Noor Shoukat – Shifa College of Medicine (Pakistan)
SURY 410 – AI in Abdominal Transplant Surgery
What did you like most about your elective?
What I liked most about my elective was how involved my residents were in helping me out. They treated me like an actual intern and not like a student. Even though it was tough in the beginning it was very helpful to boost up my confidence and get an idea of what it would be like to be a resident in the United States. I ended up doing a lot of work because they pushed me to it. This made me realize that I can fit it into the system. The favorite part of the program was how friendly everyone is down here in the south. I’ve done a bunch of rotations up in the north in Boston and New York and it was not the same.
Advice for future applicants and students?
Be confident, we’re students. This is the only time in our lives when it’s okay to make a mistake and you can be wrong. Make sure you ask questions, there is no such thing as a stupid question. It’s all about confidence and realizing that it’s okay to make mistakes. That’s the advice I got from my residents.
If you’re a surgery student, you should definitely try to live in the center for human sciences. Because it’s a 5-minute walk and you will be rounding at 5:30 am and you need to be close by. Walking to work has been amazing. Also, I would recommend every student to pre-round on patients and present them to the attendings so you can get enough face time with them so that they know you are interested.