 What's up, YouTube? This is Dr. Josie. This is Write Your Acceptance. We're going to do things a little differently today. We have Lassi Marla. Welcome, welcome. Hello. I'm sharing my screen. Thank you, technology. And so, well, she's at Michigan State, and she is a, I will tell you exactly, Michigan State Osteopathic Medical Scholar. So she's going to share all kind of wisdom and tips on pre-med life and all the good stuff. Hi, I'm Dr. Josie. This is Write Your Acceptance after teaching writing for over 15 years. Make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss a video. And if you like more of these videos and interviews, let me know. All right. So let's get started. What is the program? What is the MSUOMSP? Okay, well, to get started. Hello, everyone. My name is Lassi. As Dr. Josie said, I am super excited to be on her episode today. So the Michigan State Osteopathic Medical Scholars Program is a program that Michigan State does to recruit high school students and a couple of undergraduate students that have shown a history of excellence in science courses, community service, leadership, and show empathy. So this program gives you preferential admission to Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine. So in simpler terms, it's a direct med program. And the requirements are that you have to keep a 3.5 science and cumulative GPA. You need, there's some other requirements such as attending certain meetings and going to a couple of different things. But otherwise, you can apply to the program. You can choose to do it in three years, four years, or you can take a gap year. And you get preferential admission to Michigan State. So you write your application. You still have to do all that. You go to the interview. And if you've done a pretty good job at the interview and you continue to do some clinical hours and continue to find your passions, you get your seat at Michigan State Medical School. Nice. And so, and this is kind of curious. Do you get kind of FaceTime with the professors that are actually teaching within the medical school as well? Yeah, that's a great question. So one of the greatest parts about this program are the mentorship opportunities. And part of those are you are required to meet with the MSU-COM admission faculty and a lot of other different faculty members that are going to potentially be teaching you. So there's been a lot of times in workshops where I've been taught by those people. I also have a mentor who is in medical school right now. And I also have a mentor that's a couple years above me in the program, so that's someone that will be my colleague in medical school. So yeah, there's definitely a great connection between undergraduate life and your future life as a medical student. I love that. Nice. So, okay. I'm not a negative person of promise, but what is the hardest part of the program? Yeah. So like I said, the program is awesome. I feel so lucky to be a part of it. I would say the toughest part about the program is maintaining that 3.5 cumulative and science GPA. There's a lot riding on it. You do have to take the MCAT if you don't meet those requirements. And just to point out to people who are interested in MSU, our grading system is a little bit not traditional in the sense that we don't get A, A minus, B plus, B grades. We actually are just on a numeric scale. So it's 4.0, 3.5, 3.0, yada, yada, yada. So based on that, you can tell that a 3.5 is only one below a 4.0. And although the students in this program have been really passionate about the sciences and are probably pretty good at them, it is kind of a lot of pressure to make sure that you are meeting those requirements, especially in the science GPA category. Oh, wow. Okay. And so what are kind of, you don't have to limit to three, but what are three tips you have for incoming freshmen but incoming pre-meds? It doesn't have to be in this program specifically, but just as a pre-med, I'm sure you've kind of evolved so much already. So yeah, what are your tips? Yeah, so of course, all the tips I give are just ones that I have. I'm not a medical school admissions officer, so take it as you will. But the first tip I have is forget the checklist. So I think as pre-meds, we fall in the trap of, oh my God, I need to have so-and-so GPA and MCAT because the MSAR says so and I want my Lizzie M score to be high. I need to get clinical hours and shadowing, otherwise I don't look competitive. And I think it's important to reshape your mindset around this. So I'll start talking a little bit about GPA first. So of course, it's important to do your best when it comes to academics, but I think what's really helped me get through this is not looking impressive to an admissions committee. It's the idea that these are fundamental skills you are going to need to carry on with you in higher level classes, in medical school, through taking the Comlex and USMLE, which are eventually going to help you get matched. So really forming those study skills early on, I feel is important to set you up to have a good future in test taking and being able to understand the knowledge. So yes, it's important to get the good GPA, but make sure you're having kind of a healthy preparation mindset rather than a, oh my God, I need to just get a good GPA to get into med school. And that goes along with the idea of preparation with the MCAT, right? I think a lot of people fall into the trap of OMG. I need to spend eight months of my life, shut out everyone, do nothing but the MCAT. But if you're doing this preparation step and you have the right mindset, you're truly always studying for the MCAT. And although it's a tremendously difficult exam, if you have that right