Success Stories

braluk said:

Hi guys, I was trying to locate a thread which specifically shared success stories of postbac students, but to no avail. THough I found a few in the Official Low GPA thread, a large part of it has become Q & A, and hard to keep up with.

Would anyone here like to share their success story?

I am still in the process of writing my own personal success story. I graduated with UG GPA of 3.2, BCPM of 3.0, MCAT of 31S, a variety of awards and extracurrriculars and attending a one year SMP this upcoming fall, while applying to a variety of medical schools. Hopefully, I can get an acceptance within the year to avoid a glide year. Hopefully, if this thread is still alive, I will continually update with my grades during the SMP (University of Cincinnati's SMP- I was also accepted to Georgetown, Drexel, amongst a variety of other SMPs, but I chose Cincinnati because I feel that this is where I belong).

My first quarter classes will be Medical Physiology, Medical Biochemistry and Physiology Journal and Seminar Club. I will come back time to time to update with progress with getting interviews, rejections, etc.

Anyone else with a postbac experience willing to share their story of courage, honor, love, loyalty and success? Individuals who have applied in the year before and after they started their SMP or postbacm your experiences and such. to all my fellow Postbackers

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Braluk,

I am a succesful post-baccer. I actually graudated from the U of Arizona in 98 with a 2.95 overall and a 2.85 Science. Needless to say, school was not the most important thing to me back then.

I worked for a while, but returned to school three years ago. Completed a one year post-bacc at a Cal-State, earned a 3.90 and did well on my MCAT (over 30.) I applied to school that year, but was rejected soundly. I went to the Georgetown SMP last year and was accepted to three schools this year (still waiting to hear from two others.)

So, it can be done, it has been done. With patience and persistence, you should be entering med school either this next year or at worst, the next. Good luck to you.

imrep, were you accepted to med school before all of the SMP grades were sent out? Was your SMP GPA > 3.5?

chaeymaey said:

imrep, were you accepted to med school before all of the SMP grades were sent out? Was your SMP GPA > 3.5?

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Chaeymaey,

I was accepted before all the grades went out (I still was waiting on Neuro and biostats) and my GPA at that time was a 3.9 (it dropped a bit thanks to Neuro )

imrep1972 said:

Chaeymaey,

I was accepted before all the grades went out (I still was waiting on Neuro and biostats) and my GPA at that time was a 3.9 (it dropped a bit thanks to Neuro )

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WOW! How much did you have to study to maintain a 3.9? Did you find the classes very difficult?

Graduated from a solid school in the Big 12 with a 2.2 Cum GPA. I failed out 2x before graduating and had to take summer classes in order to get back into school. I graduated with a degree in economics but I did complete most of the pre-reqs for medical school. I moved out west and spent the next 2 years doing research at the scripps research institute than did an undergrad post-bac at the university of houston a-la-carte style. At Houston I completed 30 credits of upper division science classes with a 3.87. I wrote the MCAT and scored a 31. The next year i worked full time and continued to take 9 more credits of science classes. That year I wanted to apply to medical school but deans of a few schools in texas told me that my GPA was still too low. So I applied to a few SMP programs and got into Georgetown and EVMS. I went to EVMS and endured what was arguably the most stressful year of my life where I competed with medical students in medical school classes. I survived and the day after graduation I found out I had gotten into EVMS' medical school program!! So it has been a long roller coaster of a ride but I am living a dream right now. To those contemplating overcoming long odds, if you have the passion and the drive, you will succeed. The biggest thing to help me through this was overwhelming passion (and at times consuming), support from my family, and an unwillingness to let anything stop me. Good Luck to all!!

Tooth

chaeymaey said:

WOW! How much did you have to study to maintain a 3.9? Did you find the classes very difficult?

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I studied harder than some, not as hard as others. I know of some people who lived at the library. I know others that really had a good time in DC. For me, I felt that the amount of work I'd have to put in to attain a 4.0 wasn't worth the effort. I'd rather get a good GPA and enjoy myself a bit.

The classes aren't hard per se. It isn't rocket science. What it is, is a lot of memorization. If you are willing to put in the work, you should be able to do well. There really is no trick to it (at least there isn't as far as I know.)

I probably studied 3-5 hours a day most days (took a few off here and there to have fun) and maybe upped that to 8-10 hours a day in the couple of days right before a test.

