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- Oct 29, 2015
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Hi everyone, I'm hoping you can help me out. I am definitely a non-traditional medical school applicant. I am graduating with my BS in Economics from Penn State next summer. Right now I have a 3.55, but I am working hard to pull my GPA up. I hope to have a 3.6-3.7 when I graduate. I am a mother to 4 children, and my husband is in the military (but getting out next summer). We currently live in Germany.
I have always wanted to be a doctor but I either doubted my abilities or it didn't make sense to go to medical school...we were young parents working all the time, school was difficult enough, and medical school didn't even seem attainable at the time. Now that I've talked to my husband about my desire (that has remained consistent for over 10 years now) to try to get into medical school, he completely supports me, even with all the long hours in school and beyond.
Since I am in Germany and my school options are limited, I have to wait until after I graduate and we get back to the states to take the medical school course requirements, which will be fall of next year. I am looking at a year and a half of course requirements, and then I am going to spend 4 months solely studying for the MCAT. I hope to apply by summer 2018.
Being a mother of 4, a student, and a military spouse, I haven't been afforded much time to spend on a lot of volunteer work. I plan to hopefully start volunteering at a hospital and shadowing a doctor when we get back to the states next year. Other than that, I don't have any volunteer work. I'm going to volunteer at the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society until we leave Germany because I had already planned to volunteer before considering medical school, but that obviously is not medical related.
The only thing I have that has been a constant in my life for the past few years (besides my family of course) is fitness. I love to exercise.
The questions I have are:
1. Should I even bother applying? I see that so many of you have research (don't know how I'd start that), perfect grades, tons of volunteer time, and some of you even have masters degrees.
2. If I should bother applying, what can make me more competitive?
3. If my husband has to take a job out here in Germany when he gets out of the military, would it make me more or less competitive to take my medical school course requirements at a German university?
Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide. I just want to make sure I don't waste my time.
I have always wanted to be a doctor but I either doubted my abilities or it didn't make sense to go to medical school...we were young parents working all the time, school was difficult enough, and medical school didn't even seem attainable at the time. Now that I've talked to my husband about my desire (that has remained consistent for over 10 years now) to try to get into medical school, he completely supports me, even with all the long hours in school and beyond.
Since I am in Germany and my school options are limited, I have to wait until after I graduate and we get back to the states to take the medical school course requirements, which will be fall of next year. I am looking at a year and a half of course requirements, and then I am going to spend 4 months solely studying for the MCAT. I hope to apply by summer 2018.
Being a mother of 4, a student, and a military spouse, I haven't been afforded much time to spend on a lot of volunteer work. I plan to hopefully start volunteering at a hospital and shadowing a doctor when we get back to the states next year. Other than that, I don't have any volunteer work. I'm going to volunteer at the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society until we leave Germany because I had already planned to volunteer before considering medical school, but that obviously is not medical related.
The only thing I have that has been a constant in my life for the past few years (besides my family of course) is fitness. I love to exercise.
The questions I have are:
1. Should I even bother applying? I see that so many of you have research (don't know how I'd start that), perfect grades, tons of volunteer time, and some of you even have masters degrees.
2. If I should bother applying, what can make me more competitive?
3. If my husband has to take a job out here in Germany when he gets out of the military, would it make me more or less competitive to take my medical school course requirements at a German university?
Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide. I just want to make sure I don't waste my time.