mindset, I feel that it'll be a lot easier. And with the clinical hours and with the shadowing, I think a lot of people treat those, especially as checkboxes. And what I really like to tell people is it's first and foremost, you need to prove to yourself that you want to be a physician, right? Physician burnout is real, and you really need to know what you're getting yourself into here. And I think that's the component where the clinical hours and shadowing are truly so important. Do it for yourself, right? And you know this, Dr. Josie, when it comes to writing personal statements without those rich experiences where you're delivering patient care, you're not going to be able to write a compelling statement of why you want to be a physician without those. And my final thing with don't treat things like checkboxes is, I think speaking to a lot of medical students and physicians, the most compelling and I feel successful ones are those who have kind of straight away from the checkboxes and done things they are truly passionate about. And I think that's one of the things, like whether it's medically related or not medically related, do what you love because at the end of the day, you're a person, right? And it's really important to be able to connect to people in that way. And I think it gives a great way to write those kind of fun secondaries and you know, have something to talk about at the interviews. Yeah, I love that. I love that. I mean, when students kind of come to me or where they are tends to be a little too late to kind of shift in that mindset, right? So like, I can't really kind of teach that necessarily, but it's so beautiful to see when students are kind of a very intentional about their activities and about their kind of growth because you can even tell in the stories that they kind of like present in their personal statement and their secondaries, how like one clinical experience then led to specific research that had something to do with that clinical experience. So it's just kind of like very intentional about what they're doing and not just kind of, hey, I'm doing 20 million different things and I'm awesome at all of it, but that passion isn't there. And I'm not saying you can't have multiple kind of interests within medicine, right? But yeah, to just kind of one, do it for yourself because you're going to be the one that's going to be the actual doctor, right? In many ways I feel like, and this goes with any kind of graduate program, any kind of lifelong career, it's like where you think you're ending is really just the beginning. So when you get that white coat, you're not, it's really just the beginning of your entire career, your entire life. So you really want to do everything for yourself because then you're going to be the better physician, you're going to be fulfilled and happy as well as kind of prepared. I love that. Yeah, I love what you just had to say about kind of building your personal brand or narrative, right? What are the things you're passionate about and encompassing your kind of personality and your application around that? So that kind of leads into my second tip of find what you're truly passionate about. I know personally it took me a couple, I've known I want to be a doctor my entire life. The reasoning was a little wish-washy until I feel like this year where I truly got to immerse myself in different experiences. And why I say that is because whether you're pre-med, whether you're pre-law, whatever field you're in, there are so many opportunities out there and it becomes tremendously overwhelming to try to dig your foot in every single one of them. So what I try to do is I'll give you an example. My true passion so far in medicine is lifestyle diseases. So the reason I got involved in trying to get into medicine is because all my grandparents suffer from lifestyle diseases. So that's kind of my seed, I guess. And how I've been able to develop that is I am a nutritional science major, a health promotions minor, and I am really focused on a research lab that talks about how can we push forward plant-based eating to prevent these types of things from happening. I write a lot of papers around that and I found that I am very interested in helping vulnerable populations get access to what they need in this sector which has led me to do a lot of volunteering and work with those experiencing homelessness. So it took me a while to get here, but once I kind of narrowed down that as my focus, I'm not closing out other doors but I'm really telling myself this is what I want to focus on. I'm going to try to find opportunities that will push me forward to this passion and goal that I have. And I think it's been really good not being mentally overwhelmed by so many different things I can dip my foot in. But yeah, I think it first takes you dipping your foot in a lot of different things to get to that point. But I think it's good to be able to have a narrative in a personal brand in that sense. Yeah. And I love that. And I think that's why kind of when we started chatting for your podcast which we will get into. So stay tuned. When we started chatting, I love that kind of the medical scholars program just and then you mentioned the mentorship. It's just this kind of amazing support system to get to kind of where you want to get to. But then if students don't have that and they are just typical pre-meds at another for you, but that's really fine. But find those moments of support, right? So like find those student organizations or professors. It'll give you that support that then you can kind of dip your toe into different whether it's clinical research, volunteer experiences with friends, peers or professors. Then