How Should I Proceed?

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mismanagedyouth

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Hello everyone,
I'm new to the forums, although I have lurked for some time. I have a couple of questions that I have not been able to resolve through searching the forums and elsewhere on the internet.

To begin, from the age of 18 until the age of 20 I was very imprudent, perhaps even plain stupid. I don't know if I was any more imprudent or stupid than other people my age, however it hardly matters. What does matter is that I regret the indiscretions of my past and I have changed a lot in the last few years. If I could go back in time, I would slap myself in the face. Of course time machines don't exist, so the best I can do is try to do better in the future.

Where to start? I've always struggled in school. I don't have a good reason for why, I simply have always struggled. I was fortunate enough to gain acceptance to a four year university when I graduated high school and I didn't exactly take it as seriously as I should have when I first began. As a result, the first two years of school I had quarterly GPAs in the 2.7 to 2.9 range.

When I was nearly 19 a very close friend of mine was murdered. I had a very hard time dealing with her death and I became very depressed. At the time I wasn't mature enough to get help, and instead I acted out. Her death and my resulting mental health issues excuse nothing, so please do not assume that I am bringing this event up to excuse my actions in any way.

When I was I freshmen I got in trouble for drinking in the dorms and was disciplined by the school. In my early sophomore year my roommate and I got in trouble for a noise violation because we were being too loud, and we were disciplined by the school for having airsoft guns (like a bb gun that shoots lightweight plastic pellets) in our dorm rooms. If that doesn't tell you how immature I was, the only thing that will was what happened next.

Right after I turned 20 I was arrested for three misdemeanors. It was for Minor in Possession, Malicious Mischief (akin to destruction of property) and 4th degree assault (which is a misdemeanor in my state). The prosecutor stayed the proceedings and I signed an agreement with the prosecutor that stipulated that if I counseling for alcohol abuse (binge drinking is abuse) and if I didn't get in any further trouble the charges would be dropped after one year.

Needless to say, getting arrested put a stop to my antics immediately, and I cleaned up my act. I transferred to a community college in my home town, I sought counseling and I did community service. After one year the charges against me were dismissed with prejudice.

I did pretty well in community college. I attended two quarters and decided to transfer to a 4 year University in my city. What I didn't do was deal with my depression. As a result I did very poorly the first quarter I went back to university. After that I started seeing a therapist and began to do better.

In the end I manged to swing 2.94 UGPA, with a 3.14 in my major (history). My grades fluctuated anywhere between a 2.0 to a 3.89 throughout my undergraduate career. However, my GPA would have been very low had I not worked hard the last two years school.

Enough of the background details and on to my questions. I am very serious about entering the medical field, and I would like to do so as a DO. I need advice on the following:

1. My GPA isn't very good and I would like it to improve. Should I consider going back for a second BA in something I know I can do well in to bring it up? Or, should I consider getting a post grad degree in something like Public Health?

2. Will I need to report my arrest to schools that I decide to apply to?

The charges were dismissed, and the AACOMAS only asks if I have ever been convicted of a crime, which I have not. Furthermore, I did not plead guilty or no contest.

3. I know that I will be required to report my University disciplinary record, how will this affect my ability to become a DO?

4. What else should I consider doing, if anything to make myself more competitive?

I am currently planning to shadow a DO, my neighbor and good friend is an RN, and has agreed to help me find someone to shadow.

Any other advice or thoughts are welcome and encouraged. Thank you for reading my lengthy post, and thank you in advance for any help offered.

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With your GPA, I think that a post-bacc program or special Master's program is probably necessary. I don't know if I would suggest redoing a BA just because of the expense and time involved, but, I've never looked into it.

First things first: MCAT / Grades
You need to score well on this. Study hard and take it once. It's a huge time investment, so you don't want to have to do it multiple times. I suggest putting aside at least two, or even better, three months to focus on the MCAT. How you choose to study is up to you. My method was to use the $80 Kaplan self-study guide, a $20 book of 3 Kaplan tests, the free AAMC practice test, and 3 more AAMC practice tests (expensive, but more like the real thing). Try to get the review out of the way within a few weeks so that you can just run questions over and over and over. Run timed tests. If you don't have time to do that, run a section. Don't see it as something horrible and tedious to be done. That book is your lifeline. It is you taking control of your life.

Princeton Review and Examcrackers make solid test prep books as well. Go to a bookstore and look through all of them to try and figure out which one you like best. Again, I love Kaplan but it might not be the best for you. You may also consider taking a guided course if you think it'll help you.

If there are any other materials you can borrow, get them. If there are any materials you see that can help you, buy them. You might look at a physics equation chart and think "damn.. $15". If it helps you get the equations in your head faster then perhaps it's worth it. Think about the ultimate goal.

Treat the MCAT itself like an athletic event. Sleep right, eat a light breakfast, and bring snacks with you. Take ALL of the breaks given to you and use them to refresh yourself. Drink some water, have a few bites of granola, and use the restroom.

Regarding grades for post-bacc/SMP programs - from now on, you need to do as well as possible in any academic endeavor. A consistent upward trend is gold to you. Sacrifice what you have to. This sounds horrible, but if you've got friends who are asking you to party every couple of days, you've got to distance yourself from them. They may think you're awesome to hang with, but they don't care about your career. Take care of your body - eat right, exercise, socialize, and don't go overboard with the drinking. It's not as cool as being a Navy SEAL but for all intents and purposes you're basically going to become a medical ninja. You are looking to be the best of the best. Unfortunately, there's no drill instructor. You only have your ability to plan for the future and motivate yourself.

