Bakersfield College hosted an information session about the medical professionals program on Jan. 29. The speakers, Bianca Gabribay program manager for the medical professionals program, and Dorthy Mullen program manager for the research laboratory technology program went over many details to help students interested in the medical work on getting into medical school.
There were around five students in attendance. Their majors range from STEM to communications. Most of the students were looking into going into the medical field, whereas others were just curious about the program.
The medical professionals program does what they can to guide students interested in the medical field. They will make sure students know what the required and recommended courses are for their preferred medical schools.
This program offers hands-on experience and chances to get experience in hospitals. They also offer study materials for students’ classes and a free printer for students.
The medical professionals program is working on offering students discounts on MCAT prep courses with Princeton Review. They are also working on setting up a testing center at BC, so students don’t have to travel to Visalia.
“So, the spots actually get filled very, very quickly, and it makes it difficult, so, although Visalia might be the closest one, you might have to take that test in LA or even go further north, just because that’s the only slot that’s available for you to register for it,” said Gabribay.
Mullen and Gabribay spoke briefly about WesternU. WesternU is a medical school that works with BC to offer students seats at their schools. They are offering five guaranteed seats for students in the research laboratory technology program.
“WesternU is going to be wanting to guarantee us up to five seats for select research laboratory tech graduates into their program,” said Mullen.
One of the last things that was discussed was the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). This website helps students find the requirements for medical school. They have a list of all the schools and their recommended courses. There is also a paid part of the website that would offer students to look at every detail of these medical schools against each other. It was not recommended for students to pay for this until they were closer to transferring to a medical school.
To contact either Mullen or Garibay you can email [email protected] or [email protected] respectfully.
