Alumni Spotlight

Sophia Castiglioni was a part of the Honors Program and the Cross Country and Track & Field teams while at UP. She joined the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee my freshman year and gradually moved from representative to vice president to president. During the academic year, she also participated in activities that did not require a large weekly time commitment such as tutoring, volunteering with SMART reading and later at COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics so that she could mostly focus on school and training. Over the past summer, she worked as a lab assistant at a biotechnology company and spent time shadowing physicians. She is now a first year medical student at the prestigious NYU Grossman School of Medicine & we wish her all the best.

1. Give a short description of your application process / tips for upcoming applicants.
If I were to go back in time and apply again, I would submit my application as soon as possible after it opens in May – since the application cycle is rolling, the earlier you apply, the higher the chance that you will receive an interview spot. Also, I would make sure to note which schools highly favor in-state applicants and not apply to those schools if you are out-of-state (examples are Baylor, UW, UNC). Most applicants have done similar extracurriculars (volunteering, TA or workshop leader for STEM class, research, etc.) so the important part is emphasizing what you took away from that experience and how you grew as a person as a result. I think sticking with fewer extracurriculars but doing them longitudinally is more important that taking on dozens of things at the same time but not doing them for very long.
My take on checking boxes: sometimes, you do need to check a box in order to get past the first elimination round from schools – just make sure that you are not only doing things to check boxes. Checking boxes can help you see what you like and don’t like doing! For example, if you want to apply to a school that you know values research, I would recommend finding a research opportunity while in undergrad – you might find that you love research which is a great thing to know, or you might find that you don’t want to have anything to do with lab work and that is also a very useful thing to know about yourself.
Utilize the career center to help prepare yourself for interviews – I went over interview material and practiced with Max Kalchthaler multiple times and found it very helpful!

2. How did your time at UP help you with your career choice, application, etc.? (involvement, academics, research, advising, etc.)
I knew I wanted to go to medical school before coming to UP but as someone with no family background in medicine I found the ‘Preparing for Medical School’ class very helpful. You might not realize it, but you are actually studying for the MCAT while taking classes at UP – most of the topics covered on the MCAT are material that is covered in classes so it’s helpful if you try to understand the material as you learn it because it will come back! The advantage of UP being a small school is that you are able to form relationships with faculty who push you to reach your goals, support your application process, and encourage you when you need encouraging.

3. What are your favorite memories of UP / any highlights?
My favorite memories of UP are going on hikes with friends in the Gorge and along the coast, eating dinner at the slug garden at sunset, attending events put on by clubs such as the Sushi making workshop, running in Forest Park with teammates, Dance of the Decades, and taking the coolest classes with professors who care about you.

4. What general advice would you give aspiring pre-health types?
I highly recommend shadowing in the field you are interested in or getting some patient encounter experience in another way because it is important that you are sure you want to commit to a certain health field before going through the rigorous application process. Also, keep a journal of the patient encounters that you have – admission committees always ask about a meaningful physician or patient encounter you had in either application or interview questions.