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t m c » p u l s e | a u g u s t 2 0 1 7 15 During her pep talk, Johnson also shared some sobering data: 55,000 students apply to medical school every year. About 21,000 are accepted. At Baylor, about 7,600 students apply each year, 850 are invited for interviews and 300 are offered spots. Of the 300 invited to attend last fall, 186 accepted. It's no secret, Johnson said, how to earn one of those coveted acceptances. Of course, do well on the medical school entrance exams, take the requi- site science classes and maintain spar- kling grade point averages in college. Or, if your GPA is shaky early on, show signs of discipline and improvement. In addition, be involved in your commu- nity, pursue your genuine interests and keep up with the critical issues in health care today. And, if you're invited to a medical school interview, know something about that school before showing up. Just before the hour was up, Johnson answered one question the students didn't ask. If by chance any of them got in trou- ble, particularly legal trouble, there are places on the applications to note that. "We shouldn't hear about these things from anybody but you," she said, adding that medical schools do crimi- nal background checks. "We all make mistakes. Just be honest because you don't know what might follow you, what might haunt you." All of the young people in the con- ference room were outstanding. Yet she left them sitting in thoughtful silence. Teamwork After lunch, but before Reppert returned to Texas Children's in search of more surgery, she ran into Scott. He'd just found out that they share a passion for team sports. He used to play competitive basketball and volleyball. She plays varsity volleyball at Amherst. The link between sports and surgery? Johnson stressed the impor- tance of teamwork at lunch. Scott and the other surgeons brought it up regularly, too. Luckily, when Reppert filled out her summer program application last win- ter, she devoted most of her personal statement to the teamwork theme. She described her high school experience shadowing the orthopedic surgeon: "I remember observing a specific surgery and witnessed how the surgeon and the assistants operated. They were completely in sync and appeared to function as a well-oiled machine. Just like on the court, we know that our teammates will execute their roles whether they are diving for balls and preventing the other team from scoring or pounding the ball and hoping to score on the other team. All six players on the court move in harmony with each other … just like a successful surgi- cal team." For a moment, Scott and Reppert just stared at each other. When he reads medical school applications, he looks for student athletes, for those who know what Reppert knows. She's still a junior. She's going to need at least one extra year of college to squeeze in all those volleyball practices and games and take the time-intensive lab courses required before applying to medical school. But it sure did seem, at least for eight weeks this summer, that she had a jump start on her dream. Claudia Feldman is a freelance writer living in Houston. Reppert peers over the shoulders of Baylor College of Medicine surgeons during a nasal reconstruction at Ben Taub Hospital.