Students Helping Aspiring Physicians Excel (SHAPE) Summer Mentors: A Novel Peer-to-Peer Mentorship Program for Medical School Admissions

Abstract

Hannah Kelly, Grant Fabrizio, Lauren Yap, Isela Melendez-Carpio, Susan M. Cheng, H. Carrie Chen Diversity in medical education is imperative for future physicians as they prepare to treat heterogeneous patient populations. For aspiring physicians, mentorship plays an important role in navigating the pre-medical journey. Currently, gaps in medical mentorship are monopolized by costly, third-party “admission consulting” agencies. Inaccessibility to these services disproportionately impacts underrepresented minority and first-generation students. We addressed this gap by implementing and evaluating an extension of Georgetown’s Students Helping Aspiring Physicians Excel (SHAPE) initiative, housed within the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, called SHAPE Summer Mentors program. This free, 7-week mentorship experience includes an individualized mentor/mentee matching process, an interactive weekly curriculum addressing common secondary application essay themes, and consistent quality time and support from trained first-year medical student mentors. Program participants from the 2021-2022 AMCAS application cycle answered pre- and post- program surveys about their background and experiences regarding stress, confidence, and support. Sixteen questions used a 5-point likert scale. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and two-tailed t-test for independent means. One hundred twenty-one pre-medical mentees participated in the program; 79 (65.3%) completed the pre-program survey and 76 (62.8%) completed the post-program survey. Of those participating, 30 (24.8%) identified as underrepresented in medicine, 62 (51.2%) as first- or second-generation immigrants, and 38 (31.4%) as first-generation college students in the United States. Responses from the pre- to post-program surveys indicated that after going through the SHAPE Summer Mentors program, participants felt more supported in their medical school application process (4.08 to 4.33, p=0.0383) and less stressed about applying (4.46 to 4.08, p=0.0098). Participants also reported improved confidence in their ability to write secondary essays (3.28 to 3.92, p<0.0001) and improved comfort with interviews (3.23 to 4.04, p=0.0027). Additionally, there was a notable trend in which participants had increased confidence that they will be accepted to medical school (2.99 to 3.29, p=0.0639). Upon program completion, 100% of participants felt more prepared for the application cycle. Preliminary evaluation results of the SHAPE Summer Mentors program indicate that the program is successful in supporting participants and improving their confidence through the medical school application process. The SHAPE Summer Mentors program’s student-led curriculum offers an innovative solution to reduce barriers and increase access for pre-medical students from a variety of backgrounds, including underrepresented minority and first-generation students in medicine.