Alumni Spotlight: Nadeem Jones ’24

Nadeem Jones is currently a first-year medical student in the Columbia-Bassett Program at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. While at Denison, Nadeem excelled both in the classroom and on the tennis courts as a student athlete.

Personal

1. What inspired you to pursue medicine, and how did you know it was the right career for you?

Growing up, I was involved in many of my own medical decisions from a young age. When I was diagnosed with a condition that required two injections a day for ten years, my parents, who are both pediatricians, left the decision in my hands. Because of their support and the trust I had in my medical team, I never felt powerless in my own care. As I gained more experience in medical environments during college, both in my hometown in West Virginia and in Ohio, I saw how different that experience was for many people. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, I met many individuals who struggled to trust the medical system and felt left out of decisions about their own health. I think that realization motivated me to want to become a doctor. I’m hoping to help bridge that gap and help patients feel trust, autonomy, and agency in their care.

In addition, during college, I was very lucky to have mentors who really supported and nurtured my passion for medicine. This included so many people, both in and outside of medicine, all inspiring me to take this path. 

Finally, one of the things I find most exciting about medicine is its versatility—there’s so much room to shape your career around your passions. In the 21st century, medicine is incredibly interdisciplinary and holistic. A wide range of interests and approaches can be applied to patient care. As a studio art and chemistry double major, I wanted to be sure that I could keep my creativity alive in my career. Medicine not only allows for that but also shows me how art and creativity can be a valuable tool in patient care—whether it’s finding ways to communicate complex medical information to patients, designing more welcoming clinical environments, or simply using art to help patients feel more comfortable. I guess the flexibility and breadth of the field make it a perfect fit for me.

Medical School Application Process

1. Did you engage in any extracurricular activities that you felt strengthened your medical school application? Which ones stood out most in your application?

When applying to med school through AMCAS, you can list up to 15 activities and mark three as “most meaningful,” which allows you to get some extra space to explain why the activity is/was so meaningful to you. I found that these three were the ones that came up the most in interviews, and I think they really reflected the person I am.

One of my most meaningful activities  was my summer as a research scholar at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. I worked on a research project using whole genome sequencing to study congenital diaphragmatic hernia, and while the science itself was exciting, what really stuck with me—and more often came up in interviews—were the relationships I built with mentors across the hospital. Conversations with healthcare professionals, from art therapists to surgeons, helped me figure out what I wanted my career in medicine to look like. Their guidance showed me how to integrate my interests into my future as a physician, and that mentorship still means a lot to me.

Another experience that I think stood out was a project back home, where I designed and created paintings for the pediatric unit at a hospital in Charleston, WV. I think this caught people’s attention because it was a creative way to engage with healthcare. My goal was to help create a space that felt comforting and familiar for kids, especially those coming from rural areas who might feel overwhelmed in a big hospital. 

Lastly, I included being a varsity tennis player at Denison. While playing a sport in college isn’t unusual for med school applicants, it showed how I spent a big part of my time. I think it helped to explain some of the parts of my application where I hadn’t spent as many hours. Balancing athletics with academics taught me a lot about time management and efficiency, which has been helpful in med school.

1. What did your medical school application process look like? How did you approach writing your personal statement and secondary essays?

My med school application process was a mess! I didn’t know much about applying or how the whole process worked, which definitely added some chaos along the way. I had planned to take my MCAT in early April of my junior year, but I didn’t realize you had to register far in advance. By the time I tried to sign up, all the April spots were gone, and I had to push my test to mid-May. Taking it in April would’ve given me a little buffer to retake it if I needed to, but with the May date, I was cutting it really close. Since scores take about a month to come back, I was stuck waiting from mid-May to mid-June to even know if I had a score I was happy with—meanwhile, the AMCAS application opened in early June. Because med school applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, I was already behind the curve, with admissions committees seeing and even possibly interviewing other applicants before my application was submitted.

When my score finally came back in mid-June (thankfully, I was happy with it), I realized I hadn’t even touched my primary application. Looking back, I probably should’ve started working on it while waiting for my MCAT score, but by that point, I was also juggling a full-time summer research position. I began with my activity descriptions, which took way more time than I expected. They aren’t written like a resume—you have to tell a story and really reflect on each experience. I didn’t realize this until I had already written them in more of a resume style, so I had to do a lot of rewriting. The Medical School HQ application renovation YouTube channel was super helpful for guiding me on how to approach these, but I tried not to get too caught up in these YouTube videos/ SDN/Reddit since they can add a lot of unnecessary stress. Plus it’s important to make sure your application sounds like you, not some random person online.

