Health Professions

What made you choose Lake Forest College? 

I was drawn by what seemed like a vibrant community of students, staff and faculty. From the time I received my acceptance letter, I was convinced that the college genuinely cared and was committed to my success, and every aspect of my experience has lived up to this belief. The small class sizes, great financial aid and strategic location also made it a no-brainer!

How did a liberal arts education make a difference for you? 

The opportunity to merge my interests in a unique way was an important step towards being more open-minded, and building my communication, analysis, and critical thinking skills. For me, it was important before and after college to continue to explore my various academic and non-academic interests and going to a liberal arts college has provided me this opportunity. This broadened my prospects career-wise and gave me the liberty to think outside the box and approach problem-solving with the fresh perspective of interconnectedness. 

What experiences outside of the classroom do you think helped prepare you for the health-related PhD program are going to pursue? 

I worked in Dr. Barbosa’s lab as an undergraduate research assistant and I believe it was one of the best preparations for my research interests going forward. I learned skills related to formulating scientific questions, designing hypotheses and methods, data collection and storage, analysis, manuscript writing and editing, communicating science effectively and maintaining a lab space. I had wonderful opportunities to not only be a mentee, but to be a mentor to students in the lab as a peer teacher. I believe this experience will serve me in graduate school and in the future if I’m to work in academia. I also volunteered at Northwestern hospital for a summer and learned a great deal about the community approach to healthcare. This is related to my interest in global health and epidemiology.

How did your time at Lake Forest help you prepare to apply to graduate school? 

Lake Forest College provides unique opportunities like the Richter program that allows undergraduates to conduct research with professors. This program was instrumental in shaping my career interests and set me on the path to graduate school. I remember visiting University of Chicago Graduate school in my freshman year during a Richter trip and immediately starting to think about that prospect. In addition, having undivided attention from advisors and professors (which could be considered a luxury in comparison to other places) has been a great privilege. I received a ton of guidance and feedback anytime I needed it, and even getting references for my applications wasn’t painful because professors were eager to help!

What do you think of the new Health Professions Program between Lake Forest College and Rosalind Franklin University?

The Health Professions Program is an extraordinary idea that I wish had happened sooner. I only participated as a junior but even then, it had a great impact on my college experience and career direction. I am excited about it because I believe the content is very relevant during this time and is required to build a new cohort of medical professionals approaching the field with more than just qualifications. I enjoyed learning about communities and lifestyle medicine and really appreciate the work Lake Forest College and Rosalind Franklin University faculty have put into developing this course. I hope it will continue and urge students to enroll early.

What skills and experiences at Lake Forest do you believe will help you be successful? 

The many opportunities I have had to network e.g., attending conferences, have really helped with my communication skills. A lot of my classes were also discussion based and centered around group work which has developed my people skills.

What advice would you give a high school student looking to pursue pre-health and is considering Lake Forest College? 

Go for it! I joined the College to pursue psychology but was immediately fascinated by the interdisciplinary nature of neuroscience, not to mention how fascinating the brain is! There’s flexibility, but I wasn’t very certain on what I wanted to do, so it is even better if you already know. Lake Forest College has great initiatives to successfully guide pre-health students including the HPP program (which allows you to get practical experience and meet real-life professionals), the Career Advancement Center, amazing pre-health advisors and an awesome science building to live out to your science dreams!