For medical student and UCI honors graduate Dillon Dejam (’16) mentoring others has become so essential to his life that he calls mentorship one of his hobbies. “Mentorship is nothing but joy for me. It does not feel like a job, but more like an escape,” Dillon explains. Dillon graduated from UCI with a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and was a member of the prestigious Campuswide Honors Collegium. He is now in his second year of medical school at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. As a medical student, he feels that it is important to help the next generation of medical students, and makes outreach to prospective medical students a priority. He has coached students to help them understand and master concepts tested on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and has even created a free downloadable MCAT study guide.
Dillon’s passion for mentorship started in high school when he began guiding a group of 20 Air Force Junior ROTC students. His experience with these students, helping them develop a sense of “esprit de corps,” energized him to find further mentorship opportunities. While an undergraduate at UCI, Dillon served as an Honors Peer Mentor and an Honors Housing Resident Advisor where he offered advice and support to students from a variety of backgrounds. He also hosted a KUCI radio show for over three years, undoubtedly preparing him for producing the Dillon Dejam Mentorship Podcast.
Dillon maintains a daily outreach with his following through his various social platforms. Students have the opportunity to ask Dillon questions through Instagram such as, “How do you de-stress? What has your best experience in med-school been so far?” He’s continuously posting advice and creating personalized videos with topics such as how to get started on writing your personal statement for medical school. His Twitter is a source for inspirational and relatable quotes and serves as another opportunity for premed/prehealth students to tweet or direct message him any questions. On Facebook he’s created a private mentorship group — a community for premed/prehealth students to help each other through their academic career.
“The most rewarding thing for me is developing not only a mentor-mentee relationship but a friendship as well,” says Dillon. Friendships like this, and those Dillon gained through his experience as a Campuswide Honors student, have “proved to be invaluable in getting through difficult academic and personal times.” He encourages current undergraduates to “be as social as possible and meet as many people as possible, because the relationships you build in college can last a lifetime.” And finally, consider helping someone else out by being a mentor, “The best thing you can do for someone is to help them believe in their dreams.”
To gain more insight about Dillion Dejam’s journey as a mentor, and/or for support on your medical school journey, check out his podcast, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.