PREFACE
Wei Li Fang and Moses K.A. Woode
In 1984, the University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVASOM) conducted its first Medical Academic Advancement Program. This first class was modest, with only ten students, but over the years, the program has grown and now consists of a summer academic enrichment program, Medical Academic Advancement Program-I (MAAP-I), and a summer pre-matriculation program, Medical Academic Advancement Program-II (MAAP-II).
Within a year of the first program, funds were awarded to the UVASOM by the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP), Division of Disadvantaged Assistance, Bureau of Health Professions, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. These funds led to an expansion of the programs. In 1989, additional funding was provided for MAAP-I by the Minority Medical Education Program (MMEP), The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)*. Unlike previous minority medical education programs sponsored by other agencies and organizations, the RWJF challenged its grantees to offer the program to 180 students.** This unprecedented challenge led us to develop a Consortium of undergraduate institutions across the country.
Prior to 1989, the majority of participating MAAP-I students hailed from Virginia. When students from other states attended the program, they returned to their home institutions as recruiters and referred their classmates to MAAP-I. With the challenge from the RWJF, we decided to formalize this process by actively enlisting not only the support of former MAAP-I participants but also their pre-health professions advisors. We also decided to build a national network and include both majority and minority institutions. Thus, the concept of the Consortium was born.
The purpose of this Consortium was to work with on-site representatives as equal partners in a program whose ultimate goal was to increase minority and disadvantaged representation in medicine. By underscoring the establishment of a national network, where undergraduate institutions share similar concerns and collaborate on initiatives of mutual interest with a school of medicine, colleges and universities have enthusiastically embraced our invitation to join the Consortium. Consortium activities have also embodied this philosophy-by involving representatives in decision making, soliciting feedback on ways to improve MAAP-I, and making programmatic changes as a result of their recommendations.
On-site representatives have played a major role in the effectiveness of the Consortium. Although their primary functions remain the teaching, advising, and general support of students, they have expanded their responsibilities by complying with Consortium requirements of identifying and recruiting qualified students as potential MAAP-I participants and monitoring MAAP-I students' progress once they have returned to their home institution. Consortium representatives also reinforce what was taught in MAAP-I throughout the academic year. Long-term benefits occur as a result of students being exposed to learning opportunities which facilitate growth, motivate, and reinforce positive experiences. The UVASOM has facilitated this process by maximizing representatives' efforts through ongoing general support.
The number of Consortium institutions has steadily grown, from 9 in 1989 to 29 in 1997. Since 1989, Consortium institutions have consistently contributed between 25% to 65% of the students who attend MAAP-I.
Each summer the UVASOM conducts a meeting of Consortium representatives to discuss strategies related to recruitment and identification of potential MAAP-I participants, problems encountered, requirements of Consortium participation, and collaborative projects. This advising manual is one of these collaborative projects.
The catalyst for this advising manual came from MAAP-I participants. In 1994, Consortium members conducted their annual panel discussion with MAAP-I participants. It became evident that students who did not attend Consortium institutions were not receiving adequate pre-medical advising. They were either not receiving information or receiving misinformation.
As a result, the representatives from the Consortium decided to develop an advising manual for those individuals interested in a health profession. The purpose of this manual is to provide a Road MAAP, with explicit instructions regarding each phase-from selecting a health profession, to studying and preparing for examinations, including the required entrance examinations, to gaining necessary clinical, research, and leadership experiences, to preparing and submitting an application, to developing a financial management plan. It also gives practical information on obtaining helpful publications, on costs associated with applying and traveling to schools for interviews, and on etiquette.
Because of the dynamic nature of pre-health advising, this manual will attempt to keep up-to-date on current issues and data. We welcome your comments and suggestions to revise future versions of this manual. And we hope that you will share it with your peers and pre-health professions advisors!
Best wishes on your road to the Promised Land!
*MAAP-I is one of eight MMEP sites. The other sites are University of Alabama School of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine/Rice University, the Chicago Summer Science Enrichment Program, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, United Negro College Fund Premedical Summer Institute at Fisk University and Vanderbilt University, University of Washington School of Medicine/University of Arizona College of Medicine, and Yale University.
**This number was later downsized to 125
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