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Student Profiles
Sunaina Nanchahal
What extracurricular activities are you involved in at MUSM?
I serve as the Honor Council representative for my class. We also have many interest groups (Peds, Family Medicine, ER, Surgery etc.) to help us figure out what area of medicine interests us the most. There are also lots of intramural sports that go on throughout the year and don’t require any sort of previous experience or skill. It’s a great way to relieve stress or just have some fun after a long day of studying.
How have you adjusted to Problem Based Learning?
Although it seems rather intimidating at first, don’t be scared of PBL. It’s really just a way of learning in a group setting rather than through monotonous lectures. PBL allows students the chance to apply information to patient cases, learn through cooperation with peers, develop public speaking skills, and build a clinical basis for their knowledge. Moreover, there is an open-door policy so you can always ask the faculty questions without making an appointment. PBL is truly the best way to learn because it removes competition and encourages cooperative learning in a case-based manner which allows us to be more independent and resourceful physicians.
What advice can you provide someone interested in medical school?
Extracurricular activities such as shadowing and volunteering especially in rural Georgia will really set you apart from that 4.0/35 applicant. Most importantly though, explore what it is about medicine that you are most passionate about. Finding that motivation towards the end goal is key to not only getting accepted into but also succeeding in medical school. After being accepted, however, I don’t recommend studying during the summer because until you start PBL you really won’t know what or how to study.
Also, how can prospective students spend their time off?
The best thing you can do with your time off is have fun and enjoy your time off! Trust me there is nothing you will regret more if you don’t. Once medical school starts, free time is scarce so if it means taking an adventure or trip somewhere or just doing nothing all summer, do whatever it is you really want to do! ?
What do you like most about living in Macon?
My favorite part about Macon is the beautiful downtown area. It is home to the Grand Opera House and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame just to name a few. From the charm of the historic buildings and museums to the trendy up-and-coming restaurants, there is always something new to experience in downtown Macon.
Alison Smith
What extracurricular activities are you involved in at MUSM?
I'm the class president (i.e., involved in student government/student council), and am a member of the Family Medicine, Ob/Gyn, and Wilderness Medicine Interest Groups.
How have you adjusted to Problem Based Learning?
I was nervous before starting at Mercer because I'd never learned in this style before. It is a LOT of work, but I really value the fact that we're not just memorizing facts, we're actually learning and retaining the information within the proper context, which in the long run I feel will serve me much better than memorizing PowerPoint presentations and lecture notes.
What advice can you provide a prospective medical school student?
To make sure he/she knows what medical school truly entails (the financial, personal, and emotional aspects of it), to get experience in health care settings, particularly working with low-income or other underserved populations, to find good mentors who will provide reliable advice and guidance, to talk to current medical students to hear about their experience, to research the schools you apply to very thoroughly so you find the best fit for you.
What do you like most about living in Savannah?
The truth about medical school is that you could be living anywhere - you will spend most of your time studying indoors. However, Savannah is a wonderful place to live. People are friendly, the climate is great, the beach is nearby, and best of all, everything is very accessible and relatively hassle-free with regards to traffic and getting around.
Lindsey Boxxe
What extracurricular activities are you involved in at MUSM?
Being able to be involved in extracurricular activities is one of best parts of Mercer! I really enjoy participating in intramural sports like soccer and flag football. It’s a great way to blow off some hard-earned steam and hang out with your classmates. Interest groups are also a great option. Personally, I’m involved in the Pediatrics Club, the Christian Medical Association, and some other fun activities that the other clubs are involved with. I’ve been able to go to Haiti on a medical mission trip through CMA, help out the Ronald McDonald House, and hang out with kids at MCCG through Rooms from the Heart and Halloween parties. The Macon Volunteer Clinic is another way to learn a lot from physicians and help out the Macon area. MUSM is very involved with the community and interest groups are a great way to get involved!
How have you adjusted to Problem Based Learning?
PBL is definitely very different from lecture-based programs, but I really enjoy this learning style! At MUSM, we learn using a system based approach. Basically, we are able to incorporate all of the disciplines on a system (Cardiology, Pulmonology, etc…) into a single phase. Also, small group learning style allows for a safe environment to bounce ideas off of your peers and tutors. By the end of a phase, not only are you able to intelligently talk through concepts and ideas, but you’ve also made a great group of friends!
What advice can you provide a prospective medical school student?
