Prehealth Reflection & Plan

Name:

Taj Taher

Health area/s of interest: Medicine -

Student #: 1235638

Pediatrics
Date:

4/26/14

Reflection Objectives: This assignment is designed to help you to understand a holistic

admissions process and develop a well-rounded plan to prepare for application to graduate
programs in the health professions. By watching the online information session and by
thoughtfully completing this assignment, you will:

Understand basic course prerequisites and other common requirements of health

graduate programs
Reflect on your own preparation and devise a plan to demonstrate the required
knowledge, skills and abilities that health professions careers and programs require
Make a personal introduction to your prehealth adviser

Instructions:
1. Watch the Prehealth Information Session that applies to your field of interest. The online
information session, helpful links and handouts are online at:
http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/prehealth/infosessions/premed/
2. Use this worksheet to plan and submit your work on the Prehealth website. For each
question, write 1 3 sentences. If you are unsure about your response, explain why.
3. Upon submission, your reflection and plan will be reviewed by a prehealth adviser. Once it
has been approved, you will receive an email confirmation with appointment scheduling
information. During busy times, this process may take several weeks. If you feel that you
need to meet with someone right away (for example, if you are considering dropping a
class), you can always meet with a general adviser in our office. You can schedule an
appointment by calling 206-543-2550.

1. Your Academic Plan

A. Write out your course plan for the next three quarters:
Quarter 1
Course

Quarter 2

ENGL 302

Credi
t
5

ENGL 322

ENGL 345

Credi
t
5

HONORS 397

HONORS XXX

ENGL 305

HONORS 230

BIOC 406

HONORS XXX

BIOC 405

SURG 499

SURG 499

Last modified: 6/15/15

Course

Quarter 3
Credit

Course

Any questions about this reflection? Email

prehealth@uw.edu.

Prehealth Reflection & Plan

Quarter Total

15

Quarter Total

15

Quarter Total

15

Note: 4-Year Planning Sheets are available at

http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/downloads/4year.pdf

Last modified: 6/15/15

Any questions about this reflection? Email

prehealth@uw.edu.

Prehealth Reflection & Plan

2. Academics: What are your challenges? What are your strengths?
My greatest challenge has been to remain consistent. Its really confusing, because I go from
getting a 3.9 in Bio 180 to a 3.3 in Bio 200. I felt like I was doing everything Id done before,
and maybe thats my biggest challenge: adapting. Once I hit a groove with one teacher, it
becomes hard to shift to the style of another teacher. But my strength in this regard is that I
dont stop trying and I never slack off. I work diligently and put in all the effort I can.
Discipline and respect are my strengths.
B. Do you have faculty members who know you well enough to write a strong letter of
recommendation? What is your plan to get to know your faculty better?
I have a few faculty members that I could call upon for letters, but theyre in the English
department. I dont know any of the science faculty. I need to start going to Office Hours and
building connections. Ive been planning on doing that for a while, but I need to make it
happen soon. However, my TA for Bio actually isnt just a Grad Student, she has a Doctorate and
will be lecturing in the future, so she would be qualified enough to write me a letter.
3. Goals or Exposure to Health Care
A. Tell us about the exposure that you have already had to health care.
In High School I took this Health Careers class that was an introduction to the system.
We learned about anatomy, physiology, pathology, etc, but we also learned about
professionalism, ethics, etc. It culminated in a 9-week shadowing where I got to shadow
three different professionals for three weeks at a time (Dentist, Nephrologist, and
Pediatrician).
Before that, Id shadowed a Cardiologist for the summer, and this upcoming summer Im
planning on shadowing a Pediatrician. I also shadowed a Radiologist for an evening, and
Im sure that I could continue shadowing him if I asked him, but Ive refrained from doing
so because he seems so busy and I dont want to bother him.
B. Have you shadowed a health care professional in your field of interest? If so, how many
hours?
a. No, I have not yet shadowed at all
b. I have shadowed a little bit
c. I have shadowed a lot!
See above. I dont have an exact number, but all in all it has to have been at least
100 hours.

Last modified: 6/15/15

Any questions about this reflection? Email

prehealth@uw.edu.

Prehealth Reflection & Plan

Remember to document your hours and contact information and reflect on your
experience!
4. Scholarship Are you developing skills to be a life-long learner?
A. Are you keeping abreast of current health care issue (including current events, health care
policy changes and ethics issues)? If so, how? If not, do you have ideas on how to do this?
No, and its that one thing that I know I have to do so much more of. Its not that Im not
interested, but I wasnt raised as a kid to read the newspaper, so its been difficult to try to
make it part of my life. I think if I actually subscribed to a paper or a journal, Id be more
compelled to read it.
B. Are you interested in or actively participating in undergraduate research?

