3.3 GPA, 500 MCAT, no extracurriculars/letters of rec

[CabbageNoodles]

I've been suffering from OCD and major depression for six years. They've been making it difficult to feel motivated or do much. I've been getting lots of help, from antidepressants and therapy to ECT and TMS. But honestly, nothing has really worked. I still want to get into medicine. But my folder doesn't look great.

Do you think I should go to another college and start all over again? Focus on improving my mental health? The thing is, I don't know when (or if) I'll ever feel better. I'm currently enrolled in a clinical trial, and looking to join others.

Any help is appreciated, I mean it.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[gyngyn]

Do you think I should go to another college and start all over again? Focus on improving my mental health?

The transcripts from every school must be submitted (even if you "start over").
Your academics from undergrad are quite weak and if the weakness was sustained over time, it will take a sustained period of academic excellence to dispel concern.
Until you have a sustained period of well-being, the odds of academic excellence are remote.

There are many ways to be of service, even while you continue to work on your mental health.

 

[theoceanman]

This is my opinionated suggestion:

You should work on your mental health. I make it sound easy but it’ll be the one thing that’ll truly help you succeed academically, socially, and later on, if you so choose, in medicine.

Your lower GPA and MCAT are indicators that you are not performing at your best and I believe finding a way to prove that you “reinvented yourself” is the only way these shortcomings in your journey into medicine can be fulfilled. You will have to push yourself even further in medical school and you may become even more mentally unwell due to the high academic stress load you have to endure during this time. Getting into the right state of mind is the first step I would take.

 

[CabbageNoodles]

Thank you, @gyngyn and @aquafied. I agree: focusing on my mental health is the most important thing. Even if I got admitted into medical school, to still be sick in an environment more difficult than college is only going to make me feel worse. It just hurts to work on something for so long, only to see yourself not realizing it. I think I need more help.

 

[gyngyn]

It just hurts to work on something for so long, only to see yourself not realizing it.

Medicine is a demanding mistress. She can chew a person up and spit them out.
Your best self has much to offer. You can find a way to be of service that does not consume you.