Parental pressure

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AliceB

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I'm posting this in hope of hearing from at least one other person who has had parents pressure them NOT to go into medicine :confused:. Both of my parents are research scientists and naturally want nothing more than for me to go down the same road. I, however, want to go to med school. I grew up being told I'd never become a doctor, I wasn't smart, strong, "callous" enough to be a physician. Regardless, I graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry + med prerequisites, an EMT license and lots of extracurricular activities. Somehow in all this, however, they got to me and I got a job as a professional researcher for big pharma. I hate it, and so I applied to schools this year. My MCAT wasn't too great (28; GPA 3.54, sGPA3.42...I know) but I figured at least I'd get some feedback from schools so I could reapply. Last night my parents told me that if I didn't get in, I have to go a different direction (i.e. their direction). While I work well under pressure, I'm tired of this discouraging behavior on their part. Has anyone had to deal with this? Any suggestions for reapplying other than higher MCAT (which I'm working on)?

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I'm posting this in hope of hearing from at least one other person who has had parents pressure them NOT to go into medicine :confused:. Both of my parents are research scientists and naturally want nothing more than for me to go down the same road. I, however, want to go to med school. I grew up being told I'd never become a doctor, I wasn't smart, strong, "callous" enough to be a physician. Regardless, I graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry + med prerequisites, an EMT license and lots of extracurricular activities. Somehow in all this, however, they got to me and I got a job as a professional researcher for big pharma. I hate it, and so I applied to schools this year. My MCAT wasn't too great (28; GPA 3.54, sGPA3.42...I know) but I figured at least I'd get some feedback from schools so I could reapply. Last night my parents told me that if I didn't get in, I have to go a different direction (i.e. their direction). While I work well under pressure, I'm tired of this discouraging behavior on their part. Has anyone had to deal with this? Any suggestions for reapplying other than higher MCAT (which I'm working on)?
If you have DO med schools on your list, you won't need to retake the MCAT (assuming the subscores are balanced). If MD is your primary goal, you might consider getting As in more upper-level Bio classes to raise your BCPM GPA, or at least show an upward grade trend if you don't already have one.

I'm sure your research experience is good, but do you have all the other usual and customary ECs suggested for med school applicants? For how many years have you used the EMT license?
 
If you have DO med schools on your list, you won't need to retake the MCAT (assuming the subscores are balanced). If MD is your primary goal, you might consider getting As in more upper-level Bio classes to raise your BCPM GPA, or at least show an upward grade trend if you don't already have one.

I'm sure your research experience is good, but do you have all the other usual and customary ECs suggested for med school applicants? For how many years have you used the EMT license?
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. To clarify, part of the reason I am re-taking the MCAT is because I ran out of time on VS and had to guess on almost two full passages. The subscores were PS10, BS10, VS8, (28S). The other part of my reasoning is that I already graduated and want to apply to the UW. I had a 4.0 my senior year, but circumstances affected my junior year to the extent that my GPA now is where it is. I did take a year of post-bac coursework, which helped some and gave me a few good academic references. I volunteered in the ER and ICU for a year, shadowed physicians in clinics and surgery of various specialties, and have participated in other community volunteer opportunities. I only used my EMT license for about one year both on ambulance and as a volunteer firefighter/EMT. I currently work full-time as a researcher and am shadowing and volunteering in my spare time.
 
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Since UW is a particular target, have you spoken with anyone in the admissions office about what could make your application stronger? Do you know how they weight the undergrad GPAs year by year?

My impression is that UW really likes to see nonmedical community service that helps its underserved populations. Would your humanistic involvement cover that?
 
I'm not sure if what I've done volunteering really covers underserved populations to their satisfaction. I have contacted their admissions and gotten some pointers. They do have a weighted GPA that may harm me due to my junior year grades. I will certainly apply to a few out of state schools as well, which may have less stringent requirements in this particular area. I am currently volunteering at a local homeless shelter because Seattle has a very large homeless population and I think it is a great opportunity to work with people who do not have the access to medical care they need. Even though my direct involvement is not medical it should help gain insight. What school did/do you go to? This year my main feedback was that my MCAT could be stronger and I should consider strengthening my science credentials. I'm hoping the MCAT will help because it will be difficult for me to raise my GPA much with the amount of hours I already have.
 
I am currently volunteering at a local homeless shelter because Seattle has a very large homeless population and I think it is a great opportunity to work with people who do not have the access to medical care they need.
I think that most would consider the homeless population to be in the under-served realm. Good choice.
 
I'm posting this in hope of hearing from at least one other person who has had parents pressure them NOT to go into medicine :confused:. Both of my parents are research scientists and naturally want nothing more than for me to go down the same road. I, however, want to go to med school. I grew up being told I'd never become a doctor, I wasn't smart, strong, "callous" enough to be a physician. Regardless, I graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry + med prerequisites, an EMT license and lots of extracurricular activities. Somehow in all this, however, they got to me and I got a job as a professional researcher for big pharma. I hate it, and so I applied to schools this year. My MCAT wasn't too great (28; GPA 3.54, sGPA3.42...I know) but I figured at least I'd get some feedback from schools so I could reapply. Last night my parents told me that if I didn't get in, I have to go a different direction (i.e. their direction). While I work well under pressure, I'm tired of this discouraging behavior on their part. Has anyone had to deal with this? Any suggestions for reapplying other than higher MCAT (which I'm working on)?
Go to med school. You'll be so happy when you beat the odds and that you did something that you legitimately want to do. You're shoe-in for D.O. school.
 
Thank you guys for the support, that means so much! I'm definitely going to try again and hopefully persistence coupled with improvement will help. Thank you :)
 
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