Episode 4: Ali Tahir - MD vs. DO Schools, Pre-Med Mentorship Network "BreakThru Mentoring", Pursuing Internal Medicine, Non-Traditional Majors, and more Health Outlook with Anirudh Maddali

This episode features an enriching discussion with Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine student Ali Tahir. Ali is a fourth-year student pursuing internal medicine. Ali is also the co-founder of BreakThru Mentoring, a pre-med and medical student mentorship network. Personally, it was great to catch up with Ali because we know each other from a few years ago, as he was one of my tutors for AP Chem and Bio at a local academy. Now, he’s close to entering residency, and I’m in the middle of my pre-med journey, so it was great to pick his brain about common pre-med concerns and get his take on some life lessons.

I believe many people will benefit from our discussion of his decision to pursue a major in Rutger’s Business school as opposed to a traditional science-based major, his initial struggles switching from business to pre-med, and his grounded advice about MCAT prep (which I found very insightful since it’s coming up in my future)! 

We also discuss the differences between MD and DO schools, not only in their education but other aspects of the medical journey that students may not be exposed to from traditional pre-med tracks which usually emphasize MD schools. My favorite parts of this episode were when we discussed why he decided to go directly into medical school despite admitting he did not have as much clinical experience as his peers who were pre-med from the start, as well as his explanation of internal medicine and why there is an increase in the number of medical students opting for this field of medicine.