you can kind of really find that passion. Yeah. I just love that you said that. It really seems to be that we're vibing today because you can't speak my mind. Yeah. So the third tip I had was exactly find a support system. Yeah. So through my podcast and through just pre-med life, I've met so many people who are like, yeah, I'm not friends with pre-meds because I just think it's so competitive and overwhelming. And here's the thing, shocker, but you're going to go to medical school with people who are solely focused in medicine. You are going to be in residency programs with doctors and you are going to work with doctors your entire life. So get used to building those connections in a healthy way. So something I always like to tell people is again, find a good group of friends that they don't all need to be pre-med. My friends happened to all be pre-med for the most part. Yeah. It works for me. You know, we all have our interests within medicine. We all push each other to help, you know, find opportunities to fulfill our passions. And we all work together in classes, of course, in a appropriate way to make sure we're getting through it together. And truly, this is something so important and I would not be able to do it without them. And there's no reason to do it by yourself. And again, going along with my theme of don't be afraid to ask for help. We are paying so much money to our undergraduate institutions. Make sure that you are going to office hours. You are building those connections and you are really asking for help when you need. And I think that's something that's become tremendously important in my life is building relationships with professors. Not only does it help me do better in school, but I mean, I'm going to get good letters of recommendations out of it. And, you know, my kind of third like component of asking for help is if you see someone out there living your dream, whether it be a medical student, whether it be a physician, resident, don't be afraid to ask them. Hey, what are the tips you have for me? Hey, how'd you get to where you are today? Because truly the pre-med community gets a rep for being cut through and whatnot. But it is the most supportive community I have ever been a part of. Everyone's so willing to help. So, I mean, whether it's asking your professor for a leadership or research opportunity, a friend for help in a class or a mentor that you look up to, make sure you're making those connections and asking for help when you need. Totally. I love that. I love that. And then also like we, the beauty of technology too, if you're not finding your crew, like your group in your school, social media, connect with other pre-meds and other universities, just find kind of that support system. I love it. I love it. You're building relationships authentically, naturally, but then you're also kind of seeing that there is not one path, but there are kind of places that you can kind of be guided towards and just kind of find, don't make it harder than it is. It's already hard. Exactly. That's exactly what I'm trying to get at here and it kind of leads into the next point of, you just said, everyone's path looks different. And I think one of the main like models of my life is make your work work for you. Find what works for you, figure out, hey, I know myself and I know that saying yes to this is going to put a tremendous amount of stress on me. You know, I was really struggled with saying yes to everything and then being overwhelmed or I know that if I push this assignment off till 10pm, I am simply going to do it at the poorest quality possible. So my last tip is basically find a routine, find some habits and find some coping mechanisms that'll really help you get through this. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon and you're going to need those stations in between to help propel you to the finish line. And so since you mentioned routine, what does your typical day like look like? Yeah, so like I said before, before I feel like I didn't really take care of myself, I still I'm working towards taking care of myself, but I think part of the way that I've gotten there is figuring out a routine that works for me. Of course, every day kind of looks a little different, but typically I like to wake up before any of my roommates wake up. I'm a social butterfly. I will just chat it up with you for hours. I don't know if you can tell right now, but so I like to wake up in the morning. I like to do a little bit of physical activity. I shower, I talk to my grandparents and parents. I try to talk to them every morning. And I think it feels like it gives me that, you know, feel like, you know, I have these people around me and they're here to support me. It makes me feel good. So then my, it's something that really works for me is doing work before my classes even start. So getting a head start to my day, those early hours are truly super productive for me. I go to class and then after I like to take a break, which a lot of times includes staying in app, you need to do that sometimes. And then, you know, the extracurricular activities, I run an SAT, ACT tutoring company. So some days it's working on that, you know, a couple of days a week or it's doing research work or going to organizations meetings or going to volunteering opportunities. I really like to have that night to myself to really be able to do what I want. And of course, if there's some schoolwork lingering, I finish it up. I eat dinner with my roommates and I head to bed and, you know, I think it's nice to have a routine some weeks or some days. I'm like, I really need to sleep in a little bit. And maybe I cut out that morning workout part and I go