Scholar-Athlete Series: Morton sets his sights on medical school

Josh Morton applied a simple, self-deprecating approach to studying biological science at The Master’s University.

“I would say the keys were to be organized, disciplined and ready to be wrong all the time,” he says.

The men’s volleyball senior often formulated his own conclusions, only for professors to provide further data that made him rethink his findings.

“It really caused me to grow academically in a great way.”

The approach has served him well. Morton, who was named a Golden State Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete this month, holds a 3.85 GPA and plans to take the Medical College Admission Test this winter.

The exam serves as the next step in a dream he’s held since sixth grade. He envisions himself as either a pediatric surgeon or an anesthesiologist, a doctor who helps ensure the safety and comfort of patients during surgery.

“Surgery drew me because you can take a broken bone or defective organ and cause more trauma to the body by cutting into it, then reconnect, reform, or take out what’s wrong and sow it back up,” Morton says. “The amount of trauma the body faces to be fixed is perplexing to me.”

Lately, Morton’s pace of life has slowed considerably, the coronavirus pandemic having led to the cancelation of the NAIA spring sports season and the transition of TMU’s second semester to a strictly online format.

At home in Twin Falls, Idaho, Morton wakes up around 9 each morning before settling in to watch online lectures and complete homework. In the afternoon, he runs through his neighborhood or does yard work as the weather continues to warm.

The schedule represents a stark transition from most of his senior year at Master’s when he juggled classes and homework, practices and matches.

His schedule is expected to ramp up again soon.

After Morton finishes his TMU degree in May and serves as a program director for a Christian summer camp, he’ll begin intensive studying for the MCAT in August.

The test represents the next step in a longtime dream.

Morton has known since grade school he wanted to be a doctor, and by the time he was a junior, he narrowed his focus to practices that involve surgery.

Pediatric surgery would be his first choice, but he knows it would be extremely time consuming, and he’d often be on call. He hopes one day to be married and have a family, and believes anesthesiology might present the best of both worlds.

“I want to have a wife and children to invest in and come home at normal hours and not constantly be gone,” he says. 

Beginning in August, Morton will study for seven to eight hours a day, taking only Sundays off. He hopes to sit for the MCAT in November or December before applying to schools in June.

The numbers are in his favor.

The Master’s University holds a 95% medical school acceptance rate, with students often advancing into the graduate program of their choice.

That was one aspect that drew Morton to Master’s. He also appreciated that TMU stood firmly behind a literal six-day creation and taught all of its classes through a biblical lens.

It didn’t hurt that he’d heard glowing reviews from his father, Bear, a graduate of Master’s Seminary, and his older sister, Jamie, who played indoor volleyball for the Mustangs.

Morton’s own experience lived up to his expectations. He especially valued his department’s small class sizes, which allowed him to get to know his professors.

“You’re not just a number,” Morton says. “You get to know these people who have a Ph.D. in the field you’re studying. You can’t go to a state school and say your professor knows you and you’ve been to their house for dinner.”

Morton’s favorite class fell in the first semester of his senior year — Immunology with Dr. Joe Francis, the department’s chairperson. Morton loved learning about how the body fights diseases and viruses, a topic particularly applicable to this time in history.

“There was just something really cool that you’d learn in class every day that left you like, ‘Wow, God created us in a way that he planned for everything,’” Morton says.

One professor Morton especially enjoyed was Dr. Matt Ingle, who sent out recorded lectures in advance, freeing up classroom time for discussion. The sessions forced Morton to think critically, even if it sometimes crushed his original conclusion.

“I loved how he challenged you every day in class,” Morton says. “We presented our findings, what we thought might be the answer to the question, and he’d say, ‘That’s great, unless you think of this,’ and he would give more data that pertains to the question.

“Then I’d say, ‘That changes my answer. I need to rethink that.’”

Morton threw a wrinkle into his final year at TMU when he joined the new men’s volleyball program. He’d grown up around the game (his mother, Cherie, is a longtime high school coach), and he’d been praying for an opportunity to play in college.

The challenge came in organizing his schedule. In previous years, he left homework until late at night. Now, as a college athlete, he knew he needed eight hours of sleep, which meant he needed a revised plan.

“I’m a huge checklist person,” Morton says. “On Sundays, I’d look at the week ahead to see what assignments were due and then look at my schedule to say, ‘This assignment should take me one hour. I should be able to squeeze it in between practice and class on this day.'”

On occasion, he felt crunched for time, but he says the friendships he built as a Mustang made the sacrifice well worth it.

“The best part of the season was growing together spiritually and athletically with friends as we played,” he said. “We all had great attitudes and knew that we all had to work hard for each other and for the Lord in order to do well.

“Earning the first win in program history was pretty nice as well.”