Name: Rana Rheem

Major: Neuroscience on a Pre-Medicine track

Session attended: 2023-2024 year-long session

Mentor: Michelle Howard, PhD

Current status: graduated in 2024 and is now a Post-Baccalaureate Fellow in the University of Iowa ICARE Program in the laboratory of Michelle Howard, PhD

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

How do you think you benefited from attending the program?

I think it was a nice exposure to research, and it gave me access to a lot of different mentors and people that I could throw my questions at. They were not just available to ask questions, but they were eager to help and actually wanted to push you along the route of pre-med or whatever.

What would you say to someone who is considering applying?

I would say, keep in mind that it’s not super guided. It’s still pretty independent, like, the mentors are there, but you have to be the one to go and ask questions and find out what you don’t know. It’s not really a step-by-step program that shows you, like, if you want to end up here, this is what you have to do. You have to go out of your way to ask questions. It’s not just handed to you.