There are many, many, many things premed students are expected to do during their time in undergrad. They need high grades of course, but must also pursue extracurriculars from research to shadowing, build relationships with professors who will write them letters of recommendation, and prepare for the MCAT. This seems like it would be enough, but no, there’s still more pre-med students need to do: keep up to date with current events in healthcare.
This is because of how interviews for and applications to medical schools work, and what they look for in students. In this article we’re going to explore why this knowledge is important for pre-med students, and how they can best keep abreast of it while also dealing with the other important demands on their time. We’ll also briefly cover how this impacts high school students applying to BS/MD programs. Let’s jump right in!
Why Current Events in Healthcare Matter to Pre-Meds
There is the general sense that these events should matter because this is the field you’re going into, but there is a much more specific reason as well: many medical schools ask about current events specifically in either essay or interview questions. These can be more general, asking you to detail something currently going on in healthcare you find important, or specific, where they ask your thoughts on a particular issue.
In both cases, students are expected to be able to provide thoughtful and well reasoned responses, ones that show they have an understanding of the field of healthcare, and the various issues currently impacting it. For essays, you can just do the research while writing them; this does add to the writing time of course, but that’s how writing works. It is harder to stop and do meaningful research when you’ve just been asked a question at a live interview.
You will also find answering these essay questions easier if you have a general sense of what’s going on in healthcare, and don’t have to start from nothing. This, like so much else in admissions, is one of those cases where doing a bit of work early and over an extended period of time can save you a lot of work later down the line.
Finally, the way the healthcare field is shaping up can help you pinpoint where you want to focus your efforts. Many actions taken impact the field of healthcare, from government regulations, to funding limitations, to what states decide to prioritize or the emergence of health crises like the Covid-19 pandemic. This may not impact your choices if you’re already well set on your path of course, but can impact where you choose to apply to medical school, or where you’d prefer to pursue residency.
But Why do Medical Schools Care?
This is a reasonable question, and one worth exploring briefly. There are several different reasons, but at its base this returns to the same educational philosophy that makes them look for how you have volunteered during undergrad, and your commitment to service.
Healthcare is about helping others, meeting them where they are, and improving often dire circumstances. This means they’re looking for students who really care, and part of that is students who are informed about the state of healthcare. There are many issues with how health services are delivered, and which ones are important to you speak to your values, and how you will go about helping others.
Medical schools attached to public universities also often have a mandate to recruit doctors to serve in the state where they are based, whether explicitly or implicitly. They may ask questions like this to check your commitment to that mission, and are more likely to ask questions related to healthcare in the area where the school is located.
How to Keep Up with Healthcare News
We’re going to say that keeping up with healthcare news should take two forms; the long duree and the short push. The first is the long duree, the idea of keeping up with healthcare news in the long term, just being aware of what’s going on in the field, and the major impacts world events are having on it.
This can be found by browsing various news outlets with focus, especially if you can find specific journalists who cover health topics. There are plenty of writers who focus on healthcare developments specifically, and doing a half-hour of reading each week will give you good insight into the state of the field. You may not understand every issue in depth, but this will at least let you know what the issues are, and let you start forming informed opinions of them.
If you find a particular issue that interests you, then we recommend spending some time learning more about it. This can also help inform your choices of where you want to volunteer or commit your time in your extracurriculars. If there is a particular issue which draws your interest, then focusing your efforts there both prepares you for these essays and crafts a narrative for your application.
In the short term, as you draw near to when interviews and essays are going to be due, you should spend an evening or two picking out a few particular issues that are of interest to you and doing more in-depth research on them is a good use of time. You want to understand both what the issue is, and have some suggestions for solutions, or at least ways to begin ameliorating it.
You don’t have to have perfect solutions to all of the world’s problems, and they don’t expect you to. You should show that you have thought about the problem in depth, and any solutions you propose should be based on evidence; other programs which have worked or related scenarios which have been proposed or tried.
Finally, if you are applying to medical schools attached to public universities with a focus on serving their local area, you should prepare for questions about the area. This is especially true if you are applying to schools in the state where you reside. Students in Texas, for example, should have a grasp on the issues facing healthcare in Texas for Texas residents, and be able to speak to them.
How this Impacts BS/MD Students
As with many things in medical school admissions, this same phenomenon impacts BS/MD students in a slightly altered way. BS/MD students are high school students, but when it comes to the admissions process, they are often treated as pre-meds, and held to similar standards. This is because of how the admissions process works. For admission to a BS/MD program, the medical school must sign off, the same group which decides on the applications of pre-med students.
Thus BS/MD students may have fewer obligations in terms of what is expected of them, but they are expected to be playing the same game; pursuing the same kinds of extracurriculars, maintaining the same high grades, and demonstrating the same commitments to medicine and service as are expected from pre-meds.
Thus, in BS/MD interviews and essay questions, the same subject of current issues in healthcare arises. Many of these programs are tied to public universities with the explicit goal of recruiting doctors for a particular region or state, and so are even more likely to ask about current issues locally. They may not expect you to have the same depth of knowledge and reasoning as regular pre-meds, but they are looking for more than a standard high-school level analysis.
It is particularly hard for high school students to keep up with current events in healthcare, especially given all the other demands on their time (to say nothing of the demands on a student preparing for BS/MD applications). High school is by its nature a rather insulated space; while students often do have political views and keep up with events, it is to a far lesser extent than their collegiate peers.
BS/MD students must then make an active effort to keep abreast of news in the medical field. We recommend keeping up with both a local news source, and something national. The Associated Press, for example, has a , which contains both national and international health stories.
You won’t be able to dive into every issue and story with a great degree of detail, but you should have a sense for the trends and issues in the field. When applying to schools, you then know which issues are particularly relevant to you, and can research and expand on them further.
Example: Current Events and the Baylor2Baylor Case Study
An excellent example of why this knowledge is necessary comes from the Baylor2Baylor BS/MD . The application, as is the case with many BS/MD programs, closely parallels that of the Baylor College of Medicine. Of note, however is, their , which perfectly highlights why pre-med and BS/MD students need to be up to date on current events.
At this event, students are broken up into teams and tasked with presenting on an issue currently impacting healthcare, generally one which is specifically relevant to Texas. In most cases, the issue in question is one which has been popular in medical school admissions interviews in prior years. Specifically, it was on addressing healthcare disparities in rural Texas compared to the availability of healthcare services in urban areas.
This question is sent out ahead of time, and students are able to prepare before the event. Those students who already have a grasp on the current state of healthcare, however, have an advantage here, needing to spend less time in research, and already having the groundwork of how this problem has been discussed and solutions proposed in other states.
Pre-med students who encounter questions like this in interviews are also well served if they already have some idea of what they’re going to say, and what points they want to highlight. Being able to think on your feet is good, but what medical school admissions is looking for is your deep seated knowledge of the field, and the various issues that impact it.
Final Thoughts
Applying to medical school is a long and complicated process, one with many moving parts. It’s easy for some of these to slip or be forgotten, especially if you aren’t aware of everything that medical schools look for from students. We hope that this article has given you insight into one such aspect, one which is often overlooked, and which can trip up the unwary.
If you are looking for help preparing for your own medical school applications, and keeping track of the myriad of requirements that it places on you, then ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø can help. From helping you plan out your coursework and extracurriculars to writing the application essays themselves, our mentors are quite skilled at guiding students through this often overwhelming process. Schedule a free consultation today to learn more about how we can make your life easier.
