1. Your age and GPA and MCAT
Late 20s/ Early 30s.
GPA 3.0x/3.0x
MCAT 35+
First time I applied blindly and broadly to MD schools without knowing what I was doing and ended up late in the application cycle. Crickets. When I realized I was fooling myself, I signed up for a quality (explained later) SMP across the country and took the plunge. I applied a 2nd time while in the SMP to the SMP's medical school and just a handful of others and while I got secondaries from a couple top 10 schools, only 1 interview and 1 acceptance both at my SMP. Fine by me. I'm in.
Here's my history:
From a state with a lot of pre-meds and I graduated undergrad with a 2.6/2.7 as a SCIENCE major so I knew I was in a lot of trouble if I really wanted to go to medical school. I was the somewhat stereotypical lazy college student who didn't go to class, but I didn't have actual problems with the material. To illustrate my point, I've scored in the 95-99th percentile on the SAT/LSAT/GRE. This isn't to toot my horn, but rather to say that I was in a rather unique situation. This post is meant to help anybody who comes across it and I hope I do hope to help people who are seeking to gain admission to medical school. However, at the same time, my situation is relatively unique. My journey was rooted more in learning to understand myself. I was "talented" enough to succeed but had trouble doing so. I went through several years of looking into several possible careers and attempting to get a better feeling for what makes me tick. Luckily for me, I discovered that I ended up really caring about immigrant populations. I grew up around a decent amount of immigrant families and sometime around when I was in undergrad or just starting my career, the DREAM act was gaining traction. I had a friend who ended up confiding in me that he was undocumented in the US even though he was raised all his conscious life in the US and didn't speak any of his "native" language. Whatever your political feelings, I just want to make the point that this gave me a passion. It wasn't restricted to just undocumented persons, but to underserved persons in general. I searched online and found a way to tutor at a school in a low-income, underprivileged area. I spent days/weeks trying to find a free clinic that would take regular volunteers (most want medical/nursing students or trained doctors/nurses). I loved these activities and this is what truly got me into medicine. I hope at this point you have that spark, and if you don't, I suggest you find it before you actually apply to medical school. Your time, effort, and sacrifices will be so much more rewarding. Medical school will feel more like an opportunity rather than a requirement to become a doctor. And when you get to the interview stage and they ask you "why medicine" you have a real answer with real experiences. Don't be the person who writes in their personal statement or talks in their interview about helping people/helping the poor/helping the homeless. According to an admissions committee member at my school, something like 70% of applicants mention poor/homeless/underserved in their personal statements. That's not to say that it can't be true, but you have to prove it if it is true. Don't serve at a soup kitchen once and write that you were inspired. Make it evident through your activities such that you don't even have to write the words. Actions, not words. (Note that you don't have to care at all about helping the underserved. You do have to care about helping people since healthcare is service oriented, but this is just an example since so many pre-meds discuss it. You just need to make sure YOUR inspiration is evident).
I worked in a research lab after college. At first it was a real paycheck and an interesting field that I thought about pursuing. Obviously everyone in a research lab wants you to pursue a PhD and not sell out and become a doctor. So I took the GRE and took the steps to apply before I decided it wasn't for me. Academia is cutthroat and grueling and my heart wasn't in it. I thought about law school and become a lawyer for undocumented immigrants, but further thinking quashed that idea. So I thought laterally and decided to look into healthcare for undocumented immigrants. There are definitely problems with access and quality of healthcare for undocumented immigrants, so I made that my passion and niche. I had visions of myself working in a low-income, high immigrant area as a practicing physician and that vision still holds true. I've just finished my first year of medical school and I'm still doing volunteering activities with the poor and underserved and still on track to practice underserved medicine. The benefit of being a non-trad is that my decisions are more firm. In medical school, they tell you that you'll change your specialty choice changes several times while going through rotations during 3rd year. I can't say that it won't happen, but I feel as though my intentions coming into medical school are more strongly rooted than those of my younger/less experienced classmates.
2. Your financial and work situation.
Worked for several years in a research lab. I switched jobs as my interests changed, but I never really found a career that I thought I could settle into. Working was invaluable for several reasons. First, I had to start paying back student loans from undergrad. That was eye opening. Also, I had real spending money for the first time which was amazing and fun. I got to spend my early 20s going out with friends in the middle of the week if I felt like it and doing some light traveling and picking up hobbies that I thought were interesting. I learned about personal finance and students loans and I went to a lot of happy hours and I learned the guitar and I made new friends. I became a real adult. As a non-trad, I understand why medical schools like people who have been in the work force and have life experience. It's about perspective.
