Had the calling again. Please help.

[mazeroth]

---

Members do not see this ad.

This may get long but I need to let everything out and would greatly appreciate any feedback. If I sound arrogant in this post I really don't mean to but am confused and really need some honest input.

Rewind back to 1998 when I was a senior in high school. I opted to go to college full-time instead of high school and pursued a pre-med degree with a concentration in Biology with my girlfriend (now wife) who was a year older than me at the time. I was not into studying and was more into having a good time and pulled somewhere around a 3.2 off that year. My parents made me pay out of pocket for the next year of school and that's when I decided I needed to take some time off because I wasn't sure if I really wanted to be a doctor. My mother is an RN and tried talking me out of it all the time and I listened to everything she had to say, but was open minded in that maybe becoming a doctor would be a good choice for me. Well, I landed a great job for a 19 year-old making around $30k a year and needless to say I put going back to college off for a while.

Fast forward to today. I completed a few more semesters of college in between the last 8 years while also majoring in math and finally business. My brother got me into his company 4 years ago and I landed a job as a chemist (don't ask me how; I sold myself extremely well) and have been very unhappy with what I do, although I'm very good at it. I honestly feel like a total failure. I was the brightest student in my school, had super high expectations from everyone and now when I see what all my friends and family have done for themselves in the last 10 years it just kills me. Don't get me wrong, I am an extremely happy person and the woman I married is an absolute gem, it's just that I feel I've wasted the talent God has given me and I feel I need to do something about it.

Today, while at work, I had a very strong calling to get back in college and become the doctor I always wanted to be. My employer will pay 100% of my tuition for undergrad, which is fantastic, but once that's over I'm on my own (duh!). The problem I'm facing now is whether or not I'll be able to get into medical school. Here's why:

1998 - Bio concentration with a 3.2 GPA
1999 - Bio concentration with about half dropped classes and around a 2.6 GPA
2000 - Math major for 1 semester with 2 dropped classes (took 8 credit hours) with a 3.5 GPA
2003 - Business Information Systems Major (switched colleges) with 4 classes (14 semester hours) and a 3.5 GPA

I'm thinking I have roughly 50 credit hours that will transfer to Ohio State University for a Bio or other applicable pre-med program. I have no doubt in my mind I can pull a 3.8 - 4.0 GPA for the remaining 80 credit hours. The 3.0ish GPA I have now is the result of me showing up to class and listening. I would study, at the most, 1-2 hours before the test and get a B on average, having not studied or opened my book a second beforehand. If I were to actually apply myself (which I'm SO ready to do) I know I can ace almost every class thrown at me and finish up with a 3.5+ GPA. I scored a 32 on my ACT my sophomore year in high school without studying for the test; I'm very good at standardized tests so I'm hoping I can do well on the MCAT.

What I'm hoping I can accomplish is showing the medical schools I needed time to mature and I did. That I slacked off as a young student but found my passion and really stepped it up. This is why I'm writing all this gibberish! To find out if I stand a chance at getting into medical school after working my butt off for the next 2.5 to 3 years. I will still be working full-time as a chemist and taking classes after work and on weekends. To show the medical schools that I can pull that off and still carry an incredible GPA has to have some merit.

So, what do you all think? Am I wasting my time or if I do the aforementioned do I stand a chance at my dream? I would really love to get into the Ohio State University College of Medicine and would be finishing my undergrad at Ohio State as well. The first two colleges I attended aren't important but they are big schools as well. Well, I guess I'll end on that!

Thank you all very much for reading this and a thank you in advance for any input you can give me. Again, if I came across as arrogant I am very sorry. 😳

 

[Blade28]

OK, a little confusing but I think I get the gist.

So you have an approximately 3.0 GPA with 80 credit hours, have been working as a chemist, and are now wondering if you have a shot at med school?

If you really feel like you want to be a physician, I say go for it. You'll need to fulfill all the necessary pre-reqs, prepare for the MCAT, pull the GPA up, and get the necessary volunteering/shadowing/clinical experience. But you're still young and there's certainly no rush.

I would just caution you that working full-time and going to school only works in your favor IF you do well. If your grades are suffering, using the "I work full-time" excuse isn't going to work. At this point, your grades are most important if you want to be competitive for med schools.

If and when you do apply, please do so broadly and early - DO NOT just apply to OSU.

Best of luck!

 

[NeuroticPreMe]

Sounds like a very similar situation to my own. I am 28 with 2 kids and a wonderful wife. I too went to several undergrad institutions. When I decided to go back to school it was the toughest decision I have ever made. Not because I didn't know what I wanted to do, but rather due to the risks associated. I pulled the trigger and went for it full on. I have no regrets now that I am sitting on this side with an acceptance. So here are a few thing I learned along the way:

1) Know that with determination and patience you will become a doctor some day and never let your doubts sway you.

