Hometown: Opelousas, LA        High School: Beau Chene

Activities: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; SNMA; varies academic organizations and societies

Undergraduate Major:  Chemistry with Pre-Med concentration

Scholarships/Awards:

Timbuktu Award

Honors College Award

Chemistry Scholarship

Physics Scholarship

Summer Activities:

I spent two summers doing research at Stanford University through being a NASA scholar and applying for the Leadership Alliance summer research program, and I spent one summer at Southern while I studied for my MCAT. 

What I would tell a pre-med student:

I would encourage anyone who is thinking about going to med school to just be very serious about it and pursue that dream everyday.  It’s not magic or some mystery in getting in; make good grades, do well on the mcat, and take part in something extra curricular activities.  It is the discipline that it takes that makes this seem like a daunting task.  So, be determined and you will perservere.

How many schools I applied to:

I applied to four schools.

How I chose the schools to which I would apply:

What influenced my choice of schools at the time was the amount of money it takes to apply to med schools.  At the time of my application process I didn’t have enough money to apply to a lot of schools or money for transportation if asked for an interview.  Therefore, I picked one dream school, one school I was pretty sure I would get into, and two others that where good schools that I felt I had a good chance of getting into.

The classes that I am glad I took were:

Biochemistry

Classes that I wish I had taken were:

Human anatomy and a Histology

My first semester in medical school can be described as :

What the ....!

The biggest adjustment for me was:

Becoming a memorizer.  I was used to doing math related problems and never had to memorize large amounts of information.

The type of study skills that I believe should be developed in undergrad

are:  Find Dr. Bagayoko in the physics department and ask him for the "Power Law of Human Performance".  I'm serious!

The advice I would give someone who is wondering how to best prepare for medical school is:

Look at a med school curriculum and try to take as many class in undergrad that would correlate with those at that med school, because it is easier learning materal for the second time.

You can contact me at:

Email: dcasey@tulane.edu