2018 Nontrad Applicants' Progress Thread

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DSM_302.0 said:
I know a lawyer from Zen Hospice Project who lives on a boat in the East Bay with her husband, I want to say near Emeryville. Sounds like one of the hardest parts (in the Bay) is finding a docking slip. Also, I guess it gets pretty cold. But she also lived on a boat in Alaska, so who knows?! Oh wow, now I'm dreaming of getting into the JMP and living on a boat in the East Bay....
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Ok, nice! This would be in Sausalito (aka Sausagelito, lol). Yeah, if the boat can't stay in the slip it's in, it's a non-starter, but the sellers have been there for 20+ years and have two other boats there so I'm thinking the marina owner would look favorably on any buyer/friend of theirs. It does sound cold though! Also I'm not sure what my cat would do. I am picturing Cat Overboard...
 
jazzmetal said:
Ok, nice! This would be in Sausalito (aka Sausagelito, lol). Yeah, if the boat can't stay in the slip it's in, it's a non-starter, but the sellers have been there for 20+ years and have two other boats there so I'm thinking the marina owner would look favorably on any buyer/friend of theirs. It does sound cold though! Also I'm not sure what my cat would do. I am picturing Cat Overboard...
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We had to come to the conclusion that if i was accepted to UCSF, we would have to do a houseboat - it’s the only thing we could afford in the area! I know quite a few people who have done it, but it can get pricy depending on how yo undo it. But I would love to live in Sausalito!!

That said, I was rejected from UCSF, so it was a non-issue...


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DBC03 said:
We had to come to the conclusion that if i was accepted to UCSF, we would have to do a houseboat - it’s the only thing we could afford in the area! I know quite a few people who have done it, but it can get pricy depending on how yo undo it. But I would love to live in Sausalito!!

That said, I was rejected from UCSF, so it was a non-issue...
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It's kind of astounding how affordable boat-living is compared to the surrounding community. The full purchase price for this boat wouldn't even cover the annual property taxes on a home across the street. I'm sorry about UCSF. I totally would have rented out my boat to you. 🙂
 
I have a good friend from Santa Barbara who is in her third year sailing the Pacific on a trimaran. It is a co-op, greencoconutrun.com 🙂 looks amazing despite the tight quarters
 
MercMutt said:
For those of you fellow non-trads that have interviewed already - was most of your interview focused on your "life experiences" and differences from a standard premed student? Or do you think it was similar to the interviews of the fresh-out-of-college applicants?

I have my first interview in a couple weeks, and I'm just wondering what my experience might be like. I am a very non-traditional applicant, with years of life events & challenges that might pique their interest - or it could be a lot of current healthcare issues and medical ethics scenarios. Just wondering.

(I know you can't discuss specifics about your interview - generalizations are fine)
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I've attended 3. One of the MD interviews I had was a MMI, so I know that was all the same. The other was probably exactly the same as a standard premed interview - they had a list of questions they had to ask, so there was hardly any ability to get to know me as a person and the things they asked were exactly the things I was weak on... precisely because I finished up a third bachelor's super quickly and didn't get involved in much in my school while I was there, since I was still working full time.

On the other hand, the DO school interview I attended was very conversational and I think it definitely benefited me to have more life experience. They asked me a lot about my work... I actually felt like it meant something to them. I got major positive feelings for that school just for them deciding it was worth taking my life into account and not just the checklist of things the two MD programs were looking for.
 
Hello everyone! I received some fantastic news today. 6 weeks post interview, I received an acceptance from my state MD school. Goes to show that numbers are not everything. My LizzyM is a 66 and my MCAT was 60th percentile. I am still in shock.
 
physgal said:
Hello everyone! I received some fantastic news today. 6 weeks post interview, I received an acceptance from my state MD school. Goes to show that numbers are not everything. My LizzyM is a 66 and my MCAT was 60th percentile. I am still in shock.
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Sweet news! So great to see so many nontrads getting big love. You’re a rock star, @physgal! Time to update in the nontrad acceptance thread!
 
Congrats Physgal and NarutoMD!

In other news, I'm trying to recruit new players for the Mafia/Werewolf cult on this site.

Anyone who has no idea what I'm talking about, but wants to make a couple new friends, but more importantly have a good distraction while waiting for rejections interview invites and acceptances to roll in check this out

Let me know if you're interested!
 
@Hazel-rah said:
I got my first acceptance tonight from Michigan State, yayyyyy!
I was beginning to get quite discouraged.
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Congratulations! So exciting! Good luck to all who are waiting. It really isn't over yet.

p.s. @Laterthansooner now that I remember you from real life, gonna go through and read all your posts😍. Good luck!!

EDIT: Also, YES to the LASIK @CloverBale ! I am a super old student and am the only one who can read the fine print on the screen from the back of the room! Seriously life changing!
 
