Session 6 with Dr. Naseem Rangwala
I am currently a 1st year Internal Medicine resident doctor at UCSF. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from Dougherty Valley High School (’14). I received my BA in Public Health from UC Berkeley (’17) and then spent two years working in clinical research in maternal-fetal medicine and genetics at UCSF. Following that, I attended medical school at UCLA (’23) with the support of the David Geffen Medical Scholarship, and there I continued to develop my interests in public health and women’s health, which remain professional interests of mine to this day. In my free time I enjoy hiking, taking long walks and spending time in the sun, exploring new places, baking, and occasionally crocheting stuffed animals and painting as well.
Important HS Activities
Speech & Debate – craft arguments and speak in uncomfortable actions
Community work – American Red Cross, UNICEF, SCF
Internship @ John Muir Health for the summer– shadowed doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, transporters, etc.
Doing activities well is more important than doing a lot
Getting into Medical School
Had vague idea to go into medicine: liked sciences and helping people
Explored a lot more in college: took psychology, political science, history, etc. for varied options
In colleges, students are not bound to specific major and almost any major can be taken for medical school
Medicine stood out and spoke to her
Most significant: public health (how environment influences human health)
Volunteered with Street Medical to bring healthcare with those on the street and heard many stories
Trying a lot of different things is important for exploring interests
Both clinical experience and research is essential for medicine
Research builds foundations of clinical practice
Can be a researcher w/o clinical experience, but being a doctor needs both!
Doing both at the same time can be an option during the same job
Medicine is a huge commitment and requires a larger commitment than research (which can come at any time)
Took a gap year to gain more research, clinical, life experience before medical school
Also took time to specifically focus on the MCAT
Worked at clinical research as a full time job
Tip for getting into medical school? Find your story
Knowing why medicine interests you and influences on that interest make you a candidate that stands out
May need to do a lot of soul searching!
Reasons can show a lot of passion which is essential to get into medical school/get scholarships
Follow your interests which may lead you to medicine
Story Development
Soul Searching – ask yourself, Where am I going and why?
Find things that interest you in HS, eventually story will come naturally
