Before you invest thousands,
invest one hour.
Before you invest in applications, MCAT prep, tutors, and gap years, spend one hour with a physician who has spent decades helping students navigate this exact journey.
Book Your $295 EvaluationPhysician-led. Data-driven. No guesswork.
The Institute of Health Careers was founded by Derron Simon, MD, a physician and career-pipeline architect who has spent decades helping students navigate the medical school admissions process — not with generic tips, but with a diagnostic, strategy-first approach.
Every Foundation family also joins The White Coat Village — a standing parent community that gives families the same built-in support system youth sports parents have always had, and pre-med families never did.
A Physician. An Educator. A Pipeline Architect.
Dr. Derron Simon founded The Institute of Health Careers in 2008 after spending years watching talented, motivated students get rejected from medical school — not because they weren’t capable, but because no one had ever shown them how the process actually works.
Dr. Simon earned his medical degree and built his career as a physician before shifting his focus to something he saw was missing: a structured, physician-led pipeline to guide pre-med students from as early as 9th grade through medical school acceptance. He has served as an adjunct professor at Hampton University — his alma mater — as well as Virginia State University and the former St. Paul’s College, teaching and mentoring the exact age group IHC now serves.
For nearly two decades, Dr. Simon has combined firsthand physician insight with original student data — tracking what actually predicts admissions success, not just what conventional wisdom assumes. That data, along with hundreds of one-on-one student evaluations, forms the foundation of every IHC program.
Today, Dr. Simon works directly with every IHC family. Every $295 evaluation is personally reviewed by him. Every strategy session is his. When your student works with IHC, they work with the founder — not a junior advisor following a script.
“I’m not a college counselor guessing at medical school admissions. I’m a physician who has spent 20 years studying exactly what gets students in — and exactly what gets them rejected.”
Physician-Led Programs for Every Stage
From ninth grade through the reapplication cycle, each program pairs one-on-one mentorship from Dr. Simon with a strategy built for exactly where your student stands right now.
Most families don’t start getting real guidance until junior or senior year — by which point the reading stamina, critical-thinking habits, and course strategy that actually move an MCAT score are already largely set. Only 43% of medical school applicants are accepted nationally each cycle, and the bottleneck isn’t content knowledge — it’s the testing logic that the MCAT, boards, and every exam after it are built on. That skill is trainable, but it has to start early.
The Foundation Program is built for grades 9–12: a monthly one-on-one session with Dr. Simon, a reading and critical-thinking curriculum designed specifically for future physicians, and early clinical exposure planning — so your student is building the right habits years before an application is ever due. Parents get a direct monthly progress call with Dr. Simon, plus membership in The White Coat Village, IHC’s standing parent community, so no family navigates this journey without support.
- ●Monthly 1:1 session with Dr. Simon (60 minutes), plus additional sessions as needed
- ●Reading and critical-thinking curriculum built for future physicians
- ●Early clinical exposure planning
- ●Monthly parent progress call with Dr. Simon
- ●Membership in The White Coat Village — a parent community session every 4–6 weeks, hosted live by Dr. Simon
Roughly 55% of all medical school applicants nationally major in Biological Sciences — and their acceptance rate, at 41%, is lower than Humanities majors (50%), Math/Statistics majors (50%), and Physical Sciences majors (47.6%). A 3.9 GPA in Biology looks identical to thousands of other files on an admissions committee’s desk. The choices made freshman and sophomore year — course sequencing, major selection, which professors to build relationships with — quietly determine an applicant’s trajectory long before anyone starts worrying about applications.
The Strategic Edge Program gives college students the strategic layer most families don’t know they’re missing: biweekly sessions with Dr. Simon, course-mapping that protects GPA while still building a competitive file, and professional network development through SNMA, NMA, and AMA. We also help place students in summer programs that build the file — not just fill a resume line.
- ●Biweekly 1:1 sessions with Dr. Simon
- ●Course-mapping to keep pre-med requirements on track
- ●GPA strategy tailored to your school and major
- ●SNMA / NMA / AMA professional network building
- ●Summer program placement support
60% of all medical school applicants are rejected every cycle — 54,699 applied and only 23,440 enrolled in the most recent cycle nationally. The bar hasn’t dropped over the past thirty years; it has simply moved to a different set of skills, and most applicants who fail are not lazy — they’re disciplined, prepared, and still rejected, because the process rewards strategic preparation, not just effort.
The Full Cycle Executive Program is full-service, hands-on support through the single most demanding year of the journey: weekly sessions during MCAT preparation shifting to biweekly through application season, personal statement and activities development, mock interviews and MMI preparation, a letters-of-recommendation strategy, and a school selection list built around your actual profile — not a generic list.
- ●Weekly sessions during MCAT prep; biweekly through application season
- ●Personal statement and activities section development
- ●Mock interviews and MMI (multiple mini interview) preparation
- ●Letters-of-recommendation strategy
- ●School selection list tailored to your profile
About 25% of every applicant pool — roughly 12,900 students nationally — are reapplicants. Reapplying doesn’t fix the problem on its own: acceptance rates don’t rise the second time around, they drop, from 41–45% for first-time applicants to about 36% for reapplicants, and into the single digits for reapplicants with an MCAT under 500 who don’t change their approach. Working harder on the same strategy isn’t the answer — an honest diagnosis is.
The Reapplicant Recovery Program starts with a full diagnostic of what went wrong in the prior application file, then rebuilds the strategy from the ground up — including an MCAT retake plan if needed, and a complete rebuild of essays, activities, and school list, so the second cycle looks nothing like the first.
- ●Full rejection and application file diagnostic
- ●Rebuilt application strategy based on what didn’t work
- ●MCAT retake plan, if needed
- ●Complete application rebuild — essays, activities, and school list
The White Coat Village
Youth sports parents have always had this: a built-in community of other parents navigating the exact same journey, at the exact same time, together. Pre-med families have never had that — until now.
Every four to six weeks, Dr. Simon personally hosts The White Coat Village, a standing community exclusively for Foundation Program families. It’s a space where parents compare notes, ask questions, and get direct access to Dr. Simon outside of their student’s individual sessions — the same kind of organic support system that forms naturally around a Little League team, but built specifically for families raising a future physician.
Before You Book
No. Many students who come to IHC are still exploring whether medicine is right for them. Part of the evaluation is helping students and parents get real clarity on that — before years are spent on a path that may not fit.
It’s actually the ideal time. The earlier a student has a physician-informed plan, the more their high school years can be spent building the right foundation instead of catching up later. Early preparation is central to how IHC works.
You’ll walk away with a personalized readiness summary, an admissions roadmap, and — if it’s a fit — a program recommendation. There’s no pressure to enroll in anything further. If you do enroll within 30 days, your $295 is credited toward the program.
Sessions are available virtually, making IHC accessible to families nationwide, with in-person meetings available in the Southfield, MI area.
Yes. Because sessions are available virtually, IHC works with families across the country. In-person meetings are available for families in the Southfield, MI area.
IHC is physician-led. Dr. Simon isn’t applying general admissions knowledge to medicine — he’s a physician who has spent nearly two decades focused exclusively on what gets students into medical school, backed by original data and hands-on experience mentoring pre-med students at the university level.
Every single evaluation is personally reviewed by Dr. Simon — not an automated report and not a junior staffer. You’ll also get a live 45–60 minute strategy session directly with him.
Your $295 Evaluation Includes
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Unit #301
Southfield, MI 48034
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