A Chinese proverb proclaims: "experience is a guide to the future." As we pursue degrees from among the various health-related fields, this piece of advice is important to remember. Although it is important to learn and retain the information we study in the classroom, we must remember that this is only one form of knowledge that is essential to shaping the course of our futures. Going out and experiencing the lifestyle in the field of your choice may prove as invaluable a learning tool as any book you have to read or any test for which you have to study. Whether that experience be research for a cure to Parkinson's disease or working as an orderly in a hospital, the hands-on education received has been useful for those who have pursued it, and can be for anyone who finds himself in a similar position.

Asim Ansari is a second-year English and Political Science double major, as well as a pre-dental student. His case is important because it gives many examples of why such experience may be important. Ansari started out as a pre-law student ("that explains the Poli-Sci/English") and interned last summer with a private attorney. Through his work, he came to discover that pursuing a career as a lawyer may not be as attractive to him as he once would have expected. "Even though my experience wasn't totally bad with my law internship, I decided it wasn't for me. The biggest thing for me was that I couldn't see myself doing this for the rest of my life." After gaining the real-word exposure to what a lawyer's job entails, Ansari was better equipped to make a decision about his future; this knowledge may never have come had he based his decision solely on what he obtained from the classroom.

Then, he decided to change his focus into the field of dentistry. Perhaps realizing the effect of past experience, Ansari found a job, which he continues to this day, as a dental assistant for West Suburban Family Dental in Oak Brook. This time, his experiences have had the opposite effect of those he had last summer; working at the office has only reaffirmed his desire to one day become a dentist. "Working as a dental assistant has thus far proved very worthwhile. Although I haven't been working there that long, it has been gratifying to know that I really like what I'm doing." One way in which this has happened is addressing a major point of skepticism. The fact that he would be looking into people's mouths for the rest of his life did not bode well at first. But after carrying out the basic duties of preparing patients or assisting the dentists, among other tasks, he has realized that this fear may not be as deep-rooted as he expected. "When I first started doing this, a lot of people reminded me of the fact that sometimes dealing with people's mouths is not the most glamorous of things. I used to think about whether or not dentistry would lose its appeal because of that. I think I've warmed up to the fact that I'll be sticking my hands in people's mouths on a daily basis and it doesn't seem too bad."

First-hand experience has also proven useful in the medical field. Viveka Boddipalli, a third-year economics and pre-med student, serves as the case in point. He is currently in the process of training to become an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). His case is different in that he is already certain that he is on the career track that is right for him. The experience, then, is a way to gain exposure to his future before he will do so in and beyond medical school. "Working as an EMT gives me an opportunity to experience being in charge of patient care well before I actually get to that aspect in medical school. I enjoy the benefit of confirming that this is truly something I want to do." He is training for the particular status as EMT-B, or basic technician, and he hopes to gain exposure to life-support practices now so that he will be better prepared once medical school begins. "As an EMT-B, I am responsible for basic life support in the field. This includes anything from transport, to a broken leg, to strokes and cardiac arrests." His job will facilitate the retention of information he learns during medical school as well as catalyzing the time it takes to learn the actual application of this knowledge during rotations, residency, and beyond. Furthermore, his job has also taught him an important lesson, one he will undoubtedly carry with him as he pursues his medical degree. "Just from the classes and the practicals, one lesson I've learned about a medical career is to take nothing for granted. Oftentimes assumptions, or just forgetting to check something, could lead to serious problems. I think this will help me stay on my toes during and after med school."

Experience has translated into a guiding force for myself as well. Before matriculating to UIC, I had to see for myself whether or not I really wanted to be a doctor. Knowing this, the summer before my freshman year, my father allowed me to view a quadruple bypass heart surgery in which he was giving anesthesia. Since that day, what has stuck with me the most is a simple feeling of rightness; I felt as though I belonged in that room and that I had made the correct decision all along to pursue medicine. Ansari and Boddipalli, like myself, have used their work experiences to arrive at similar conclusions in their respective health-related fields. This alternative form of learning is just as important to that which is learned in the classroom because it reveals information about ourselves just as much as it does about the fields we are studying. As Ansari advises, "I'd highly recommend getting work experience in one's intended field of study. You don't know what to expect until you get out there for yourself and try it."