2) Know the 'why' inside and out. Without exception I was asked in my interviews to explain my past 'drifting' and why it is different now.

3) Score well on the MCAT (with your ACT you won't have a problem). To do this, take as many of the AMCAS practice tests as you can get your hands on and don't waste too much money on prep courses (speaking from experience).

4) Don't underestimate the power of EC's. The MCAT might get your foot in the door, but without great EC's (extra curriculars) you won't get past the ADCOM.

5) The interview is key, if you are good at explaining yourself and confident in your choice you will win them over.

6) In a nod to the last post, apply broadly. This is a crapshoot and the more school's you apply to the greater your chance of success. (I wish I had applied to some DO school's as a back-up. I would have had much less stress waiting for my first acceptance.)

7) Don't read SDN (without a healthy dose of skepticism anyway) it will drive you crazy and you can find a post to support or refute your point of view on just about any subject.

Hope this helped. I am 100% positive that you can do it if you want to. 😀

 

[AMMOPIG]

Hey, I say go for it. I don't have any experience whatsoever in the medical field and I too "got the calling again" out here in Iraq. I'll be seperating the Air Force and committing to pre-med for 2 years. I already have my schedule mapped out on Excel. My only reccommendation would be to get a copy of Med-School Confidential and read the whole thing. It answered most of my questions. Good Luck!

 

[gman33]

Your past academic history can be overcome. If you are going to go to school part-time while working, you will be quite a few years away from applying. Make sure you have the desire and focus to stick it out. Start volunteering as well to learn about medicine and to remind yourself why you are doing all of this.

Concentrate on your studies. Don't overextend yourself and try to get as many A's as possible. Pick a major you can enjoy and worry about completing that first. You've had a number of false starts in the past, so make sure you complete this one. Once you get done with the pre-reqs then start thinking about MCAT, applying, etc.

It can be done, but you have a long jouney ahead of you. Good luck.

 

[njbmd]

Your first task is to make a spreadsheet and figure out your uGPA. Once you have that information, you need to figure out if you are below average, average or above average for medical school matriculants (for 2007, average was around 3.6). The average also has been going up every year so keep that in mind too.

In short, you need to figure out if you need to do "damage control" or if you just need to make sure that you knowledge base from your pre-med courses is adequate for a very strong performance on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT).

In addition, you need to have strong, clinically related extracurricular activities and very solid letters of recommendation from professors who know you and your aptitude for medicine well.

In any given year, the odds of getting into any specific medical school will depend you your competitiveness versus the pool of applicants to that school. If you can get yourself into a very competitive range with you application materials, you stand a better chance of entry.

 

[Deanis]

Hey, I say go for it. I don't have any experience whatsoever in the medical field and I too "got the calling again" out here in Iraq. I'll be seperating the Air Force and committing to pre-med for 2 years. I already have my schedule mapped out on Excel. My only reccommendation would be to get a copy of Med-School Confidential and read the whole thing. It answered most of my questions. Good Luck!

I second that. That's exactly what I did before deciding to try to make the grind for med school (at the ripe old age of 29).

 

[thoffen]

I second that. That's exactly what I did before deciding to try to make the grind for med school (at the ripe old age of 29).

I'll third that. Got the book as a Christmas gift long after I applied, but it's still quite valuable. It goes far beyond the application process.

 

[iluvnerds]

Life is going to happen and time will pass, so you might as well be doing what you really want to do. Will it be easy? NO In the end, there's no time like the present to follow your dreams.

As for what to do...I would suggest...
*Talk to your wife and family about your decision to pursue your dream. Preparing and applying for med school is expensive, time consuming and take a great deal of patience and support!!!
*Seek out a good premed advisor, one who is familiar with nontraditional track and has a strong positive outlook, no naysayers.
*Research schools of interest b/c there are a very small few who may not require some of the usual stuff, like bachelors degree or MCAT.
*Check out volunteer opportunities in your area. You'd be surprised at what's out there.
*Another great book: The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson
*Last but not least! Stop comparing yourself to others. All that is happened in your life up to now can be used to make you an even better doctor. Too many MDs have zero life experience and therefore cannot truly relate to their patients or collegues.

All the best to you! 😳)

 

[vasc2]

Just wanted to kindly point out a contradiction in your post: you said you "feel like a total failure", but in the same paragraph you say you're an extremely happy person. Would it hurt to hear that perhaps this doesn't sound totally convincing? I mean it in the kindest possible way. You don't have to convince anyone that you're happy, if you're indeed not very happy, and it may even hurt you, if you manage to convince yourself, because that only leads you to put off the changes you need to make. Guess what I'm saying is that happy people generally don't describe themselves as feeling like total failures. Maybe you know why you feel this way and what you need to do about it - this coming from someone, you know, who's been there. I've gone after all the specific dreams I've had, and realized them all; thus, I believe it's doable for you too, and primarily a question of courage.

Didn't mean to get all philosophical, but... hope this helps some.