Here’s UR’s med school class profile for the class of 2025. Feel free to google and you can get several year’s worth of profiles showing it’s more or less a template. They look for the same types of things year in and year out. I doubt they’re the only med school looking for these attributes. As I tell students who want to head to med school, “Be someone the school can write about.”
From the link:
Most of you graduated with Latin Honors, including a large number who
were Summa or Magna Cum Laude. Additionally, many of your class graduated
Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Tau Beta Pi and or with other departmental, and
university or national honors society and recognitions. These awards show that
you’ve collectively had an incredible academic prowess and we are humbled
before your accomplishments. But in addition to these well-known awards, we
recognize that you have had even more profound accomplishments, many that
don’t come with certificates or applause, but still impacted the lives of
communities, organizations and people all around you. Congratulations.
Your desire to deeply and meaningfully work in marginalized communities
has led you to work in AmeriCorps, Teach for America and as Jesuit Service Corp
members. More than 50% of you worked or learned in an overseas setting. From
Sudan to Taipei, Japan to Bangalore, Greece to Nicaragua you have been impacted
by what life looks like outside the confines of your hometowns and you are wiser
for it. The University of Rochester celebrates your interest in a wide lens of
experiences and we hope an equal or greater number of you continue your global
reach in this phase of your transformation.
In order to be accepted to the University of Rochester, it is a must that you
have worked outside your comfort zone; your class has shown heart and passion
surpassing the average applicant. Many of you have worked with agencies in our
inner cities, refugee camps and prisons, reaching out to those who suffer the
greatest disparities in health care in our world. All of you have volunteered in
various outreach opportunities, alternative summer breaks, health care brigades and
other college or religious sponsored organizations and have made an impact on the
health and wellness of communities. If there is a hospital clinic or possibility to
help someone, someone in this room has volunteered in that opportunity and more
importantly, have LOVED working within it. The Class of 2025 you have reached
out to those people in need, regardless of pandemics, lock-downs, distance or
personal hardship encountered.
You have really unique interests and accomplishments that display heart and
soul to this class. To name just a few: you have built houses in Nicaragua, worked
in reforming criminal justice systems, accompanied those with terminal illness to
their deaths, joined teams for disaster relief, and supported housing insecurity and
homelessness. You have worked to distribute Covid 19 vaccines at your own peril,
been asylum advocates, led clinics such as Planned Parenthood and served our
LGBTQ community. You have served communities not only in English, but
Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. I am particularly proud of the overwhelming number
of people concerned about the marginalized in their communities, combatting
racism, sexism, misogynies, xenophobia, ableism and ageism; populations easily
ignored. This is a class overflowing with advocates and advocacy – the number of
people who have worked in community or as community organizers, in organized
politics or on committees to foster change is simply breathtaking. From intimate
partner violence, rape, suicide prevention, deportation and the bias against
marginalized populations, you are there for your communities twenty-four seven.
Your graciousness and innovative spirt is the essence of our progress. The
University of Rochester is a fertile ground for your ideas to take root, please don’t
lose the opportunity to harness the power of your collective classes’ talents and
skills to be innovators and collective sparks.
Oh… and the class of 2025’s your previous lives are fascinating. Many of
you are EMT trained, but you have also been NIH clinical research coordinators,
admissions officers, journalists, therapists, and case managers. Most of you have
had jobs and know the value of clocking in and clocking out, living paycheck to
paycheck as office workers, baristas, research coordinators, food service workers,
and nannies. Stop and think about the collective experiences you come here with.
Harness this talent and skill to improve our house of medicine. For those of you
who have worked part time, full time and sometimes, don’t forget the lessons these
jobs have given you, for they are true for your “job in medicine” - be on time, be
prepared, be respectful and be respected.
