As you work towards a career in healthcare it is important to think about what characteristics and skills you need to develop to become a successful healthcare practitioner. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has assembled a list of what they refer to as competencies, which are simply the skills and abilities they feel are important for healthcare professionals to have and that admissions committees use to evaluate applicants. We encourage you to develop these competencies as they will not only aid you in preparing for health professional school admissions but having these skills will also make you a much more effective healthcare practitioner. You can also use these competencies to guide your choices of clinical, research, service or other volunteer activities, as well as your courses and concentration at Brown.

Professional Competencies

• Commitment to Learning and Growth
• Cultural Awareness
• Cultural Humility
• Empathy and Compassion
• Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others
• Interpersonal Skills
• Oral Communication
• Reliability and Dependability
• Resilience and Adaptability
• Service Orientation
• Teamwork and Collaboration

Science Competencies

• Human Behavior
• Living Systems

Thinking and Reasoning Competencies

• Critical Thinking
• Quantitative Reasoning
• Scientific Inquiry
• Written Communication