Brock Weston confident leading up to start of medical school
Excited. Nervous. Happy. Proud. Sad.
Needless to say, former Marian University hockey player Brock Weston went through a lot of emotions last month on the day he was to find out if he was accepted into med school or not.
Last year on the same date – May 14, when most Canadian schools release their decisions – the native of Maidstone, Saskatchewan was met with disappointing news, creating an almost heightened sense of nerves this go around.
“I couldn’t sleep the night before, got up around 6 a.m. that morning, made myself coffee, and just started to run through the ‘what-ifs’ to the point that I was making myself cry,” he said of the experience in Calgary, where he now lives with his partner. “He was trying to comfort me, but after a while told me I should go for a drive or something, just to gather myself and get some fresh air, so I ended up walking to the river near us to pull myself together.”
Last year’s decision arrived in his inbox at 8 a.m. So when that time came and passed without a word, he was no doubt confused.
8:10 a.m. – nothing.
8:20 a.m. – nothing.
He started to head home.
“I made it about 100 yards before seeing the email from the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine saying I’d been offered a seat in its program,” he said. “You can’t put that feeling into words, knowing all of your hard work has finally paid off.”
And that hard work began in earnest by being recruited by Marian University.
Scheduled for a visit to the Fond du Lac campus one day, and the Concordia campus in Mequon the next, he didn’t even make it to his planned second stop.
“I just called Concordia and said ‘I’m not coming.’ I knew from the moment I got to Marian that it was the right place for me,” he said. “It felt so much like the small town I grew up in, and I loved everyone I met with. My appreciation for it was instantaneous.”
Deciding on a major, though, took just a bit longer.
He had been debating whether or not to go into pre-med, and was thinking of other options while under the impression that Marian University’s program wouldn’t be what he wanted. But he met with faculty, weighed his options, and ultimately chose to pursue it after earning a 4.0 GPA his freshman year – something he did throughout college, too.
“I’m glad I did, because the faculty were so instrumental in helping me get to where I’m at today, they really put me in a great position to succeed from the moment I committed to it,” he said. “I had never navigated a process like that before, trying to get into med school, but they were always available and always focused on getting their students to where they needed and wanted to be.”
Brock also feels ready to take on the rigors of med school after his tenure as Student Senate President. Being active on campus taught him many lessons, and he knows those will translate as he gets set to start school again in Fall, having also just earned his Master of Management through the University of Calgary.
“I just got more comfortable with being diplomatic and being able to communicate, and going into medicine those are two crucial, transferable skills,” he said. “And I always appreciated that at Marian, the background of everyone there is so diverse. Being there enhanced my ability to empathize with others, and understand others’ perspectives, and I definitely will carry that through into my future coursework and future practice.”
And that includes a first semester consisting entirely of coursework, following by a second that will focus more on the fundamentals of clinical observation. Then, in his third year, Brock will begin his clinical rotations, and in his fourth will get to choose where he has elective clerkships before being matched into a residency – with Calgary ultimately being where he wants to end up, either working in orthopedics or sports medicine.
“I’m just so thankful for all the support and assistance I’ve had along the way,” he said. “I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity, and I don’t take it lightly that I’ll one day be Dr. Brock Weston.”
