Lydia Yang is a recent Emory College graduate (20C). We had a chance to sit down with Lydia and ask her a few questions about her pre-health journey.
Can you give an overview of your path in college, what you are doing now, what you plan to do in the future?
I recently graduated from Emory in 2020. I was a Human Health major and Sociology minor and also had a concentration in the business school in Health Innovation. After graduating, I retook the MCAT and I was trying to figure out what I would do in my gap year. So I have retaken the MCAT and am applying again, but what has taken up most of my time is I have been working as a business development analyst at a telemedicine startup company called Physician 360. This was a connection I made during my junior year of college. It was something I was doing on and off but now that I am no longer a student I have been able to dedicate a lot more time to it. In this position, it has been really interesting to learn about the intricacies of learning a business while giving me more understanding of businesses in the medical realm. I do a lot of customer service for this company as well so I like to say that I am practicing my bedside manner as well because I will have hour-long calls with patients who do not know how to use the internet. It has been a great way to practice my patience and bedside manner in general.
The other thing I have been doing is I am now doing an Orise Fellowship in the CDC. I am working at the Center for Preparedness and Response. The unit I work for specifically, we focus on communicating information to clinicians throughout the United States, but we basically have an international audience. This is in the Department of Emergency Operations, so we have been spending a lot of time trying to communicate the most up-to-date information to clinicians specifically about COVID-19. This has been a lot of hosting webinars and working together to make sure clinicians throughout the US are informed with the most up-to-date information. This has given me more insight in the public health realm and working in such a big organization like the CDC has been very interesting.
Now, most likely I will be going to University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine!
How was the application process for you?
When I applied the first time, I felt ready. This was my plan all along. I knew based off the stats, working at PHA, and talking to advisors, that applying straight through is definitely difficult just because applicants are getting older and people are getting more experience. But at the time I was confident I put my best foot forward and my application was complete. I interviewed but I ended up being put on the waitlist. It was definitely difficult because I had so much confidence and it made me check myself of where did I go wrong. I think that’s something that really helped me. Instead of taking it so harshly where I said, “Well being a doctor is not in the realm of possibilities anymore,” it definitely made me reflect on myself. It made me reflect on where I could improve moving forward. I did consider if I wanted to apply the next cycle or if I could benefit more from taking another year off. I looked at specific parts of my application like service, etc. to see if it was something I really needed to build up. Ultimately I talked with other people who had applied and I talked with my advisor Anil a lot. I think I had a unique situation where I think it was pretty easy to figure out what I could do to improve my application and that was taking the MCAT again to be transparent. I think also making sure I was in the right mindset to apply again. It had just been demanding and I had spent the last year applying so I had to consider if I had really focused on changing my application. I didn’t suddenly publish a paper, change my leadership activities, or change my grades. So I think this is something people should consider when considering applying again. Overall, I had heavy consideration on if applying the next cycle was the best thing for me and if I realistically changed my application in a way that was big enough that a new school would interview and accept me. This takes a lot of self-reflection and looking at yourself with a critical lens. I also talked it out with my family and advisor to figure out what should be my path.
There shouldn’t be shame in trying again. Not everyone is going to succeed on their very first try. That’s natural. There is a lot of trial and error in medicine. As we’ve learned in COVID we learn new information and we change how we do it. That’s something we can do as applicants and as future doctors and nurses and dentists. No one is perfect the very first time they do it. Give yourself some cushion and forgiveness. Yes medical school applications are tough, but if you’re at Emory, you did it, you’re a good student. Everyone works hard and you’ll get to where you need to be.
What was the most difficult part of your pre-health career?
For people that have not applied yet, the application process is rough. And I think everyone will agree with that it’s just a lot of waiting and having a lot of patience and hoping for the best. When I did not get in last year I was trying to be positive throughout the whole process but once it’s been a few months you have to keep your options open and still be positive. But I really thought it was challenging but good for me because it made me really think critically. “Ok you went through it once, it was really difficult, is this something you absolutely want to do again.” This is something that made me improve my application when I went through it the second time.
There should not be any shame or stigma in not getting in the first time or applying again. I think it’s similar to the MCAT where sometimes you just don’t do the best the first time, but now you learn, reflect, move forward and learn something about yourself. It makes you a better candidate overall and a better physician. Applying and not getting in the first time was hard but it definitely made me a better candidate because I was able to think more critically on how I wanted to show myself differently as a candidate. It made me see how I was a unique candidate, so I embraced my passion for business more.
Another thing that I think that was beneficial about my gap year was working in the real world and getting a breath of fresh air from school. No one’s life is exactly normal in the pandemic, but I think it’s a good break to take from worrying about upcoming assignments and midterms. You are able to come up with a consistent schedule, develop hobbies, and figure yourself out as a person rather than just a student. Again, this year is different because I’m living with my parents and I am not able to travel or go to restaurants like I normally would have. But this has been a great time to get a breather and give my brain time to recuperate. I am applying again, and I know medical school is a marathon. So taking a gap year allows you to improve as an applicant but also as a person. It cleanses your soul.
Looking back on the application process and pre-med at school in general, what is something that you wish you had known that you think would have helped you?
It is really quality over quantity because it is really about how you can share your story. I think the people that are most successful in their application are the people that can really articulate what they gained from their experience. You can have 1000 hours of volunteering at a hospital. That’s great, but if you cannot reflect on it and you have no takeaways from it, was it really worth all those hours? Really focus on doing things that are quality to you, not just things that look like quality events on an application but things that really add to your perspective and change it.
Don’t try to compare yourself to others. Every application is unique and trying to make your application as unique as possible will make your application successful.
Hopefully, this reaches some first years but document everything that you can do. It can be such a pain when you are a junior, senior, or post-grad to record all the hours you did shadowing or volunteering. Make an excel sheet, that is what I would recommend.
Also focus on the right type of resources. There can be a lot of toxic pre-med students or people in general. I think something you can do throughout all of college and applying is identifying people that drain you of energy and stay away from them. Find people that when you leave them they don’t drain you. You don’t feel that there is a competitive edge to always top people. I think this can be something hard to avoid especially at high performing institutions like Emory, but there are good people out there.
Are there certain people that you relied upon more throughout your journey?
I was really lucky to become so close to my advisor, and I relied upon him a lot. I also had a really solid group of friends, but I was also able to find a group that I was really able to study with. You can have your best friends but that doesn’t have to be the person you always study with or talk about applications with. Don’t put too much pressure on these relationships but find people that work well to study with. Sometimes I work best studying alone if I just need to get the content down. But with some of these harder classes like orgo or biochemistry, I found a small group of people. I emphasize small because if it gets larger than 4-5 it gets harder to be productive. But finding this group can serve as your support system. The people who you live with or spend most of your day with don’t have to be the same people you study with or complain about classes with or talk about your application with. I found a good support system and that’s pretty key.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
I think something that has helped me a lot throughout this whole process, the successes and failures, is trying to keep an open mind and trying to compare myself and my journey to others and trying to better myself. Everything will work out in the long run. You can always look back and see that it makes sense you did something because it led you to this opportunity and this path, but while you’re living it, it may not seem that way. Trust your gut. If there is one failure here, that is just the world pushing you to another opportunity.