Students get
a head start
on careers
A select group of students
in the Irvin D. Reid Honors
College can participate in
Start programs and pursue
professional degrees while still
undergraduates. Many of these
highly competitive programs
offer scholarships or other
financial support (financial aid is
available only to U.S. citizens).
Programs are open only to
incoming freshmen. Check out
honors.wayne.edu and click
on "Start Programs" for more
details.
Program highlights:
School of Medicine: MedStart
This BS/MD provides a
Presidential Scholarship and
guarantees admission to the
School of Medicine for up to 15
freshmen each year.
MedStart information sessions
for 2011:
Monday, Sept. 26
Monday, Oct. 24
Monday, Nov. 28
Monday, Dec. 12
Information sessions are held at
4 p.m. in the Honors College,
on the second floor of the
Undergraduate Library on
campus.
Eugene Applebaum College
of Pharmacy and Health
Sciences: HealthPro Start
Students are guaranteed
admission to their program of
choice in pharmacy, clinical
laboratory sciences, physical
therapy, mortuary science,
occupational therapy, anatomic
pathologists' assistant, radiation
therapy technology, radiologic
technology or pharmaceutical
sciences.
School of Business
Administration: B Start
Admission to the M.B.A.
program is guaranteed for
students who complete this
five-year program.
College of Engineering:
GradStart
Designed for incoming
freshmen pursuing a doctoral
degree in engineering.
4
The start
of something big
At Wayne State,
innovative programs
point students
toward graduate
school and promising
careers
State's Start club
is where the
competition ends,
says program
coordinator Nancy
Galster. The
programs' small
sizes are designed
to foster a sense
of community
and tend to lessen
any rivalry. "We
find that our
students begin
building their
academic careers
on the foundation
that this tight-
knit community
believes in them,"
she says. "They
can then focus on
proving exactly
what they're
capable of."
Since 2004, a quartet of
baccalaureate-to-graduate
degree programs at Wayne
State University has been
helping exceptional high school
students pave their own paths
to success.
These highly competitive
degree tracks — dubbed "Start
programs" — are offered
through the university's Irvin
D. Reid Honors College and
guarantee accepted students
admission to one of four
Wayne State graduate schools.
Each program also includes
preprofessional opportunities
that give students a head
start on careers in medicine,
pharmacy and health sciences,
business and engineering.
The Med Start, HealthPro Start,
B Start and GradStart programs
provide advanced opportunities
in and out of the classroom by
allowing students to work side-
by-side with doctors, researchers,
practicing professionals and
community members from the
very beginning of their academic
careers.
"The networking opportunities
have been immeasurable," says
Rivky Waxenberg, a student
in the School of Business
Administration's B Start program.
"Not just with accomplished
community business professionals,
but with the other B Start
students as well. There's a real
sense that I'm surrounded by
future leaders."
Thanks to B Start, Waxenberg
is wrapping up her second
internship with Deloitte LLP and
plans to accept an offer with
the company after she receives
her M.B.A.
Amarinder
Singh, a third-
year student in
WSU's School of
Medicine, says
Eric Ayers, M.D., left, of the WSU
MedStart and
Department of Internal Medicine with
Galster's
consistent
former MedStart students Phil McDonald
and Amarinder Singh.
support gave her
the freedom to
MedStart, the first Start
explore other fields during her
program, began in 2004 with
undergraduate studies. Singh
just 100 applicants but now
received a bachelor's degree in
attracts more than 300 high
journalism from WSU in 2008.
school hopefuls each year.
(See the sidebar for more
"My guaranteed admission to
information on individual Start
the School of Medicine gave
programs.)
me the opportunity to pursue
To be eligible for a Start
program, each student must
meet admission requirements
to Wayne State. A meticulous
vetting process, with one-on-
one interviews and written
essays, then winnows down
the field of applicants. Twenty
students are accepted each year
to HealthPro Start; MedStart
accepts 15 and both B Start
and GradStart admit just a
handful.
Each degree track requires
students to maintain a minimum
GPA to remain in the program.
But admission to Wayne
alternative areas," Singh says.
"I never felt pressured to
focus solely on health-related
activities that would help me
get into med school. This has
given me more confidence
in my decision to become a
physician and, ultimately, will
make me a better doctor."
"We want each of these
students to walk away from
the Start programs feeling
confident," says Galster. "We
want them to leave feeling well
prepared as professionals and
ready to take on grad school."