As someone who is interested in medical school, I think that it is important to be well-rounded and show commitment. Picking just a few volunteer areas and sticking with those for 4 years is a better idea than jumping around just to pick up hours. You also have to remember to focus on what is important to you. You should use these years to spend time with friends and family, travel, or just take care of yourself!
What do you like most about living in Macon?
As a native of Savannah who chose to attend medical school in Macon, I think that the best thing about Macon is the quite lifestyle. Macon has a small town feel that makes you feel very relaxed. It’s a great place to go to medical school because there are just not a lot of distractions. But don’t worry- if you want to have fun, there is always fun to have! I also really enjoy being able to go to school on an undergraduate campus. In Macon, we have all of the advantages of being able to use the University Center, gym, food court, intramural league, and study spaces that Mercer offers.
Michael Sims
What extracurricular activities are you involved in at MUSM?
I really enjoy intramural sports and playing pickup games of basketball. It’s a great way to get out, stay active, and relieve some stress. It also provides a great opportunity to hang out with classmates outside of the classroom. Also I am involved with a local church and its missions.
How have you adjusted to Problem Based Learning?
Problem based learning has allowed me to adjust, and to control my own schedule. At first it was difficult to decide what and how to study. Soon I learned that my classmates, teachers, and their knowledge are my greatest resources. Talking with them through material has proven, for me, the most efficient way to learn.
What advice can you provide a prospective medical school student?
My advice is to make sure you take Biochemistry in undergrad. If you haven't taken it, do it now! A basic understanding proves invaluable the first semester. Once you get accepted, just relax and go to the beach, lake, and vacation. This is your last opportunity to enjoy extended free time.
What do you like most about living in Macon?
Macon provides a larger city feel but with a small town attitude. The people are laid back, chilled, and easy to get along with. My favorite part is the lake though. I enjoy going out on Sunday afternoons and wake boarding. Lake Tobesofkee is great for afternoon rides and relaxation.
Kristen Walker
What extracurricular activities are you involved in at MUSM?
I am on the student council as well as have joined several other groups including the surgery interest group, wilderness medicine, and a group involved in teaching elementary school age children about basic science concepts in a fun, afterschool program. About half of my class and I joined a local kickball league in which we played against several other local teams. When the weather is nice, a group of us play pick up beach volleyball games out on Tybee Island.
How have you adjusted to Problem Based Learning?
The problem based approach really goes along my learning style so it felt like a good fit from the start. That is not to say that it has been easy, medical school requires a huge commitment from the learner. The patient cases help direct my reading, though, making it easier to see why we are reading what seems like hundreds pages of minute details. It really helps put the pieces of the puzzle together so we can see how all of the disciplines are essential to a clear understanding of the human body as well as how and why things go wrong. The group dynamics have been interesting and more often than not, helpful. I really love the family feel of Mercer and how if I have a question, I just need to walk into another room where other students are more than happy to help clarify a difficult concept. Though the two weeks before an exam are extremely stressful, my classmates really make it bearable. We all come together and teach each other. If one student happens to have made great notes or helpful tables, they share them with everyone else. We all benefit from each individual's strengths and rich backgrounds.
How can prospective medical students make the most of their time off?
Enjoy your time off while you have it! Having a hobby or stress relieving activity is essential; you can't be focused on school 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Taking time to be with friends and loved ones helps you stay focused when it is time to work. Making the most of your holiday time off really depends on what specialty you're interested in. For some, spending the summer doing either basic science or clinical research is the most beneficial for their future. For others, pleasure travel or simply being with family is how they choose to spend their time off. Others take medical mission trips. A physician friend of mine gave me some great advice when I recently asked how he felt I should spend my summer break. He told me, "Anything you do will help your career. Do what you love."
What do you like most about living in Savannah?
I feel so lucky to live in Savannah; to pick one thing I love most is impossible. There is so much history here, I love walking up the picturesque streets and seeing hidden courtyards. When the weather is nice (which is most of the time), there is never a lack of choices of things to do. The summertime is filled with festivals every weekend and the art school really brings a lot of character and diversity to the town. Tybee Island is about a 30 minute drive from downtown, which is nice when sometimes all I need is to hear the ocean's waves. The people are warm and welcoming; it truly has the "Old South" feel. For example, my postman will return to my house after he is done with his route to deliver a text if I'm not home the first time he comes by. Of course I can't forget my classmates, we really have become like a family and I honestly feel like they make Savannah seem like home.
Carter Wallace
What extra-curricular activities are you involved in at MUSM?
