- Joined
- Jul 16, 2015
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 18
Hi SDN fam,
I'm a semi-SDN lurker and just wanted to send out some positive vibes and share my story about how I just got into a top DO school after 5 MCATs and 4 applications. I've made plenty of mistakes along the way: difficult family situations, letting the pre-med pressure overwhelm me at times leading to mediocre GPAs/MCATs, self-inflicted obstacles, rushing my MCATs and applications when I clearly wasn't ready in retrospect, etc. - some of these things that some of you may relate to.
However, I just wanted to share this with you all if anyone just needed some hope during one of the most strenuous phases of your life - the medical school application process. I can speak from experience about how many ups and downs we all have during this pre-med journey and a lot of times it's easy to let the pressure get to you, feel like you want to give up, and have no idea where your life is going if this whole medicine thing doesn't work out.
Despite all of this, even if it only helps one person, I do want to say to keep hope alive! If my story is any indication, if you're genuinely passionate about being a physician and you're in this profession for the right reasons, you can definitely make it happen. I'm not sure if I'm the person to give out advice, but if you're an underdog applicant like myself (or certainly feel like one) I'd say the biggest things I learned on my journey are these:
1. Trust the guidance you receive - if I had listened to the difficult advice I received earlier I could've gotten into med school a few years earlier with fewer MCATs,
2. Do an introspective look at your weaknesses and fix them - whether it's developing more volunteering, research, extracurriculars, going into a postbac/master's program, re-taking the MCAT, etc. and,
3. Believe in yourself. This last one is key. SDN (and the pre-med journey in general) can be a simultaneously wonderful yet scary place. I personally avoided a lot of SDN since it added to my stress level, but if you have opportunities to learn more, help yourself and not feel overwhelmed, use it the right way to develop a positive mindset and use it to help you get to where you want to go.
Sorry for the rambling, but I just wanted to quickly write a post and give even one person hope to keep pushing. If I can make it despite all the mistakes I made during and after undergrad, so can you! Best of luck and I know you can do it.
I'm a semi-SDN lurker and just wanted to send out some positive vibes and share my story about how I just got into a top DO school after 5 MCATs and 4 applications. I've made plenty of mistakes along the way: difficult family situations, letting the pre-med pressure overwhelm me at times leading to mediocre GPAs/MCATs, self-inflicted obstacles, rushing my MCATs and applications when I clearly wasn't ready in retrospect, etc. - some of these things that some of you may relate to.
However, I just wanted to share this with you all if anyone just needed some hope during one of the most strenuous phases of your life - the medical school application process. I can speak from experience about how many ups and downs we all have during this pre-med journey and a lot of times it's easy to let the pressure get to you, feel like you want to give up, and have no idea where your life is going if this whole medicine thing doesn't work out.
Despite all of this, even if it only helps one person, I do want to say to keep hope alive! If my story is any indication, if you're genuinely passionate about being a physician and you're in this profession for the right reasons, you can definitely make it happen. I'm not sure if I'm the person to give out advice, but if you're an underdog applicant like myself (or certainly feel like one) I'd say the biggest things I learned on my journey are these:
1. Trust the guidance you receive - if I had listened to the difficult advice I received earlier I could've gotten into med school a few years earlier with fewer MCATs,
2. Do an introspective look at your weaknesses and fix them - whether it's developing more volunteering, research, extracurriculars, going into a postbac/master's program, re-taking the MCAT, etc. and,
3. Believe in yourself. This last one is key. SDN (and the pre-med journey in general) can be a simultaneously wonderful yet scary place. I personally avoided a lot of SDN since it added to my stress level, but if you have opportunities to learn more, help yourself and not feel overwhelmed, use it the right way to develop a positive mindset and use it to help you get to where you want to go.
Sorry for the rambling, but I just wanted to quickly write a post and give even one person hope to keep pushing. If I can make it despite all the mistakes I made during and after undergrad, so can you! Best of luck and I know you can do it.
