A KFC Fry Cook and a Boy Genius Apply to Med School

A KFC Fry Cook and a Boy Genius Apply to Med School …

Ask any doctor or medical professional how they became a doctor, and they’ll tell you a different story every time. Premed programs bring together some of the most interesting and diverse peer groups because people from all across the socioeconomic spectrum hear the call to pursue one of the world’s most noble professions.

Take, for example, Franco Jin. His parents moved to Utah from Argentina when he was 12. By the time he was a senior in high school and all his friends were applying for college, he thought he might be content keeping his job frying chicken at KFC.

“I was pretty happy working at KFC,” Jin told the Salt Lake Tribune. “They would let me eat all the chicken I wanted, no complaints.”

But then he got what many young people need: a gentle push in the right direction. Thanks to a pilot program that connects college students with high school classrooms, he heard about the premed program at the University of Utah.

Now a senior, he’s just sent out his applications. With a healthy dose of Jin’s continued hard work, he’ll be off to med school next year. “This is a completely different kind of happy that I get to experience,” he said.

To contrast Jin’s experience, David Hamad, a native of central Ohio, is off to his first semester of premed at Capital University on a full scholarship. Hamad had a very different high school experience: he graduated at the age of 15. That was last spring, and, a few months before his high school convocation, he also accepted an associate’s degree from Columbus State Community College.

During that graduation ceremony, folks in the audience gasped when they learned he was just 15 years old.

The boy is driven to say the least. "I graduated high school and two years of college at the age of 15. And hopefully I'll graduate with my Bachelor's degree in PreMed at the age of 17 and then I want to go to a med school and I'll graduate at 21 and then I have to do residencies and then by the time I'm a full heart surgeon, I would be like 25 or 26," he told a local ABC affiliate.

But before both Hamad and Jin become doctors, they’re going to need to dominate. Hamad will need to ace his courses and put together a killer application before he can make it into med school.

Jin has hopefully already gone through this process successfully.

In essence, both Jin and Hamad are like newly hatched baby sea turtles, clawing their way towards the sea. Harvard’s Office of Career Services estimates that just 17% of a given class will apply to med school. From there, 50%-60% won’t be accepted. And then a further cohort will drop out, more still won’t be placed in residencies, etc.

These baby sea turtles have a long, difficult journey. But this particular community of baby sea turtles is both diverse and committed. It includes KFC fry cooks, boy geniuses, and everyone in between.

If you believe you would like to join these baby sea turtles on the same journey, then consider enrolling in one of my amazing courses, each designed to help you excel in an aspect of pre-med so you can successfully apply to medical school.