Left to right: MJ, Alisha, Haley, Arianna, Quintin, Grace, [Ben, Marquise - middle point], Sydney, Kevin, Ruth, Clare, Ross, Laura
Each spring, our Second Look Weekend committee hosts an admitted student-only chat. Here's what the above group had to say when asked why they chose Michigan for medical school.
ALISHA: Michigan made a big impression at my interview day in how much they care about each student as a person. I especially love the combination of flexibility and support. We rave about the flextime quizzing, and that’s just the beginning. The curriculum gives us SO much time to explore the different specialties or areas of medicine that we want to pursue. Michigan left me with the feeling that I would be able to make my medical education whatever I wanted or needed it to be here, and that they would support me in those choices every step of the way.
HALEY: I chose Michigan for so many reasons, but I guess one of the biggest ones was that during my Interview Day I was talking with a lot of my interviewers about my crazy hopes and dreams, my “big, hairy, audacious goals,” and they were SO excited about that. They believed in me that I would accomplish those things and wanted to set me up with the people who could propel me there. I thought that was really cool.
ARIANNA: Michigan honestly is amazing, and I genuinely love it here. In undergrad I pursued media studies and public health, so I was very nontraditional, and those things were really important to me. Michigan made it so that I didn’t have to put those aside when I became a medical student. I’m here and I have all those things and I’m currently a medical student. I can do certain clubs, I can do research, and I can do all these things where I’m integrating both my past and who I am as a student now.
QUINTIN: It's really about the environment here, the faculty, and the community that Michigan has built. No matter who you are, it's a community where you can easily thrive. Whether you're introverted or extroverted. You meet people that are from a completely different environment from you, but you're all here for the same goal, and it's just beautiful. You're going to be an amazing physician coming out of here. But you're also going to be an amazing human being.
GRACE: I honestly thought I couldn’t be more in love with this place when I applied to Michigan for medical school, and then I heard Dean Gay speak on my interview day. The fact that the people who are on the same playing field as you, are also the people you aspire to be, to be like, and to rub off on, that is what makes you a better person/doctor/medical student. You are surrounded by people who are constantly pushing you, yet accepting you for where you’re at. That’s a really special combination.
BEN: You definitely think about things like step scores and residency match rates and rank. And while rank doesn’t tell you everything about a medical school, I think one of the most impressive ones is that our Michigan graduates have a top three highest rankings by residency directors across the U.S., which is HUGE. That means that residencies absolutely love Michigan Medical School students. Part of it is that we have such awesome personalities and the school doesn’t take that away from you, and regardless of fluctuations in other lists, residencies are consistently seeing Michigan medical students as competitive, and they want them.
MARQUISE: Why I chose Michigan is 1,000 percent the community. When I interviewed here, the Black Medical Association held a coffee talk after my interview. They were cracking jokes, having fun, loving each other, and I was like, wow, these are my people. When I came back for Second Look Weekend, I met a bunch of my would-be classmates and they were so interesting. Now I’m here as a student and that trend continues. All the people that I go up to after lecture and say, I love your research, can I talk to you? They’re so excited to talk to me. Everyone here wants everyone else to succeed, and I really vibed with that.
SYDNEY: There’s something magical that happens here at the University of Michigan Medical School that really is about all of you coming together as a class, about all of the people here who actually care for you as a student. Everyone here is going to make you the best doctor you can be. And you’re really allowed to do anything possible. Whether you want to sing, dance, do research, all of that comes together because all of that makes you.
KEVIN: The one thing that I really love to tell people about Michigan and why I think it’s such a special place really comes down to one word, and that’s passion. I think everyone here has some kind of passion, whether it’s in medicine or something else completely outside the hospital. It’s great to have so many people who come from such different backgrounds, expand each other’s horizons, and enlighten others to different points of view. The people here are really what make the place.
RUTH: I applied to Michigan on a bit of a whim, and I honestly did not know much about the school or the state before coming here for interview day. It was a frigid day in February when I interviewed, and yet, despite the cold weather (I’m from the South and did not even have proper clothes) I fell in love with this medical school. The culture of collaborative excellence has almost an electrifying grip on the place. So many opportunities for research, shadowing, volunteering— you name it—are within reach even as a first-year medical student.
CLARE: When choosing a medical school, I knew that the people were what was going to matter to me the most. A lot of places can provide an excellent medical education, but few places can really feel like a place where you belong. For me, everything about Michigan feels like home. The people here believe in you. I was worried that it might be a mistake to stay in the same city another 4(+) years, but the medical school showed me just how much more Ann Arbor has to offer, and I couldn’t be happier that I stayed.
ROSS: For me, it was a balance of looking at the numbers. Coming from the Upper Peninsula, U of M is a center of excellence. I worked as an EMT, and I would drive kids in the ambulance from our local hospital, that’s 10.5 hours away from here, to the airport where they would get on Survival Flight to come to U of M. I also looked at the step scores and our match rates. Michigan is going to prepare you to be an excellent physician, and they’re also interested in you as a person. That’s really why I chose to come here.
LAURA: I had done a lot of bench research in undergrad and in gap years, and I realized that it wasn’t my passion. Other schools made it seem like the only way to make an impact was through research at the bench. However, at Michigan it’s about making an impact in any way that you see the need. Everyone is supportive and really wants to set you up with whatever resources you need to propel you and your ideas forward. We are encouraged to figure out what ignites our fire, and how we want to help further medicine or improve patient care.
