Schiff 1

Brian Schiff
5 November 2014
Paper 2 Final Draft
The AMSA Opportunity
Accomplishing your dream is never an easy task, especially when your dream is to
become a doctor. Most students want to become physicians simply because they have the desire
to help others. Unfortunately, there are two things that many aspiring premed students are
unaware of. The first thing is the harsh reality of the competitiveness of medical schools.
Throughout their college experience, student must not only maintain an outstanding GPA, they
must also score high on their MCATS usually within the 31-33 range. In addition, they must
have a substantial amount of volunteering hours, extracurricular activities that can help them
stand out to admission officers. Also, shadowing a doctor for medical experience and research
are absolute musts (Steinhardt). Even if all these requirements are met, students still may not get
into medical schools. Last year, about over 48,000 people applied to medical schools in the US.
This leaves a very limited number of spots (Hause). The other thing many premed students dont
know is that they are not alone. This is where Premed AMSA comes in.
AMSA, also known as The American Medical Student Association, exists to help
students through the arduous process that is medical school. If you are a premed student, this is
an organization you want to be a part of. AMSA is a community in which all members are
premeds who share a common goal to better themselves and each other. During the first general
meeting, the president of AMSA referred to them as one big family. On AMSAs website they
outline their purpose, The mission of Pre-Med AMSA is to prepare Pre-Med students to become
knowledgeable and well-rounded medical school candidates through scholarship, networking,

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philanthropy, and community partnership (Pre-Med AMSA). AMSA is the only organization
on the UCF campus that is purely dedicated to student premeds and is nationally acclaimed and
is actually a chapter or extension of the national AMSA organization ("American Medical
Student Association"). A student can join premed AMSA at any point throughout their college
experience by paying 75 dollars for their first year and pay 35 dollars every subsequent year after
to stay a member.
I gathered my research for AMSA in several different ways. As I am not a member of
AMSA I could not draw on my own experiences with the organization for my paper. I had to
visit the UCF AMSA website and national AMSA website. In addition, I watched the first
general AMSA meeting and sent multiple emails to the vice president and sergeant at arms, both
of which are executive positions within the organization. At this point, over 59,000 students
attend UCF and there are only 450 total active members of AMSA. These numbers reflect the
idea that students are unaware of the benefits of being a member of AMSA and do not want to
pay the admission fee. With my current data I infer that it is a mix of both. With this paper, I am
trying to encourage my peers who are pursuing a career in the medical field to consider joining
AMSA.
One of the many aspects of AMSA that sets it apart from any other organization on
campus is that the members have a great sense of community. The members are not just trying to
forward their own careers, they are sharing their knowledge with newer members to help them
develop and become what they want to be. They not only give members crucial information to
help them succeed, they motivate members to be active within the organization with a unique
point system. Any time a member volunteers, shows up to meetings, or simply wears a t-shirt,
they are awarded points that are archived on the UCF AMSA website. The points of AMSA

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members can be viewed by anyone. The top point scorer is rewarded with a free MCAT test
course. While this doesnt sound like anything too impressive, it is actually worth several
thousand dollars (Pre-Med AMSA). They also tend to offer opportunities that are limited to
those that sign up with the highest points. AMSA is organized in a way where the most
experienced AMSA members are in a position to help any new members. AMSA is organized in
several levels where the most involved AMSA members are on the executive board. They get on
this board through elections. The positions include a President, a Vice President, a Treasurer, a
Secretary, a Sergeant at Arms, and a Chief of Staff. These executive positions also work with
directors to run the organization. The directors can be new members of AMSA. The way that
they earn their position is by filling out an application and going to an interview with an
executive member. There are interviews at the start of every fall semester. Any directors that
work with the President are in charge of operations and are historians. The directors that work
with the vice president are in charge of running volunteering. Any directors that work with the
treasurer are in charge of raising money for the organization. Directors who work with the
secretary are in charge of academics, research opportunities, career development, and medical
relations. Any directors who work with the Sergeant at Arms are in charge of public relations,
maintaining the newsletter, wellness and student life, and running the Relay for Life and KnightThon (Pre-Med AMSA). Lastly any directors who work under the Chief of Staff are involved
in managing community and public health, global health, and REACH which is a committee that
aims to reduce health disparities between different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups through
advocacy, education, and service ("AMSA Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Health (REACH)
Action Committee). AMSA also has fun events for members such as volleyball tournaments
and hot yoga classes.

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Another advantage of AMSA that many pre-med students dont take into consideration is
how members communicate with each other. As it turns out, there are multiple ways in which
members intercommunicate. The first way is through the general meetings they have seven times
every semester. In these meetings, they first talk about new volunteering opportunities as they
become available to AMSA members. Some of the more popular volunteering opportunities are
the Knight-thon, Relay for Life, and the Florida Hospital Orientation (Pre-Med AMSA).
Knight-thon is an organization that works to unite the UCF campus to provide support for the
Greater Orlando Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals. They have small events to raise money
throughout the year ("Knight-Thon at the University of Central Florida). Relay for life is a
group that helps to raise money for The American Cancer Society which is a community-based,
voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by
preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research,
education, advocacy, and service("UCF Relay for Life"). The Florida Hospital Orientation is a
chance for Premed students to volunteer at Florida Hospitals but this opportunity is very limited
and is exclusive to AMSA members. These are only some of the many volunteer opportunities
that AMSA offers. In addition, almost every meeting, they invite a speaker to come talk to
members. These speakers can talk about a multitude of topics, many of them being political
healthcare issues. These talks help prepare premed students for medical interviews as it keeps
them informed. This also gives students the opportunity to network with already well
accomplished medical professionals. These types of connections are hard to get and they are
possible with premed ASMA. Besides meetings, they also have workshops where additional
speakers come to teach students important information about applying to medical schools. Two
workshops that are currently available are the workshops on how to perform well in an interview

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and the workshops that outline the dos and donts of a personal statement (Pre-Med AMSA).
Both workshops take place in lecture halls in the student union. The speakers are different for
most of the workshops as many of them are doctors or experts brought in to speak from off
campus. If members have questions at any time that are not answered in the meetings, AMSA
has a Facebook page, a Twitter page, and an Instagram page (Pre-Med AMSA UCF).This
encourages members to ask more questions as they are guaranteed to get an answer.
AMSA is an organization that offers many benefits to its members. Although AMSA can
be beneficial to any premed student, it does not guarantee success for any member. It is up to the
members to actively participate and learn. What AMSA does is that it offers a sense of
community and support to motivate and educate students in order to increase their likelihood of
getting into a medical school. There are also so many resources available to members that are
inaccessible to nonmembers such as workshops, the opportunities to network with accomplished
medical professionals, and a helpful support system where more experienced peers can offer
information. Many students believe is not a totally necessary to be a member of this organization
as it is still possible for them to seek out volunteering, research, and shadowing opportunities on
their own. Being a part of this organization does not in any way make up for bad grades and test
scores. It is understandable how there are many students who have not joined AMSA but even if
they believe they can succeed on their own, I would still recommend joining this organization. If
you are a premed student, the AMSA advantage may be just what you need.

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Bibliography
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