When the classes become really hard is when you start getting interviews after your grades go out (that's right around neuro) and you are out of town and missing class/study time.

All that being said, if you have a demonstrated record of sucess (ie you've done well in school, or have a good MCAT) and you have been accepted to the program, that means you have the ability. If you give your best effort, you will get the grades you need to get into school, either this year, or next.

I'm not a success story yet, though I like to think that just getting through a few years of post-bacc and SMP with a high gpa has been a success in and of itself. I'll be applying this cycle with a preposterous cum gpa. I just added an mdapps page so that other low gpa applicants would have something to refer to. Hopefully, this process will culminate with an acceptance next Spring.

PS There are other success stories on this board. EvoDevo and Singing_Devil, for instance. There are others, you can do a search on their usernames to get more info on how they made it.

damn junebug.... 4.0 at BU MAMS? Any tips for an incoming MAMS student (hrs/day studying, etc.)?

do tell. that is amazing to have cleaned yourself up like that! you're my hero?

You're right, all the success stories are buried in there somewhere, and they become tough to find. As a result, I've been collecting them throughout these many months, and have EvoDevo, lightnk102, liverotcod, mochafreak, Phil Anthropist, Singing Devil, and now Tiggidy Tooth all saved on Word docs. They ARE out there. Every so often, I read through them for inspiration. That isn't counting all the MDApps profiles that are easily searchable.

A BIG CONGRATS to you.....

You story gives me lots of hope. As I am just being my journey into the post-bacc world.

of all the smp programs out there, i've heard the least about cincinnati. what's the acceptance rate like? (cf. evms' 75% after one year, gtown's 85% albeit after two years, etc.) also, is there a linkage/'special understanding' of sorts for graduates of the cincinnati smp program?

and congrats on your acceptance at tulane, braluk.

chowchilla said:

of all the smp programs out there, i've heard the least about cincinnati. what's the acceptance rate like? (cf. evms' 75% after one year, gtown's 85% albeit after two years, etc.) also, is there a linkage/'special understanding' of sorts for graduates of the cincinnati smp program?

and congrats on your acceptance at tulane, braluk.

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Quick and too the point.....

The program is new... Me and Braluk are 'lab rats' if you will.

So there are no numbers for the acceptance rate because we are the first class to go through this.

However, there has been an unofficial, nudge nudge, wink wink, "If you do well, and by that we mean above the mean, you should find your efforts to be well rewarded" sorts of things said.

And really, even if it's not within the school itself... adcoms will look at you differently if you score in the 'High Pass' or Honors catagories of a medical school class. It shows you have the time management skills, and the commitment necessary to make it through medical school... even if your UGPA may give an indication to the contray.

imrep1972 said:

Braluk,

I am a succesful post-baccer. I actually graudated from the U of Arizona in 98 with a 2.95 overall and a 2.85 Science. Needless to say, school was not the most important thing to me back then.

I worked for a while, but returned to school three years ago. Completed a one year post-bacc at a Cal-State, earned a 3.90 and did well on my MCAT (over 30.) I applied to school that year, but was rejected soundly. I went to the Georgetown SMP last year and was accepted to three schools this year (still waiting to hear from two others.)

So, it can be done, it has been done. With patience and persistence, you should be entering med school either this next year or at worst, the next. Good luck to you.

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Imrep,

I was just curious as to what Cal State you attended attended for your post-bacc? Even though you didn't get into med school....what did you think of the overall program?

I'm not trying to put the school on the spot. I'm moving back to Cali and I'm not sure which Cal State I should attend. You can PM me if you want.

Thank you in advance.

Graduated from ND with a GPA of 3.2 and a 32 MCAT
Then went to the Georgetown SMP last year and got 3.2 (at least im consistant)
Got off the waitlist at UTSOM (fka MUO, fka MCO) and am now an M1

Just wanted to show that <3.5 G-twon SMP is not a death nail.

thank you for your response thes_hunter. i will probably start a separate thread about the program early next year when i start applying.

are there any folks out there who had a BCPM less than 3.0, managed to get into an SMP, and then went on to get into med school?

what i have noticed from this thread is that it takes around 3 years to improve a very poor gpa. I would like to know the most efficient way to do this. any comments?

what i have noticed from this thread is that it takes around 3 years to improve a very poor gpa. I would like to know the most efficient way to do this. any comments?

chowchilla said:

thank you for your response thes_hunter. i will probably start a separate thread about the program early next year when i start applying.

are there any folks out there who had a BCPM less than 3.0, managed to get into an SMP, and then went on to get into med school?

