Profiles of Pre-Health Students
They were once in your shoes. Let their experiences help you on your journey.
Podiatry
Vivian Chan is a junior at Whittier College studying Biology.
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Why Podiatry?
"You get to be a multi-factorial physician...You get to see patients of all ages...You get the choice of doing surgery or not...You can have more flexibility with your schedule...You'll always have patients because there's a growing elderly population and an increase in diabetes and obesity in the U.S. The class sizes in Podiatric medical schools are smaller & have ~99-100% residency placement. Patients are also happy to see you- once they leave you, they usually experience almost immediate relief. Many specialties are also available: you can work in trauma in the ER, specialize in sports med, geriatrics, pediatrics, diabetes, limb salvage."
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Stanley Chang
Physical Therapy and Kinesiology
Bailey Wong is a first year undergraduate at San Jose State University majoring in Kinesiology.
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Why Physical Therapy and Kinesiology?
Bailey is interested in physical therapy because he enjoys weight lifting and sports. After some personal injuries he naturally became interested in anatomy and maintaining the body. He knew he wanted to go into healthcare, but did not want to spend years becoming a doctor.
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Physical Therapy
Stanley Chang is a ​sophomore at the University of Southern California studying Human Biology.
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Why Physical Therapy?
Stanley was inspired to go into Physical Therapy because of a high school Sports Medicine class he attended. Also, As someone who did kung-fu for most of his life, he naturally became interested in body movement and rehabilitation.
Bailey Wong
Brandon Azali
Dentistry
Brandon Azali is a senior at UC Berkeley studying Integrative Biology.
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Why Dentistry?
"Personally, the difference between the two fields are what you want to focus your career on. Dentistry is much more specialized. It is mainly geared towards the studying of the face and teeth. It does not have the multiple specialties that can be found in [Medicine].I chose Dentistry mainly because of how mobile the profession can be. With just a few tools, dentists are able to aid patients and do certain check-ups in areas that do not have the technology or resources. Also, dentistry places a huge emphasis on dental education, and seeing your patients almost 1-2 [times] or may be more throughout the year you can form a bond and somewhat a mentor ship to your patient's health."
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Optometry
Sho Takahashi is a first-year undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology.
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Why Optometry?
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"I wanted to go into healthcare and felt optometry was an easier track than traditional pre-med in the sense that it is specialized and narrower line of study, more guided."
"I feel that there is still the pressure of performing/achieving as much as a 'real' doctor, but I like optometry as an alternative because it has very flexible hours with much autonomy."
Orthopedic Surgery
Benjamin Sun is a sophomore at the University of Southern California studying Human Biology.
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Why Orthopedic Surgery?
"I first became interested in Orthopedics due to my childhood playing and watching sports which exposed me to numerous injuries and the hand in hand relationship between athletics and medicine. I am attracted to the 'simple' and rewarding nature of orthopedic surgery, as problems are often plain to see and treatment usually leads to obvious and immediate results."
Benjamin Sun
Introduction to
Careers in Healthcare
A brief guide for pre-health students created by UC Berkeley's American Medical Student Association