October 30, 2025
As I think back over the past three years of medical school, I am stunned by how quickly they have flown by. I’m currently applying to Family Medicine residency programs, and I’m feeling some intense déjà vu from the experience of applying to medical school. I’m at a different stage in training and am vying for a different kind of spot, but I am still the same person. Or am I?
A lot happens in medical school – you form close friendships, tackle unique challenges, and gain a whole new world of knowledge. Soon I’ll have two new letters after my name that will change the way the world looks at me, and the way that I look at the world. But what does it mean to get an MD, and perhaps more importantly, how do I decide what to do with it?
For me, the first half of medical school was for learning a mountain of information and connecting with my new community at the UNC School of Medicine. To accomplish the latter and to learn more about my field of interest, I started going to events hosted by the Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG). Eventually I became the co-president of FMIG and started organizing workshops, getting to know more family physicians, and engaging with the NCAFP at events like the Winter Conference. I quickly realized how little I actually knew about the breadth of Family Medicine. I had worked in a rural Family Medicine clinic before medical school through the MedServe Fellowship, but that was only a small window into the vast world of this specialty.
At the NCAFP conferences, I started attending lectures and physician panels where the topics ranged from dermatology to psychiatry to diabetes management. By this point in school, I had enjoyed (almost) every subject, and so it was exciting to see a specialty that engaged with pathology in each organ system. I met physicians working in every imaginable setting: private practice, academic centers, direct primary care, community hospitals, or some combination of these options. Some doctors were doing advocacy work, meeting with state legislators, and serving on the NCAFP Board of Directors. When I discovered that students could be on this board, I decided I wanted to be a part of the conversation to help shape the future of Family Medicine in NC. So in 2023, I came on as the new Student Director-Elect for the NCAFP Board.
At first, it was an information overload (kind of like starting medical school), but after a couple of board meetings, it started to make more sense. I began to understand how much our executive team does behind the scenes. We explore what family physicians in NC need the most and which policies could support them. I’ve learned how important it is to maintain relationships with legislators from across the political spectrum at a time when political differences often seem insurmountable. Even just this year, we had a prior authorization reform bill pass the NC House of Representatives, partly due to our strong advocacy work. As Student Director, I also advocate for the needs of medical students across the state and help figure out how to reach others who might be interested in Family Medicine. These two years on the NCAFP Board have shown me the impact you can have, even as a student, on medical training and health care across the state.
At this point, there’s no doubt in my mind that I want to be a family doctor. But now I have to make the big decision – where to apply to residency?
Enter FUTURE (formerly the AAFP National Conference), where every July you can explore over 500 residency programs from across the country. Picture this: you walk into a massive expo hall in downtown Kansas City, and the room is buzzing with excited residents and program directors talking to thousands of medical students. You and your North Carolina classmates split up to search for your top programs. It feels like taking a residency road trip across the U.S. You take notes, collect swag, pause for water breaks (and a much-needed breather), and eventually regroup with everyone to compare programs and grab lunch. By the end, it feels like you’ve just run a marathon, but you somehow feel more energized than exhausted. You walk out knowing that you likely just spoke with someone who will be your colleague for the next several years. FUTURE is where you start to get to know “the vibe” of each of the residency programs you’re interested in.
As I enter interview season and continue to consider which path to take, I’m struck by the amount of nostalgia and gratitude I feel toward my time in medical school. This is a unique phase of life, where my biggest goal truly has been just to learn. Throughout this process, I’ve tried to heed the advice of a mentor, who taught me to “be a humble sponge,” to take in as much as possible, but realize there’s always more to learn. I will bring this mindset with me into residency as I apply what I’ve learned, pass my knowledge onto others, and continue to soak up as much as I can. If there is one thing that I’ve learned about Family Medicine, it’s that it is a tight-knit community held together by hardworking physicians and groups like the NCAFP. While entering this specialty will be challenging, I know that I won’t be facing it on my own.
*This article first appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of The North Carolina Family Physician.
