PreHealth Spotlight: Meghan Harrington

Class year: 2016
Major: Biology

I am very happy that I took two years of gap time; I was better prepared for the MCAT and application cycle, I gained some life experience, and I saved up some money for medical school.

Vitals

• Recently accepted to UMass Medical School class of 2022
• Will be a member of the PURCH Program at UMass Med
• Applied to MD and DO schools
• Interviewed at 4 schools
• Took 2 Gap Years
• Certified EMT with 1.5 years experience

I graduated from UMass Amherst with a B.S. in biology in 2016 and I will be a first year student at UMass Medical School starting this August. I will be participating in their PURCH (Population-based Urban and Rural Community Health) program, an educational track that focuses on understanding the social determinants of health. PURCH utilizes a satellite campus in Springfield, and as a Northampton native, I was drawn to the program’s involvement in the communities of Western Mass. This year, for example, students visited a jail and a homeless shelter to talk to people about their experiences with the healthcare system. PURCH students spend their first two years of school with the rest of their class in Worcester, but do third- and fourth-year rotations at Baystate Medical Center.

For me, taking two years off before going to medical school was the perfect amount of gap time. After graduating, I spent my summer studying to take the MCAT. I used a series of Kaplan books and studied in a library from nine to five, packing a bagged lunch every day. On some weekends, I would take full-length practice tests to gauge my progress. At night, I was attending classes to obtain my EMT certification. I have now spent the last year and a half working full-time as an EMT. Although the shifts are long (12 or 24 hours at my company), I cannot imagine gaining my clinical experience in any other way. My job is so hands-on and always challenges me to think on my feet to apply my skills to unique situations. Most importantly, my gap time allowed me to keep up with all of the demands of the medical school application cycle.

I submitted my primary applications to a total of fifteen allopathic and osteopathic schools in June of 2017. For the next couple of months, writing essays for secondary applications became a full-time job. I ultimately interviewed at four schools, each of which had a different interview format. I participated in both 1-on-1 and 2-on-1 interviews, a group interview, and Multiple Mini Interviews. I spent a lot of time preparing for each format, practicing common interview questions, and learning everything I could about each school. Interview days were often an all-day affair, broken down into the interview portion, lunch, and an informative portion that included a tour. Between the travel and the pressure to perform, interview days were exhausting to say the least. At UMass, for example, I interviewed on two consecutive days: one day in Worcester for the regular M.D. program and another in Springfield for the PURCH program. Most schools took 6-8 weeks to make an admissions decision, but despite the long wait, I was relieved to know that I had finished every step of the process and the rest was out of my hands.

In March of this year, I was accepted to UMass Medical School (and the PURCH program), which was my top choice right along. I am very happy that I took two years of gap time; I was better prepared for the MCAT and application cycle, I gained some life experience, and I saved up some money for medical school. Although the road to medical school was time-consuming, tiring, and expensive, the journey was all worthwhile when I got the acceptance letter. I am very humbled and proud to be heading to Worcester in just a few months to join the UMass Medical School Class of 2022.

Published April 2018