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Yeah, me.

I had a 2.85 BCPM, and I'm at Georgetown Med now.

loopy said:

what i have noticed from this thread is that it takes around 3 years to improve a very poor gpa. I would like to know the most efficient way to do this. any comments?

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Loopy, aside from the fact that you were a UK student and are now a current US permanent resident and did "poorly," we really don't know much about you. It is hard to give specific advice without details.

If you could tell us where you went to school, what your major/GPA was, how long ago you were in school, what you've been doing since how you did on the MCAT (if you've taken it), etc. As much info as you can think to give would be helpful.

Touchdown said:

Graduated from ND with a GPA of 3.2 and a 32 MCAT
Then went to the Georgetown SMP last year and got 3.2 (at least im consistant)
Got off the waitlist at UTSOM (fka MUO, fka MCO) and am now an M1

Just wanted to show that <3.5 G-twon SMP is not a death nail.

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Ooh, another thread I can procrastinate on!

So me too. 3.4 GPA and 30 MCAT, and less than 3.5 in the Georgetown SMP. Still got in, and to a great school too, I think.

How is going for you in Toledo, Touchdown? Good I hope.

^Toledos great, love it here. Hows GW?

Touchdown said:

^Toledos great, love it here. Hows GW?

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I GW. I don't so much love the 7 exams I have next week, including one next Sunday (yep, Sunday), but overall it is great. And, no offense to imrep or any of the other genuises who actually got into Georgetown med from the SMP, I actually like it much better here than at gtown.

tacrum43 said:

I GW. I don't so much love the 7 exams I have next week, including one next Sunday (yep, Sunday), but overall it is great. And, no offense to imrep or any of the other genuises who actually got into Georgetown med from the SMP, I actually like it much better here than at gtown.

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wow - sounds like sour grapes

Tac, you know I love ya, and I'm bummed you ain't here with the rest of us, but hey, at least your trying to make <ahem> GW look like a real med school.

Good luck on your tests man!

I should add - I hope you know I'm joking about GW - I really liked the school and would have been very happy going there myself... except they never even gave me a freakin' interview...

imrep1972 said:

wow - sounds like sour grapes

Tac, you know I love ya, and I'm bummed you ain't here with the rest of us, but hey, at least your trying to make <ahem> GW look like a real med school.

Good luck on your tests man!

I should add - I hope you know I'm joking about GW - I really liked the school and would have been very happy going there myself... except they never even gave me a freakin' interview...

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Thanks. I think.

^Ha Ha, you two have finals to prepare for , should have gone to a school with block scheduling, I have one standard anatomy (back, thorax, and upper limb) test between me and my Dec. 15th start to Christmas break (beat that!) .

braluk said:

Chowcilly- my BCPM was around a 2.95 with an overall of a 3.2 and I made it into school with a 31S. I think if the rest of your app shines, with strong ECs, letters from your undergrad + SMP (or other postbac), strong personal statement, with a good MCAT, you can get the interview. The interview in which I received an acceptance afterwards, at least according to me, was what drove the nail home, here is the level playing field in which you can really set yourself apart from the crowd of students which might have better grades/scores than you- social skills are a must. Being in the UC SMP, at least what I know so far, has helped significantly, especially since its a small intimate program. I mean, I even spent thanksgiving dinner at the professor's home (who also runs the program). All these type of things make me happy I made the choice to do a SMP, and in particular, the one at University of Cincinnati.[/url]

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thanks for your response, uc does sound like a great program. if one were to apply to med schools in the summer before the master's program started, would uc still send letters of recommendation to the schools that you applied to? also, how intensive are the medical school courses (especially biochemistry ... something i dread )

Touchdown said:

^Ha Ha, you two have finals to prepare for , should have gone to a school with block scheduling, I have one standard anatomy (back, thorax, and upper limb) test between me and my Dec. 15th start to Christmas break (beat that!) .

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You sure you want to start a war you can't finish????

I have one biochem test and I'm on break, and then when I come back, I'm relaxing ALL next semester...

