Ask a Med Student
We are a group of five 1st year medical students who are here to help with questions about Dalhousie University Medical School and the MMI weekend. Matt, Haley, and Ben attend the Halifax campus (DMNS) Siyum, and Hira attend Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick (DMNB).
HALIFAX AAMS REPS
From left to right, Matt, Haley & Ben
Matt LeRoux
Hi Everyone!
I'm Matt (he/him), and two of my favourite things are bouldering and coffee! I was born in Halifax, grew up in Fall River and spent 9yrs in NFLD for post-secondary. I love first responder work and have pursued entrepreneurship teaching First Aid, BLS and more. I'm stoked to be one of your Ask a Med Student (AAMS) reps for Dal Med - Halifax. I'm REALLY excited to answer your questions and help you along your journey into medicine.
The journey into medical school feels overwhelming and is full of uncertainty. I'm here to reassure you that there truly is no perfect applicant. My journey consisted of failing out of engineering, taking 7 years to get an undergrad degree, writing the MCAT three times and a 1st quartile CASPer score. I'm sharing because it's true: YOU'RE MORE THAN YOUR GPA AND TEST SCORES. If you want more info on my experience, check out this link.
Take time to celebrate your accomplishments thus far, and don't give up. I promise you, the feeling of reading "Congratulations!" is like nothing else, and I'm excited for you to share that moment!
Brainstorm questions and fire them our way! You can find us in the FB group (Ask a Med Student - Dalhousie, Class of 2028); feel free to post or DM us. Otherwise, reach out by email. We're here for YOU, so let us know how we can help!
Good luck, and I hope to meet you soon!
-Matt
Haley Glazebrook
Hey Everyone!
My name is Haley Glazebrook (she/her) and I am super excited to be one of the DMNS Ask a Med Student Reps! I was born and raised in Halifax and did my undergraduate degree at Dalhousie in Microbiology & Immunology as a member of the Dalhousie Women’s Varsity Soccer Team. I completed my Masters of Public Health at Memorial University which coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. Before starting medical school, I worked in Physician Services at the Department of Health and Wellness and with the Public Health Mobile Units at Nova Scotia Health.
As you are all well aware, applying to medical school is not an easy task, and wherever you are on your journey, you should all be very proud of your hard work, dedication and accomplishments to date, congratulations! Everyone’s path to medical school looks different and there are often many highs and lows along the way. It’s important to try and take things one step at a time (it’s a marathon not a sprint!). I applied to medical school multiple times and know how scary, nerve-racking and exciting the application process can be! As Ask a Med Student Reps, we hope to help make this process as smooth as possible, encouraging and supporting you on your path to medical school!
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out in the Facebook Group (Ask A Med Student - Dalhousie, Class of 2028) or via email (askadalmedstudent@gmail.com).
We look forward to meeting you, helping in any way we can and wish you all the best!
Haley :)
Ben Rittenberg
Hi Everyone!
My name is Ben Rittenberg (he/him) and I am one of the Ask a Med Student Reps for this year. I grew up in Halifax, so am very familiar with all that this amazing city has to offer. I stuck around to do both my Undergraduate and Masters degrees in Kinesiology at Dalhousie. During this time, I furthered my passion for baseball by becoming a coach, which inspired me to conduct research related to coaching psychology. As someone who applied to medical school multiple times, I am very familiar with the application process. I empathize with the many doubts that might be running through your head as you prepare for interviews, and ultimately, wait for a decision letter to appear in your inbox. These doubts are normal and shared by many of your peers from the applicant pool. To get to this stage is truly an accomplishment on its own and something that you should be very proud of!
Now, you might be wondering…what is an Ask a Med Student rep? Simply put, we are first-year medical students who are here to support YOU throughout the entire application process. We are well aware of how stressful, intimidating and long the application process is, so we want to help you in any way that we can.
You will be hearing from us lots over the next few months, so I will end things here. But, I hope to meet many of you throughout this process! Please do not be afraid to reach out if you have ANY questions (we don’t bite). You can contact us in the Facebook Group (Ask A Med Student - Dalhousie, Class of 2028) or via email (askadalmedstudent@gmail.com).
Remember to be kind to yourself!
Ben
SAINT JOHN AAMS REPS
From left to right, Siyum & Hira
Siyum Mohiuddin
Hey everyone!
My name is Siyum Mohiuddin and I am beyond excited to be your Ask a Med Student Rep for the DMNB campus! Some facts about me: I was born in South Africa, then moved to Saint John, NB. I have a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from the University of New Brunswick then I was a Research Assistant at the Dr. Everett Chalmer’s Hospital until I made my way back to home sweet home, here at DalMed! I enjoy working out (kin bro), going on runs (kin bro^2), watching movies, painting, and making Anki cards but never actually doing them (you’ll understand soon).
Trust me. I get how overwhelming the whole process of applying to med school may have felt, but hey, you got an interview! That is absolutely incredible! Now it’s time to put on your best shirt and smile, and show DalMed why you belong here!
You probably have a million questions at the moment, but do not worry because our AAMS team will be working overtime. We are here to answer any and all questions, provide you with help sessions, and work with the wonderful folks at Dalhousie Medicine to ensure you have the best possible interview weekend experience.
Feel free to reach out to anyone of us. And remember, deep breaths!
-Siyum
Hira Niazi
Hello everyone!!
My name is Hira and I am one of the two Ask A Med Student reps at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick! I was born in South Africa and immigrated to Canada 8 years ago. Since then, I’ve lived in Ottawa, completed my undergraduate degree in Kinesiology at UBC in Vancouver, and then moved to Saint John, NB, where my parents immigrated to. I worked for 2 years at UNB Saint John before starting at DMNB and made a few good “non-med” friends (which I’m so grateful for - make sure you hang onto those friends because trust me, they’re a breath of fresh air!!).
Congratulations to everyone who got an interview invite this year! Make sure you take a moment to celebrate yourself for the hard work that you’ve put in! I remember the initial happiness, excitement, relief, and all the emotions that I felt when I received my interview invite last year, which was soon followed by stress and anxiety because I did not know what to expect with the MMI. Personally, the AAMS reps were a huge help to answer some of the questions that I had, and I hope that we can do that for YOU this year. Please do not hesitate to reach out through the Facebook group (Ask A Med Student - Dalhousie, Class of 2028) or via email at askadalmedstudent@gmail.com.
If you didn’t receive an interview, even though it’s difficult to not get demoralized, I would encourage you to take the time to gain more experiences and apply again. We’re also here to answer any questions for those thinking of applying next cycle.
Wishing you the best of luck, and hopefully I’ll get to meet you soon!
- Hira