Cop to MD, help me chart my path

[Deputy2MD]

I apologize as this will be a lengthy post, but I have a tale to tell, and hope to get some sound advice.

I am a 30 year old Police Officer from Reno, Nevada. I began college when I was 18 as a premed, did well in some classes, terrible in others (ahem, D in Ochem, but her I got an A and B+ in calc 1 and 2). When the dust settled I graduated with a BS in Economics and did one semester of an MS in Econ program before dropping out to cease putting off the real world.

I made a very mature decision when I was 23, just before I graduated, and decided I would make an awful Physician at that age. No life experience out of schooling, hadn't so much as lost a grandparent. The thought of trying to relate to a real human being in a Doctor/Patient relationship was.....silly, when I sat back and thought about it. My interest in medicine came from a genuine interest in science, a desire to help others, but also a desire for the prestige of the title, and an overt influence by medical TV shows. Quite frankly most young applicants are very dishonest with themselves about the influence of the latter elements.... in my humble opinion. But I digress.

So, I became a Police Officer, working in a corrections setting regularly with the mentally ill (which I believe reignited an interest in medicine, at a slow simmer, in the back of my head). I cycled out to Patrol and was exposed to an absolute deluge of those revered "life experiences"...... many of which I could have gone a lifetime without having to see.

This year my wife and I had a baby, unfortunately she was born with Stage 4 bilateral hydronephrosis. She is now on peritoneal dialysis administered at home by yours truly. This will continue until she gets a kidney transplant, hopefully before age two.

These experiences have changed things. I no longer care about prestige or drama, I care about the medicine and the science, and its application. The script has been flipped from my younger years. I want to become either a pediatric nephrologist, a pediatric surgeon or an ER doc (life has taught me to have backup plans).

Many premed courses were completed years ago, I will be returning to take 1 or 2 classes per semester of additional prereqs. Notably, retake Anatomy and Phys 1 and Ochem 1, plus the second semesters of both and additional upper level Bio coursework.

My wife needs to finish her Speech Pathology program before I can begin. That puts my desired matriculation year around 4 years out, I'll be 35. That will give me 10 years as an officer and I will be eligible to retire, giving me about $2,000 per month income to pay the mortgage with I'm in school.

-I have a 3.0cGPA with 210 credits. Science gpa is unknown. I do have retakes on my transcripts, so my AMCAD gpa is very likely sub 3.0
-PostBacc seems like a good idea.
-I must go to University of Nevada School of Medicine, my alma mater.
-Worked 6 years as a pharmacy tech throughout college.

I do hope 10 years removed from college with my story, as well as doing what I need to do for a 4.0 PostBacc and high MCAT, will get the job done.


I probably forgot a thing or two, this is taking forever to type on my phone, but please ask questions and give any advice. I'm a thick skinned cop, no Mickey Mouse glove required


Thanks in advance for your time.

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[reaction mechanisms]

You have a compelling story and a sound plan. It appears you have reinvented yourself since your undergraduate years. Just aim for a 4.0 in your postbacc and you should be good. Kill the MCAT and get some volunteering and shadowing hours in there. Best of luck.


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[esob]

I apologize as this will be a lengthy post, but I have a tale to tell, and hope to get some sound advice.

-I must go to University of Nevada School of Medicine, my alma mater.

Thanks in advance for your time.

It is unrealistic to limit your med school choice to one school. If you had a perfect GPA and a 525 MCAT there still is a good chance you wouldn't get in to any given school. You need to somehow work into your plan that you will have to move for medical school or accept the fact that you are willing to put forth the effort to apply and likely not get accepted. There is no rhyme or reason sometimes to why schools don't accept applicants that are clearly above their medians but it happens 100% every cycle to every candidate. Schools that people should have easily gotten into fail to even send them II's and schools that were hail Mary, 1 in million shots, they get full rides at.