straight to doing work or maybe I don't do that. So having this routine is good. But making sure that I'm really getting a feel on myself and what do I need this week is also really important. Nice. And you mentioned that those kind of morning hours are super productive for you for score too. How have your kind of like study habits changed or academic identity changed now that you're a pre-med? Yeah. So like I said before, I always wanted to be a doctor. I was kind of wishy-washy, like, oh, I want to help people. But now that I've really found what I want to do, I feel that I'm really passionate towards the work I do, whether it's academically or extracurricularly. And that comes along with this idea of being ahead of the game and being a little bit more prepared than I was in high school. I feel like in high school, a lot of times I got by with studying the night before or the hour before. Don't tell my high school teachers that. Yeah, it's the truth, right? Yeah. And now I wouldn't say I'm like an all-star student, but I really do pride myself on being prepared and being ready in advance. And I think that's something that's really helped me, having systems around me to hold me accountable. Like I have a spreadsheet with all my due dates. I look at that every morning, every night to make sure I've hit everything. Just making sure I'm really, really prepared. And like I said, asking for help, going to office hours and all those sorts of things. So overall, I'd say I'm more focused, more prepared, well advanced and just enjoying school a lot more than I was in high school. Yeah. Well, it's good to hear, right? For my pre-med or for my high school, kind of junior seniors that are kind of dreading maybe the bad rap that pre-med gets. If you guys have any questions for Lassia, she will kind of jump on our channel and answer your questions. I would say that maybe kind of in the top five are my low, what to do with your low GPA videos. So before you get there, these tips are amazing. So if you guys want any more kind of specific tips on study habits or just life as a pre-med, definitely comment below and she'll answer your questions. Yeah, no, Dr. Josie has some great content out there. And I think you guys should definitely look at it, but just want to put it out there. You can contact me even to my personal Instagram. It's at Lassia Marla or we're going to get into the podcast a little bit here. So we can feel free to reach out that way. And we'll link your IG in the description below too. And the pod. So yeah, let's jump right in there. So what is the podcast? Who is it for? Who do you collaborate with? All that good stuff. Yeah. So I am the host of the pre-med perspectives podcast and I've recruited three of my best friends who are also a part of the osteopathic medical scholars program to help me out on this mission to bringing free mentorship advice to pre-meds and a lot of pre-health professionals around the world. So the reason I really started the podcast is because throughout my life I have been so fortunate to have amazing mentors and amazing resources. And I know that's not something everyone can say they have. And I love to talk to people. I love to make connections. And I kind of built this platform where I invite guests on that have a really cool story, have faced some really tremendous obstacles and shown resilience, whether it's pre-med, whether it's pre-nursing, we have all pre-health on there. And we really sit down and talk about how they got through what they got through. And I really like to highlight unique stories. So every episode you listen to will be different. I'm never going to ask the same person or my other friends will never ask the same person or the different people the same question. So for example, I had Dr. Joseon. I felt that she was a tremendous resource to pre-meds at a great price. And without listening to the podcast, a lot of people wouldn't know her. So it's really bringing resources to the light where a lot of people would not have known about them before. Nice, awesome. And where can we find your podcast? Yeah. So our podcast is on every major streaming platform. So if you go to Instagram at the.pre-med.perspectives, you will be able to find a link tree that'll take you to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, so many different platforms and it's free to listen to on all of them. Awesome. Anything else you want to share with our pre-med community today? Yeah. So like we've talked about everyone's path looks different. I've gotten bad grades before really bad grades and I'm just going to be honest about that. And I think that's something really important. Be honest with yourself. Be honest with the people around you. Let's lift each other up. Let's support each other because at the end of the day, we can't do it without each other. We'll be working together in the future at any point. If you have any questions or just want to chat, feel free to DM me on Instagram. Leave a comment below or DM us on our podcast account. But thank you so much for having me today. This was awesome. Thank you so much, Lasia. This was amazing. Yes. I'm so happy. Maybe next time we can have all your friends and the entire pre-med perspectives podcast on, that would be awesome. Yes. Yes. Yes. So a huge shout out to Viji, Ambika and Aisha, the other co-host of the pre-med perspectives. I couldn't do pre-med without them, and I definitely couldn't see the podcast without them. So I implore everyone to go find your pre-med gang out there. I do group. Yeah. They're the best. Yeah. Thank you guys for watching. Definitely click that like button, comment, subscribe, and we'll see you soon. Thanks so much. Bye, guys.