Nolan Vale was born and raised in Arizona and decided to stay at ASU for undergrad because of the research happening here. He graduated in the spring of 2019 with a major in Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology and a minor in Psychology. His experience at ASU's Biodesign Institute helped him apply the content from his coursework and ignited an interest in cancer research. Nolan is currently applying to MD/PhD programs and would ultimately like to work as a physician-scientist focused on engineering the immune system to fight cancers. Below, he shares some advice for those pursuing MD or PhD programs and test prep for graduate/medical school exams:
Engage in Research
I believe that every ASU student that is thinking of applying to MD or PhD programs in the biological sciences should be engaging in some form of research while in undergraduate. ASU has more labs than the vast majority of schools and has a plethora of professors that are investigating topics that enrich our understanding of biology and medicine. Even if you're not planning on doing research in the future, the rational skills and resilience that you develop working on a scientific problem can be applied to every facet of academic life.
Focus on your Passion
My second piece of advice is to not rush anything and to enjoy the experiences that we have the privilege of engaging in. We all have different paths and it's okay to slow down, find something that you really like doing, and dig into it to inform your future choices instead of racing through. My future plans would look nothing like the way they do now if I hadn't taken time to do so, and I think I'm much better off because of it.
Utilize Prep Resources
I am confident to say that I would not have scored remotely close to this without the help of TPR and owe special credit to the partnership ASU and TPR have. The TPR material covers material well beyond the foundations that the exam requires and really makes you think about application on top of just memorizing the material. I would also like to thank the people in your office who have allowed me to extend my TPR subscription not just one, but two whole years beyond the normal term; the staff in the TPR office were kind, professional, and reassuring about the time that it took me to (finally) take this exam and I am eternally grateful for their support.
Also, having material online in multiple different formats (videos and test questions) really helped cement the material from the books for me and helped me learn how to apply content instead of just memorizing it. The fact that this resource is free for ASU students really solidifies ASU's philosophy as the "New American University" to me. Something that is normally cost-prohibitive to many of us has been made available by this partnership, and students like me are clearly benefiting from it.
To learn more about Princeton Review's self paced test prep, click here.