To relax you have enjoyed a wide variety of interests, many common, but
some less common. Your class has a true love for music and reading! We couldn’t
be happier. Additionally, this is a class of bakers – sourdough breads, cookies,
muffins, cakes, tarts… I officially christen this class the “sourdough starters”. As
per usual for the U of R, we have a remarkable, full symphony of musical talent.
Not just ‘quarantine talent” but professional talent – with two of your classmates
professionally trained in music theory and music performance. Your class talent
show has the potential to rival the Eastman School of Music and “On Call” our
medical school acapella group will not only have voice and singing available to it,
but beat box and musical theater to add to our repertoire. In a city that is home to
the Eastman School of Music, you have a unique opportunity to continue to play
and appreciate some of the best music in the world, I hope you take advantage of
it.
Now bizarrely, we have collected a class that almost universally loves
hiking, backpacking, rock climbing and trail running – the Adirondacks are just a
short drive away, and we hope you explore the Finger Lakes and the hills, home to
some beautiful countryside and sports in which to enjoy these passions. We have
four team members from D1 Varsity athletics in this class, Track and Field,
Synchronized Swimming, Cross Country and Skiing. We have multiple D3
athletics represented in Softball, Swimming, Track & Field, Soccer, Diving,
Squash, Alpine Skiing, and Ultimate Frisbee. We have an exceptional coterie of
club athletes representing martial arts, hockey, dance, sailing and fencing. Your
personal activities abound in sports such as soccer, dance, skiing, ice skating,
marathons, long distance running, power lifting and football. Please DON’T
STOP taking care of your body in the upcoming years, it is vital to your long-term
success.
All of you have shown deep a curiosity and a need to answer questions with
rigor and patience. The sacrifice of a Sunday football game and social events so
you could run a gel, or mine a data base in order to scratch the “itch of curiosity” is
a theme that is represented in the class of 2025. Impressively, 44 of you have spent
greater than a 1000 hours or more in your research endeavor. Most of you have
done your work in the natural sciences but also in anthropology, humanities,
archeology, and history. Helping us earn our name the liberal arts school of
medicine. You have not only engaged in clinical, lab and bench work, but also in
qualitative work. Your interest in science is vast, ranging from meditation research
to planetary health, archeology to how mRNA of vaccines affect populations, STI
research in Fijians to cell signaling; from molecular mechanisms of single
organisms to research in diseases that affect vast numbers of people such as
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. You have spanned the range from micro to macro
inquiry. Regardless of the type of research, the universal theme in your class is
quality work. I personally resonate with those of you that spoke of research as a
lesson in humility and sometimes failure alongside the reality of so many of you
who whose labs have been canceled and closed and shuttered through this
pandemic; yet you have found a way to thrive. As research is a key pillar to our
institution’s mission, we want to encourage you to not STOP being curious, it is
this very attribute that will change the lives of your patients and the world around
you.
For many of you, medicine is a family business, about 35 of you have
parents that have served in medicine in some capacity. But for a large number of
you, you have had no immediate family in medicine. Your family is in IT, work in
department stores, drive for UBER, are adventure outfitters, business owners, gig
workers, PhD researchers, custodial workers, care assistants, artists, lawyers,
teachers, sales specialists, counselors, and the unsung hero of all jobs – the
homemaker. Some of you have raised yourself alone either physically or
psychologically. As you can see, many of you have had absolutely no family in
which to model your future medical aspirations. However, for all of you, someone
in your family has been your inspiration, either family you were born to or family
you joined, because they were there supporting you, believing in you and
reminding you of the power of your potential. Please remember to celebrate with
them, they deserve a massive thank you and a giant warm hug.
It is remarkable and inspiring to see all that you have achieved in such a
short period of time and, for many of you, against all odds. Class of 2025, you are
the children of the pandemic, you have achieved success despite cancellations and
confusion; you will be remembered not only for your minds and abilities but your
flexibility. While things may not be “normal”, you are learning lessons that will
help you thrive in the variety of environments of the future. Regardless of how you
arrived here, you have excelled and surpassed every milestone set before you.