Essay On AMSA Leadership

Education not only unifies AMSA members, but it also further bonds AMSA leaders. Officers and committee members are usually upperclassmen who are further along in the medical school application process than the average AMSA member. They are in similar stages of education including finishing up pre-med requisites, studying for the MCAT, filling out medical school applications, and proceeding through the interview phase of admissions. Also, the practice of the Teacher Expectancy Effect can be observed among the leaders and members. Officers and committee members are considered peer mentors, and they often encourage members in hopes of producing competitive medical school applicants. This includes helping underclassmen transition to college,
Leaders are often well informed about the medical field because they were born into middle and upper class families that practice medicine. Officers that do not have physician relatives usually find opportunities to shadow and gain experience through family friends. Their parents may have connections to local physicians because they are members of the same social class. Being born into middle and upper class families has provided the AMSA leaders the ability to gain exposure to medicine making them the best candidates to fill leader positions within AMSA.
AMSA leaders experience a slightly different political system than members. Leaders enjoy a political system that most closely resembles a democracy because they have more of a say in incoming officer selection. After members interview for the office and committee member positions, the current officers collectively decide on who will receive the positions the following term. Officers also vote on what events to hold, which t-shirt design to use, which guest speakers they would like to have visit, and who should receive scholarships. Each officer and committee member has a say in the decisions made, and they experience the freedom to run the events they host as they see