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:

MedStart
This BS/MD provides a
Presidential Scholarship and
guarantees admission to the
School of Medicine.

MedStart information sessions
for 2012:
$
Monday, Nov. 26
▪
Monday, Dec. 10

Information sessions are held
at 4 p.m. in the Community
Room, located on the third floor
of the Undergraduate Library
on campus.

lealthPro Start

Students are guaranteed
admission to their program of
choice in pharmacy, clinical
laboratory sciences, physical
therapy, mortuary science,
occupational therapy, pathologists'
assistant, radiation therapy
technology, radiologic technology
or pharmaceutical sciences.

8 Start
Admission to the M.B.A.
program is guaranteed to
students in this program. B Start
trains future leaders in business
by emphasizing mentoring and
research opportunities with
business school faculty.

GradStart
Designed for incoming
freshmen who intend to
pursue doctoral degrees in
engineering, participants are
guaranteed admission to the
College of Engineering graduate
program of their choice, with
financial support from the
department for their first year
of graduate study.

4

Starting off on
the right foot

Uniquely designed
programs put
students on the
path toward
graduate school
and rewarding
careers

By Alex Bienkowski

Four innovative degree
programs at Wayne State
University have been helping
high school scholars pave
their way to graduate school
and a prosperous future.

Duprey attributes this
competitive edge to the sense
of familiarity and comfort that

privileged few. Twenty students
are accepted each year to
HealthPro Start; MedStart
accepts 15; and both B Start
and GradStart admit only
a handful of well-qualified
applicants.

Each program requires
students to maintain a
minimum GPA to stay
involved. But competition
turns to collaboration once
the semester begins, says
program coordinator Nancy
Galster.

The exclusivity of the
programs is designed
to create tight-knit
communities, where a group
of individuals shares the
same direction and works to
achieve many of the same
goals.

These highly competitive
career pathways — aptly
named Start programs
— are offered through
the university's Irvin D.
Reid Honors College
"At first blush, the
and guarantee students
conditionally
guaranteed
admission to Wayne State
seat
in
the
graduate
graduate school. Each
program is the best benefit,"
program also includes
Galster
says. "But I think
opportunities for pre-
the
idea
of truly connecting
professional development,
Honors students sharpen their skills
with
your
colleagues and the
giving students a leg up on
during a study abroad trip to rural Belize.
ability
to
build
longstanding
the competition and a head
relationships
is
the
best aspect
start on careers in medicine,
being a member of a Start
of
these
programs.
Students are
pharmacy and health sciences,
program provides.
demonstrating
how
they work
business and engineering.
with one another, how they
"When these students
The MedStart, HealthPro Start,
work as researchers, and what
matriculate to their respective
B Start and GradStart programs
it's really like to be involved in
programs, they're more
afford students advanced
various disciplines."
fearless than their classmates,"
opportunities both in and out
he says. "They are familiar
Learning communities such as
of the classroom, allowing
with their surroundings,
Start programs enhance the
them to work alongside
have mentors and friends
college experience both socially
doctors, researchers, business
in the upperclassmen, and
and academically, says David
professionals and pioneers in
have already formed strong
Strauss, WSU dean of students.
their respective fields of study
relationships with faculty and
from the very beginning of
"Start programs are some of
practitioners."
their academic careers.
the many ways to engage
MedStart, the inaugural Start
in the superb academic
"I like to refer to the program
program, began in 2004 with
experiences
at Wayne State,"
as Wayne State's best-kept
just 100 applicants and now
Strauss
says.
"They provide
secret," says Matthew Duprey,
draws more than 300 high
a
way
for
students
to totally
a student in the Eugene
school hopefuls each year.
immerse
themselves
into a
Applebaum College of
community
of
students
with
To
be
eligible
for
a
Start
Pharmacy and Health Sciences
like
interests."
$
program,
each
student
must
HealthPro Start program.
meet Wayne State's admission
"HealthPro Start students are
requirements.
A rigorous
Bienkowski is a senior at
leaders in their field from the
application
process
includes
Wayne State University
first day of the program. They
one-on-one
interviews
and
majoring
in public relations
are head and shoulders above
written
essays,
then
narrows
and
international
studies..
their colleagues from the time
down
the
candidates
to
a
they begin."