Cedarville Magazine Spring-Summer

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being able to demonstrate knowledge on an
exam,” he said.
“What type of person would you want
to care for your most loved family member
— your grandmother or mother?” Young
added. “What type of skill set would I want
to care for me when I’m most vulnerable?
There’s a percentage of students, anywhere
from 8 to 9 percent, with a [high MCAT
score] and GPA of 3.8 to 4.0 that don’t get
intomedical school.That would suggest they
didn’t have the other kinds of attributes and
experiences we’re talking about.”
It’s the Faculty
More than anything, it’s the faculty
members — their approachability, their
individual concern for students, their
professionalism, and their desire to glorify
God— that separates Cedarville from other
premed programs.
“Professors teach the lectures as well
as labs and get to know students,” Burns
said. “Students feel comfortable going to
a professor’s office to ask questions. A lot
of our students do research with professors
where they get one-to-five or one-to-six
interactions. When they apply for research
internships, they get letters from professors
who know them well.”
Barfell remembers when he was a
confused freshman student, taking his first
premed course and asking Burns about
the future. “Right away, she asked me if I
was free to talk about career interests and
a possible career path,” he said. “She met
me for lunch at Chuck’s two or three hours
later. She had my printed-off transcripts
and took a personal interest in me. She
gave me detailed and specific advice, not
from a blog online, or applying generic
info that might be applied to any and all
students. It was tailored to me, and it was
Christ-centered.”
Having faculty members who are
available to coach and work with premed
students is a blessing, Young noted. “The
reality is the majority of schools don’t
have pre-health (care education) advisers,”
he said. “If you have the appropriate
mentorship, the appropriate counsel, who
can offer guidance and attention, [your
students] are fortunate. That sounds like a
strength of your program.”
“I could have gone to another premed
program where I worked with a world-
renowned person who took no interest in
me and taught from a humanistic approach
— here’s how to get into med school and
impress people,” Barfell added. “My life
would have been centered inappropriately.
Cedarville flipped that. They said, ‘Let’s pray
about that’ and focused on living a life that
first honored Christ and following His will,
doing things He has called me to do.”
Cedarville taught Barfell how to
prioritize his life, and that’s been the most
valuable training of all. “In med school you
have all these deadlines and the pressure to
perform better than others,” he said. “It can
mess with your life and your perspective.
But by putting God first, family second, and
then in third place, med school, that’s been
pivotal to who I am as a med student and as
I apply for residencies next year.”
ClemBoyd is Managing Editor of Cedarville
Magazine .