I currently serve as a social chair for my class, helping to organize fun events like Halloween pumpkin-carving, events downtown, and even a Doctor Prom! I also get to serve as an ambassador to the medical school, showing prospective students all that Mercer has to offer.
How have you adjusted to Problem-Based Learning?
For me, the adjustment was natural. I believe the PBL curriculum is the best way to learn the material, and group sessions give everyone a chance to highlight their strengths while learning from their peers. While I did have to learn to take responsibility for setting my own study schedule, this method of learning allows me to holistically apply each discipline like a physician would, as opposed to learning it all in separate chunks. Also, it is so much more preferable than sitting in boring lectures for several hours a day. Because we learn in small groups, no one feels intimidated to ask questions or to revisit something they don't understand. Plus, the tutors are amazing resources, as are my peers!
What advice can you provide a student interested in medical school? Also, how can they make the most of their time off?
First of all, if you really want to be a physician, you can find a way. Because of my shabby MCAT score and my less-than-desirable undergraduate grades, I was told by my pre-med advisor to forget about medical school. But I took a couple years off to bulk up my scores and application and I am SO much better for it. Don't let a rejection letter get you down for too long. Just brush yourself off and start again. That having been said, make sure you want to go to medical school. We have a lot of fun here, and the work is certainly doable, but it would be miserable if your heart wasn't in it 100%.
As far as your time off goes, if you've already gotten into school, relax until orientation. Maybe take up oil painting or tai chi - I promise there will be plenty of time to freak out about the material once you're in school. If you're still working on getting in, then find a physician who loves to teach and shadow him or her as much as they will let you. Go on a medical mission trip. Immerse yourself in as much medicine as possible - this will prove to yourself that you really want to be here, and it looks good on an application, too. Oh, and I can't say enough good things about MCAT practice tests. They can be miserable and time consuming, but if you set goals for yourself and take as many as you can, you will definitely reap the benefits.
Who has been the most helpful in medical school?
My peers. Everyone here comes from a different background with a different knowledge base, and Mercer fosters synergistic relationships among students. There is no cut-throat, rise-to-the-top-of-the-class mentality. If you don't understand a concept, you likely have a friend that does and is willing to explain it to you (often between sleep-deprived fits of hilarity). This is probably the main reason for any success I've had in medical school and is my favorite thing about being a student here.
What do you like most about Macon?
Macon provides most all of the amenities of a larger city without many of the distractions. I honestly can't imagine how folks manage to do well in medical school in a bigger city. There is always something to do here, but not enough that you feel like you're missing out if you don't go. We spend so much time studying at the school that it would break my heart if there were a beach or ball game within easy access that I just didn't have time for.
Lauren O’Grady
What extra-curricular activities are you involved in at MUSM?
One of my favorite activities outside of school is intramural sports. Each class forms a team, and we compete against each other and the underclassmen teams. It’s a great way to socialize and get some exercise at the same time. Plus, it really helped me get to know my classmates when school began. Other than that, I am a student ambassador, and am a member of the school honor council. I spend most of my weekends in Atlanta visiting friends and family. It is definitely a myth that medical students don’t have a life outside of school. I find the balance between work and play pretty easy to maintain as long as it isn’t test week.
How have you adjusted to Problem Based Learning?
Thinking back to the beginning of my very first group, I see how we initially struggled to work efficiently and effectively. However, after the first couple weeks, we were all pros. While it is a very different learning style than most people are used to, it is also a very active, intuitive learning style; therefore, most people adapt to it very quickly. Working through cases as we learn the basic medical sciences material is a great way to apply the material to a real life situation, as all of the cases are based on actual patients. This consistent application of new knowledge not only helps you remember for the test, but also helps you see why the information is important for a doctor to know. Personally, I would never want to go back to the traditional lecture format.
What advice can you provide a student interested in medical school? Also, how can they make the most of their time off?
I’m not one to offer much advice, since we all have such different backgrounds and experiences, but I would definitely suggest that you spend some time to really look inside yourself and make sure becoming a physician is absolutely what you want to do with your life. There are a number of ways to get in to health care today that demand a considerably less amount of your time and finances. For me, there was never anything else I wanted to be but a doctor. The profession is changing, and health care in general is changing. You need to be sure that no matter what happens, you will be happy with your choice to pursue medicine.
