Valuable GEMS

Michael Young's senior year of high school was one of quiet triumph.

The class valedictorian graduated with a perfect 4.0, an ACT composite of 34 and a combined SAT score of 1470.

But Young's success resulted in a quandary. He soon found himself sorting through acceptance letters from some of the country's finest universities, carefully trying to weigh the benefits of each.

Harvard, Yale, Vanderbilt, the University of Missouri, the University of Kentucky and UofL all had accepted Young as an undergraduate, making his decision a difficult one.

The Elizabethtown, Ky., native eventually narrowed the field to two schools -- UofL and Harvard -- and his friends thought the final choice was obvious.

"They were all telling me the chance to attend Harvard was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he recalls.

But Young had wanted to be a doctor since early childhood, thanks in part to the influence of his father, Tien, an Elizabethtown endocrinologist. Young remembers the seemingly endless stream of cards and letters his father received from patients, thanking him for the care he provided and the impact he made on their lives.

"Helping the community and making a difference really appeals to me," Young says. "I see a lot of that in medicine."

And so when UofL offered Young a full undergraduate scholarship and the School of Medicine also guaranteed his later acceptance in the university's medical program, he decided to pursue a bachelor's degree in Louisville rather than Cambridge, Mass.

"It was the biggest dilemma of my life," Young says, "but I decided UofL would provide the best opportunity to reach my career goals in medicine."

He's not alone. Since 1988, when UofL started its Guaranteed Entrance to Medical School -- or GEMS -- program, 150 of the Commonwealth's best and brightest high school seniors have elected to earn their undergraduate degrees here, often turning down offers from the country's most prestigious institutions.

"GEMS has enabled the University of Louisville to recruit some of the absolute very best students -- students who otherwise might have attended a different university," says David Wiegman, Ph.D., vice dean for academic affairs in the School of Medicine.

"In fact, GEMS students usually account for about one-third of the National Merit Scholars who come to UofL."

Wiegman, who created the GEMS program, notes that UofL typically receives 60 to 70 applications for the 10 positions it offers each year. All of the candidates have finished in the top 5 percent of their classes and none have scored lower than a 30 (composite) on the ACT.

As a result, GEMS students can concentrate on learning rather than "just making the grade," VyVy says. They also can take classes purely for the sake of discovery instead of trying to fulfill some 'pre-medical' criteria.

VyVy, who turned down full scholarships from the University of Kentucky, Transylvania University and Vanderbilt, says such academic freedom was a boon to her undergraduate experience.

Chris Mescia, M.D., a 1996 UofL medicine graduate and a member of the first GEMS class, agrees.

"For most people trying to get into medical school, their GPA is so crucial that they won't take a class unless they know they'll get an 'A,'" the New Albany, Ind., pediatrician says.

"GEMS removed that pressure and allowed me to take high-level classes that were not in my major simply because I was interested in the subject. It didn't really matter if I got a 'B.'

"I also took some classes to prep for medical school, like biochemistry and histology, which a fair number of medical-school bound undergraduates didn't take because those classes are harder."

Mescia, who chose UofL over Brown and Johns Hopkins because of the flexibility that GEMS allows, says the lack of pressure "made my undergraduate experience very, very enjoyable."

"The ability to learn at the pace I wanted and to take the topics I wanted gave me a more well-rounded undergraduate education that helped better prepare me for medical school," Mescia says. "It really paid off."

Another important benefit of the GEMS program is the opportunity it affords undergraduates to learn about medicine first-hand.

This is accomplished through the enrichment program, which brings GEMS undergraduates together with medical professionals starting early in the students' freshman year.

"They begin to learn what it means to be a doctor and are exposed to all the career options a medical degree makes possible," Wiegman says.

Later, the students are allowed to scrub into surgeries, witness medical procedures and shadow doctors as they treat patients.

"I got exposures I'm not sure I would have had otherwise," VyVy says of the enrichment program. "I got to see babies being born, and I watched a couple of surgeries, which helped a lot.

"As an undergraduate, you attend classes and wonder where all of this is leading. Even a little glimpse into medicine helps motivate and reinforce your goals.

"It also reinforces students' perceptions about the quality of the medical school program because they get to see it in action."

Perhaps that explains why so many GEMS scholars elect to stay at UofL for their medical educations.

The GEMS award does not, in fact, bind students to attending UofL's School of Medicine. If, upon earning their bachelors' degrees from UofL, students decide to attend medical school elsewhere, they may do so without any obligation to UofL.

Very few do.

"In all this time, we've had three students go to other medical schools -- Harvard, Case Western and the University of Chicago," Wiegman notes. "I think that really reinforces the quality of the curriculum in the School of Medicine."

Mescia echoed Wiegman's sentiments.

"The GEMS program allowed me to meet some of the medical faculty and develop relationships with them," Mescia says. "But the major factor influencing my decision to get a medical degree in Louisville was the practical experience I had through GEMS. It let me get a little taste of what it was like to be a medical student at UofL, and I liked what I saw.

"I got to see that the medical students were happy, and that it was, without question, a first-rate school."

Once a student is admitted to GEMS, however, the competition eases considerably. GEMS scholars must accomplish three goals to ensure their matriculation into medical school: maintain a 3.3 grade-point average as an undergraduate; score the national average on the Medical College Aptitude Test; and participate in the program's regular enrichment activities, which are designed to familiarize students with the medical field.

The fact that GEMS scholars need only maintain a 3.3 GPA is one of the program's more powerful appeals, according to Michael Young's sister, VyVy, herself a GEMS scholar who will be entering her third year of medical school at UofL this fall.

"That really takes some of the pressure off undergrads, who feel they must make a 4.0 or ace their MCATs to get into medical school," VyVy explains.

Michael Young hasn't yet decided if he'll stay at UofL for his medical degree. But if GEMS' track record is any indication, he won't be leaving Louisville for at least seven more years.

In the meantime, he's making the most of his undergraduate experience on the Belknap campus.

"No matter where I go to medical school, I'm going to make this the best four years of my life," Young says.

"There are so many different people out there to meet and so many things to do. This is a good chance to see what life is all about when you're out on your own."

Thanks to the freedom offered by GEMS, Young has that chance.

"The name of my university isn't that important to me," Young says. "What is important is that the school I attend lets me make the most of my education. And UofL is letting me do that."