What College is Like as a UNH Pre-Med Student
How can college prepare you for life after graduation? How can I make friends in college?
Welcome back to our Student Spotlight blog series, where we spotlight UNH students from different class years and majors. Lilah Reed '25, a pre-med neuroscience and behavior major and nutrition minor, talks about how she met some of her best friends by hanging a shoe organizer full of snacks on her residence hall room door and how every experience she's gained on campus has prepared her to apply to medical school.
This was my first day exploring Rome. The UNH in Italy group landed in Rome to do a two-day tour before heading to Ascoli Piceno for the rest of our semester.
Why did you choose to attend UNH?
I honestly didn’t know much about college when I was deciding where to go. I didn’t know many people who went to college or who were applying with me, so my list of schools really consisted of those schools I had heard of. A girl in my AP psychology class really liked UNH so I added it to my list of schools to tour. My dad and I visited campus for a prospective student day and upon walking into the Granite State Room, someone handed me a list of majors available at UNH.
I was completely shocked to find out that there were more options for a major beyond biology/ science, English, business and education. I thought that the neuroscience major looked cool, since I was interested in the brain. We went to the Department of Biological Sciences and the neuroscience and behavior information sessions and I was sold. I was then excited to attend UNH, since it had the major that I was completely committed to, amazing study abroad programs, a really strong pre-health advisory program and an optimal location.
The first day we got our lab coats, my roommate and I were so excited that we put them on in our dorm and sent a photo to our parents to show we were "real scientists."
What is your favorite UNH memory?
In an attempt to make friends freshman year, my roommate and I hung a shoe organizer full of snacks on our door. The first night, we were still setting up our new space when a guy we had seen at our floor meeting took a bag of chips and just walked into our room. We ended up chatting for hours, along with another girl who was just passing by. That guy is now one of my best friends who, instead of flying back across the country for holidays, spends them with my family, and the girl is now my current roommate.
The majority of my favorite memories come from my time freshman year in Hunter Hall. I made such an amazing group of friends there and they are a major reason why I was able to make it this far on my pre-health journey. Having a strong support system and a group of close friends is really vital in managing the demands of college and I think UNH puts a significant emphasis on making these connections. Whether we were trying to navigate the bus to the beach, making dinner to serve the entire friend group in our small communal kitchen or just playing board games on a random Wednesday night, the memories I am most fond of come from the community UNH provided.
This is me at the Sophomore Leadership Network, where each group was tasked with identifying and conceptually providing a solution to a problem on campus. This grew into the student-led advising program that actually runs in NSB today.
What is the coolest part of your major?
I really love the flexibility of the neuroscience and behavior (NSB) major. It has been really useful in the sense that most of the pre-med prerequisites are included in the requirements for the major. There has also been room in my schedule to take the electives I am most interested in and partake in things outside my major. I was able to get a minor in nutrition, study abroad, research, partake in the Social Venture Innovation Challenge and Sophomore Leadership Network and even pioneer a peer-lead advising program. Neuroscience and behavior is also a relatively small major so in the major-specific classes I really got to know the professors and they put a lot of time and effort into ensuring the class was optimal for our learning and suitable to our interests.
Did you know?
Between 2015 and 2022, 68% of UNH students who applied to medical school were accepted, almost 30 percentage points higher than the national average.
This is me in the NSB 501 lab course, where we did a sheep brain dissection in our new lab in Spaulding.
What are your plans for after graduation?
After graduation, I will continue working as an EMT and will be going through the rest of the medical school application process. I am also looking into the UNH nonprofit management certificate, as it’s something I am really interested in. UNH has a lot of really flexible certificate programs that I want to explore.
On my last day volunteering at the middle school in Ascoli Piceno during my time abroad, the students made me a present.
How do you feel that UNH has helped prepare you for your plans for after graduation?
UNH has done a really great job in preparing me for my future. UNH has offered countless leadership opportunities and avenues of exploration. I have experienced such a vast range of disciplines that I now feel really confident in my ability to stand out as a medical school applicant and I am confident in knowing that medical school is the right choice for me.
At the Social Venture Innovation Challenge, my team's project was on creating biofuel out of the waste products associated with oyster mushrooms. We placed fourth.
Are there any particular people, experiences or courses at UNH that you feel greatly impacted you?
Freshman year at UNH, everyone takes a major-specific seminar class to orient you to college and set you up for success in your major. In the neuroscience and behavior (NSB) class, different primary investigators will come in to talk about their research. When Dr. Robin came in and talked about forensic neuroimaging, it was the coolest thing I had ever heard, so I reached out to him and he let me join his lab. It was a great opportunity and I learned so much in the lab.
Most importantly, I realized how much the professors at UNH really want to engage with students and truly want them to be successful. Whether I was working with Dr. Curren to start the advising program in NSB, spending my Friday afternoons learning new techniques as a biochemistry teaching assistant with Dr. Gauvin or having a meeting with Dr. Safford about a new project I really wanted to take on, the UNH faculty have gone way above and beyond to ensure that I am getting absolutely everything I want out of my academic and professional career.
Additionally, there is absolutely no chance I could have navigated the pre-health process without Melissa Samaro's advising. She is so supportive of her students and makes sure they are well-equipped to become the strongest applicants they can be. She really worked with me at every step to ensure I stayed on task and also kept me informed about everything I needed to know about being a pre-med student at UNH.
related posts:
5 Questions with a UNH English Major
As soon as I drove through the campus, I felt it: this was the campus for me. When I saw the buildings on Main Street standing in a grand manner, I could immediately picture myself studying in any of the green spaces around campus or walking into my classes. read more about Chloe