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it'sabeautifullife said:
Congratulations! So exciting! Good luck to all who are waiting. It really isn't over yet.

p.s. @Laterthansooner now that I remember you from real life, gonna go through and read all your posts😍. Good luck!!

EDIT: Also, YES to the LASIK @CloverBale ! I am a super old student and am the only one who can read the fine print on the screen from the back of the room! Seriously life changing!
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Isn’t that crazy? I am so glad to know how things worked out for you!
 
Hi everyone, I'm so excited to share that I finally received my first interview of the season at UWSOM! Not an acceptance, but wow, thank you for all the memes and shared nervousness. It got me through this waiting period.
 
_leo08 said:
Hi everyone, I'm so excited to share that I finally received my first interview of the season at UWSOM! Not an acceptance, but wow, thank you for all the memes and shared nervousness. It got me through this waiting period.
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Woot woot!!! Good luck on the interview - you will be amazing!


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_leo08 said:
Hi everyone, I'm so excited to share that I finally received my first interview of the season at UWSOM! Not an acceptance, but wow, thank you for all the memes and shared nervousness. It got me through this waiting period.
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Fabulous news! Congrats! May I ask if the W is Washington or Wisconsin? I ask b/c I have an interview with UW(ashington) next week! (First of the season for me, too)

Also -- huge, huge congrats to @@Hazel-rah , @physgal , @NarutoMD , and @SpartanDOnoharm !!! So excited for you all!
 
MercMutt said:
Fabulous news! Congrats! May I ask if the W is Washington or Wisconsin? I ask b/c I have an interview with UW(ashington) next week! (First of the season for me, too)

Also -- huge, huge congrats to @@Hazel-rah , @physgal , @NarutoMD , and @SpartanDOnoharm !!! So excited for you all!
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Washington! OH WHAT, CONGRATULATIONS and YOU will do great!!!
 
Any of you thinking of attending the AMWA Nat'l conference in March in Philly? I'm pretty sure I'm going to register... Would be fun to meet some of you!
 
_leo08 said:
Hi everyone, I'm so excited to share that I finally received my first interview of the season at UWSOM! Not an acceptance, but wow, thank you for all the memes and shared nervousness. It got me through this waiting period.
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What are your stats? I hardly ever see WA non-trads around these parts, haha! Best of fortune to you!!
 
Hi all,

I’m new here and a fellow nontrad. I have my first interview coming up in a couple days at Pitt. This has been quite a process and lots learned along the way (haha) but I’m glad to see all the success stories and wish luck to those of you still waiting to hear back! Any tips for interviewing as a 34 year old RN?
 
Quarterhorse said:
Hi all,

I’m new here and a fellow nontrad. I have my first interview coming up in a couple days at Pitt. This has been quite a process and lots learned along the way (haha) but I’m glad to see all the success stories and wish luck to those of you still waiting to hear back! Any tips for interviewing as a 34 year old RN?
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Congrats and welcome! I would suggest coming up with a few scenarios from work because a lot of my interviewers would ask me, "are there any specific patient encounters that inspired you to want to be a doctor?" Or "What is one of your most memorable patients?" Or "Talk about an ethical dilemma you've faced as a nurse."
I came up with a few go-to stories although my first instinct was like "I've had literally thousands of patient encounters. I can't think of just one." Just because people like stories, I guess.
And I had 3/4 MMI interviews, but even in the MMI, if I mentioned I was a nurse, they would ask for a story...

Also just practice over and over explaining why MD after RN and be able to defend Why not NP? And What will be the hardest thing about becoming an MD? Very commonly asked of me.

I am a very open person and ended up telling just about everyone my background, but in all my interviews I was the only Nontrad of the group, so be ready to be the adult in a sea of youngsters joking about partying and comparing themselves to each other. Practice your non-judgement/ non-annoyed face 🙂

Good luck! I'm sure you'll do awesome! Any other questions?
 
Thanks @Hazel-rah! Great advice ... I’ll be sure to come up with a few good patient stories before my interview. I’m also definitely expecting the “why MD instead of NP/CRNA/etc” question so I’ll make certain I’m prepared to answer that one as well.

And no doubt, I’ll probably be about 10 years older than the majority of other applicants! 😀
 
Quarterhorse said:
Hi all,

I’m new here and a fellow nontrad. I have my first interview coming up in a couple days at Pitt. This has been quite a process and lots learned along the way (haha) but I’m glad to see all the success stories and wish luck to those of you still waiting to hear back! Any tips for interviewing as a 34 year old RN?
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Congrats!!! You will probably do well as a nontraditional student. Be yourself? That seems to be the best advice. You also need to know your application, but I’m not entirely sure what that means - it’s hard for me to forget what is in mine!


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Quarterhorse said:
Thanks @Hazel-rah! Great advice ... I’ll be sure to come up with a few good patient stories before my interview. I’m also definitely expecting the “why MD instead of NP/CRNA/etc” question so I’ll make certain I’m prepared to answer that one as well.

