The science programs are fantastic and the professors are extremely qualified. When I was looking at schools, I knew I wanted to be a doctor like my parents and Mount Union’s acceptance rate into medical school was high.
Current Student Spotlight:
David Herman '12
Hometown:Wapakoneta, OH
Major:Biology
Future doctor
Member of Alpha Tau Omega, Pre-Health Professions Club and Residence Life staff.
MY EXCEPTIONAL STORY
It’s a family thing
I chose to attend Mount Union for a couple of reasons. My mom’s whole family came to Mount Union and my sister came here too. The science programs are fantastic and the professors are extremely qualified. When I was looking at schools, I knew I wanted to be a doctor like my parents and Mount Union’s acceptance rate into medical school was high.
Personal relationships
Mount Union has smaller class sizes which allows for students to build personal relationships with professors. My favorite professors are Dr. Ben Burlingham (associate professor of chemistry) and Dr. Kim Risley (associate professor of biology). Dr. Burlingham is my pre-health advisor and he really makes sure that we get the most out of our education. He makes sure we know what we need to know and he tells us what areas we need to improve on. Dr. Risley is my academic advisor. She knows what medical schools want so that helps when I’m scheduling classes. She was great at teaching microbiology and she knows a ton of information about microbiology and medicine.
Preparing for medical school
There is a pre-health professions committee (made up of faculty members) on campus that sets up mock graduate school interviews for students – one practice interview and one real mock committee interview. The members who sit in on the interview ask you a variety of questions and then tell you want your strengths and weaknesses are. As a committee, they create a committee letter that a student can send as a letter of recommendation when applying to graduate school. They do more than just medical school interviews. They do anything in the health field (chiropractic, dental, physician assistant, etc.).
Where to go to college? It’s about more than just academics
Students should think about what field they want to go into after graduation, what they want to major in and the location of the school. But what I think matters most is how you feel when you visit campus. You have to know you’re going to love it. If you don’t love it when you visit, you won’t love it when you go there.
Passion for the subjects
If you’re thinking about going into biology or medicine, the biggest thing I can say is that you really have to have a passion for the subject. Otherwise, it’s too hard. There is so much information that if you don’t love learning it, you become stressed out and don’t want to do it anymore. It takes drive, persistence and a certain level of discipline. You learn more than just the facts. You can’t just memorize. You have to take from what you have studied and apply it to a variety of situations.
