Congratulations on beating the odds. I agree that our education system tends to favor those with means. A good place to start may be letting future applicants know your GPA, MCAT, and other demographic information. What were the biggest problems and failures that you encountered, and what resources did you utilize to overcome them? What do you wish to have done differently to avoid some of the mistakes that you made?
Thank you very much for the kind words, and great idea!
Undergrad: ~3.4, 2.7 sci (~3.8 overall last 80 credit hours). I started community college with a F in both remedial math and college success skills (I didn't know resigning was an option and was no longer attending class due to not having a place to live). Graduated with a psych + philosophy BA
Graduate school: 3.67 (MS)
MCAT: 495, 505
Interviews: 4 MD, only could afford to go to 1. Got in 5 days after my interview. Called it a day.
Problems/Failures: Almost too many to count. But here are a few that immediately come to mind:
1. Educational background. When I started CC, I tested at an 8th grade reading and 3rd grade math level. I passed my GED (barely, by luck) but it took me a long time to get into the swing of things. I never studied a day in my life prior to starting CC, so I was a complete novice. What helped me to bridge the gap, I feel, was philosophy (I began reading regularly) and finding a few great mentors.
2. Finances. The higher up you go in education, the more homogenous it becomes. I worked 2-3 jobs all through undergrad and graduate school. I always had to prioritize work over my education, which put me at a disadvantage. At the end of the day, I just realized that my life wasn't changing and I just had to find a way to make it work.
3. Graduate school rejection. When initially applying to graduate school, I was rejected. I was devastated. I felt like I wasted 6+ years on nothing. To gain entrance to graduate school, I knew that I would have to go back to CC to finish my prereq's and take some more sciences for a cheap price...I felt like I went right back to where I started and it just crushed me for a while. But I learned a bunch from that experience and for that I'm grateful.
-Like I said, my journey was very long and had lots of twists and turns. I could get up to #100 with enough time, but those were what immediately popped into my head.
To avoid some of the mistakes I made, I wish I would have sought out a physician advisor sooner. I received terrible (soul-crushing) advice from my premed advisor and classmates. No one in my family has an education and so I had no idea what to do. I refused to be told "no" so I just stopped listening to the advice I was receiving and just decided to go at it alone. I probably could have sped up my journey by a year or three if I would have found a physician sooner. Now my motto is "only listen to people who have done it".
