Meet with your guidance counselor at school and ask them to help you pick courses and the sequence of courses that will enable your application to university and medical school.

Besides the academic requirements for medical school discussed previously in Becoming a Doctor, medical schools are looking for individuals who are resourceful. They will be looking for evidence of your participation in leadership roles and volunteer work Ð the kinds of activities which push you to think broadly. You can get involved in leadership roles through sports, volunteer work, music and drama, 4-H, clubs and service organizations. Talk to your guidance counselor about volunteer opportunities in your community.

The Alberta Rural Physician Action Plan (RPAP) has a School Outreach Program which includes Career Fairs and Lunch and Learn talks. These activities are coordinated through your school division.

RPAP also organizes student tours of university medical faculties and runs a shadowing program for high school students, which enables students to follow a rural physician through their work day, to observe how they interact with patients and healthcare workers and to ask about their education and experience.

Talk to people who are involved in rural medicine. Tour your local health facilities with a doctor. Tour the hospital Emergency Room with rural EMS and fire department professionals.

Do an Internet search to gain more information about rural medicine as a career.

Get involved, manage your time effectively and learn about the world around you!

Other Medicine Websites

University of Calgary
http://faculty.med.ucalgary.ca/

UofC Students Interested in the Medical Sciences

University of Alberta (Edmonton)
http://www.med.ualberta.ca/

Society of Rural Physicians of Canada
www.srpc.ca

Canadian Medical Programs
(from the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada)
www.afmc.ca/pages/faculties.html