Writing my activity descriptions first was actually a good move because it helped me build confidence in my writing and reflect on the things I was passionate about. This made it easier to approach my personal statement since I had a clearer sense of why I wanted to become a doctor. I rewrote my personal statement several times, and the version I ended up submitting was the one that felt the most genuine—it sounded like me. My earlier drafts felt like I was trying too hard to convince admissions committees that I’d be a great med student. But a good personal statement isn’t about setting an agenda—it’s about sharing your life and experiences that led you to pursue medicine. For me, that started with my experiences as a patient when I was younger and continued through my work with patients and mentors in healthcare. Once you read through your activities and reflect on your experiences, you’ll start to notice themes that are important to you, and those are the things you should focus on in your personal statement. 

With the help of edits by my grandmother and partner, I finally submitted my primary application on June 28th to about 25 schools. Choosing which schools to apply to was important, too—I didn’t want to waste time or money applying to too many out-of-state public schools since those often favor in-state applicants. So I applied to my state schools (WV), several private schools, and a few out-of-state schools that I thought were a good fit and where I had a shot. This put me somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of timing for that application cycle. But the later you submit your primary application, the longer it takes to get verified by AAMC (they have to confirm that your transcripts match the grades you reported). For people who submit on June 1st, verification takes about two weeks. Since I submitted on June 28th, my application wasn’t verified until August.

Medical schools don’t send you secondary applications until your primary is verified, which meant I couldn’t submit my secondaries until August. Ideally, during that waiting period, you should be pre-writing your secondaries since the prompts are usually available online. That way, once you’re verified and start receiving secondaries, you can just copy, paste, and tweak your responses. The general advice is to submit secondaries within two weeks of receiving them. Unfortunately, I didn’t pre-write anything, so once my application was verified, it was a mad rush to get all my secondaries done at once.

To stay organized, I made an Excel sheet with all the schools I applied to, links to Google Docs with their secondary prompts, and deadlines. I ranked the schools based on how much I wanted to go there, so I could prioritize the ones I was most excited about. I approached writing my secondaries similarly to my primary application, focusing on reflecting deeply on my experiences and doing thorough research on each school. It’s helpful to use secondaries to reinforce the themes from your primary application without repeating your personal statement or activity descriptions. Many schools have similar essay prompts, so I used the same/similar response if the same question was given by two different schools to save time. Even so, the rush of writing caught up to me—I managed to submit 16 of the 25 secondaries before I burned out.

Once I was done with secondaries, all I could do was wait and hope for interviews. I got my first interview at my state school in October and my second one around Thanksgiving. The rest trickled in over the winter, with one interview as late as April (super late in the cycle!). Toward the end, I sent a letter of intent to the school I wanted to attend the most, letting them know they were my top choice. Thankfully, I got into that program and so far, its been a great fit for me!

I think this whole story shows two important things:

1. If you’re applying to med school, it really helps to know the process and how each piece fits together early on—it’ll save you a lot of time and stress.
2. But if you don’t have everything perfectly planned out, that’s okay too. Even if things are chaotic, you’ll figure out how to make it work.

1. Are there any specific skills (e.g., communication, leadership, research) you focused on during undergrad that have been crucial in medical school?

I think leadership has been the most important skill for me in medical school so far. In my experience, med school throws you into situations where you might not feel totally prepared, and being able to take initiative and work effectively with others—what I also consider a form of leadership—has been really helpful. At my med school, when we first started, the second-years were running all the clubs. But since clinical rotations start about 1.5 years in, leadership roles get passed down to first-years pretty quickly. After just one semester, I found myself stepping into leadership positions, and now I’m on the exec board of a student-run free clinic, an interest group, and the honor committee. I definitely had to learn fast how to manage these responsibilities, and I’ve learned a lot from the leadership experiences I had back at Denison. Taking initiative in these roles and organizing events, even as a first-year, has been a big part of my med school experience. It’s funny—when I was applying, one of the secondary essay prompts from my school asked about leadership experiences, and now I see why. 

Patient communication has also been really important. You can definitely tell who’s had a lot of experience working with patients and who hasn’t. I didn’t have much direct patient experience before med school, so I’ve found that part a bit challenging. Those who’ve spent years interacting with patients seem to naturally know how to address concerns in a genuine and compassionate way. For me, it’s taken some practice to get more comfortable in those interactions.

As for research, I think it’s a valuable skill, but the kind of research you do in undergrad is often pretty different from what you’ll do in med school. You’ll probably have to relearn a lot of the research process anyway. That said, having a solid background in biostatistics and understanding study designs, how research is conducted, and how to critically read manuscripts has been really useful.

1. What’s one thing you wish you knew about the medical school application process that you didn’t at the time?

As you can tell from my application process, there were many things I wish I had known, but they all boil down to one key takeaway: start early and don’t wait for one step to finish before starting the next. It’s helpful to understand the detailed anatomy of the entire process—the MCAT, the primary application, secondaries, and interviews—well in advance. Knowing how everything fits together ahead of time would’ve saved me some stress. 

