Alexandria Petit of Waterford, Mich., started her college career at Michigan State University. She transferred to Kettering University as a sophomore, seeking Kettering’s co-op model. Petit spends half her year in a traditional academic classroom/lab setting and the other half being paid good co-op wages as a Physician Scribe. She graduated from Kettering in December with a major in Biochemistry and is actually headed back to MSU.

“I’ve been accepted in MSU’s early assurance program for med school,” she said. “The Physician Scribe co-op gave me the opportunity to see how a hospital runs, how physicians interact with each other and patients. I now have an understanding of when to ask a question and when to be quiet. Being a Scribe gave me the confidence to be inquisitive.”

Petit will stay on in the Physician Scribe program until she starts medical school later this year. “My breadth of knowledge because of the Physician Scribe program is huge compared to those who go to other schools,” she explained. “When I get to medical school, I’ll already be prepared and professional in a hospital setting. A Kettering education turns you into that kind of person,” she added.