Jen Simmons - Biochemstry

Jennifer Simmons, who is affectionately known by her friends as Jen, was a biochemistry major at Geneva with minors in math, writing, and missions. Jen came into college undeclared, but she had so much support from professors, coaches, and other faculty at Geneva, who encouraged her to keep “chipping away at the future,” and reminded her that any career can be used to glorify the Lord. She participated in indoor and outdoor track and cross country during her Geneva College career.

For most of her time at Geneva, she was planning to pursue a career as a physician assistant, which would not have required her to go through medical school, residency, or take the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT).

“I decided on pursuing a career as a physician the last semester of my senior year, while researching for the final book review paper in Dr. Watt’s globalism class,” she explains. She came across a section about obstetric fistula and the need for doctors, especially dealing with women and childbirth in developing countries. After spending more time researching it, she felt her heart repeatedly break for those women, and she shifted her career path accordingly. She hopes to eventually work overseas as a medical missionary and serve as a physician in the maternal health field.

Jen scored in the 98^th percentile on her MCAT exam, which means that her score was higher than 98 percent of the people who took the MCAT. This incredible accomplishment is a testament not only to her potential in the medical field, but also points to her dedication to fulfilling God’s plan for her. The MCAT is a standardized test intended to measure a student’s preparedness for medical school. Employing mainly passage-based questions, the test covers organic and general chemistry, biology, physics, psychology, sociology, and reading comprehension. Jen says, “I was “extremely relieved to get my score back, and very excited!” She made her decision to go into medical school fairly late in comparison to other students so the performance gave her the confidence that this was a direction that she could legitimately pursue.

“I prepared using study books from Kaplan and taking several full-length practice exams online beforehand,” Jen explains about her preparation for the MCAT. She studied nearly all day, every day for about two months leading up to the exam, however the courses she took for her major at Geneva were helpful in preparation for the MCAT, as well. Jen specifically notes Dr. Austin’s biochemistry classes as particularly helpful on her test day, so shout out to Dr. Austin’s stellar teaching!

While in the process of applying to medical school now, Jen is hoping to start next fall with the plan on specializing as an OB GYN, and possibly pursuing a Master’s of Public Health as well. Currently, she is working as a medical scribe in Hagerstown, MD in order to gain more clinical experience before medical school. The Geneva College community wishes Jen the best of luck on her medical school journey, and we are all so proud of her success thus far in her academic career!