Sam Kolowrat, MD, PGY-1 Anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University

How do you transition from competing on the world stage at the Olympics to matching into an elite medical residency? Join host Deana Golini as she interviews Sam, an MS4 at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, who just matched into her top-choice Anesthesiology program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Sam shares her unique journey as a non-traditional student athlete who spent her gap years balancing professional hockey in Sweden, a Master of Pharmacology, and working as a medical assistant. She pulls back the curtain on the "identity crisis" of leaving a sports team behind, the high-stakes strategy of residency program signaling (gold and silver medals), and why she skipped an international hockey game to complete her med school interview from a hotel room in Finland. Whether you are balancing athletics or wondering if you should take multiple gap years, Sam’s story offers an authentic blueprint for letting joy guide your medical career.

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