Well....Looks like Ohio University is the winner! I love the school, the CORE clinical opportunities seem to be awesome, and the location is great (cheap housing and safe for my family).
It's been such a long, stressful journey. It's definitely very challenging for an "old" person to gain admission to medical school, especially when the college degree and the professional background aren't exactly in the sciences.
I was so convinced I wouldn't be able to gain admission to any medical school in the US that I had accumulated huge amounts of internet research time and huge piles of brochures and viewbooks from all sorts of alternate programs: Medical schools in Spain, England, Australia, Ireland, the Caribbean (Ross, SGU, AUC, St. Luke's, and Saba) and UAG in Mexico. Also accelerated nurse practitioner programs all over the country and physician assistant programs in Wisconsin, Illinois and Florida.
It turns out I completely underestimated the "power" of a good DO LOR. I've known the DO that wrote my LOR for about four years or so. His secretary called me at work to tell me that the DO wanted her to read me the letter and see if I liked it or if I wanted anything changed. I was almost in tears after she finished! Not only was it an awesome LOR, it must have taken at least two pages or more.
The result: with a very unimpressive GPA (2.9 overall, 3.0 sciences) and an average MCAT (24), I received interview invitations from TCOM, AZCOM, KCOM, UNECOM, LECOM, NSU-COM, and OU-COM. I only interviewed at OU-COM and KCOM (accepted at both!) and declined all other interviews except NSU-COM (I'll most likely decline my Dec. interview). I was also waitlisted at the University of Wisconsin and declined an interview at Meharry Medical College. Not too shabby!
I strongly believe my unlikely success with the AACOMAS application process was due to the great LOR from my DO.
Moral of the story: don't give up the dream and definitely do all you can to get a great physician LOR. I started this crazy journey in 2000 and now I'm finally able to say I will be a medical student in 2004! 😍
(I think applying and being accepted to medical school is like having a strong urge to pee. You can hold it as long as you want, but when you're 5 feet away from the urinal all of a sudden you can't contain it any more. I've been able to contain it since 2000, but now that I'm accepted and so close to starting med school I can't stand it! I want to start now!)
It's been such a long, stressful journey. It's definitely very challenging for an "old" person to gain admission to medical school, especially when the college degree and the professional background aren't exactly in the sciences.
I was so convinced I wouldn't be able to gain admission to any medical school in the US that I had accumulated huge amounts of internet research time and huge piles of brochures and viewbooks from all sorts of alternate programs: Medical schools in Spain, England, Australia, Ireland, the Caribbean (Ross, SGU, AUC, St. Luke's, and Saba) and UAG in Mexico. Also accelerated nurse practitioner programs all over the country and physician assistant programs in Wisconsin, Illinois and Florida.
It turns out I completely underestimated the "power" of a good DO LOR. I've known the DO that wrote my LOR for about four years or so. His secretary called me at work to tell me that the DO wanted her to read me the letter and see if I liked it or if I wanted anything changed. I was almost in tears after she finished! Not only was it an awesome LOR, it must have taken at least two pages or more.
The result: with a very unimpressive GPA (2.9 overall, 3.0 sciences) and an average MCAT (24), I received interview invitations from TCOM, AZCOM, KCOM, UNECOM, LECOM, NSU-COM, and OU-COM. I only interviewed at OU-COM and KCOM (accepted at both!) and declined all other interviews except NSU-COM (I'll most likely decline my Dec. interview). I was also waitlisted at the University of Wisconsin and declined an interview at Meharry Medical College. Not too shabby!
I strongly believe my unlikely success with the AACOMAS application process was due to the great LOR from my DO.
Moral of the story: don't give up the dream and definitely do all you can to get a great physician LOR. I started this crazy journey in 2000 and now I'm finally able to say I will be a medical student in 2004! 😍
(I think applying and being accepted to medical school is like having a strong urge to pee. You can hold it as long as you want, but when you're 5 feet away from the urinal all of a sudden you can't contain it any more. I've been able to contain it since 2000, but now that I'm accepted and so close to starting med school I can't stand it! I want to start now!)
