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Grand Canyon University
Robyn Bryce
Class of 2015, bachelor’s degree in biology – pre-medicine
Grand Canyon University
After learning about Grand Canyon University from a representative that visited her high school, Robyn Bryce decided to research its offerings further. It turned out that GCU had a pre-medicine track that fit with her educational and career goals perfectly. However, it was ultimately the strength of the school’s Christian community that won Bryce over when she visited campus. “It’s not your typical college campus – not even the same as any other Christian campus in Arizona,” said Bryce. “There’s such a good sense of community.”
It was also important for Bryce as a pre-medicine student to find a school that offered a quality curriculum and access to the best technology available. Just a few months into her time at Grand Canyon University, she was impressed with the strength of the program. “We have the resources we need to receive a good education,” said Bryce. “It’s not like in high school where we couldn’t do certain labs or projects because they didn’t have the technology. Here, we have all the labs we need to in pre-medicine.”
The pre-medicine program at Grand Canyon University is designed to prepare students to take the medical college admissions test (MCAT), optometry admissions test (OAT), or the dental admissions test (DAT). In addition, GCU offers its pre-medicine students a variety of specialized courses intended to aid in their graduate studies. Each student in the pre-medicine track is assigned a faculty advisor when they matriculate. This advisor is in place to help students with course selection and any questions they might have throughout their time at GCU as well as during the graduate school application period. The pre-medicine track requires students to complete GCU’s general education requirements as well as credit hours in a variety of courses covering biology, physics, chemistry, math, and English composition, all designed to prepare them for graduate-level coursework in medicine.
While the majority of Bryce’s classes are taken on campus, she has already been introduced to some online coursework at Grand Canyon University. Despite the fact that online courses often have the reputation for being isolating, Bryce has found the opposite to be true. “We’re required to participate in discussion boards every day,” she explained. “You get to know your classmates in a different way. In addition, for on-ground students taking online courses together, there is still the opportunity to meet face to face and work on group projects and hold study sessions,” said Bryce.
As for not having the professors physically present in the front of a classroom, Bryce says there are ways in which the instructors compensate. “The teachers are really good at returning your work with comments for online classes,” she noted. “They give large paragraphs of comments, so you always get feedback.” In addition, Bryce also commented that instructors for online courses will often call their students before classes begin to introduce themselves and make sure students feel welcome in an environment that may be new and intimidating to some.
Scheduled to graduate in 2015, Bryce is excited about the opportunities Grand Canyon University has presented her with as she prepares for a career in medicine. The mixture of course offerings combined with the hybrid style curriculum has given her the chance to approach learning in new ways, all in an environment she finds welcoming and supportive.
