How Ranching Gave Burnett School of Medicine Student Grit To Be a Physician
Cort Ewing, MS-4 at Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, says ranching prepared him for his medical journey.
FORT WORTH – Under the hot Texas sky, working on a cattle ranch mending fences or digging post holes can seem like torture.
“It really instills grit,” said Cort Ewing, MS-4 at Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University.
Ranching is Ewing’s first love, and it started when he was a youngster growing up in Colleyville, Texas. “Every weekend, our reward for a week at school was to go work at the ranch.” Ewing said.
Located about 90 miles southwest of Fort Worth, outside of Hamilton, the family ranch gave Ewing the work ethic he needed for his medical journey.
“I think that having a small ranch was instrumental in my ability to become a successful medical student and hopefully resident and physician,” he said.
Ewing said hard work and dedication has been hardwired into him and he sees the similarities between ranching and medicine.
“Ranching and medicine are both longitudinal projects,” he said. “There will always be work that needs to get done, and it may take a while, so in both cases, you just have to stick with it.”
He will need that grit as he gets ready for residency: Ewing applied to Otolaryngology, head and neck surgery.
He wants to go to a residency program that has the same values as Burnett School of Medicine at TCU.
On March 20, Ewing will find out where he will match during Match Day. “No matter where I end up, I’m going to be at a place where I will learn so I’m excited about it,” Ewing said. “I have faith that this school has prepared me for anywhere that I go.”