In these past weeks I have analyzed data from the Early Assurance Program research study that the organization that I work with, the Hub for Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education. The Early Assurance Program to Georgetown School of Medicine is a specialized medical school program where students are admitted after their sophomore spring semester. This program also requires students to take all their pre-med courses except for biochemistry and physics during their first four semesters of college while maintaining a recommended GPA of 3.8 and without withdrawing from any pre-med or major courses. Using this data, I have analyzed courses that have resulted in ineligibility for the Early Assurance Program. These courses include General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry where a withdrawal or a grade below a "C" in either courses makes students ineligible for the Early Assurance Program.
However, students were not able to indicate whether they were unable to apply to the Early Assurance Program because of their coursework or because of extracurricular activities that they were unable to complete before applying to the Early Assurance Program. Therefore, I plan on interviewing students who chose to drop out of the pre-med track or became ineligible to apply to the Early Assurance Program to understand whether their ineligibility stemmed from the fact that they could not receive enough clinical hours, get shadowing experience or be able to get involved in a research experience. I believe these series of interviews will provide insight on inequities that hinder students from being able to engage in their pre-professional opportunities that have a direct impact on their eligibility for certain medical school programs and their ability to remain on the pre-med track.
Ultimately, I am grateful for being able to get much progress on my research and I am excited to share these experiences with my peers during out weekly meetings. I'm also excited to integrate these experiences into my Leadership in Action project in Argentina next summer!
Hi! My name is Dua Mobin and I'm a rising junior at Georgetown double majoring in Government and Biology of Global Health and I'm attending Georgetown School of Medicine after I graduate. As a first generation low-income (FGLI) student, I struggled during my freshman year to pursue my interests in research and clinical work because I had to work two part-time jobs to afford living in DC. Therefore, I did not have the time to engage in volunteer research and clinical work that added to my journey as a pre-med but failed to pay the bills. Because of this adversity, I became heavily invested in equity issues that systemically disfavored FGLI students and other underrepresented students.
That is why my Laidlaw project focuses on structural barriers to pre-med students that are underrepresented in medicine, and how that results to pre-med dropout and ineligibility for certain medical school programs.
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