I am not interested in doing research

I am interested, but have not done any yet
I have been doing research. (Tell us about it!)
Im an Intern for SORCE (Surgical Outcomes Research Center), through UW Surgery. I work
for the RYGB Mechanisms Lab. I take care of the pigs, which are the test subjects of the
research. I perform vitals and collect data. In addition, I get some surgical training and
sometimes get to assist the surgeons as they perform surgery on the pigs. I also have the
opportunity to watch Human OR as well. Its a great program that provides a great deal of
insight not into what goes on in surgical research, but also fosters the professionalism
required in the medical field.

C. Have you had the opportunity to develop your leadership skills? What is your plan to
continue growth in this area?
Ive done a lot of work with tutoring kids through Pipeline and Jumpstart, and Ill be a Peer
Educator for the Honors Department in autumn. So Ive had a lot of leadership experience
in the sense that Ive been a role model for these people. Im planning on returning to
Jumpstart next year and taking a great leadership experience by managing my own team
of tutors as a Team Leader.
5. Passion
Tell us what motivates you to pursue health care. How have you shown that you have these
interests? What are you excited about doing next?
My parents always taught me that if I have, I should give. For this reason, Im drawn to Health
Care because theres really no profession as noble and well-meaning as it, and I would
consider myself proud to be part of it. If I could make my career, my purpose in life, to be
about improving the quality of life for others, that would make me incredibly happy. Ive done
so in my volunteer work through Pipeline and Jumpstart, but Im really excited to include
health care with my work in education, as Im planning on volunteering at Seattle Childrens
next year. I love working with kids (hence my desire to specialize in Pediatrics), and while my
work with healthy kids has been beneficial, I think I need to work with sick kids to round out
my experience with them.
Last modified: 6/15/15

Any questions about this reflection? Email

prehealth@uw.edu.

Prehealth Reflection & Plan

6. Caring
Have you engaged in activities to explore this side of yourself? If so, what have you done?
Whoops, I answered this in the previous question without knowing it.

7. Identity Who are you?

What do you do for fun, to reduce stress, or to stay balanced? What is something that is
unique about you?
Im a huge fan of film and filmmaking. Over the year, I try to watch as many classic and new
films as I can (Im a part of UW Film Club) to learn about filmmaking. When my coursework
permits, I write short stories which Id hope to adapt to screenplays, and over the summer and
winter breaks, I actually do some filmmaking (its easier to do so over the break because its a
pretty time intensive process). Filmmaking has been just for fun, I throw up some of my comedy
shorts on Facebook and YouTube, but recently I had the opportunity to make a short film for
OSUs Indian Students Association, which was a great deal of fun and a huge success. Funnily
enough, I was also approached by the UW ISA to direct a short film for them as well. I dont know
where filmmaking will take me, but for now its just something I love to do when I can (and
having Netflix and HBO-Go doesnt hurt).
8. Cross cultural competency is important in health care! Tell us about your
development in this area and what you are doing or have done to learn about
people who are different than you.
Both my parents are from Bangladesh, and as a kid I grew up in a small rural area in Eastern
Oregon where I was the only Asian kid in town. I learned a lot about cultural immersion there:
what it takes to fit in, blend, but mostly appreciate people for everything they are. Living
there gave me this openness to all beliefs and perspectives because living there, I was the
minority and people had to learn to accept me. Its something I never forgot, even when I
moved to Portland and then came up here to Seattle where its so incredibly diverse in
comparison to Pendleton. Its something I never forgot not just when I worked in the poor and
underserved preschools for Jumpstart, but even in my day to day interactions with people at
school.
9. What would you most like to discuss with your Prehealth Adviser?
First, Id like to make sure that Im on the right track in terms of academics. Since Ill be
applying in one year, I want to make sure that the plan I have laid out will satisfy medical
school requirements. The problem is that I have to manage fulfilling my requirements for my
English Major and for the Interdisciplinary Honors Program, which dont have much overlap
with the sciences. I want to make sure I take the science classes I need within the amount of
credits I have left before I hit that credit limit.
Also, Id like to talk about potential letters of recommendation, in terms of who can write me
one and whats preferred.
Last modified: 6/15/15
Any questions about this reflection? Email
prehealth@uw.edu.

Prehealth Reflection & Plan

Id also like to talk about the research that Ive done so far and if that qualifies as the
research thats expected by medical schools. Research still feels like such a general term, and
Im wondering if I should find other research opportunities to fulfill the vague criteria.
Lastly, I want to talk about crafting my personal statement, just to get an idea of what I
should start thinking about.

Save your reflection, and bring it with you to your advising appointment! When you have
completed this assignment, submit it to:
http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/prehealth/infosessions/premed/

Last modified: 6/15/15

Any questions about this reflection? Email

prehealth@uw.edu.