- Joined
- Feb 19, 2016
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 47
As a guest on the SDN for several years, I browsed through the countless comeback stories as well as those who are still on this journey. I am happy to say that finally after more than a decade I have received acceptances to two medical schools along the West Coast (both allopathic, with another waitlist), and a few more acceptances to osteopathic medical schools across the country. If you are still on this long path, I believe it is possible for you to reach the mountain top if you are realistic with yourself and keep weekly track of your progress. Think of this journey as an overweight person looking to lose a considerable amount of weight. If you are NOT getting A's and the occasional B's in your classes, don't even bother wasting your time going down this difficult road. Similarly, if you are not eating healthy and sticking to disciplined exercise routines, there won't be any progress for achieving weight loss goals.
As an 18 year old college student, I attended several events hosted by a sorority which to this day is one of the biggest regrets of my life. The event that changed my life was a house party hosted by both a sorority and its associated fraternity. Not surprisingly, there were other guests including raucous high school seniors and friends of the hosts. I was naive, wanted to "fit in" and long story short, woke up the next morning in a bedroom in a disillusioned state of mind with a towel and very little clothing. I walked back to my dorm room disheveled and asked myself "what happened?" I tried explaining my situation to different administrators and staff within the University, but it ended up being a fruitless endeavor. Nothing was done to rectify the situation and even worse, word leaked of the events that night which led me to feel extremely hopeless and embarrassed. Instead of seeking a new and fresh start at a different University, I thought I could trudge through this mess and achieve respectable grades until graduation. This was another major mistake, where I ended up barely breaking 2.0 the first three years with nothing to show for my effort except a state of misery and depression, and a slew of C's across my record in my pre-med courses for the health professions. I then enrolled in upper division science courses for my major, where my GPA was further damaged due to my lack of foundation and knowledge. I failed to tell my parents (think strict, no nonsense type) and academic advisors of my situation which was another mistake. After 5 years and no degree nor any motivation, I was academically dismissed from the University with a 1.7 GPA, weighted at 120 units. Moving back home was extremely embarrassing, and I had nothing else to do but clarify the situation with my parents who were understandably shocked and disappointed - here comes their daughter who portrayed this image that everything was fine. After all, what else could they expect from a student who excelled in her AP courses (taking AP Physics and psychology with scores of 5's, BC Calculus with a score of 4), a 95%ile ranking in her graduating high school class, captain of her varsity soccer team and heavy involvement in after school activities. Thankfully, my parents and especially supportive siblings helped me through this extremely tough time. They encouraged me to dig deep and stick with my goal of becoming a physician. There was no point in looking back and dwelling in the past. I took a semester off, and enrolled in a local community college that accepts pretty much anyone looking for a new start, including high school and college dropouts like myself. Looking for any type of help, I searched online and found the Student Doctor Network to see if pursuing medicine was an attainable goal at all. Following the under 3.0 GPA thread as my main resource, I re-enrolled in all the pre-requisite courses required for medical school. It took me 40+ units weighted at a 4.00 GPA with some of my elective credits rolling over from my prior 4-year university. I left with an associate's in biology, which gave me some confidence moving forward as a 24 year old. This was probably the best thing that happened to me. My instructors at the community college level were extremely supportive and helpful during class and office hours. If you are trying to re-invent yourself, I highly recommend getting started at the CC level. Most of your instructors are paid to TEACH (as opposed to the 4 year instructors who are paid to do research). I then applied to a 4-year city college near my parents' residence, which afforded me the opportunity to work and enroll as a full-time student-commuter from home. I declared a biochemistry major, completing upper level courses with A and A- grades. I was able to get involved in a school club, go on some mission trips to South America and do some meaningful research with my Chemistry professor specializing in organometallics. It took me an additional 3 years to fulfill my requirements to graduate as a B.A., but I finally did it and left with a 3.9 GPA weighed at 90+ credits. Immediately after graduation, I studied for two months with Kaplan and EK resources in preparation for the MCAT which was essentially my make/break deal. The test itself is another difficult exam, and I left that room feeling hopeless. Seeing my score many weeks later, I thought it was a mistake. I saw 31 with a balanced distribution across the three sections. My stats on AMCAS were as follows: still a sub 3.0 GPA: 2.8/2.9 (but 3.9 science and undergrad GPA upward trend over the last 5 years), 31 MCAT, and AACOMAS recorded my GPA (with grade replacement) as 3.6. After submitting my application, I received a number of interview offers this past fall and just recently received my acceptances!
I am sure there are those of you that are struggling. It is absolutely imperative you have a clear plan and some sort of support group, whether it be your friends and family or an anonymous forum like the SDN. Is life fair to us all? Absolutely not. In fact, you will see people that get away with an incredible amount of utter **** which makes us question the system even more. Several of my high school classmates, known to be pompous and arrogant jerks, were summoned with harrassment, sexual abuse/bullying and theft records before the age of 18, and all seems to be forgiven after that when they turned it around and aced their college courses. One of them is in a highly competitive fellowship in surgery, while another just completed their residency in orthopedics. According to a mutual friend, they really have not changed their personality for the better - still brash and condescending. I always ask myself why it was me, who hasn't hurt others, always trying to do my best to dignify humanity with respect but being at the wrong place at the wrong time, will end up with a late start to my career just because of some earlier grades on my record while others with criminal records at "the right time" will most likely have blossoming careers in medicine. I could keep telling myself what comes around goes around to everyone, or I can just focus on moving forward which is the wiser path. It is the way the system goes and the best thing to do is focus on yourself, learning how to play the game while ignoring the noise on the outside. Good luck to you all, both fellow pre-meds and medical students on this forum.
