Your Ripon Experience
You quickly will discover that there is no "premed" major
at Ripon, nor is there a "premed" society. This is not an
accident. As a liberal arts college, Ripon seeks to give its students
an appreciation and an awareness of all areas of human intellectual
endeavor. It seeks to provide a broad foundation upon which specialized
studies may be based. We hope you will avoid the premed pitfall of
viewing your undergraduate years merely as a necessary hurdle placed
in your way before the "real thing" begins, and that you
also will avoid judging each class based on your perception of its
direct value for medical school. Rather, you should view these years
as an opportunity to pursue in-depth an academic area of interest
and, at the same time, obtain a solid foundation for professional study.
Preparation for medicine and other health professions is not solely
specialized science and technology. It also involves many aspects
of human nature and knowledge. The Ripon liberal arts approach is,
we feel, ideally suited to providing this critical balance between
human interaction and specialized knowledge. Your undergraduate years
provide you with a unique opportunity to sample subjects from a wide
variety of areas. We urge you to take full advantage of this opportunity.
The Ripon College Curriculum
The Ripon Curriculum is divided into roughly three major components.
About one-third of your time is spent sampling the wide range of human
achievement. These graduation requirements, or distribution requirements,
include courses in English, the humanities, social sciences, natural
sciences and mathematics, fine arts, foreign language, global studies
and physical education. See the catalog for details.
The second third of your time is spent on a major. The major gives
you the opportunity to dig deeply into a single area. Because you will
be taking a number of courses in the major area, it is important to
choose it carefully (more on this later). The Ripon curriculum thus
requires both breadth and depth. The last component is composed of
electives. Students are free to sample other areas and take support
courses for the major if they desire. For pre-professional students,
much of the elective component necessarily will be devoted to courses
required for admission to professional school.
Co-Curricular Activities
Most professional schools are just as concerned with your life outside
the classroom as they are with your academic work. It is the way in
which you show clearly the kind of person you are, what your leadership
qualities are and how well you deal with other people. The College
community and the Ripon area provide a multitude of activities in which
students may participate and assume leadership roles.
The number of campus organizations and groups is nearly endless. Athletics,
student government, committee work, club sports, fraternity membership,
music and drama groups, Circle K, tutoring and student newspaper are
just a few examples. Choose one or two activities which are of real
interest to you and get involved. Choose carefully and try to keep
active over a long period of time. This will allow you to develop your
leadership capabilities and your ability to deal with people. What
you choose is not important as long as it is something you are interested
in and enjoy. Try not to do too much. You must learn to use good judgment
in organizing your time. Medical schools will not be impressed by too
many activities if they interfere with your academic work.
Work and Volunteer Experience
Work experience is another area in which most medical and professional
schools have an interest. This includes work experience during the
school year. Work experience is a factor through which your skills,
interests and abilities can be demonstrated. Because each of you have
different needs, interests and talents, there will be a wide variety
of reasons for the kind of work experience you have. The type of work
usually is not the critical factor, although you should have some experience
working in an area related to medicine or other health fields. Volunteer
work is strongly recommended for medical school applicants.
Work in a health-care facility demonstrates a serious commitment to
learning about and working in the health-care field. It will provide
some of the practical experience needed for you to determine if this
is really the kind of work you want as a career. In the field of veterinary
medicine, this kind of practical experience often is required, and
non-farm aspirants immediately should begin to investigate jobs and
contacts which will allow work with animals. Experience with both large
and small animals is highly desirable. Veterinarians often are willing
to take a student along on rounds, as the students can help control
the animals, run errands, etc.
Many graduate programs in the health sciences also expect an applicant to have a history of volunteer/service activities. These experiences can be activities sponsored by organizations, including those on the Ripon campus, and/or things that the applicant does independently. Medical school applicants should have a record of ongoing volunteerism.
The Ripon Advisory Program
Every Ripon student has a faculty adviser to provide help and counsel
in planning a suitable academic program. Most of these advisers have
had extensive experience advising undergraduate students. You will
find that they genuinely are interested in you and your career goals
and that they will help you with other questions and problems as well.
First-year advisrrs are assigned according to academic interest; hence
it is very likely that you will have an adviser with extensive experience
advising premedical students. It is not always possible, however, for
every student interested in some areas to have an adviser in that academic
area. If you have an adviser who is not familiar with medical school
requirements, feel free to consult with an HPAC member before finalizing
your registration. In fact, we urge all health professions students
to have their programs checked by a member of HPAC if there is any
question whatever about course selection.
The Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC)
The HPAC is a valuable resource for health professions students. It
is charged with advising students interested in the health professions,
with organizing seminars and programs of interest to these students,
and with facilitating applications to medical and professional schools.
You are urged to become acquainted with the members
of the Committee,
and to discuss your plans with them. The HPAC members strive to keep
current information on medical, dental and other health professions
schools, and to provide information about testing procedures required
for most professional schools. We urge you again to take advantage
of the help that is available. Announcements of programs sponsored
by HPAC and/or other events of interest to health professions students
are posted on the Health Professions bulletin board outside the Chair's
office between Farr Hall 112 and 113 and on the bulletin board next to
the Chemistry Stockroom, and given orally in many of the required science
courses.
The Ripon College Career Development Office
The Career Development Office is located on the ground floor of Bartlett
Hall. Students interested in one of the health professions will find
that a variety of helpful services are provided by this office. Career
Development offers numerous programs, seminars, clinics and testing
sessions designed to help students in their career decisions. The office
keeps application forms for the professional school admission tests
(MCAT, DAT, OCAT, VAT, etc.), and also stocks the single application
forms used by most students in applying to medical and dental schools.
Numerous reference sources also are available in the career planning
library. The Career Development Office sponsors alumni career days.
In these programs, recent Ripon graduates are invited to return to
campus and discuss their careers with interested students. These programs
usually include speakers from the medical and dental fields. Be alert
for announcements of these programs.
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