Alumni Spotlight

Sarah spent her first year at UP focused on adjusting to undergraduate life as an out-of-state first-generation student. She credits the Honors Program with helping her to find community early on and says that participating in the Rural Immersion allowed her to explore her interests in migrant workers’ rights.  During Sarah’s second year at UP, she began working part-time as an administrative assistant in Accessible Education Services as well as Personal Support Worker for a peer on campus. These jobs gave her practical skills and helped her grow in reliability, communication, and resourcefulness. She then studied abroad in Granada, Spain during the Spring semester of my sophomore year, where she participated in a health care system internship which included shadowing experiences at the local private hospital. When she returned from her time abroad her junior year, she began working as a Biology Department Chair Assistant, which she continued to do until she graduated.  After graduating and taking the MCAT, Saray worked for one year as a medical scribe for a cardiology private practice near her hometown.  We are proud to say that Sarah is now a full-time medical student at Keck School of Medicine of USC in Los Angeles, California.   Yahoo Dr. Ponce!!!

Give a short description of your application process / tips for upcoming applicants.

I began preparing in the fall of my senior year. This included brainstorming personal statement ideas, planning my application process for the coming year, and scheduling my MCAT. September was when I completed the first of many personal statement drafts. I continued to edit my personal statement up until June when I submitted my primary application. I got feedback from both science and humanities professors as well as Diversity and Inclusion staff, research mentors, and a couple of friends who knew me well. I had planned to submit my primary application by the end of May, but I had last minute changes to make after getting some slightly misleading feedback from a well-meaning physician who was familiar with a more outdated application style. January and February I asked for letters of recommendation from professors and mentors. I also drafted and edited my 15 activities paragraphs between April and June. A few days following graduation I started studying for the MCAT and took the exam 8 weeks later, at the end of June. My biggest piece of advice for the application process is to reach out and up! Talk to people who have done it before (and recently)-especially if you are a first-generation student like me. We are each other's best allies. These allies can be alumni, med influencers (instagram), or physicians you have shadowed.

How did your time at UP help you with your career choice, application, etc.?  (involvement, academics, research, advising, etc.)

I will always be grateful for my involvement in the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) group at UP. Through this group I was able to attend the AMWA conference at OHSU in 2018. This was during a period of time when, after returning from my semester in Spain, I was struggling with re-integrating myself in my science courses. I had realized I was not going to pass my first semester of Organic Chemistry and I was struggling with keeping up with the content I was learning in my biology courses. I questioned my ability to pursue a career in medicine and even explored the idea of attending naturopathic medicine school because it was an easier admissions process. I also thought I was too behind schedule to apply for medical school my junior year since I had not had any research experience and very minimal clinical experience. AMWA re-sparked the passion in me for allopathic medicine, public health, and social justice. The passion and excitement I felt was enough to remind me that I belonged in medicine. I also got to meet amazing physicians such as Dr. Empey and Dr. Benthin, who became great mentors to me during my time as an intern at OHSU as well as during my application cycle.

What are your favorite memories of UP / any highlights?

I am truly grateful for the formative years I spent at UP. From learning about how to hold space for those affected by systemic injustice through the Moreau Center Service Immersions and learning from Yuri Hernandez at the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to keep their stories on the forefront of every movement toward justice, to working with Dr. Dyer and her embryology lab in investigating cardiac development with the chick model, I was able to explore my interests and always discovered more than I could have ever expected.

What general advice would you give aspiring pre-health types?

It's a long journey. Pace yourself. Don't get caught up in everyone else's timeline. Once you get to medical school/physician assistant school etc you will see a group of people who took various amounts of time to get to where they are with rich and diverse experiences. UP being a small liberal arts school minimizes pressure we get to compare ourselves to others on this journey. We can use this to our advantage to have the space to explore our interests and goals on our own timeline. Don’t stress about molding yourself into the perfect applicant. Seek any academic support that might be helpful for you and pursue your own interests. This will help you find a school and ultimately a career that fits with your values. If you are struggling with anything in undergrad, don’t see that as a reflection of your ability to get into or complete medical school. Every step of the way you will become wiser, more experienced, and meet people who can offer support. Also, undergrad comes with unique challenges of its own. Especially these past few years. Hang in there, reach out, and trust yourself!