But again, don’t worry too much about this. It’s ok if things don’t go according to plan—that’s life, you’ll sort it out. Sometimes I wish I kept this way of thinking in my head throughout the process, it also would’ve saved me some stress.

1. How did you approach interviews, and do you have any tips for making a strong impression?

Interviews were by far the best part of the application process, and for the most part, they were really fun! It’s important to understand that interviews aren’t just for you to make a good impression on the school—they’re also for the school to make a good impression on you so you’ll want to attend if you get in. The interviews where you leave feeling good about yourself are often at schools where you might actually want to go. That was definitely the case for the program I’m in now—the interviewers made me feel comfortable and validated, and all the conversations I had were truly enjoyable.

I prepared for my interviews by knowing my application top to bottom and being clear on why I was interested in each school—questions about these things will definitely come up. I also jotted down a few ideas for answers to specific questions I thought might be asked, like strengths, weaknesses, etc. Doing mock interviews with Sara Stasko from the Knowlton Center  was super helpful for building my confidence! I definitely recommend getting some practice interviewing, but I wouldn’t memorize or over-practice answers. Rehearsing for a conversation can make things feel awkward or ingenuine. The biggest thing in an interview is to just be yourself and to be genuine and kind to everyone you meet—I think if you can do that, you’re already 90% of the way there.

I know some schools use MMIs or ask ethics-based questions, which might make for less conversational interviews, but I never had to do one of those, so I can’t speak to how to prepare for that format.

Medical School 

1. Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently in undergrad to better prepare for medical school?

Looking back, I’m proud of the things I did in undergrad because I focused on what I enjoyed most while still making time for the things I needed to do to move forward after graduation. A lot of the time, I was able to integrate these two, which made the process feel more balanced. Probably the best decision I made overall was to go to Denison for college. Throughout my time I felt that my path was supported by the community that was around me, particularly in the Chem department, the Studio Art department, and my tennis team. 

That said, there are definitely some things I would’ve done differently!

First, I wish I had kept a journal throughout my life, not just during undergrad. Documenting and reflecting on my experiences would’ve helped me better understand who I am and who I want to become, both personally and professionally. While being an art major gave me an outlet for visual reflection, writing things down would’ve been incredibly helpful—especially when it came time to write my medical school application essays. Since applying to med school, I’ve started keeping a journal, and it’s been great for jotting down and reflecting on important moments as they happen.

I also wish I had been more efficient with my schoolwork, especially when it came to STEM and test-based classes. Med school throws an overwhelming amount of information at you every day, and you have to figure out how to absorb it quickly while juggling shadowing, clubs, clinics, and research. I’ve had to completely rework how I study to keep up with the demands. If I’d developed these skills in undergrad, I could’ve freed up more time for making art, playing tennis, or even just getting more sleep. One tool that’s been helpful is Anki, a spaced repetition platform that helps with memorization. It’s saved me a ton of time studying, even though its not my favorite way to study. Pretty much everyone at my med school uses it, and those who started with it in college had a much smoother transition into med school study habits.

Lastly, I would’ve taken a stats or biostats class and learned how to code in R. Both are super important for research and can save you a lot of time when it comes to data analysis. Having those skills ahead of time would’ve made diving into research projects much easier.

1. Now that you’re in medical school, what’s been the most surprising or rewarding part of the experience so far?

One of the most surprising parts of medical school so far has been realizing how much more seriously people in healthcare take you once you’re a med student. Potential mentors are genuinely excited to get you involved and share their work with you, which has been an awesome surprise.

Early in the semester, I signed up to shadow in plastic surgery, and I expected to be in the back of the OR, stretching and moving around just to get a glimpse of what was happening. But instead, the attending surgeon came over, introduced himself, and let me scrub into the case. We spent the whole time talking about a book we’d both read, and he took the time to walk me through the anatomy of the procedure. By the end of the case, he even gave me a book he thought I’d like—The Facemaker, which ended up being one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read. Fast-forward four months, and I’m now working with him on several research projects. Every time I’m in the OR with him, he makes sure I’m scrubbed in and actively involved in the cases.

This experience showed me how eager doctors are to mentor medical students, which was a really nice surprise. In undergrad, I felt like I was constantly searching for opportunities to get involved, but in med school, a lot of rewarding opportunities come to you—you just have to be open to them.

1. What’s one thing you think undergraduates should do to prepare for the rigorous demands of medical school after getting in?

There are many things undergrads should do to prepare for the rigorous demands of medical school after getting in. It is extremely important to smile, celebrate, sleep til the afternoon, go to the beach, go to the mountains, shop, spend time with your family and friends, read a book, watch a movie, get to know your future classmates, graduate (if applicable), etc. 

If you are really feeling the need to prep for medical school because you are so excited, maybe read some research papers in a specialty that you find interesting. I’m realizing how important evidence based medicine is. It’ll be important for us future doctors to know how to critically look at research and apply it to help out our patients.