The combination of a desire to play college baseball and the drive to make an impact in his community, allowed Nate Albrecht to not only succeed at the University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC), but also helped to set him on the path of attending medical school. During his time at the UMC, Albrecht was able to become part of a team that instilled values and character traits that he knew would one day help benefit him in his future career as a physician.
Albrecht is originally from Wahpeton, North Dakota. He is a recent graduate from the University of Minnesota Crookston. He obtained his degrees in both Health Sciences and Biology in the spring semester of 2019.
Albrecht’s original college plan was to attend the University of North Dakota. Then he was recruited to play baseball by the UMC’s Coach Steve Gust.
“I was unsure about the idea of attending UMC until I took my visit to campus and met Coach Gust. I quickly realized that the small campus has top-notch facilities and would be an environment favorable to my academic career, while still earning a University of Minnesota degree,” explained Albrecht.
Albrecht soon recognized that the small class sizes would allow him to be able to connect well with professors and have a better opportunity to learn. He had always wanted to play college baseball, and meeting Coach Gust and seeing the program that he was building cemented his decision to attend UMC.
Within his first few weeks at UMC, Albrecht was able to realize that he had chosen the right school and the right degree. As he progressed through his academic career and continued to build his medical school application, he began to notice that there were plenty of resources available to him here that made the process easier.
Albrecht’s goal for his undergraduate career was to play baseball while preparing himself for medical school. He played four years of college baseball and became part of the UMC baseball family.
“I had the best four years of my life getting to create life-long friendships and being able to be part of something bigger than myself,” noted Albrecht.
His academic career at UMC was more than he could hope for, and he valued being more than just a number in a large university classroom. Here at UMC, he was able to have an interactive learning experience and he found many opportunities to build upon his medical school application.
“I was able to be a part of a couple of clubs and worked on some very interesting research projects. A career goal I have is to have an impact on my community and the people in it, and through volunteering, with baseball and different clubs I was able to do that in Crookston,” remarked Albrecht.
During his time at UMC, Albrecht was impacted by several professors here that helped him along his educational path at UMC, with the most influential being Assistant Professor Anthony Schroeder. Albrecht appreciated the ways in which Assistant Professor Schroeder was able to connect well with his students and provided guidance for all students even if he wasn’t their advisor.
“He went above and beyond to help me during my career at UMC. He took a vested interest in his students and made sure he did everything to prepare his students for life after UMC. He also helped open doors for me to build my application and wrote a letter of recommendation for my medical school application,” noted Albrecht.
The value of his education and his time spent playing baseball here at UMC was not lost on Albrecht. In order to give back to UMC, he will continue to share his story with young students in his community and work to inform them of how UMC might be a good fit for them as well.
Future plans for Albrecht include starting medical school at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He is undecided about his career path within medicine and will work to find a path that excites him the most. Albrecht has his sights set on practicing medicine and making an impact on his community.
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