Ahmed Al-Hilali, alum of Detroit Mercy completed his credits to graduate December 2021. Less than a month later, he was enrolled in Medical School! Pre-Health Advisor Carmen Gamlin sat down with the Detroit Mercy Alum for a three question interview. What Ahmed Al-Hilali provided was nuggets of wisdom for those who have reached a roadblock in their journey to medical school.
Prior to enrolling into medical school, Ahmed had completed over 1000 hours working as an EMT. That time equipped him with clinical and motor skills that he noticed his peers did not have coming into medical school. In addition, that time gave him the confidence he needed to advocate for himself in his journey to become a physician.
- First, you’re an alum of University of Detroit Mercy, tell me what you been doing since you graduated?
During his time of applying to medical school, Ahmed heard a lot of no’s; 30 to be exact. He noticed early on that he would have to take a different route to get to medical school. Knowing that he wanted to become a Doctor since the early age of 8, Ahmed decided to brainstorm ways in which he could make that goal a reality. He came across the American University of the Caribbean.
So, I was getting all the “no’s” and then I remember popping on Instagram one day and seeing my friend Fawad posted up on a beach and I remember he was in medical school but he was some place shiny. So I just started pulling up his page and I found out he was in Sint Maarten – so I reached out.
2. Tell me about your peers and what it is like to study at American University of Caribbean.
Ahmed tells Carmen that American University of Caribbean is not too different from Detroit Mercy. He states that the it is a little bit smaller and as far as his peers they are after the same goal as he is; to become a physician.
It’s actually not too far off from Detroit Mercy. It’s actually a little bit smaller than Detroit Mercy…Here were strictly medicine. We have 3 semesters a year. January to April, May to end of August, then September to end of December and you just start at anytime.
You have these kids from all around the world, all corners of the globe really who end their masters programs or graduated and because of their own circumstances, similar to mine, they did not want to do another masters program or they did not want to wait another cycle. They knew this is what they want to do and more importantly, they knew they could do it. They decided, “you know what, I’m going to take a chance on myself”.
We do have alumni we can reach out to and more than willing to help because they knew what it was like to get there in the first place. So they know that the path that they blazed is also a path they have to keep nurturing by reaching back and helping students and that’s what makes AUC like really cool.
3. You mentioned being a EMT, maybe you can share how that has helped you thus far.
Being an EMT was an incredible experience because now it doesn’t go away. I’m trained to just respond to an emergency situation and its just ingrained in me….Being an EMT was nice and it gave me the confidence to clinically evaluate somebody.
Being an EMT allowed me to speak up during times when I feel like my voice was mute…now I’m not uncomfortable raising my hand to be like hey professor, go back two slides I don’t get that. Even though you feel like you’re going to look stupid, it doesn’t matter. It’s your money, it’s your livelihood, it’s your career, it’s your medical knowledge. You’re building it!
For Titans and Prospective Titans who would like to connect with Ahmed Al-Hilali, he can be reached via Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmed-al-hilali-1093798b.
Watch the complete interview below!