Alumni Spotlight: Mason Burrage-Burton (BS '22)
Mason Burrage-Burton graduated from Baylor in May 2022 with a major in Health Science Studies on the Pre-Med Track and a minor in Biochemistry. While at Baylor, he went above and beyond both academically and in campus involvement, making the Dean’s List every semester and leading in various organizations. Mason was a Student Recruitment Committee Member for Baylor Student Foundation, a Community Leader at Hallie Earle Residence Hall, a Baylor Orientation Intern, a Line Camp Leader, and an officer in two multicultural organizations, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and the Multicultural Association of Pre-Health Students. Now, as he makes his decision on what medical school to attend, Mason reflects on his experience at Baylor and the mentors who helped him as a Black student entering a health field.
When choosing a university, Mason felt that he had “outgrown” his small hometown of New Madrid, Missouri and looked for a university that would meet his academic needs while providing an exciting new home for him and his mother. “I knew that wherever I went to college, she would follow,” he says, “so I asked ‘Mom, where would you like to live one day?’” He decided on a move to Texas and looked for the best universities for Pre-Med students. Describing his tour experience, he says, “When I got to Baylor, I felt like it was my fit. I was thinking about where my mom and I would want to be and the best school to get me where I wanted to go in my career.”
“I always knew I wanted to be a doctor,” Mason says, “but when it came to picking a major, I was looking for something different.” Health Science Studies courses like exercise physiology, abnormal psychology, and kinesiology piqued his interest. Also, the program’s undergraduate internship would allow him to learn in a professional setting related to his field of study. “With the internship tied into it, I knew that would give me a boost in getting experience before graduation.”
After attending medical school, Mason wants to pursue athletic or pediatric orthopedics and is especially interested in working with patients around college age. He also has an interest in obstetrics and gynecology, specifically reproductive endocrinology and “helping people create a family.”
His goal of working with students was solidified by his involvement in Baylor’s Multicultural Association of Pre-Health Students (MAPS), when he volunteered in their Pipeline Program. Through the Pipeline Program, he visited primarily minority schools, aiming to increase the number of students going to college and possibly into health care fields in the future. Activities included showing science projects to students and introducing them to areas of medicine. Mason says that his goal in the Program was “Being able to show them ‘We’re in college, we kind of look like you. You can go to college too.’”
As far as Black mentors who helped him during his time at Baylor, Mason mentions Vincent Philips, Whitney Jones, and Veronica Prince. Vincent Philips was advisor in Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc., and Mason says, “He helped me a lot by giving me advice and just being someone to talk to.” Whitney Jones worked in New Student Programs and Career Services during Mason’s student experience, and he also credits her with helping guide him to success at Baylor. Veronica Prince was the Vice President of MAPS when Mason joined and later became President. “Even after she graduated and I graduated, she helped me with things like medical school applications,” he recalls. Beyond that, Mason thanks his friends and his fraternity brothers for “being there in times of need and being an outlet from school.”
For future Pre-Med students, especially minority ones, Mason gives this advice: “You never know who’s rooting for you, so don’t count yourself out. Something might surprise you.”