An important part of your application to medical school will involve writing a one-page essay explaining to the admissions committee WHY you want to become a doctor. Writing a mediocre personal statement can really hurt your chances of getting in, so it’s important to give yourself enough time (at least 3 months) to write and edit your essay. In this episode, we review some general principles and more specific do’s and dont’s of writing a great essay. If you’re planning to apply to medical school during the next cycle (which opens around May/June of each year), or if you’re an early premed student wanting to know more about how to best prepare to apply, this episode is for you!

Also, check out the resources tab of our website (www.futureminoritydoctor.com) for a summary of tips and some sample personal statements.

With so many options for MCAT test prep materials out there, how do you even know where to start? How do you decide how long you need to prepare? How many practice tests should you take? How do you combat the feeling of overwhelm that comes with starting your trek up the MCAT prep mountain? In this episode, Drs. Marina & Zulma give you some tips to help you navigate the MCAT test prep landscape so that you can best prepare to get the score you dream of!

Have you ever gotten totally useless advice about self-care? Does your idea of self-care involve drinking green smoothies, doing yoga, and getting expensive massages? If so, this episode is for you! We offer you three simple ideas to help you learn to take better care of yourself — including getting better sleep, practicing self-compassion, and occasionally making time for things that feed your spirit. They’re simple concepts but not always so simple to implement in real life, so we break them down and offer plenty of examples from our own lives. The best part, though? Anyone can try them and they don’t have to cost a dime!

Have you wanted a career that keeps you close to the games you love? Listen to CJ talk about discovering Sports Medicine late in his med school training, and the importance of good mentors in getting him to where he is now. Whether it's helping 70-year-olds get back to Zumba, or working with the Bruins football team and the LA Lakers, Dr Duffaut brings his own experience as college basketball player to his medical training. Hear him talk about balancing sports, work, and studies as an undergraduate--and the unique challenges of navigating all that as a first generation minority student.

Listen in as Dr. Allison Fernandez shares her story of becoming an anesthesiologist — a specialist who helps patients manage their pain and get through surgery safely. She shares how she happened to learn about the field of anesthesiology because her mom was a housekeeper for a nurse anesthetist who invited her to shadow her at work. She also shares how she was able to adjust to the somewhat intimidating environment of the operating room, the tools she uses on a daily basis to help keep patients stable during surgery, and why she thinks there are not enough underrepresented minorities in her field (and why there should be more!).

Second-year medical student Camila shares all about how she studied to take the MCAT and scored a 509 on her first try, which helped land her in an excellent medical school (UC Berkeley-San Francisco)! She also shares how even though her mom was a doctor, she was not immune from academic struggles and isolation during her premed college years — including having trouble finding a chemistry lab partner, battling test anxiety, and getting some Cs in her science classes. She is passionate about helping to address issues of structural racism within healthcare.

Laurel Hiatt is currently in their third year of a combined MD/PhD program at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Listen as Laurel shares their story of growing up in the South and navigating premed life as a first-generation non-binary college student. They share some of the challenges they faced interacting with healthcare providers, and how these experiences plus a love of science motivated them to pursue a career as a physician-scientist interested in adolescent health and computational genomics. They share some tips on how we can all make healthcare more inclusive for other non-binary individuals.

If you’ve ever wondered if you can succeed at becoming a doctor after having a different career or kids, Dr. Rose Diaz is here to show you it’s possible! In this episode, Dr. Diaz shares about her upbringing in a traditional Mexican-American family, how Little House on the Prairie and her pediatrician sparked her early interest in medicine, her ten-year career teaching kindergarten, how losing weight and running marathons also inspired her to pursue her real dream, how she managed to go back to the premed grind while raising three kids, how working as an EMT introduced her to the world of emergency medicine, her passion for research in health equity, what residency was like, and much more!

In this episode, Dr. Zulma chats with Aminta about her journey into medicine and how she managed to score a 514 on the MCAT! Aminta shares about how she struggled in high school, started out at a community college, and eventually transferred to UC Berkeley where she majored in psychology and discovered her passions for health justice and public health. She discusses how studying for 6 months, taking 11 full-length practice tests, and treating MCAT prep like preparing for a marathon were key to her success.

