Hey all, I'm in a very unique situation here. I've been thinking about applying to med school, and I'd be a non-traditional applicant. I have quite a few concerns, but I also have things going for me, so I'm not sure what my chances are. I'll go ahead and just tell the whole story here.
I was an awful student in high school, unmanaged ADHD & pretty serious mental health issues, ended up dropping out in the middle of my sophomore year. I do have a pretty extensive juvenile criminal record from ages 13-15, but all is sealed. I did get my GED, and immediately went into my first round of community college. I got my EMT certification and associates in social work, but graduated that first round with 1.92 GPA.
I was on a volunteer fire department and employed as an ED tech from age 16 to 18, then transferred within that hospital to psych tech & took a hiatus from the fire department. While I was working as a psych tech, this began my 2nd round of community college. Got my certification to be a surgical tech, GPA on that was 2.13...
Started working as a surgical tech full time, while also getting hired part time as an EMT in a busy urban 911 ambulance service. Took a brief hiatus as I had kids. That was from around ages 20-24, then my 3rd stint of community college. Got my certified first assist, GPA on that was 3.57. Significantly better. Also got to be involved in all sorts of cool stuff – ortho trauma, open hearts, da vinci cases, organ procurement, etc.
Immediately after that, went part time on my surg first assist stuff & left the ambulance service. Went through the police academy, started a bachelor's in conservation biology, and joined campus police. From age 25-27, I was a LEO/EMT for campus police while in school & part time for surg first assist. At 27, I left campus police and joined a nearby big city police department as a LEO/EMT. Stayed there until I was 29 & graduated with my bachelors, GPA 3.32, and went per diem on surgical first assisting.
Conservation officer/game warden + per diem surgical first assist from ages 29 to 30, had a pretty serious line of duty injury. Trauma oophorectomy & hysterectomy, bladder required repair, some bowel resection, fun stuff later.. left the game warden service.
Joined on a suburban police department. Patrol as an LEO/EMT for a year full time, did a 4th stint in community college for digital forensics & got my paramedic. GPA on that was 3.72.
At 32 was a full time patrol officer, rehired at the big city EMS agency as a paramedic part time. While at that PD I founded our digital forensics program, got promoted to detective in our family services unit. Transferred to our violent crimes & homicide unit. Got to Sgt. Briefly was the public relations officer. I'm 36, now am the assistant chief + director of EMS operations.
As far as other application stuff:
• I took the MCAT a couple years back, got a 494. Retook fairly recently, 504.
• I do have some decent LORs (one from a bio professor, one from an orthopedic surgeon, one from CV surgeon I worked with, one from an OMFS)
• I do have some publications, but nothing super crazy. Mostly non-medical, law enforcement journals. A couple okay bio pubs, one as a coauthor to our district wildlife biologist as a conservation officer. Then some paramedic case reports, a couple actually pretty cool.
Do I have a chance?
I was an awful student in high school, unmanaged ADHD & pretty serious mental health issues, ended up dropping out in the middle of my sophomore year. I do have a pretty extensive juvenile criminal record from ages 13-15, but all is sealed. I did get my GED, and immediately went into my first round of community college. I got my EMT certification and associates in social work, but graduated that first round with 1.92 GPA.
I was on a volunteer fire department and employed as an ED tech from age 16 to 18, then transferred within that hospital to psych tech & took a hiatus from the fire department. While I was working as a psych tech, this began my 2nd round of community college. Got my certification to be a surgical tech, GPA on that was 2.13...
Started working as a surgical tech full time, while also getting hired part time as an EMT in a busy urban 911 ambulance service. Took a brief hiatus as I had kids. That was from around ages 20-24, then my 3rd stint of community college. Got my certified first assist, GPA on that was 3.57. Significantly better. Also got to be involved in all sorts of cool stuff – ortho trauma, open hearts, da vinci cases, organ procurement, etc.
Immediately after that, went part time on my surg first assist stuff & left the ambulance service. Went through the police academy, started a bachelor's in conservation biology, and joined campus police. From age 25-27, I was a LEO/EMT for campus police while in school & part time for surg first assist. At 27, I left campus police and joined a nearby big city police department as a LEO/EMT. Stayed there until I was 29 & graduated with my bachelors, GPA 3.32, and went per diem on surgical first assisting.
Conservation officer/game warden + per diem surgical first assist from ages 29 to 30, had a pretty serious line of duty injury. Trauma oophorectomy & hysterectomy, bladder required repair, some bowel resection, fun stuff later.. left the game warden service.
Joined on a suburban police department. Patrol as an LEO/EMT for a year full time, did a 4th stint in community college for digital forensics & got my paramedic. GPA on that was 3.72.
At 32 was a full time patrol officer, rehired at the big city EMS agency as a paramedic part time. While at that PD I founded our digital forensics program, got promoted to detective in our family services unit. Transferred to our violent crimes & homicide unit. Got to Sgt. Briefly was the public relations officer. I'm 36, now am the assistant chief + director of EMS operations.
As far as other application stuff:
• I took the MCAT a couple years back, got a 494. Retook fairly recently, 504.
• I do have some decent LORs (one from a bio professor, one from an orthopedic surgeon, one from CV surgeon I worked with, one from an OMFS)
• I do have some publications, but nothing super crazy. Mostly non-medical, law enforcement journals. A couple okay bio pubs, one as a coauthor to our district wildlife biologist as a conservation officer. Then some paramedic case reports, a couple actually pretty cool.
Do I have a chance?
