeting we put the finishing touches on our Science Saturday project. Science Saturday is October 2nd, this Saturday from 12-5PM, come help us build viruses and bacteria with the kids.

Wednesday night we had a meeting with Dr. Samuelson. He is the Dean of Admissions at U of U. He spoke about the 8 criteria that the U looks at to determine interview candidates. Applicants must be "average" in five out of the eight areas; GPA, MCAT, extracurricular, community/volunteer service, leadership, research, shadowing, and patient exposure.

Thursday night we had a meeting with Gina Moses, the assistant director of AACOMAS. She spoke about D.O. programs and had a couple recruiters from D.O. schools around the country with her.

Friday we were able to listen to a former alumni speak about pediatric neurosurgery. Jodi Smith, M.D., Ph.D. spoke about her background and her decision to be a surgeon. She then shared many wonderful case studies with us. She had some awesome videos and stories!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Highway Cleanup

We had a great time cleaning up our stretch of I-84 last Saturday. We had a good turnout and filled up about a dozen bags of garbage. Also, while every good deed deserves another, those who stayed around afterward had the privilege of partaking of Dr. Trask's home-cooking.

Wednesday, Sept 22, we have the oppertunity to hear from Dr. Samuelson speak about admission into the U of U. The meeting will be at 6:30 PM in LL130. The next day, Sept 23, Gina Moses will be speaking to us about the AACOMAS application. She will give us the ins and outs of applying to DO schools. The meeting will be at 5:00 PM in LL130. Hope to see you all there!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Interview Skills - Greg Nielson

This week we had Greg Nielson from Career Services go over interview skills. There were handouts and great information presented. One of his "take home messages" was that no matter what question is asked, it all leads to three questions. 1) Would you fit in to our school, 2) Would you succeed, and 3) Would you be a good doctor. Thanks Greg, and good luck to all those that are interviewing this year!

Reminder of the "Blood and Guts" meeting tonight and the highway clean-up activity on Saturday.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Bowling Social Fall 2010

Thanks to all those that participated in the opening social. We enjoyed bowling, pizza, and good company. We had a good turn out and ate 13 of the 15 large pizzas. Information on joining was distributed along with schedules for this semester's meetings. Pictures are on facebook, look us up by searching "AMSA at Weber".

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Admit when you aren't ready

Hey everyone,
This is another continuation of the MCAT suggestions. So yesterday I decided to postpone my exam date, I'll be taking it in Vegas though, so big money, big money, no whammies. SO... there are several factors going into this decision
  1. not enough time to cover all my course material
  2. unfamiliarity with old material
  3. sense of impending doom
  4. and I'd rather take the test at 1pm than 8am
This will probably be an issue for most to take it even though you don't feel ready or push it back and delay your app. If you signed up for an April or early May exam, postponement probably won't hurt you as much, so just be aware. And very important, you really don't want to take this test more then once and you want to score well, so rushing it may lead to a bad score and a retake. Just now when to admit you're not ready, I've been putting in 3hrs a day studying and it just doesn't feel like enough and for me it just seems more beneficial to wait and if nothing else just make me more confident in myself.
If you do decide to postpone, just know that seats go fast, you will probably be taking it out of state, so if travel is an issue then take that into consideration and just know yourself, if you feel depressed about a score, but you know you can put in the time then go for it, but if you feel unprepared (one of the reasons people bomb the MCAT) you might want to consider a later date.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

And Here We Go

It's been to long,
So it begins again, another semester and I'm behind once again. So unfortunately due to some scheduling issues I'm unable to make it to most meetings this semester :( have no fear though I will still do my best to keep you informed of upcoming events and club activities. For instance we have a contest set up between the college of science and the college of health science to see who can collect the most items for St. Anne's. We've chosen a theme that's pretty fitting, Go commando and donate your underwear. We're looking for family items like underwear, socks, shirts, diapers, and stuff in that nature. The contest will run until the end of February so get donating people.

Second I thought it might be helpful to kind of explain and give advice on prepping for the MCAT. I know we tried doing something like that for you guys during fall semester to let you guys know how other people did it, but this hopefully will be a little more in depth and useful. First off know when you want to take the MCAT: April, May, June don't wait until January to schedule it, most spots are filled and you may lose the date you want. Also going along with this you probably should apply as soon as possible don't wait until August or September, remember they start giving interviews out in like September, October and you have to fill out secondaries, which I've been told takes time, your transcripts have to be received, which can take up to a month, so look at the facts you are probably more likely to be accepted if you apply early than late just keep it in mind.

Prepping for the MCAT is a bitch ask anyone who's done it, you will spend more time studying and taking practice tests for this one test than any class you have taken ever
ex) average study time per student 20+ hours a week, actual study time not BS study time.

It will be tiring, it will get boring, it will make you hate yourself, but remember a good MCAT score is a necessity to getting into medical school. We gave a couple of options for prepping one was studying on your own, K there are people who can actually do this, these people are incredibly smart and they have an amazing grasp on the material. Notice how I said grasp on the material not they got good grades, good grades will not help you on the MCAT, an A in OChem or Bio isn't going to amount to anything on the MCAT if you don't understand the principles. This particular aspect is the only criteria I'm giving for studying on your own, if you think you're a bad ass and can do it on your own please don't cause you're not. If your worried about the price of a prep course, don't you think it would be worth $2,000 to get into medical school. Please though don't think that once you pay the money you automatically get a 33 you still need to put in the effort to get there.

So I mentioned prep courses as an option and yes please do one of these, but do your research find out from past students who have taken the class if it's worth the money. I personally went with Altius because so many people told me that I should just study on my own instead of taking the Princeton Review course, I'm not knocking the course or the teachers this was just what I was told. Kaplan is another option and there might be another course out there that I'm not aware of, but that's for you guys to find out.

I personally like Altius, their approach to the MCAT seemed weird at first, but I'm definitely improving. They give you a tutor who's smashed the MCAT, so these guys know what's up. I'm always shocked at the people saying I can do it on my own I'll be fine, cause I did as well or better and I don't think I'll be fine. Just a depressing fact the average score on the MCAT is 24-25 most prep course boast that their average is 30, Altius is 33. Yes I checked it out they actually do have an average score of 33, but remember this is an average some up, some down. I think there success is a lot like Weber's success at getting students into medical school, they have very small class sizes, the tutor will learn your name, you study as a group so no one falls behind, and they push the crap out of you to do your best, so my simile fits :) If you need help take a course is all I'm saying, the reason you go to college is you want to learn from people who know more than you, why would you think studying for the MCAT is any different.

Lastly, The MCAT is a different beast than any other test you've taken, you've heard it before cause it's true, you can't walk in off the street and do well you just can't. It's not a here's everything I know test it's a here's a problem use these skills to answer this question, without making too big of an inference. Sound confusing, good cause after a month of this is wrong because it's a hard qualifier and you probably made too big of a jump oh and my favorite don't answer these questions with outside information, only use the info they give you in the passage I think I might have had a break through. I'll leave you with what I feel is the reason most people bomb the MCAT: Overconfidence combined with Under preparation. You can do well on this test all it takes is commitment and remember this test isn't an end, don't think of it as an obstacle to overcome, think of it as a step to becoming a better physician, because the skills you learn from studying for this test are going to be very important throughout your career.