Any tips on Mentors?

[goldinthedirt]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello,

I am searching for a great way to find a mentor that would guide me through this journey. I don't have any connections to family/friend MDs. Any advice?

 

[DingoPingo]

are you in college? see if your premed club has a mentorship program

you can also try to meet up with random doctors, esp. those that also have teaching roles, and see if you can work with them, eventually they can become your mentor

also SDN is the best mentor you can find

 

[Lawpy]

also SDN is the best mentor you can find

yep exactly. And by far. Always enjoy having the opportunity to interact with adcoms, faculty and attendings/residents here on various topics and learning much about these from them

 

[tskbdmnd]

I'll give you the first step:

"Hello Dr.___, my name is ___. I am interested in ___."

Nothing matters until you do this. Of course in this day and age, there are automated processes in getting positions, but nothing beats a phone call or email to schedule an appointment and have a chat.

When choosing the mentors that I follow, I like to ask myself these things:

1. Is he incredibly capable?
2. Is there something that I can offer him?
3. Does he genuinely want to teach me?
4. Does he have the time to help me? Can I have set hours in the week?
5. What can I gain from this experience?
6. What is a conservative estimate of what I will gain from this experience?
7. Does 5 and 6 justify the opportunity cost of the time I will spend?

I've been thinking of adding "8. Will I enjoy this?". I've been thinking that dissatisfaction is a necessary, worthy struggle in order to gain skills that will help later on. Not sure.

Also I'd expand from just looking at physicians. I personally don't see the average medical doctor as a worthwhile mentor in anything but doctor-patient relations.

Also by my standards (1), I'm not qualified to be a mentor. Take it all with a grain of salt. This is how I found the many mentors that I work for and learn from. I feel like I'm gaining a lot from the experiences.

 

[jqueb29]

SDN is all you need

 

[Doctor-S]

Hello,

I am searching for a great way to find a mentor that would guide me through this journey. I don't have any connections to family/friend MDs. Any advice?

In addition to SDN, you might want to approach your own school's pre-med club, or pre-med advisors or career counselors for mentoring assistance - especially if you're interested in meeting with a local mentor, face-to-face.

If your school also has an AMC, you might want to contact the AMC with the same types of questions.

Some clinical professors at AMCs are happy to provide occasional (but valuable) mentoring to dedicated students. Many of them are "voluntary" professors who are affiliated with different departments of the AMC. These voluntary professors often have busy private practices, and teach courses at the medical school or at the AMC. Many of them enjoy mentoring students - after all, they're already contributing their time and knowledge as a voluntary professor (for little or no payment). Feel free to converse with more than one professional (including male and female), to obtain different perspectives.

Thank you.

 

[mitch8017]

Hello,

I am searching for a great way to find a mentor that would guide me through this journey. I don't have any connections to family/friend MDs. Any advice?

There are a few different ways you can find someone to guide you through the process. You can join any one of your schools pre-med organizations and meet an older student who has been through some of the things you look to go through. I also joined a fraternity during my second semester with several older students who were pre-med (some accepted, some applying, some studying for the mcat and so on) who have been a huge help in getting my foot in the door with shadowing, leadership and even a volunteer experience as well as give me a good look into what I had to look forward to as far as coursework and the application process are concerned. I know some people rip on fraternities and I'll be hones, some of them are less than respectable for a number of behavioral issues and what not but I was able to find one that was very academically inclined and had a number of individuals with similar career goals. I would recommend it if you can find something that works for you.

 

[vcusominova]

AAMC Careers in Medicine for pre-med students--go straight to the source!

 

[goldinthedirt]

I'll give you the first step:

"Hello Dr.___, my name is ___. I am interested in ___."

Nothing matters until you do this. Of course in this day and age, there are automated processes in getting positions, but nothing beats a phone call or email to schedule an appointment and have a chat.

When choosing the mentors that I follow, I like to ask myself these things:

1. Is he incredibly capable?
2. Is there something that I can offer him?
3. Does he genuinely want to teach me?
4. Does he have the time to help me? Can I have set hours in the week?
5. What can I gain from this experience?
6. What is a conservative estimate of what I will gain from this experience?
7. Does 5 and 6 justify the opportunity cost of the time I will spend?

I've been thinking of adding "8. Will I enjoy this?". I've been thinking that dissatisfaction is a necessary, worthy struggle in order to gain skills that will help later on. Not sure.

Also I'd expand from just looking at physicians. I personally don't see the average medical doctor as a worthwhile mentor in anything but doctor-patient relations.

Also by my standards (1), I'm not qualified to be a mentor. Take it all with a grain of salt. This is how I found the many mentors that I work for and learn from. I feel like I'm gaining a lot from the experiences.

Thank you so much for the detailed advice! I think I figured out a great way to start this 😀

 

[goldinthedirt]

In addition to SDN, you might want to approach your own school's pre-med club, or pre-med advisors or career counselors for mentoring assistance - especially if you're interested in meeting with a local mentor, face-to-face.

If your school also has an AMC, you might want to contact the AMC with the same types of questions.

Some clinical professors at AMCs are happy to provide occasional (but valuable) mentoring to dedicated students. Many of them are "voluntary" professors who are affiliated with different departments of the AMC. These voluntary professors often have busy private practices, and teach courses at the medical school or at the AMC. Many of them enjoy mentoring students - after all, they're already contributing their time and knowledge as a voluntary professor (for little or no payment). Feel free to converse with more than one professional (including male and female), to obtain different perspectives.

Thank you.

You are right! Various perspectives would help me guide through my decision better and expose me to different views. Thank you so much for taking your time 🙂🙂

 

[goldinthedirt]

AAMC Careers in Medicine for pre-med students--go straight to the source!

On it! Thank you 😀

 

[MaxPlancker]

More so than physicians, upperclassmen and current medical students are the best mentors because they are much more up to date on what it takes.

 

[goldinthedirt]

More so than physicians, upperclassmen and current medical students are the best mentors because they are much more up to date on what it takes.

Would med students have enough time on their hands to help me out? I want someone to be like my "tiger mom" and pull me through all these XD

 

[MaxPlancker]

Would med students have enough time on their hands to help me out? I want someone to be like my "tiger mom" and pull me through all these XD

If they don't have time, then they aren't truly interested in mentoring you. I am very picky about who I mentor but if someone becomes my mentee, I go all out for them and I make time despite whatever my schedule may be.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Would med students have enough time on their hands to help me out? I want someone to be like my "tiger mom" and pull me through all these XD

Many med students spend incredible amounts of time on this very website, so you can assume they have some free time.