Becoming a doctor requires a lot of hard work and dedication, but if medicine is your calling, it’s all worth it.

This is what forty students from Central Louisiana discovered Tuesday when they participated in Central Louisiana AHEC’s “A Day with the Doctors” program at LSU Health Sciences center in Shreveport.

Jan Schmitt, project coordinator for Central Louisiana AHEC, said there were over a hundred applicants for the forty program slots. “It was very competitive. I had some really tough choices to make when choosing participants for the program.”

Students must demonstrate through their high school achievements that they are prepared to give what it takes to apply to medical school. All of the high school juniors and seniors who applied had at least a 3.0 GPA and were involved in extra-curricular activities, according to Schmitt.

This is important because according to Dr. F. Scott Kennedy, Assistant Dean of Student Admissions for the medical school, “My rejection letter begins, ‘Good grades and MCAT scores are never enough.’” Dr Kennedy spoke to the students about the minimum qualifications to be accepted into medical school. He advised the students to, “plug yourselves into the pre-med advisory system and get involved in the organizations,” while in college.

This talk from Dr. Kennedy was a kick off for the days activities which revolved around a tour of the hospital and medical school as well as hands-on activities designed to submerge the students into the medical school environment.

“A program favorite is a visit to the gross anatomy lab,” Schmitt says. “The students get an idea of the amount of information that must be absorbed by 1st and 2nd year medical students.”

Anne Banks Farley, a participant from Holy Savior Menard Central High School thought it was “great to get this kind of experience before you go to college. It almost puts you ahead of the others.”

When asked what he felt was his favorite part of the day, Vincent Chicola, III, from Tioga High School said, “The Neonatal Unit inspires you to be a pediatrician. It makes you want to work harder so you can help those little ones.”

“A Day with the Doctors” is an annual event held each January. It is a collaboration of CLAHEC and LSUHSC-Shreveport. The program is used to recruit high school students from rural and underserved communities into the medical field. The idea is to get students more prepared and knowledgeable going into college so they will be able to make a better application into medical school.

For more information on “A Day with the Doctors” or other programs offered by Central Louisiana AHEC, contact their office at (318)443-2855. You can also obtain programming information from their website at www.clahec.org.