Our guest today is soon-to-be doctor Mary Tate and current 4th year medical student at Harvard Medical School. Mary graduated from Dartmouth in 2012 and has been at HMS since 2013. She was very active at Dartmouth and continued to be a change agent at HMS. In 2017 she earned her MPH at Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health, and by the end of the month, she’ll be Dr. Mary Tate.

Can you tell us about your background? Where you grew up? [1:29]

I was born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I am the youngest of eight children, and have 18 nieces and nephews, so there was always someone around, someone to learn from. I went to public schools that really valued the arts, so I was involved in the arts from a young age. I played violin starting in 4th grade and by middle school was doing theatre, putting on three productions a year. My high school did 10-12 shows a year, so I’ve never been a stranger to the stage, and it was a really big part of my upbringing. I also have a brother with severe intellectual disabilities who is eight year older than me, and one of my roles was as a caregiver to him, so I learned how to be there for someone else who needed it.

When you think back on the application process, what did you find most difficult? [5:57]

The personal statement, for a number of reasons. First, the drafting of it should take place over the course of months. Creating something that is trying to meet the word limit, tells about who you are, why you want to be a physician, and has a cohesive theme that feels unique is really challenging and requires a lot of reflection. I broke down when I started writing it because it sounded like what everyone else would be saying, like, “I want to be a doctor because I want to eliminate suffering.” I couldn’t say that! Over time I learned the more I continued to write the more I was able to anchor it with my experiences. What makes my story unique is sharing my life experiences and as a result why I want to alleviate suffering through medicine - why it makes sense. Additionally, I didn’t want to be a burden by asking others to read it, but you really need lots of people to read your drafts, ones who will give you the painful feedback you need to hear.

What would you have changed about your approach to it, looking back now? [9:40]

What helped me is starting really early. By the time I’d gotten to the point of applying I already knew that I needed to ask for help. That took time to feel comfortable with. I knew how to utilize the resources available to me. I don’t know if I would have done anything differently, but getting comfortable asking for help and being resourceful, if I hadn’t done that work - that is what I would want to tell people. So many people try to go it alone. There are a lot of people that can potentially help you out, so you should take advantage of that. I would make sure I did those things again. You need someone who is really close to you to read each draft to make sure your personality is showing through, and you need a grammar person, and a professor or others in academia to show when you have a draft you are proud of. And one last person to look again when you think it is done, and are ready to hit submit, just one more person who reads it for the very first...