5 W's- Am I out of the running?

[Leer]

So, I'll try to keep this pretty short. In the middle of the Fall semester (sophomore year) I started to develop an illness that was affecting my health and schoolwork (I don't really want to say what it is due to anonymity, but I can if needed).

I had to drop a science course and lab at the beginning of the semester, and I ended up taking a B in orgo. I enrolled the next semester, still extremely depressed about the events of the previous semester (lifelong illness) and I dropped out after the third week of school (horrendously stupid, I know) and I netted 3 W's, bringing my grand total to 5.

The max GPA I can get now is like a 3.96 so that should still be fine, but 5 W's is just... awful. I've never encountered someone with this many....

Realistically, if I keep my GPA high (3.8+), get a decent MCAT and have the extracurrics/letters, do I still have a shot? My main concern is that the main reason I dropped all courses was severe depression, not because of the illness I had (although it did affect my ability to perform well). I have no way to explain off the W's without saying "I was depressed and quit".

Any thoughts?

EDIT: The illness I have is a diagnosis of T2 diabetes. I'm young, underweight and active, not overweight or lazy.

EDIT2: The first courses I dropped (science class) I plan to repeat and do well in (I had an A when I dropped it, too bad they can't see that). The three courses I dropped next were all easy gen eds, I plan to retake 2 of them this summer and do well.

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[Pattycake25]

So, I'll try to keep this pretty short. In the middle of the Fall semester (sophomore year) I started to develop an illness that was affecting my health and schoolwork (I don't really want to say what it is due to anonymity, but I can if needed).

I had to drop a science course and lab at the beginning of the semester, and I ended up taking a B in orgo. I enrolled the next semester, still extremely depressed about the events of the previous semester (lifelong illness) and I dropped out after the third week of school (horrendously stupid, I know) and I netted 3 W's, bringing my grand total to 5.

The max GPA I can get now is like a 3.96 so that should still be fine, but 5 W's is just... awful. I've never encountered someone with this many....

Realistically, if I keep my GPA high (3.8+), get a decent MCAT and have the extracurrics/letters, do I still have a shot? My main concern is that the main reason I dropped all courses was severe depression, not because of the illness I had (although it did affect my ability to perform well). I have no way to explain off the W's without saying "I was depressed and quit".

Any thoughts?

EDIT: The illness I have is a diagnosis of T2 diabetes. I'm young, underweight and active, not overweight or lazy.

EDIT2: The first courses I dropped (science class) I plan to repeat and do well in (I had an A when I dropped it, too bad they can't see that). The three courses I dropped next were all easy gen eds, I plan to retake 2 of them this summer and do well.

You are absolutely, 100% fine. Yeah, it's a number of Ws, but you have a good excuse - don't forget, medicine is a profession of compassion, so no one will judge you for temporarily withdrawing from class if you come back strong. I don't think anyone could objectively say that your process for handling the diagnosis reflects poorly on your ability to practice medicine, which is the only other piece that matters. I don't think this will really hurt you at all, to be honest - you'll have to explain it, but if your record is otherwise great (which it needs to be to get into medical school regardless), I don't think it will concern anyone.

I'm sorry about your diagnosis, but you need not worry about it screwing you out of medical school. Pick yourself up, adjust to the dietary and lifestyle changes required, and continue on your trek to med school. =)

Edit: I didn't say this explicitly, but you called withdrawing 3 weeks in "stupid". It was the smartest thing you could have done. No one can blame you for overestimating your ability to so quickly recommit to academics at first, and you got out when you realized it was too soon. Ws are uncomfortable, but they're better than Cs or worse...

 

[Catalystik]

I didn't say this explicitly, but you called withdrawing 3 weeks in "stupid". It was the smartest thing you could have done. No one can blame you for overestimating your ability to so quickly recommit to academics at first, and you got out when you realized it was too soon. Ws are uncomfortable, but they're better than Cs or worse...

I agree. This was an excellent strategic move and I applaud that you were thinking clearly enough to see that.

1) Realistically, if I keep my GPA high (3.8+), get a decent MCAT and have the extracurrics/letters, do I still have a shot?

2) My main concern is that the main reason I dropped all courses was severe depression, not because of the illness I had (although it did affect my ability to perform well). I have no way to explain off the W's without saying "I was depressed and quit".

1) Definitely.

2) You can say you were adjusting to the demands of controlling your newly-diagnosed condition. A lot of detail isn't necessary, including the diagnosis, if you feel more comfortable being vague. This was a major life stress to which you were forced to adapt. It could be a good topic for a number of Secondary essay prompts.

 

[JustMeditate]

Both Catalysk and PattyCake25 are right. You didn't just get "depressed and quit," so don't say that, to adcoms or yourself. You overestimated your ability to adjust to both the physical and mental demands of a controllable, but recent, diagnosis. Once you realized this, you dropped out, and gave yourself time to recuperate. That was a smart move, because bad grades cannot be undone, and a C, D, or an F is almost always worse than a W. If your illnesses made you permanently depressed and, as a result, you continued to drop classes and do poorly, it could indicate a problem. But as along as you bounce back, no one will hold those W's against you, and you could even include the ordeal in a secondary essay or your personal statement if you wanted.

 

[flodhi1]

OP I'm pretty sure I had more Ws than that but then again I had a reasonable explanation and so do you.