Issue 32 • October 2011
In This Issue…
- Editor’s Note: To future ND students
- Interviews: NDs of tomorrow
- For Advisors: Facts-at-a-Glance
- Your Questions Answered: Advanced standing?
- Next Up: Milestones 2011
Editor’s Note: To future ND students
The first thing to realize about campus life is that it begins off campus! You’ll spend a lot of time in class, labs and study groups. But you’ll also have a slice of time to explore your surroundings, be they natural, urban or both.
I’ve had the pleasure of visiting five of the seven ND college campuses, and every school is in a location! Seriously. These schools don’t just pop up randomly.
The Pacific Northwest, home to Bastyr, Boucher and NCNM, may have a reputation for rain, but students on these campuses find so much more: everything from mountain sports to vibrant city music to foraging for Puget Sound seaweed. In fact, some Bastyr students recently sent in their summer break postcards, sharing their favorite ways to enjoy the region!
Students at our two East Coast schools, Bridgeport and CCNM, have the advantage of living in very metropolitan, multicultural cities. Their favorite out-of-class pleasures? International cuisine, vibrant nightlife, festivals and nearby recreational parks and trails.
The hands-down warmest of our ND schools, Sonoran University in sunny Arizona clocks in at 85°F this time of year (late October). Students there enjoy trekking the plethora of nearby desert mountains and taking daytrips to the Grand Canyon.
And our Midwest school, NUHS, is situated in eclectic Chicago. This campus offers access to a hub of cultural, historic, architectural, sports, theatre and entertainment diversions.
So if you’ve decided to enroll in ND school but have yet to choose a location, rest assured that wherever you go, there you are! (View our ND schools map.)
Read this month’s interviews with both a student and a resident, and you’ll discover that what they do when not in class proves to be of paramount importance on their journeys.
Here’s to your health, to your future, and to your FREE TIME!
Coquina Deger
Managing Editor, AANMC
Interviews: Directing the future – NDs of tomorrow
How did you get where you are today? Are you where you thought you’d be? Did you plot a course and stick to it? Or did an unexpected encounter, experience or realization alter your path? We all take different routes along the journey of life, and NDs are no different. This month, we’d like to share with you the stories of two young naturopaths, one soon to become an ND and one just finishing her residency…
Personal journey, patient focus ND Student Joshua Goldenberg
This Bastyr student had always planned on an exclusive research focus, but his recent patient experience has opened his eyes to the profound effect of counseling and being present with those in need. To Joshua, naturopathic medical school is as much a personal journey as an education. His focus has now shifted to those things that nurture his mind & soul: guided imagery, taking time to live life in the present and parenting a dog! Find out what Joshua feels are important student lifestyle factors to embrace. READ MORE >
You have to remember that life is not medical school. Before you know it, four years of your life are going to be over, and if all you’ve done is hit the books, then you weren’t really living. – ND student Joshua Goldenberg
Following the ND path, from coast to coast Naturopathic Resident Kelly Simms
Dr. Kelly Simms’ journey to become an ND has taken her on a geographically dramatic journey: From Alaska to Arizona to Wisconsin, she’s pursued her goal and welcomed all the changes along the way. Now a resident of Chicago where she’s about to join two independent practices, she’s at leisure to reflect on the differences between being an ND student and a resident, and finds that life as a practicing doctor is the less stressful of the two. READ MORE >
The responsibility as a resident is much greater than as a student. The realization that I was preparing to work with patients on my own made me a more independent thinker and confident decision-maker. – Dr. Kelly Simms
For Advisors: Facts-at-a-Glance
Pre-health advisors and counselors…Did you know that the AANMC offers a resource site designed just for college advisors? If this applies to you, please visit and sign in to the AANMC Advisor Portal for Facts-at-a-Glance, a quick reference guide designed to put the answers your students need at your fingertips. The Advisor Portal contains a wealth of easy-to-find content that will aid you in helping your pre-med students achieve their goals. Research information about:
- Naturopathic doctor career opportunities
- Salary data
- Prerequisite requirements for the accredited naturopathic colleges
- Navigating the application process (Note: Four of the AANMC ND schools now accept applications via a centralized application system: the Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine Centralized Application Service [NDCAS].)
- Be sure to watch future editions of our e-newsletter, which will include additional information just For Advisors! VISIT THE ADVISOR PORTAL >
Advanced standing?
Q: I am interested in attending an accredited school to earn my ND degree. However, I am already a licensed doctor of osteopathy (DO). Would I be required to repeat many of the courses I’ve already taken, or is advanced standing available for degreed medical professionals such as myself?
A: You’re not alone! I often receive questions from a wide variety of health care practitioners considering a degree in naturopathic medicine. And you’re correct, individuals who already have medical degrees are often eligible for advanced standing credit, but the type and amount depends upon what medical degree you have and from what college or university you earned it. READ YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
And please keep the good questions coming! E-mail Coquina Deger at editor@aanmc.org
Next Up: Milestones 2011
Come January 2012, you’ll be able to count on the editors here at AANMC to ring in the New Year with our “progress reports” for each of the ND schools. And what better way to start a new year than with our annual Top-10 CAM news stories of the year? Look out, just a few calendar pages left!