Dropout to Physics BS to MD developing a plan.

[triceraclops]

Hey All,

In april 2010 I finished a physics degree with department outstanding graduate award. My GPA is 3.9 physics, 3.57 overall and 3.23 non-science.I still need to go through the exercises of amcas gpa calculation. Unfortunately I screwed up my first semester of school and took Fs in 12 credits. Then I slowly developed steam. By the time I got into my major classes I did very well. In fact I only took one B in any physics class I took.

I became interested in medicine when my mom was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2007. She passed away in 2008. Being a high school drop out I was already doing well with my physics program and didn't want to change gears at the time as my situation was stressful enough. Ever since though it's been on my mind and I can't seem to shake it.

Fast forward to 2013 (I'm 27). I am married with a 2 year old and have a successful career as a software engineer / NAND technologist. I'm now trying to develop a 2 year course of action to determine if this is indeed right for me and my family.

Financially speaking this is something we can totally swing as my wife (who understands/supports my medschool pursuit) is a successful personal trainer. I also have some stock options which will cover about the first half of MD school.

I plan to begin shadowing doctors immediately so I ensure this is the correct thing to do. I have this spring semester to shadow and then I'll be starting O-chem this summer. The courses I need are as follows:

O-chem sequence
Biochem
cell biology
human genetics

I plan to take the MCATs summer 2014 and apply for school shortly after. I have previous summer research projects through my physics program. I also have research opportunity lined up with a Biomechanics professor doing lab work and or computational modeling. I am particularly short in volunteer work and patient care. It's something I intend to remedy over the next year and will obviously take considerable effort.

I guess the big catch here is I live in Utah, own a decent house and am not particularly interested in moving for medschool. Is applying to just University of Utah completely unreasonable. Should I even consider this much effort if I am unwilling to move?

Any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated!

cheers

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[gyngyn]

Is applying to just University of Utah completely unreasonable. Should I even consider this much effort if I am unwilling to move?

Applying to one school is not a plan consistent with success. No.

 

[triceraclops]

This is good to know. Talking with my wife it seems that the prospect of moving in two years is totally doable.

As I read more about careers in medicine I find it hilarious how well I fit the ortho stereotype... I'm a high school dropout with a 325 bench, 455 squat, and 555 deadlift :/

 

[akinetopsia]

This is good to know. Talking with my wife it seems that the prospect of moving in two years is totally doable.

As I read more about careers in medicine I find it hilarious how well I fit the ortho stereotype... I'm a high school dropout with a 325 bench, 455 squat, and 555 deadlift :/

But can you dunk, bro?

 

[notbobtrustme]

This is good to know. Talking with my wife it seems that the prospect of moving in two years is totally doable.

As I read more about careers in medicine I find it hilarious how well I fit the ortho stereotype... I'm a high school dropout with a 325 bench, 455 squat, and 555 deadlift :/

still need a killer board score to get ortho.

Remember, Step 1 + Bench > 600.

 

[triceraclops]

But can you dunk, bro?

Living in Utah replaces dunking with shredding pow... I think

 

[NontradCA]

But can you dunk, bro?

 

[triceraclops]

BRB Learning to dunk.

 

[GUH]

Figuring out your AMCAS GPA is going to help you here in determining exactly what you need to do to but it sounds like you have a solid plan. Med schools generally don't look at "non-science" GPA - they look at science (as defined by AMCAS or AACOMAS) and overall GPA.
Shadowing can be really informative in helping a person decide whether medicine is something they really want to do.
Univ. of Utah is very competitive from what I've heard.

 

[triceraclops]

Utah looks to be extremely competitive and have very high requirements. They actually require a non-science GPA > 3.2 which I'm dangerously close to. It's a bit frustrating that the U is so hard to get into. Going to medschool in Utah is a no brainer. Uprooting my family and renting out my house makes the decision much harder. I don't just live in Utah for work. I live here because world class of Snowbird, Moab, and Zion. My family is in UT as well. Moving for a residency is much more obvious. Moving for school OTOH...

I just got setup with to shadow an orthopedic surgeon. He's an associate professor at U of U. I'm really hoping I can shadow some surgeries. My next move is to find an anesthesiologist to shadow.

 

[kami333]

Doesn't help that they cut their class size from 100 to 80, when a couple months before they were talking about expanding it to 120 (back in 2009ish). And the next closest schools are 7+hrs away (CU and RVU). That's part of the reason I moved away from Utah, I wanted better odds than 500 applying for 60 instate seats. (I do miss it, I check Snowbird's snow report every day)

Nice thing is that if your app is ready to apply to the U, you're good to apply to most schools (excluding random pre-req classes).