UofA Medicine Undergrad Praises In-person Summer Courses

By Dina Doolen, Marketing, Communications and Strategic Outreach

Katharia “Kat” Mark is a University of Arizona senior majoring in Medicine, with minors in East Asian Studies and Anthropology.

But, when she needed to take two Physics courses required by her major and medical schools, she took them this past summer in-person at Pima.

“I really wanted to do good in Physics this summer and Pima has helped me reach these goals by providing professors who really care about your success in the subject and also a lot of supplementary resources like the tutoring center,” she says.

Kat has taken UofA summer online courses for the past two years, but this year found what she needed at Pima.

“Sometimes online it can feel like you are alone, but here at Pima it feels like we are a team,” she says. “I really enjoyed my classmates, it is so cool how many of us from different backgrounds are coming with similar interests in health and attaining higher education.”

Kat also did research with ACOA MSTEM (Arizona Center on Aging, Medicine, Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) THRIVE Program, and worked at UofA Lotus Lounge Student Space.

She says taking the courses in the summer helped her prepare for the Medical College Admission Test® (MCAT), but also allowed her to spread out the time between difficult courses.

“I found that taking in-person summer courses, although they’re accelerated, helped me stay accountable and responsible for studying and work,” she says.

She praises her instructors and the tutors in Pima’s free tutoring centers.

“The professor here is much more approachable!” she says. “All of them have been nonjudgemental about my knowledge of physics and I feel like I can safely ask any questions I want or need help with.”