In this interview, Dr. Marina chats with Melissa Gonzalez, an amazing medical student who completed her first year of medical school in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. She shares about how her family’s experiences of poor access to healthcare access and shadowing in a free clinic inspired her to become a doctor, the culture shock and academic rigor she encountered in college, how she learned to ask for help, what she did to increase her chances of admission to medical school despite a lower GPA, how she came to finally start believing in herself, and what inspired her to start sharing about her journey on social media (@browngirl_whitecoat). Don’t miss this inspiring story!

Join Dr. Marina as she talks with medical student Erika Bernardino about her secrets for MCAT success. Erika shares how hospice work motivated her to become a doctor and the tips and tricks she she used to improve her MCAT score from a 508 to 511 — including what test prep materials she used, how much time she gave herself to prepare, how she made time to study while taking college courses, how she set study goals rather than time goals, the importance of “practice, practice, practice” in preparing for the test, how she avoided the temptation to keep rescheduling, and how taking a lot of practice test helped her to develop the stamina and confidence to do well.

In this episode, Dr. Zulma talks with third year medical student Sergio Villegas. He opens up about his life and career goals — including how being hospitalized due to complications from Crohn’s Disease at age 17 inspired him to become a doctor, the perseverance required to get into medical school (and why applying more than once is OK!), how he has navigated college and medical school with the ups and downs of a chronic illness, how he learned to recognize that asking for help didn’t mean he was weak, and what he does to maintain balance in his busy medical student life. If you wonder whether a chronic illness or disability has to keep you from achieving your dream to become a doctor, this episode is for you!

Join Dr. Marina as she speaks with child & adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Erica Lubliner on the topic of mindfulness. They discuss what mindfulness is, how it differs from meditation, how mindfulness can help students through the grind of classes, work, and applying to medical school, what science has shown about the benefits of mindfulness, and how you can start to apply it in your daily life — even if you think you have no time.

Hear Dr. Laster’s inspiring story of her journey into medicine. She shares about growing up on the south side of Chicago, competing in beauty pageants, her love of singing (and a demo!), grappling with self-doubt in medical school, what she loves — and doesn’t — about her job as a kidney specialist for kids, and how she’s come to realize that even the best doctors aren’t necessarily smarter than her or anybody else (they just know how to work hard).

Listen in as first-year medical student Gurjit Kaur shares how she prepared to rock the MCAT! She talks to us about how growing up in an immigrant family in central California inspired her to go to medical school, how she rushed to prepare for the MCAT the first time around but didn’t get the score she wanted, and how she upped her game the second time around to ensure a competitive score that helped her get that acceptance letter to medical school! Whether you’re looking to ace the MCAT the first time around OR improve your score while taking it again, Gurjit’s story is sure to inspire you!

In this episode, we give an overview of what the MCAT is, what subject matter is tested, how long the test is, when it is offered and how to register, why it’s so important to prepare for it properly, and some general tips on how to prepare. We also discuss what we think the most challenging part of the MCAT is. If you’re in college and looking at taking the MCAT in the next 1-2 years, this episode is a must!

Dr. Abinsay & Dr. Valdez are two married Filipino doctors practicing medicine in Hawaii. In this episode, they share their stories of their upbringing, how they decided to become doctors, the challenges they faced in college and medical school, what they love about their careers, what it’s like to be a doctor couple with children, and many nuggets of wisdom that they like to share with students they mentor.

Is it hard for you to muster up the courage to ask a question in class, ask your teacher or professor for help, or admit you don’t understand something? Asking for help can be hard for anyone, but many minorities face additional challenges — including being brought up not to question authority, stereotype threat, a strong tendency toward self-reliance, or mental health struggles. In this episode, we explore why it can be hard to ask for help and how you can get better at doing it anyway. Remember, nobody becomes a doctor without help! The earlier you learn how to ask for help, the better off you’ll be.

Do you struggle with your self-confidence? Listen in as we explore: what self-confidence is, why we sometimes lack it, what the “confidence gap” is, how you can develop greater self-confidence, and the dangers of over-confidence for doctors.

Alejandro Aviña-Cadena is a medical student completing his fourth year of a combined MD-MPH program at UC Irvine. Listen as he talks to us about the journey he took to medical school -- including growing up in a heavily Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles, being a C student in high school, confirming his passion for medicine in community college, transferring to a four-year university, learning to ask for help, finding mentors through research, and completing a post-baccalaureate program where he really learned to ace those science classes. He also discusses what attracted him to UC Irvine's PRIME-LC program, what he loves about public health, what it means to be "average" in medical school, and his plans to become an emergency medicine doctor. His story is truly inspiring!