From Professional Football to Med School: A New Path LEADs to the Same Goal

Not every path is linear, especially when it comes to going to medical school. Some students may move directly from their undergraduate into M1, others may take a few years off before entering the field. Then there are individuals who have paved their way towards a certain career and turn to medicine as their new goal. My path was somewhere in the middle. With the intention to pursue medicine after my undergraduate degree, a different career delayed my way.

I entered freshman year of undergrad with the intent of going to medical school upon graduation. As an athlete, I balanced sport and academia, knowing they both gave me a unique future opportunity. I completed all required pre-medical prerequisites and graduated in May of 2015 with my undergraduate degree. I transferred to Michigan later that year to continue playing football while working towards a Master's in Kinesiology. Following my Wolverine season, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to keep playing football for another five years after college.

When football seemed to be fading from my future, I poured myself into a year of MCAT prep and working through the application cycle. The goal of pursuing medical school was back at the forefront. I was ready to start living my dream, a full six years from diploma in hand.

Needless to say, I had some anxiety going back to school. On one hand, I knew an MD was exactly where I wanted to be and exactly what I needed to do. On the other hand, I've been in meeting rooms and practice fields for the last half decade, a vastly different atmosphere. As I pride myself in being prepared, I desired something that could help get my feet wet, so to speak, before returning to the books full time. I wanted something that could help me adjust between two different worlds.

As fate would have it, a former teammate of mine from Michigan told me about a pre-matriculation program that helped him feel a bit more comfortable before starting the four-year journey of medical school. That program is called LEAD (Leadership and Enrichment for Academic Diversity), a two-week leadership course to aid in the transition of becoming a medical student. Learning more about the program, I realized it would help ready me for the school year. Without hesitation, I sent my application.

Feeling a sense of inferiority as I walked in, it took no time at all to feel welcomed, as if I was part of a team. I gained mentors who were more than willing to help me out with whatever I needed throughout school. Throughout the two weeks, we had various discussions and lessons on what to expect as well as tips and tricks of navigating medical school. While we discussed things you might expect such as study tools and med student resources, we also talked about the emotional journey of medicine, which includes success and failure. I found many of the lessons taken from LEAD helped provide perspective while also gearing me up for the long journey ahead.

Through LEAD, I was also able to make friends and build a sense of community among my classmates. Meeting periodically throughout the year, we'd learn from someone in the Michigan community about various topics like building your residency application, finding a mentor and creating a CV.

As a bridge connecting my gap years away from academia to the beginning of my medical training, I have no regrets in having devoted two weeks of my time to engage in the LEAD program. The simple step of getting my feet wet provided me with a sense of connectedness and calmness moving forward as I walked across the stage to receive my first white coat.