I had been out of undergrad for a couple years before I started medical school, and was working at Emory when I was accepted. I wanted to be fresh and ready to begin in August, so I quit my job three weeks before the start of school. This gave me time to visit family that lived far away, and time to just relax by the pool with friends. In fact, spend all the time you can with friends and family now, because they aren’t going to understand when they never hear from you, and why all of your Facebook status updates are about Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome and cyclic AMP levels.
Who has been the most helpful in medical school?
I would have to say for me my classmates have been the most helpful to me in medical school. Because Mercer isn’t graded on a curve, and we aren’t ranked, there is no benefit to competing with your classmates. This creates an atmosphere of cooperative learning that is completely absent on the majority of the nations medical school campuses. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been stuck on a concept while studying and have simply called a classmate for help. Pre-test study groups are worth their weight in ATP. As if that weren’t enough, we also have an open door policy at Mercer, meaning that from 9-5, M-F the resource faculty see students whenever someone has a question. When I walk into their offices, not only are they extremely helpful, but they are also clearly excited to see me, and to help me.
What do you like most about Macon?
I think Macon was hard for me to adjust to because I am from a large suburb of Atlanta, and went to UGA for undergrad (Athens and Macon are very different places). However, Macon actually has a lot of fun things to do. One of my favorite things to do is go to plays put on by Theater Macon. There is a lot of talent in this small city, and Theater Macon is more affordable than the Fox. There are also a lot of great restaurants, and a few bars. There is trail running, kayaking, and hiking at the Ocmulgee Indian Mounds. Lastly, my dog wanted me to mention how much she loves the Macon dog park.
Ashley Albert
What extra-curricular activities are you involved in at MUSM?
I am a part of the Christian Medical Association. I also play intramural soccer.
How have you adjusted to Problem Based Learning?
I have really enjoyed Problem Based Learning and I did not find the adjustment to be difficult at all. Any medical school curriculum will require a great amount of studying and to me that was the biggest adjustment. I feel that PBL allows me to integrate the information I have learned and apply it to clinical scenarios. My favorite part of the curriculum is going to group and working with my classmates to figure out everything going on in a case study. It is hard work and requires a great deal of discipline but I think in the end it is an engaging and effective way to learn.
What advice can you provide a student interested in medical school? Also, how can they make the most of their time off?
My advice would be to find a mentor that is a physician who is passionate about what he or she does. Spend some time shadowing this person and see if you have a similar passion for medicine and treating patients. That way when medical school starts and you sometimes feel lost in all the books, you can look back and remember why you wanted to become a doctor.
Who has been the most helpful in medical school?
For me, the most helpful people have been other students. Both those who are older and can provide me with advice and my own classmates. I love that everyone wants to help each other and there is not a competitive atmosphere.
What do you like most about Macon?
I really like seeing the beautiful historic homes and quaint restaurants.
Danielle Shelnut 
What extra-curricular activities are you involved in at MUSM?
I am the current president of American Medical Women's Association (AMWA), vice president of the surgery interest group, and I am involved in CMA (Christian Medial Association).
How have you adjusted to PBL?
Medical school is, undoubtedly, exponentially harder than our college experience. However, Mercer has provided us with ample tools to navigate through the material and succeed! I have thoroughly enjoyed exercising my ability to be an individual learner and using multiple modes of learning during the group process. I found it has been extremely helpful in learning the material to be able to read, explain, listen to explanation, and put into practice what we are expected to learn. It definitely helps with comprehension and retention of the material! Although problem based learning was a method "foreign" to my style of learning, it has been a great change and enhanced my individual abilities as a student.
What advice can you provide to a student interested in medical school? Also, how can they make the most of their time off?
My most valuable advice to prospective students would be to make an effort to get to know the admissions staff, and discuss any weaknesses you may have in your application. Each school looks for different qualities in their applicants and it is important to realize how you "fit" a particular school's mission and goals. Then, take their advice to heart, and show avid efforts to make yourself a competitive applicant.
It is important during your time off to form quality relationships with physicians who will be willing to "vouch" for your abilities as a future medical student. Sincere, personal letters of recommendation are an invaluable component of the admissions process!
Who has been the most helpful in medical school?
The upperclassmen have been the most influential and helpful during my 1st year of medical school. They were very insightful about how to study and which secondary resources are most useful. Their advice and guidance have been indispensable!
What do you like most about Macon?
I enjoy the fact that the city is just the right size for me, small but yet has everything I need! Also, it is fairly close to my home, making the commute home to the mountains on the weekends feasible. In addition, the churches in town are great and the people are very welcoming! I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Macon!