When Isaiah Gritters of Pella graduates from Northwestern College on May 11, he will have completed four majors in four years—and with a 4.0 GPA.
Gritters, who will pursue an M.D. degree at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine this fall, will graduate from Northwestern with majors in biology-health professions, chemistry, business administration/finance, and economics. The son of a doctor, Gritters loved STEM growing up and knew he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. He became interested in finance in high school, so he decided to add that to his Northwestern biology and chemistry majors. Then an enjoyable economics class led to his fourth major. “I just love all four disciplines and love to challenge myself,” he says. He envisions all of his majors working together to help him serve patients in the best possible way when he achieves his long-term goal of opening a private medical practice.
A 2020 graduate of Pella Christian High School, Gritters has kept busy with many activities at Northwestern in addition to his studies. He has been a member of the Student Government Association, the Investments Club, the Pre-Health Professions Club, and the student representative on the Academic Affairs Committee. He also has served as a teaching assistant, peer tutor and research assistant. He participated in a Spring Service Partnerships trip to Costa Rica and a summer study abroad trip with fellow Honors Program members in Greece.
Gritters was an EMT with Orange City Area Health System for half of his time at Northwestern, and he interned in internal auditing at Stryker, a medical equipment and technology manufacturer, in Portage, Michigan, last summer. This spring, he and two other senior business majors tied for the best overall score out of more than 5,000 teams in the international Business Strategy Game, an online simulation in which participants are assigned the task of running an athletic footwear company. He scored above the 90th percentile on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) last summer.
His professors describe him as driven, a humble servant leader who always goes the extra mile to benefit others, and an all-around great human being. Gritters says the key to completing four majors in four years is time management. He works hard to manage his time and lay out each day in an efficient manner. The most rewarding part of being a quadruple major? All of the students and professors he’s gotten to know from taking classes in different areas. “I have so many student friends and professor friends that have resulted from it, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he says.