2nd thing: Extracurriculars
Hopefully you have some hobbies to show that you can succeed in areas other than academia. You may consider joining a student group and applying for a leadership position.

Volunteering is good if it's sustained. A couple months is probably going to hurt you more than help. This does NOT have to be medically related, especially if it's difficult to find good medical volunteering spots around your area. I love to cook, so I volunteered in a soup kitchen doing everything from deep prep to cooking stew in a massive trough. It was awesome, unique, and had nothing to do with medicine.

Research isn't bad, but if you have no desire to do it, don't. It's not as important for DO schools.

3rd thing: Shadowing / Clinical Experience / Rec letters
You say you're looking for it already so that's good. I'd suggest trying to get some family med shadowing in just so you see what the front lines of medicine are like. I liked it a lot because the doctor was able to spend more time talking to me. Shadowing docs in the hospital won't hurt either although an ER doc might not have time to show you stuff if it's busy.

Treat shadowing with the utmost care. You likely will need that recommendation letter. Show up early. Leave when they say you can leave. Dress properly. Be polite. Ask questions and show your interest. In short, be a professional. The doc you'll shadow will be expecting you to ask them for a rec letter. If they feel like you have the potential to be a great doctor, it'll make that rec letter so much more valuable.

Oh, and get your other rec letters in EARLY. Some writers may take a LONG time to get you a letter. One of mine took almost two months.

Any other clinical experience can't hurt you. It looks good if you can show that you know what you're getting into. It's expensive (~$1000), but I had a gap year that allowed me to take an EMT-basic course for 4 months. Those 4 months with 80 hours of clinical experience in emergency rooms and on ambulances were some of the greatest 4 months of my life. I saw thing from the perspective non-physician medical professional and some truly amazing stuff. I learned what life is like for some of the unfortunate members of our society and what it takes for them to get medical treatment. In my first 15 minutes of rotations, I got thrown into a case doing CPR on a patient with no vitals. Emergency medicine isn't for everybody but it could be a valuable experience for you.

Obviously, you don't have to do the EMT thing. In addition to the typical hospital volunteering spots you could considering volunteering at a hospice, physical rehab clinic, or community clinic to get clinical experience.

NOTE: Do, do, do ask about your duties as a volunteer. There's nothing worse than being stuck in a position that doesn't let you have any contact with patients or doctors. A lot of people on SDN will say that hospital volunteer is worthless - you just have to know where to look. I have friends who've held the hands of screaming burn victims on their volunteer shifts and I have friends who, I'm not joking, have walked around the hospital collecting trash from nurses. Don't be the latter. I personally have had good success in my volunteer shifts.

NOTE #2: NOTHING is beneath you. If the only way you can observe the ER doctors is to clean poop-stained beds in the ER, then DO it. I have respect for anybody who does whatever they can to help, and I have the utmost disdain for pre-meds who think their A in organic chem actually translates to anything in the real world. I would say that most medical professional (doctors, nurses, paramedics, everybody) feels the same. This goes back to the whole letter of recommendation thing. If you volunteer for a year and show potential as a hardworking guy, people will notice you eventually. You might not get a rec letter out of it, but you might get some networking out of it. The doc or nurse who has seen you consistently charge in to a filthy room to take care of it before the nurses have to is probably going to feel pretty good about giving you the name of a doc who'll let you shadow.

4th thing: Early, early, early.
In your free time, start thinking about your personal statement. It's honestly not that important - no admissions officer is going to read your statement and run to the Dean's Office crying for you to be let in. However, I think most people would agree that a statement that's true to you would be more likely to be memorable to a reader. Make sure that there are no glaring spelling or grammatical mistakes on it. Don't let it drag down your application.

And yes, get your other stuff in ASAP. You need all the advantage you can get. Earlier is better. I cannot stress that enough.

5th: This is going to be somewhat controversial, but, perhaps you should consider seeing a doctor or somebody regarding your learning / mental state. You say that you've always had trouble with school. I've never met you so I'm just throwing this out blindly but if you have ADHD, that can be treated. It's going to be a pain in the ass because nobody's going to believe you initially, but I have a friend in medical school who got diagnosed recently. He had to go through a battery of tests and was warned repeatedly about the consequences of selling his prescription, but they really did need it.

You also talk about a friend's death, depression, and drinking. I'm not a doctor (yet) but that's a red flag to me. It's not an excuse for poor behavior, sure, but you need to deal with those issues if you haven't already (I did see that you're seeing a therapist so ignore whatever I'm saying that doesn't apply to you). Don't be macho and ignore them. There is nothing wrong with getting help or going on anti-depressants if you need them. I know there's a stigma around the whole thing, but people who've never really been exposed to depression have no idea what they're talking about. It's not something you just shrug off.


Best of luck. I hope this helps. Keep your head up and roll with the punches.


Edit: I guess I accidentally deleted this part.
I know nothing about what will happen with your misdemeanors / disciplinary issues. You can call up a DO admissions office and ask about these things without giving anything identifiable besides your first name. I doubt that they'll go through the trouble of recording what you've said and trying to match it to one of the thousands of incoming applications.
 
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