 

[Deputy2MD]

It is unrealistic to limit your med school choice to one school. If you had a perfect GPA and a 525 MCAT there still is a good chance you wouldn't get in to any given school. You need to somehow work into your plan that you will have to move for medical school or accept the fact that you are willing to put forth the effort to apply and likely not get accepted. There is no rhyme or reason sometimes to why schools don't accept applicants that are clearly above their medians but it happens 100% every cycle to every candidate. Schools that people should have easily gotten into fail to even send them II's and schools that were hail Mary, 1 in million shots, they get full rides at.

Oh I hear ya, and that has crossed my mind.
My number one best odds MD program I do believe is University of Nevada for the following reasons.
-They have an extraordinary preference for in-state. Almost all in-state applicants make it to the interview stage.
-My goals are in-line with their goals, particularly in that I intend to stay local post-residency.

Now that being said, my daughters care is being done down at Stanford, which means if not Reno then somewhere in the Bay Area would be great. I mean hey Stanford is totally in my realm of possibility (lol).

But in all seriousness, I really would like to stay nearby, however I am open to attending Med School somewhere in or around San Francisco. Of course I would be willing to explore DO as well, my only concern would be if attending a DO program would make me less competitive for my desired residency programs.

I also have research desires that I would like my program to allow me to explore. Particularly urological surgery on a fetus still in the womb.

 

[esob]

Oh I hear ya, and that has crossed my mind.
My number one best odds MD program I do believe is University of Nevada for the following reasons.
-They have an extraordinary preference for in-state. Almost all in-state applicants make it to the interview stage.
-My goals are in-line with their goals, particularly in that I intend to stay local post-residency.

Now that being said, my daughters care is being done down at Stanford, which means if not Reno then somewhere in the Bay Area would be great. I mean hey Stanford is totally in my realm of possibility (lol).

But in all seriousness, I really would like to stay nearby, however I am open to attending Med School somewhere in or around San Francisco. Of course I would be willing to explore DO as well, my only concern would be if attending a DO program would make me less competitive for my desired residency programs.

I also have research desires that I would like my program to allow me to explore. Particularly urological surgery on a fetus still in the womb.

As a parent who has cared for two special needs kids in a couple different parts of the country over, I feel confident in telling you that there is a high probability of finding good medical care for your child wherever you go. Now, I would ofc look toward the major metropolitan areas because of the bigger medical centers but definitely don't limit yourself to just two or three schools, particularly Cali schools, as they are already notoriously hard to get into. You are also likely correct that UON is your best shot, but it is still likely a long shot. The only data I could find suggested a 12% acceptance rate. Even with your in-state preference (one would assume a majority of their applicants are in-state) the counterbalance of your GPA and/or age discrimination means your chances will still hover somewhere around that number. Betting your entire life including years of education and lost income, lost time with your family, etc, on a < 1:5 shot doesn't make good sense.

FWIW, D.O. will not limit you in applying for Peds or EM, so that's not an issue. I would strongly encourage you to expand your criteria to any D.O. schools that are located in major metropolitan areas. If you do, and then proceed to ace your post-bac you should be in a good position to gain acceptance somewhere, as your back story is significantly more interesting than "I played xbox and was a GPA robot while living off of daddy's money for 4 years"

 

[mfscproject]

I apologize as this will be a lengthy post, but I have a tale to tell, and hope to get some sound advice.

I am a 30 year old Police Officer from Reno, Nevada. I began college when I was 18 as a premed, did well in some classes, terrible in others (ahem, D in Ochem, but her I got an A and B+ in calc 1 and 2). When the dust settled I graduated with a BS in Economics and did one semester of an MS in Econ program before dropping out to cease putting off the real world.

I made a very mature decision when I was 23, just before I graduated, and decided I would make an awful Physician at that age. No life experience out of schooling, hadn't so much as lost a grandparent. The thought of trying to relate to a real human being in a Doctor/Patient relationship was.....silly, when I sat back and thought about it. My interest in medicine came from a genuine interest in science, a desire to help others, but also a desire for the prestige of the title, and an overt influence by medical TV shows. Quite frankly most young applicants are very dishonest with themselves about the influence of the latter elements.... in my humble opinion. But I digress.

So, I became a Police Officer, working in a corrections setting regularly with the mentally ill (which I believe reignited an interest in medicine, at a slow simmer, in the back of my head). I cycled out to Patrol and was exposed to an absolute deluge of those revered "life experiences"...... many of which I could have gone a lifetime without having to see.

