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“Only those students with firsthand medical experiences, active involvement in research and a genuine sense of humanity will endure,” explains Laura J. Hechtel, PhD. “It’s my job to make Canisius students the most attractive applicants out there to health professional schools.”
Hechtel is director of the Dr. George E. Schreiner ’43 Pre-Medical Center at Canisius College. Appointed in 2008, she replaced Marguerite D. Kermis ’72, PhD, professor of psychology, who served 10 years in the role and helped make Canisius students prime candidates for health professional schools across the country. Under Hechtel’s care, the pre-med program is advancing to the next level.
Her remedy is her mix of academic, scholarly and practical knowhow. Hechtel holds master’s and doctorate degrees in biology, secondary education and physical education from Augustana College in Rockland, IL. Her scholarly work is in evolutionary ecology, which applies the principles of evolutionary theory to explain the relationships or organisms in their environments. Hechtel also held faculty positions at a number of colleges and universities, including Canisius, where she continues to serve as an adjunct professor of biology.
But it is Hechtel’s expertise while at the Pre-Health Professions Program at Augustana that made her an ideal candidate for her current role.
“Students are expected to have had a diverse academic background and set of experiences when they apply to professional and graduate health programs,” says Hechtel, who lays the groundwork for freshman pre-med majors during summer orientation. Their first priority: learn how to study and manage their time.
By students’ sophomore years, Hechtel prescribes a healthy dose of clinical and volunteer experiences. These experiences help demonstrate maturity, inquisitiveness, a demonstrated interest in medicine and an authentic sense of humanity. In recent years, Hechtel introduced a new international service trip to Nicaragua and Costa Rica, specifically for pre-med and pre-health professionals.
Hechtel also introduced workshops for students to help them hone their personal statements. These statements are an opportunity for students to make a significant first impression upon admission committees. Applicants are required to present their distinctive characteristics, individuality and virtues in about one page of double-spaced type. “The hurdle is that students don’t know how to self-promote,” explains Hechtel. She notes that the workshops, held in conjunction with Communication Professor Melissa B. Wanzer, EdD, teach students how to ‘wow’ admissions committees with their personal statements.
But while an effective personal statement may get an individual’s foot in the door, it’s a candidate’s performance during the medical school interview that separates the pre-meds from the pre-MDs. To help ease the pain of what is often deemed the most arduous portion of the application process, Hechtel preps students on their interviewing skills. They get a primer on interpersonal relations from a nationally-recognized expert in speech communication. Hechtel also organizes a “Mock Interview Day” for senior pre-med students. Each fall, applicants come dressed for success and undergo a formal interview by physicians on the college’s Medical Advisory Board. When interviews are complete, the interviewers offer feedback on students’ individual strengths and weaknesses.
Such resources are vital in an environment that has thousands of pre-med majors vying for limited openings at medical and health professional schools, which continue to modify their qualifications to secure the most ideal candidates. But just as they do so, Hechtel too will adapt the Schreiner Pre-Med Program to ensure that the passion, persistence and professionalism of Canisius students endures.