Your turn

^Ill try:
-My Anatomy course is actually embryo, histo and anatomy so about one half of the material is not new to me, thus allowing me to focus more on the anatomy and get a good grade there. Then next year, after we get done with Imuno and Micro in Oct, I will have Path and Physio for the rest of the year (organ based) which means I get yet another review bump.

Now, I would never pass up relaxing but Ill take geting better grades then I should with the amount of work I do too. Oh and I also dont have to tutor my classmates for no pay and no credit in physio all next semister either

OT: Didnt realize that Georgetown was allready done with anatomy, congrads on finishing that course.

Another "success" story here...

I did the Georgetown Post-Bac last year, graduated in '06 with Tacrum, imrep, and touchdown. Got into a couple of med schools, but decided to go to UNC Chapel Hill SOM (which also happened to be by dream/reach/holy-crap-i-can't-believe-i-got-in school!)
I had about a 3.7 at GTown at the time of my first acceptance, but that promptly fell to about a 3.5 or so soon-after! . My MCATs were decent and but my undergrad GPA was kind of dismal....so, I'd say Geogetown was a life-saver for me! The post-bac year was beyond stressful to say the least, but in the end, all the hard work and long nights definately paid off. Now that i'm *finally* in med school, I feel so much more at ease with the actual material compared to my classmates. Unlike most students here, I know how to manage stress and balance my life and all that good stuff. So, for those of you in post-bacs who want to scream and pull their hair out...just hang in there! It's all worth it in the end!

I copied and pasted this message this forum because it was requested of me. I hope this brings you inspiration. Good luck to all.

After six long years of waiting, testing, retesting, re-restesting, I am finally going to med school!

I had to post this because a year ago I read a guys sucess story and how long he had made ammends just for one spot. His story really inspired me and made me feel that I am not alone. I promised myself that I would share my story with others and perhaps it would have the same effect once I was accepted.

Over $4000.00, three MCAT's, 4 cycles of applications, 23 rejections later...
(It's a long story, if anyone wants to know I will write)

For all of you who are battling the "odds" don't you ever give up. If it is your PASSION then you will do what is necessary for SUCCESS.

Good luck all and to all a good night

Hey Gmaddy!

Good to see ya on SDN finally! How's life at UNC! I'm happy you got in down there, but I'm ticked you aren't closer!

i graduated with a dismal gpa (2.7) from ug, took a couple years off, did a DIY postback for a year of upper science with a 3.6. did BU's MAMS program and graduating this January with 3.79. my overall still sucks (BCPM and overal both 2.9) i'm interviewing at wayne tomorrow and BU at the end of January. I haven't gotten in yet but i'm hoping for a serious miracle here and inspire others like boomerang has!

congrats boom!!!

Gmaddy said:

Another "success" story here...

I did the Georgetown Post-Bac last year, graduated in '06 with Tacrum, imrep, and touchdown. Got into a couple of med schools, but decided to go to UNC Chapel Hill SOM (which also happened to be by dream/reach/holy-crap-i-can't-believe-i-got-in school!)
I had about a 3.7 at GTown at the time of my first acceptance, but that promptly fell to about a 3.5 or so soon-after! . My MCATs were decent and but my undergrad GPA was kind of dismal....so, I'd say Geogetown was a life-saver for me! The post-bac year was beyond stressful to say the least, but in the end, all the hard work and long nights definately paid off. Now that i'm *finally* in med school, I feel so much more at ease with the actual material compared to my classmates. Unlike most students here, I know how to manage stress and balance my life and all that good stuff. So, for those of you in post-bacs who want to scream and pull their hair out...just hang in there! It's all worth it in the end!

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Hey G, I didn't know you were on here too. How is UNC going?

hi tac and imrep!
UNC is amazing (and most importantly, the basketball team is awesome!) The atmosphere here is pretty relaxed overall. Within my class, Gunners are hard to come by (either that, or they're all snipers). Thanks to block scheduling (which i LOVE by the way), we have a test every other monday, which gives us "on" and "off" weeks. All our exams are online (board-style) and last no more than one hour . We just got done with anatomy, next block is Physiology / Neuro / Histo, so hopefully the "masters in physiology" degree will come in handy! Good to hear from you all!
G

Bump...

So the U of Cincinnati is "the cat's meow?'

Have any of he SMP students there gotten into U of Cincy Med?