And no doubt, I’ll probably be about 10 years older than the majority of other applicants! 😀
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Have a good, succinct narrative for "why medicine" and "tell me about yourself" then maximize relaxation and conversational tone in interview. Profit
 
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Here’s a meme for Monday - appropriate for me, as I’ve always had trouble acting my age...which is good because if I did, I would not be applying for med school as an ultra-non-trad. 🙂

F9D05B44-6B87-428E-AA46-FBBB56EE96B5.png
 
skeptastic said:
What are your stats? I hardly ever see WA non-trads around these parts, haha! Best of fortune to you!!
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skeptastic said:
What are your stats? I hardly ever see WA non-trads around these parts, haha! Best of fortune to you!!
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Thank you! 505 on the MCAT and grades in undergraduate - yikes. I took Gen Chem, Gen Bio, and Physics during my first year of college - a decision that tanked my BCPM unfortunately. Undergrad BCPM was 2.9 (with upward trend) and currently with a 3.5 BCPM in my post-bacc!
 
_leo08 said:
Thank you! 505 on the MCAT and grades in undergraduate - yikes. I took Gen Chem, Gen Bio, and Physics during my first year of college - a decision that tanked my BCPM unfortunately. Undergrad BCPM was 2.9 (with upward trend) and currently with a 3.5 BCPM in my post-bacc!
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That's awesome! It goes to show that UW is very non-trad friendly, as I've heard. Kill that interview and bring home the acceptance!!
 
anyone see Star Wars? :biglove: soooo good!

Unknown.jpeg


Also, I'm having abdominal surgery tomorrow, with a 24-48 hour stay after. So that should be fun. But I'm kind of approaching it from a premed "let's get some real patient empathy" standpoint. I can send in an app update about that, right? 🤣

(mostly kidding)
 
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ChopinLiszt said:
anyone see Star Wars? :biglove:

View attachment 226780

Also, I'm having abdominal surgery tomorrow, with a 24-48 hour stay after. So that should be fun. But I'm kind of approaching it from a premed "let's get some real patient empathy" standpoint. I can send in an app update about that, right? 🤣

(mostly kidding)
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I have tickets to see it Christmas Day - can't wait! (I'm such a Star Wars nerd - been in love with Mark Hamill since I was 8 yo)

Best wishes for your surgery tomorrow! I hope it goes smoothly & quickly and that you feel better ASAP. I had my gall bladder removed a number of years ago, and I couldn't believe how quickly I recovered - granted it was laparoscopic.

Anyway - I hope it goes well!
 
010344C9-1EE2-4769-A425-3B82E94116F5.gif
ChopinLiszt said:
anyone see Star Wars? :biglove: soooo good!

View attachment 226780

Also, I'm having abdominal surgery tomorrow, with a 24-48 hour stay after. So that should be fun. But I'm kind of approaching it from a premed "let's get some real patient empathy" standpoint. I can send in an app update about that, right? 🤣

(mostly kidding)
Click to expand...
 
Ah yes, the purists. May you never be as starved for entertainment and willing to watch without picking the latest movie apart. Movie franchises need angry viewers to keep them honest. Congrats on your third acceptance!
 
DBC03 said:
Hope you heal fast @ChopinLiszt- but not too fast so you have to help around the house this week. Maybe just fast enough so you feel good but still get out of household duties ...

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Thank you! You get it. Sorry guys, the doctor said no laundry or dishes for two months! :laugh:
 
So, there are a few groups of people in my life who I haven't told about my med school endeavor:
My parents and extended family
My coworkers

I wasn't sure if I'd get in or how far I'd get and only told people who I knew would be supportive and not ask a lot of anxious questions.

But now I feel stuck and unsure how to tell people. I don't want to now make them feel shut out of my life... Anyone have any advice, maybe having been in the receiving end of family news or having had to give news?

The only similar situation was when I had to tell people I was pregnant. That was awkward for me, too.....
 
@Hazel-rah said:
So, there are a few groups of people in my life who I haven't told about my med school endeavor:
My parents and extended family
My coworkers

I wasn't sure if I'd get in or how far I'd get and only told people who I knew would be supportive and not ask a lot of anxious questions.

But now I feel stuck and unsure how to tell people. I don't want to now make them feel shut out of my life... Anyone have any advice, maybe having been in the receiving end of family news or having had to give news?

The only similar situation was when I had to tell people I was pregnant. That was awkward for me, too.....
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I say wait until you graduate and be like "Surprise, I'm a doctor, people!" Haha

Really though, if you have a long term plan they can wrap their heads around, that could help - even if it's not what you end up doing. Like "I want to be a pediatrician and join a practice in a suburb" or "I'm going to be a plastic surgeon - pray for my soul." Haha ok I shouldn't post while I'm on dilaudid. Just tell them when you're ready and be confident.
 
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