Five CMed acceptances reserved for Central Michigan students

In the fall, the Honors Program will partner with CMed to recruit 20 bright and ambitious pre-med honor students for their new early assurance program. The cohort will meet every spring and prepare students for life after graduating with a Bachelors Degree.

Being a part of the early assurance program does not promise that all these students will be admitted to CMed, but five spots each year will be reserved for students from these cohorts. By the time these students apply to medical school, they will not only be extremely familiar with CMed but CMed will be familiar with them.

“When we saw the medical program was beginning, I went to the medical college and asked ‘as you’re developing the program, is it a possibility that we could use the medical program as a way to identify bright honors students who might not otherwise come to campus?” Honors Program Director Phame Camarena said.

Over the period of two years, the medical school and the Honors Program have discussed their mission statements and blended their ideas and practices into this early assurance cohort.

“It is not uncommon for a medical school to have a partnership like this with their home institution,” Director of Admissions at CMed Chris Austin said. “This was a logical first step for our college and working with the Honors program allows us to offer a pipeline program that provides hands-on practical experience, as well as educational components designed around our mission.”

The program would expose students to the life of CMed and prepare them for the academic life of med school, as well as preparing them for the grueling application process. The students in the cohort will be exposed to CMed students and faculty and will also be given insight into what the admissions team at CMed looks for on applications.

“This program is as much about CMU’s College of Medicine helping students understand our mission and working toward being a good fit for that mission, as much as it is about preparing them to be a competitive medical school applicant,” Austin said.

Current students at CMed are enthusiastic about this new program and can see how much it would benefit the students participating.

“I think this is a wonderful program for students entering college. Even those who are not guaranteed a spot will be receiving invaluable information and guidance along the way,” first-year med student David Hales said. “I would have definitely taken part in the program if there was one around.”

Being an honors student can help a student succeed in medical school at Central Michigan University due to their similar mission statements and course structures. For current CMed student Matt Schloop, his experience as an honors student as an undergraduate helped him in med school.

“When I took an honors class, it was discussion based. You had to do the reading to participate and that’s who med school is in a lot of ways,”  Schloop said. “After completing his honors protocol, the transition into CMed was a bit easier.”

Beginning next fall, the Honors Program and CMed Admissions will begin their search for the first students to participate in this cohort.

“We’re looking for students who are not only interested in going pre-med but going pre-med with the kind of medical practice that CMed is based on,” Camarena said. “Next October we’ll start mentioning this during recruitment, I think it will really appeal to honors students.”