As an 18 year old college student, I attended several events hosted by a sorority which to this day is one of the biggest regrets of my life. The event that changed my life was a house party hosted by both a sorority and its associated fraternity. Not surprisingly, there were other guests including raucous high school seniors and friends of the hosts. I was naive, wanted to "fit in" and long story short, woke up the next morning in a bedroom in a disillusioned state of mind with a towel and very little clothing. I walked back to my dorm room disheveled and asked myself "what happened?" I tried explaining my situation to different administrators and staff within the University, but it ended up being a fruitless endeavor. Nothing was done to rectify the situation and even worse, word leaked of the events that night which led me to feel extremely hopeless and embarrassed. Instead of seeking a new and fresh start at a different University, I thought I could trudge through this mess and achieve respectable grades until graduation. This was another major mistake, where I ended up barely breaking 2.0 the first three years with nothing to show for my effort except a state of misery and depression, and a slew of C's across my record in my pre-med courses for the health professions. I then enrolled in upper division science courses for my major, where my GPA was further damaged due to my lack of foundation and knowledge. I failed to tell my parents (think strict, no nonsense type) and academic advisors of my situation which was another mistake. After 5 years and no degree nor any motivation, I was academically dismissed from the University with a 1.7 GPA, weighted at 120 units. Moving back home was extremely embarrassing, and I had nothing else to do but clarify the situation with my parents who were understandably shocked and disappointed - here comes their daughter who portrayed this image that everything was fine. After all, what else could they expect from a student who excelled in her AP courses (taking AP Physics and psychology with scores of 5's, BC Calculus with a score of 4), a 95%ile ranking in her graduating high school class, captain of her varsity soccer team and heavy involvement in after school activities. Thankfully, my parents and especially supportive siblings helped me through this extremely tough time. They encouraged me to dig deep and stick with my goal of becoming a physician. There was no point in looking back and dwelling in the past. I took a semester off, and enrolled in a local community college that accepts pretty much anyone looking for a new start, including high school and college dropouts like myself. Looking for any type of help, I searched online and found the Student Doctor Network to see if pursuing medicine was an attainable goal at all. Following the under 3.0 GPA thread as my main resource, I re-enrolled in all the pre-requisite courses required for medical school. It took me 40+ units weighted at a 4.00 GPA with some of my elective credits rolling over from my prior 4-year university. I left with an associate's in biology, which gave me some confidence moving forward as a 24 year old. This was probably the best thing that happened to me. My instructors at the community college level were extremely supportive and helpful during class and office hours. If you are trying to re-invent yourself, I highly recommend getting started at the CC level. Most of your instructors are paid to TEACH (as opposed to the 4 year instructors who are paid to do research). I then applied to a 4-year city college near my parents' residence, which afforded me the opportunity to work and enroll as a full-time student-commuter from home. I declared a biochemistry major, completing upper level courses with A and A- grades. I was able to get involved in a school club, go on some mission trips to South America and do some meaningful research with my Chemistry professor specializing in organometallics. It took me an additional 3 years to fulfill my requirements to graduate as a B.A., but I finally did it and left with a 3.9 GPA weighed at 90+ credits. Immediately after graduation, I studied for two months with Kaplan and EK resources in preparation for the MCAT which was essentially my make/break deal. The test itself is another difficult exam, and I left that room feeling hopeless. Seeing my score many weeks later, I thought it was a mistake. I saw 31 with a balanced distribution across the three sections. My stats on AMCAS were as follows: still a sub 3.0 GPA: 2.8/2.9 (but 3.9 science and undergrad GPA upward trend over the last 5 years), 31 MCAT, and AACOMAS recorded my GPA (with grade replacement) as 3.6. After submitting my application, I received a number of interview offers this past fall and just recently received my acceptances!
I am sure there are those of you that are struggling. It is absolutely imperative you have a clear plan and some sort of support group, whether it be your friends and family or an anonymous forum like the SDN. Is life fair to us all? Absolutely not. In fact, you will see people that get away with an incredible amount of utter **** which makes us question the system even more. Several of my high school classmates, known to be pompous and arrogant jerks, were summoned with harrassment, sexual abuse/bullying and theft records before the age of 18, and all seems to be forgiven after that when they turned it around and aced their college courses. One of them is in a highly competitive fellowship in surgery, while another just completed their residency in orthopedics. According to a mutual friend, they really have not changed their personality for the better - still brash and condescending. I always ask myself why it was me, who hasn't hurt others, always trying to do my best to dignify humanity with respect but being at the wrong place at the wrong time, will end up with a late start to my career just because of some earlier grades on my record while others with criminal records at "the right time" will most likely have blossoming careers in medicine. I could keep telling myself what comes around goes around to everyone, or I can just focus on moving forward which is the wiser path. It is the way the system goes and the best thing to do is focus on yourself, learning how to play the game while ignoring the noise on the outside. Good luck to you all, both fellow pre-meds and medical students on this forum.