This year my wife and I had a baby, unfortunately she was born with Stage 4 bilateral hydronephrosis. She is now on peritoneal dialysis administered at home by yours truly. This will continue until she gets a kidney transplant, hopefully before age two.

These experiences have changed things. I no longer care about prestige or drama, I care about the medicine and the science, and its application. The script has been flipped from my younger years. I want to become either a pediatric nephrologist, a pediatric surgeon or an ER doc (life has taught me to have backup plans).

Many premed courses were completed years ago, I will be returning to take 1 or 2 classes per semester of additional prereqs. Notably, retake Anatomy and Phys 1 and Ochem 1, plus the second semesters of both and additional upper level Bio coursework.

My wife needs to finish her Speech Pathology program before I can begin. That puts my desired matriculation year around 4 years out, I'll be 35. That will give me 10 years as an officer and I will be eligible to retire, giving me about $2,000 per month income to pay the mortgage with I'm in school.

-I have a 3.0cGPA with 210 credits. Science gpa is unknown. I do have retakes on my transcripts, so my AMCAD gpa is very likely sub 3.0
-PostBacc seems like a good idea.
-I must go to University of Nevada School of Medicine, my alma mater.
-Worked 6 years as a pharmacy tech throughout college.

I do hope 10 years removed from college with my story, as well as doing what I need to do for a 4.0 PostBacc and high MCAT, will get the job done.


I probably forgot a thing or two, this is taking forever to type on my phone, but please ask questions and give any advice. I'm a thick skinned cop, no Mickey Mouse glove required


Thanks in advance for your time.

You have a lot of compelling stories under your belt. While I agree that you should not limit your school options to a few, I think you should focus more on your MCAT and GPA. Thus, PostBacc is a must. Pre-meds typically apply to at least 10 schools, so expanding your search, including DO programs, is worth a shot. As you already know, you should also have Plan B, Plan C, and so on if you really want to get into medical school. It's also a good mindset to "do Plan A like there's no Plan B."

Reading your post, I see that you have a genuine source of motivation, use that and fuel it.

Have you looked into Army scholarships? I am not affiliated with any AMEDD recruiters but as a veteran and nontraditional applicant (I fix helicopters), I think this is a good option to consider.

 

[aprilk85]

Best of luck to you! I am also trying for a career change into medicine with some obstacles, so I get the stress.

 

[cellsaver]

Best of luck to you! I am also trying for a career change into medicine with some obstacles, so I get the stress.

As my sister-in-law used to say, "obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off of the prize".

For OP: I will keep your daughter in my prayers.

Man Plans, and God Laughs" | Psychology Today

“Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht” is an old Yiddish adage meaning, “Man Plans, and God Laughs.” Despite our most careful planning, the Road of Life is unpredictable. We might have driving and destination strategies but scenic new vistas might beckon us or unforeseen roadblocks can deter us.

Our best-laid plans in life can be upended by unexpected changes, which could be either disappointing or exhilarating. Personal or other setbacks, losses of loved ones, illnesses or accidents, broken hearts or tortured souls, are not uncommon occurrences in our lives. On the other hand, fate can provide unanticipated good fortune or heartening experiences"​

When God closes a door He opens a window. I have found this to be very true.

 

[QofQuimica]

OP, you sound like you would be a stellar candidate if you had the stats to go with that story. I agree with you that doing a post bac or SMP is necessary given your low previous GPA. I also suggest that you reach out to the U of NV admissions office now to tell them of your interest and find out what else they suggest you do to make your future app there as strong as possible. In addition, find out if they have an early decision program (this info may be available on their website). Be aware that ED candidates are generally expected to be well above average compared to the general applicant pool, assuming the school even has an ED program. In addition, applying ED does put you at a disadvantage for general applications if you are not successful with your ED bid since your app to all other schools will be late. But for a guy like you who has a compelling reason to attend a specific school and (hopefully) a strong app after the post bac, ED could be a good option. It's worth looking into at least.