Hello everybody! It is really an honor that I could invite Miss Ma to participate in our Zotblog interview for Undergraduate/Undeclared students. Miss Ma is now studying in the Public Health Ph.D. program here at UCI, and she would like to share some of her own experiences during her University life with our undergraduate students. Although Ma’s undergraduate study was complete in China, through her experience of studying and teaching at UCI over the past year, she was able to provide very professional advice to students who have not decided on a major. This interview also helped me greatly in my choice of majors and my future college life planning. Thus, I highly recommend our students to read and learn something from it.
The major Miss Ma studied for her undergraduate is Traditional Chinese Medicine. When she was in high school, her grandmother got a severe illness, but she can do nothing at that moment. It was the feeling of helplessness, together with the motivation of learning the reason why people are ill that made her choose to study medicine. Ma said that she loves her major very much and has no regrets about her major choice. While she mentioned that data shows that only 10% of Chinese medical students will continue to practice medicine after graduation, so she advised students to focus on finding their favorite major or passionate field to study. In addition, in the process of finding a suitable major, students should not only study more about the specific knowledge to be learned but also know what it looks like in the job market. In the process of going from university studies to entering society looking for a job, many people will abandon the fields they have studied for many years because knowledge is presented in different ways when becoming a job. “If a student cannot find a major that he or she likes, they can choose one that is applicable to various jobs in the future. ” Ma explained. I think this option is very reasonable because I have experienced such a process myself. When I first have to face the difficulty of deciding on a major, I did not know if I liked social science, so I started with the broader field of it, which is psychology. While after quarters of studying, I developed a great interest in psychology, and decided on psychology as my university major and kept working hard for it.
Ma is now working as TA at UCI and she suggested students be more active during the class. She said professors like to interact with students and are willing to answer their questions, especially those active ones. In general, students who always get perfect scores, or have a lot of interaction during or after the class will leave a great impression on not only TAs but also professors.
Ma also gave some advice specific to students who want to study medicine. “You need to get years of training to become an independent doctor. It is an impressive long process so make sure you’re really interested in it before making the choice.” Ma said. “And sometimes if you have a background from another field, that will help a lot in your research or work. ” Ma then provided a couple of examples to help students better understand. For instance, a mathematics major will feel more relaxed when studying medical statistics, and a student who has studied psychological science will be easier to communicate with patients diagnose. Therefore, medical students can try to obtain a minor degree in other fields, which can not only help students determine their own preferences but also greatly help their future development in the medical field.
The content of this interview has come to an end, and I hope readers can benefit from it. It is believed that these experiences can not only help the current students of the U/U department but also help the future students to various degrees. Because I personally have gained a lot of useful advice from this interview, I would like to express my thanks again to Miss Ma for her willingness to share so many experiences with us. Thank you very much for reading and see you in June!