Am I “cooked” for med school? Seeking advice.

[dreamingabyss]

I’ve had a non-traditional path and would love to get some honest feedback on my chances for med school, especially given my goal to become a psychiatrist.

In high school, I struggled academically due to diagnosed (but untreated) ADHD and a chronic migraine disorder. Despite these challenges, I attended community college where my grades were mediocre. However, I transferred to UMass Lowell and graduated with a 3.6 GPA in Psychology and Philosophy. During my time there, I worked as a research assistant for two years, which deepened my interest in mental health and behavior. I went out of my way to take difficult coursework, including graduate-level courses during my undergraduate education.

After graduation, I completed a 500-hour internship in the marine mammals department at the New England Aquarium, applying my background in behaviorism. I briefly pursued an MS in Applied Behavioral Analysis, earning straight A’s, but left the program after one semester as I realized it wasn’t my long-term career goal.

I transitioned into business to make ends meet, leveraging my skills in statistical analysis and research methodology, where I excelled and was promoted quickly. I also took some business courses, but I struggled with a few undergraduate pre-requisites, receiving three C’s due to lack of interest. However, in the graduate business courses, I performed much better, earning 3 A’s and one B. Notably, I earned A’s in all four of the science-related graduate courses between the ABA and business program.

Currently, I am trying to get on the pre-med track. I took Chemistry I and lab last semester and earned A’s, and I’m on track for A’s in Chemistry II and lab this semester. Starting next semester, I plan to take a full course load, including organic chemistry, biology, genetics, and calculus. Additionally, I am in communication with a local hospital about volunteering in a clinical setting. I am more determined than ever and have found that I am much more diligent student now that I am 29-years old and have a clearer picture of what I want.

My concern is that my cumulative undergraduate GPA is around a 3.0 because med schools factor in retaken courses (from community college) and the C’s from my business pre-requisites. However, my more recent academic performance in both graduate-level courses and science classes has been strong.

Given this mix of grades and career paths, do I still stand a chance of getting into med school, particularly with an interest in psychiatry? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'm also considering a post-bacc pre-med program at my current school, since it offers a committee letter.

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[Faha]

You should receive interviews as long as your sGPA is over 3.0 and your MCAT is at least 500. You would need a MCAT of 508 + to have a chance at some MD schools. I would suggest not taking a semester where you take organic chemistry, biology, genetics and calculus. Organic chemistry is the most difficult pre-med course so take that separately from the other courses and not at the same time.

 

[Crayola227]

Honestly your academic and work history was kinda reading like someone with ADHD who got bored - I read some stat that the average American will change careers like 5 or some other number, but...

It's fine that people have explored many different career paths before med school, makes you well rounded as a candidate, and that you have explored other pathways and may have a better picture of what you want.

You will need to show laser focus on medicine though at this point. The committee needs to feel confident that not only are you going to get through just the almost decade of rigorous instruction and training, but that you will continue past that in a way that uses that training. You need to show you are wedded to medicine for 20 years. You can't switch specialties easily at all in medicine either. You need to show you will not get bored.

Lots of docs have ADHD, but I hope you have it well under control, and understand how it can pose challenges in didactics, exams, and training and are prepared to cope. Med school can break the most neurotypical focused hardworking folks. People with ADHD so mild the diagnosis was something passing in elementary school that it was almost grown out of, who actually never had academic challenge they couldn't cope with 100% before med school, med school can be the point where they truly struggle for the first time in their lives. So knowing this and the struggle you have had before med school, for yourself be sure you can manage this, and your record needs to show this to the committee moving forward.

So be controlled. Know what you are getting into. Show that this is under control and that you are now seeking a permanent marriage to a difficult career.

For this, you should have at least one clinical extracurricular (better if more) that you maintain for at least a year, preferably longer. I was able to shadow a psychiatrist for at least 2 years (and sit in on many sessions with patient permission) and my post history discusses how I handled this if you want to search for that. Given your interest in MH, this would make sense for you. It also leaves enough space in your schedule for other activities like hospital volunteering, scribing, MA, etc. But there were a lot of advantages to shadowing the psychiatrist.

OK, so ADHD control, check. We discussed extracurriculars and needing to show as much continuity and some diversity there. Goro talks more about making sure these activities really show you can work with challenging populations directly and not just "observing."

So moving onto coursework. You have enough pre-reqs before you to show you are a changed person and can academically achieve at the level you need to. You need rows and rows of As, few Bs, and almost no Cs. I only had 1 C in like 6.5 years of college (I had a minor and almost a double major, between those and pre-reqs I almost had enough credits for 2 bachelor degrees, people always ask why I was in college so long lol) and 1 F, and 2 Ws. I had a fair number of Bs, but that was as a chem major and only in upper division chem like P Chem and upper division math like diffy Q. I was always asked about the F at all my interviews although it was clearly more checkboxing about it rather than a big deal. Why am I discussing my own record in detail? I just want you to get a sense of where you need to be. You need more As than Bs moving forward, and the Bs better not be in courses that As can reasonably be expected, like lower division gen chem or any humanity.

Agree with the last poster. Be careful how you plan out your next 2-3 years of schooling. I mean really careful. Make sure you pour over the policies at the school to make sure you don't fall into some issue where a class is only given with lab Spring term and it throws it all off and you have too many "mega-terms." You want to make sure you are showing rigor each term, but balance it so you aren't packing a term/semester with too much and do crappy in everything hard that matters.

I don't mean to discourage you about your diagnoses or record. You can totally do this, but it will take showing commitment over time, longevity and focus, rigor, and a very excellent academic record moving forward. Quality over quantity in activities, especially ones that show you are not only watching the sausage being made in the grind of medicine, but that you are getting into your elbows in the filth of humanity.

I wish you luck. SDN is a great tool. Don't let negativity here get you down, but you know consider the bad, the struggle, and how you can move forward.

 

[Goro]

Read this:

• Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

 

[dreamingabyss]

You should receive interviews as long as your sGPA is over 3.0 and your MCAT is at least 500. You would need a MCAT of 508 + to have a chance at some MD schools. I would suggest not taking a semester where you take organic chemistry, biology, genetics and calculus. Organic chemistry is the most difficult pre-med course so take that separately from the other courses and not at the same time.

I appreciate the response. I'm definitely not planning on taking those all in the same semester. I'm planning on taking pre-calculus 2 in the winter and organic chemistry and biology 2 in the spring, so I can spread it out. After some re-calculation using the Mappd tool, I've realized that my GPA is quite a bit higher than I initially thought, and the trend is very sharply upwards over time.