I'm really eyeballing this program.....

congrats on the evms interview, dawg! i always look forward to reading your updates

Yea! Okay, I stole that title from singing devil's post last year, but his/her story inspired me so I'm keeping that title.

I've been accepted into the University of Cincinnati's College of Medicine! (i'm in the U. Cincinnati physiology smp now) I am so thrilled and just wanted to post b/c i remember i didn't think people in 'my position' could get into medical school until i read these threads and learned about/dediciated myself to the work that could be done. So here's my story:

went to a lovely undergraduate institution in my home state (hint...best mens and womens basketball teams in the country....go heels!). my experience was great, but definately jumped in too crazy, i had gotten a good amount of ap credit (20+ hrs) and dove in to sophomore/junior level science classes immediately. i also don't think there wasn't a club i didn't join...i was in rotc, chemistry clubs, service clubs, research beginning freshman year, anthropology clubs, the whole nine yards...oh and a double major too. i didn't even make it to basketball games i was so busy. in any case, it was a recipe for disaster....i did fine in my social science classes and electives, but my science coursework started off bad and got worse. bs and c's the freshman year, then to D's and even an F in calculus sophomore year. in fact, one of those D's was from retaking the calc class i had gotten an F in (ouch.....). i was extremely ignorant, and thought if i just stayed up later, worked harder, took more classes i would do better. eventually things reached rock bottom the first semester of my junior year when i took about 19 hours of all chem and got either c's or d's in everything. this was very ironic because i had done well -> okay in the first year of chemistry and i was working as a chemistry ta and a research assistant while i was racking up these grades. what a mess. i finally did scale back on my committments, balanced my schedule with science and non-science classes a little bit better. it was hard though, b/c my science foundation was rocky by now (hard to do pchem when you got a d in physics) and it took sooooo much more work than i ever would have thought. the last half of my junior year and two senior years (b/c i was a double major) went a lot better though and it felt so good to achieve and do well.
even though i had been pre-med, i knew i couldn't get in so i didn't even apply. i thought that dream was over and done with so i tried the next best thing for me personally. i had some great opportunities since then, i went to china and did cancer research, liked it so much that i got a master's in international studies at UWashington focusing on China and public health. also taught anthropology at community colleges for a while. i eventually worked for 3 years in clinical breast cancer trials but it was interacting with physicians again that really kind of rekindled everything for me - and i got to work with so many different types of clinicians it really let me see the career from a lot of different perspectives. i knew i wanted to do it but feared my sci gpa was just too low, esp. for MD programs - under 3.0 bcpm, 3.1 overall. my gpa from grad school was high - 3.8 but no science coursework. so i started to retake courses i did poorly in (hello physics) and took some graduate level pathology courses (very nice professors let me in) at the college i was working at. things were going well so i started to study for the mcat....and that went well too, 32S. then i knew the weakest part of my app was going to be my previous science coursework, so i applied to the University of Cincinnati's masters of physiology smp and was lucky enough to be chosen for that first class. i've worked very hard this year, started out strong, was interviewed in december and now in january have been accepted. it is incredible. i feel extremely fortunate, because there are so many reasons why i could have been ignored or disregarded. i can't believe i won't have a lag year, but that i get to keep going at a really great school with awesome faculty and facilities.

it has been five and a half years since i finished undergrad, and had a pretty circuitious (sp?) route, but i think that is what helped me honestly. i had time to reconfigure how i study, what i commit to, and in the long run i think i have grown from my endeavors. i will be 29 when i start next year, but feel like i'll be a different type of med student than i would have been at 22 or 23. so please don't beat yourself up if this route is taking longer than you had hoped, it took me 3 years (b/c for three of them i didn't even think about applying to med school, wasn't even on my radar b/c i thought i couldn't) to get here and it is wonderful!!! good luck everybody!!!!

sunnyjohn said:

Bump...

So the U of Cincinnati is "the cat's meow?'

Have any of he SMP students there gotten into U of Cincy Med?

I'm really eyeballing this program.....

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well they are the "bearcats".....

sorry, super cheezy but i couldn't resist....

Gmaddy said:

UNC is amazing (and most importantly, the basketball team is awesome!) The atmosphere here is pretty relaxed overall.

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HEEL YEAH!!!!!!!!! that's what i'm talking about!!!!!

and, ahem, there are two awesome basketball teams at UNC, the men AND womens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!