UVa Student Success Story: Lauren Benoit UVa '15
What led to your interest in medicine?
My mom and uncle are both in the medical field, so growing up I was familiar with the hospital setting. However, it wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I started to become interested in medicine and interned at my local hospital the following summer. For the internship I shadowed and assisted both the administrative and healthcare professionals in the hospital by filing patient paperwork and making hospital beds. I also experienced the busyness of the different hospital departments and saw the services that the Operating Room, Same Day Surgery, Emergency Department, Cardiac Catheterization Lab, Interventional Radiology, and Physical Therapy Unit could provide to their patients. Being in that hospital setting and watching healthcare professionals build trust with their patients influenced my interest in medicine.
What did you major in and what inspired you to choose this/these area(s) of study?
I majored in Communication Disorders. What sparked my interest in this field was shadowing several Otolaryngology surgeons during my first and second year of college. From working with these surgeons I became really interested in hearing, speaking, and language. I also have a personal connection to the subject because several of my extended family members had and do have communication disorders. I hope to pursue a medical specialty that integrates my knowledge of communication disorders.
What activities did you participate in at U.Va?
I participate/participated in Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship, Club Cross Country, Madison House Medical Service and the Children’s Learning Clinic as a research assistant.
How did you prepare for the medical school application process?
I attended the pre-health advising meetings about applying to medical school and went to drop in hours. I also talked with friends who had recently completed the application process and got their advice on the primary/secondary applications and interviews.
How did you balance the demands of applying to medical school with additional obligations and challenges?
I tried to get many of the applications done during the summer and before my summer job started. During the semester I allocated Monday mornings to work exclusively on med school applications and interview preparation.
Have you been accepted to a medical school thus far?
Yes. I was accepted to the Uniformed Services Medical School in Bethesda, Maryland.
What advice do you have for new applicants considering a career in medicine?
Make sure you get experience being in a hospital or healthcare field, no matter the capacity-volunteering, shadowing, interning. And be sure to record what your experiences were being in that hospital/healthcare setting. Write down what you did, what you saw, and how you felt (within HIPPA compliance). You will want to have these specific examples and feelings to look back on when writing your personal statement, completing your primary, and interviewing.
In what ways did Health Professions Advising support you in your journey? What was most helpful?
I found the Health Professions Advising’s seminars on applying to medical school helpful for knowing how to request letters of recommendation from professors, signing up for interfolio, and using AMCAS/AACOMAS. Mock interviews were the most helpful. I did two mock interviews in the fall and looked over the advisors' feedback sheets before every interview. Besides the feedback being beneficial, the questions I was asked during my mock interviews were very similar to the questions I was asked during my real interviews.