3. Your family and significant other situation.
I have a partner. We decided early on to commit to each other and that my partner would follow me for medical school/residency and then I would follow my partner (not in medicine) for work in the future if need be. We decided we always wanted to be together and that we would sacrifice career options for each other. If you have a long term significant other, this is a conversation you need to have at the beginning of your relationship. The process of becoming of a doctor is long, grueling, and can take you across the country. I know classmates who are doing long distance. It can definitely work, but my partner and I decided against it. Have a plan before you have to start making ultimatums to each other.
4. What I did wrong or would have done differently
So I graduated with a terrible low GPA. Somehow through SDN or other sources, I decided that a 3.0 was the hard cutoff for getting into medical school. The university I worked at allowed me to take classes for free (HUGE benefit) so I signed up for upper division biology courses which I encourage you to do if you have GPA deficits. However, I started off with 3 courses while I was still working full time. Huge mistake. I got a couple As but also a C. I was so focused on how many units of straight-A work I would need to get to a 3.0 that I neglected to address my terrible studying habits. Even though I didn't have trouble with the material per se, I had trouble setting aside time for studying and being a good student. If I were to do it again, I would start with one class and I would get an A/A+. If I didn't get that grade, I would again take one single class. Then, having understood how to study and perform well, I would bump it up to 2 classes, then 3. Also, go to office hours. I never went in undergrad and didn't want to go when I started taking classes again. Force yourself to just sit there and talk about anything. You need rec letters from professors and you need to cultivate relationships. Talk about your kids, talk about life, talk about the school material. Just talk to them. Especially because I didn't perform well in undergrad, doing well in these classes (and having a rec letter that reinforced that) was important for both medical schools to see that I can be a good student and to myself to know that I wouldn't procrastinate and flunk out of med school as a smart/lazy student.
5. What I did right
My SMP. I researched SMPs both on SDN and through web searches to find out what worked best for me. I wanted an SMP that specifically allowed me to take medical school courses. I figured by this time that I had mastered undergrad courses and Masters level courses aren't necessary as grueling. Being able to show that I could perform well in medical school courses was the way to show that I was ready for medical school. For me, the most important criteria for the SMP was how many students went from the SMP into medical school. Specifically, I wanted a medical school that would take a large proportion of its own SMP students. If a school matriculates 100% of its SMP students into its medical school, I'm going there. If a school says that 100% of its students matriculated somewhere, I'm going there. If a school says that within 5 years "most" students are in a graduate program of some kind, I think twice. I was desperate to get in, and this was the most obvious way to get in. If you're enrolling in an SMP, you aren't in a position to be picky. If location is not a deal breaker, find the SMP that has the best chance of getting you into medical school. Period. Obviously you have to do well in the SMP. If you're older, I assume you will find a way to do well.
For those of you who are younger (early/mid 20s) or willing to take a longer route. I briefly considered moving to Texas for medical school. If you live and work in any job in Texas for 1 year, you gain Texas residency. You can literally work at a McDonalds for a year and become a Texas resident. Once you're a Texas resident, you can apply to their ~11 medical schools in which they take 95% Texas residents. Some of their lower tier schools have some of the lower GPA/MCAT averages among medical schools. Not only would you have a bevy of in-state medical schools to apply to, but all (public?) Texas schools have ridiculously low in-state tuition rates. A friend is paying something like 20k a year in tuition and the cost of living in Texas is generally much lower than across the country. Keep in mind that this process is longer because you have to live for at least one year in Texas BEFORE you can apply. I would also imagine that you would want to find a job in a field that you are interested in or that is healthcare related instead of taking a minimum wage job somewhere. Also, it would be hard if you have no friends or support group. But, having said all that, I feel like moving to Texas could be a great opportunity for some people.
6. Conclusion.
If you're someone with a low GPA, fix it slowly. For any applicant, be sure you have a real reason for pursuing medicine that you can back up with your activities. Words are meaningless without proof. If you have a low MCAT/GPA and really think you're ready for medical school (fixed your study skills, have relevant clinical experience, rest of application is good to go), then think hard about doing an SMP. It's a sacrifice of 1 year and lots of money, but it can pay out huge dividends if you take it seriously.
For people worried about paying off medical school, there are things like the National Health Service Corps, Health Professionals Scholarship Program for the Military, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness for non-profit work. According to some friends who have already started their careers, some employers offer loan payments as signing bonuses. For example, you may receive $100k loan payment as a bonus when you start to help you pay off your loans.
Ask me what questions you have. I'll do my best to answer them for the next few days. Good luck to all of you and I hope you succeed in your endeavors.
