An Alpine High School graduate, Zane Billings, is one of the few accepted into the Texas Tech University Honors College University of Medical School Initiative between TTU Honors College and TTUHSC School of Medicine.
Billings has a spot guaranteed at TTUHSC School of Medicine in four years as long as he maintains a 3.6 college GPA. He was one of only eight accepted this year.
“I’m amazed, very grateful, blessed and kind of in shock because of how big a deal it is not having to take the MCAT,” he said in a phone interview.
His father, Adrian, is a family medicine doctor and associate professor at TTUHSC, and his mother, Susan, is a pediatric physical therapist. Medicine has always been the only career path for Billings.
“My dad is a family doctor. Just going on rounds with him in the morning, going on early rounds on Saturday mornings at the hospital when I was little, then to watching my mom as a physical therapist, medicine’s always … been the occupation that’s been the most prevalent in my life and the one that I’ve been interested in,” Billings said.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Billings said he plans to go into family medicine because of the clinical aspect of seeing all types of patients from cradle to the grave.
“It really interests me because I feel like family medicine offers the biggest connection with your patients. I feel like I’ll have the biggest impact on others in that specialty,” Billings said.
He added that he would like to practice in a rural area like where he’s from.
“I know there’s definitely a lack of providers in rural areas across Texas, specifically West Texas, so that’s my goal. I definitely aim to come back to a rural area and help out where I’m needed,” Billings said.
He added that he really enjoyed shadowing his father and seeing how involved every staff member was.
“They’re having to look at patients’ charts (and) pull them up while they’re in the exam room with a patient, whereas other places in bigger cities and urban settings with plenty of medical providers have nurses that do a lot of the heavy lifting that doctors out here have to do, unfortunately. But shadowing and interning at a medical clinic was definitely very eye-opening. It felt so real. It showed the reality and severity of how much West Texas is in a lack of providers and then, of course, it impacted me seeing patients’ relationship and connection with their providers. It really touched me because it, again, showed me how impactful a career in medicine is,” Billings said.
The Undergraduate to Medical School Initiative program usually accepts eight to 12 incoming freshmen, he said.
“I was in shock just because of how many applicants there were and how many incoming freshmen there were. Knowing I’m one of the eight out of almost 9,000-10,000 incoming freshmen it was shocking to see that I was worthy to be accepted to medical school at a young age. Then of course I was grateful to all the wonderful people at Texas Tech (and) their Health Sciences Center for (seeing) me as a good candidate to be part of this program,” Billings said.
“When I heard I got in, I was very excited about the opportunities that being an UMSI student would bring to me. A good chunk of your undergrad studies are toward preparing for the MCAT, the Medical College Admissions Test, building up a resume and working on applications. But knowing I don’t have to do any of that, provided I maintain a 3.6 GPA, I was really excited about that because it gives me the opportunity to be a little more selective in what I do outside of the classroom. I’ll be able to have more time to shadow; more time to look into different specialties of medicine. It really gives me a lot of breathing room, per se, so I was very excited and glad about the many opportunities and the kind of leeway it gives me in undergraduate,” Billings said.
Alpine ISD Superintendent Michelle Rinehart said Billings was likely the only rural student accepted to the program.
“We couldn’t be more proud of Zane and what he has accomplished during his time in Alpine ISD. Zane models excellence, a thirst for learning, compassion, and a focus on serving others, all qualities that have served him well as an Alpine Fightin’ Buck and will make him an exceptional doctor. His admission to this prestigious program is a testament to the excellence in rural communities, both within our students and our public schools,” Rinehart said in an email.
