- Joined
- Dec 6, 2012
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
Hey SDN'ers. So basically here is a (very) condensed version of some of my experiences over the past few years. I didn't do exceptionally in undergrad (gpa about 3.0 overall). I had a lot of EC's, tons of job experience, and a lot of research and shadowing experience. I was a Psychology major and graduated in 2005. You can say I had an even number of A's, B's, and C's. I managed to get one D in Calc my final semester as a result of a ton of stress.
After this, I got into a post bacc program. Shortly after, I started experiencing one bomb in my life after another. And I don't mean one semester of being very ill or one experience. It happened to be two years of continuously unforeseen circumstances of a very serious and grave nature. Both my parents became *seriously* ill, their international business sank, we lost our home, I had a sick sibling, the death of a grandparent, death of a best friend, and a break up with my fiancee. Add a very horrible job situation for good measure. This includes other things I've not listed, not to mention the additional stressors that come with experiences like these.
I left the program with a couple C's, 2 D's, and an F in the basic courses. I had withdrawn from a couple courses and also managed to do this all while trying to retake them each semester. I attempted to take chemistry 3 times with a final grade of a C. Why did I retry so many times? Because the chronology of the events, and not being able to foresee the future obviously. Meaning as soon as one thing let up, the other would occur, so during the times of let up I thought I could try my classes again and simply continue. Was I ever wrong.
Needless to say I left before I could cause any more damage. During the four years I was gone, I worked in a Level one Trauma ER. The docs there all knew about my passion and experiences, and let me do amazing things. They were extremely encouraging and I was able to assist in a vast variety of extremely complex trauma cases. After this, I was accepted a job in a prestigious university as the lead research manager for a lab of post docs. During the four years, I've shadowed a ton of docs with promises of stellar LORs, gotten national recognition and certification for a non profit clinic I started for children in under served areas, have over 500 hours of hospital medical training (training RN's and allied staff), have attended numerous conferences aside physicians, and even done Trauma flight observation.
In addition to all of this, I purposefully used to schedule my shifts between 70-80 a week (there was lots of OT available throughout the hospital for clinical staff) on swing shifts and holiday rotations to make myself absolutely sure I wanted a career in medicine.
I spoke with the dean of my old program who basically said he had never heard of anyone in his 25 years in this field who would want to come back and complete the courses after leaving the "crime scene" in such bad shape... yeah. He also advised that even most DO schools would look unfavorably upon, or not give much amnesty for attempting to take a course over again (ie my failed attempts at chemistry 3x). I realize that it may look like poor decision making on my part, but I really had no way of telling that one crazy life incident was going to occur after the other.
Regardless, I cannot fathom doing anything else with my life. I've thought about a PhD, but I'm not sensing the same feeling of fulfillment at the moment (even though its a fantastic achievement to have). I'm over 30, single, and want to have a family some day, but I cannot fathom pursuing much else by the way of career. Add the logistics of starting a family with the entire pursuit as well... Although I've seen the success SDN'ers have had with that, and it doesn't really scare me as much as not pursuing my career in medicine.
At this point, I would have to do my premeds all over again, and start over completely, with a train wreck in tow.
I'm not sure whether or not I have a *legitimate* chance at it at this point. Of course, I could always try and see. But I realize I'm scraping for a lot with a pretty small shovel, and I'm wondering if the investment outweighs the benefits for an applicant like myself, seeing as how there would be more than simply just premed classes that I'd have to take to boost my gpa to even a moderately respectable level.
Any constructive advice appreciated.
-NH
After this, I got into a post bacc program. Shortly after, I started experiencing one bomb in my life after another. And I don't mean one semester of being very ill or one experience. It happened to be two years of continuously unforeseen circumstances of a very serious and grave nature. Both my parents became *seriously* ill, their international business sank, we lost our home, I had a sick sibling, the death of a grandparent, death of a best friend, and a break up with my fiancee. Add a very horrible job situation for good measure. This includes other things I've not listed, not to mention the additional stressors that come with experiences like these.
I left the program with a couple C's, 2 D's, and an F in the basic courses. I had withdrawn from a couple courses and also managed to do this all while trying to retake them each semester. I attempted to take chemistry 3 times with a final grade of a C. Why did I retry so many times? Because the chronology of the events, and not being able to foresee the future obviously. Meaning as soon as one thing let up, the other would occur, so during the times of let up I thought I could try my classes again and simply continue. Was I ever wrong.
Needless to say I left before I could cause any more damage. During the four years I was gone, I worked in a Level one Trauma ER. The docs there all knew about my passion and experiences, and let me do amazing things. They were extremely encouraging and I was able to assist in a vast variety of extremely complex trauma cases. After this, I was accepted a job in a prestigious university as the lead research manager for a lab of post docs. During the four years, I've shadowed a ton of docs with promises of stellar LORs, gotten national recognition and certification for a non profit clinic I started for children in under served areas, have over 500 hours of hospital medical training (training RN's and allied staff), have attended numerous conferences aside physicians, and even done Trauma flight observation.
In addition to all of this, I purposefully used to schedule my shifts between 70-80 a week (there was lots of OT available throughout the hospital for clinical staff) on swing shifts and holiday rotations to make myself absolutely sure I wanted a career in medicine.
I spoke with the dean of my old program who basically said he had never heard of anyone in his 25 years in this field who would want to come back and complete the courses after leaving the "crime scene" in such bad shape... yeah. He also advised that even most DO schools would look unfavorably upon, or not give much amnesty for attempting to take a course over again (ie my failed attempts at chemistry 3x). I realize that it may look like poor decision making on my part, but I really had no way of telling that one crazy life incident was going to occur after the other.
Regardless, I cannot fathom doing anything else with my life. I've thought about a PhD, but I'm not sensing the same feeling of fulfillment at the moment (even though its a fantastic achievement to have). I'm over 30, single, and want to have a family some day, but I cannot fathom pursuing much else by the way of career. Add the logistics of starting a family with the entire pursuit as well... Although I've seen the success SDN'ers have had with that, and it doesn't really scare me as much as not pursuing my career in medicine.
At this point, I would have to do my premeds all over again, and start over completely, with a train wreck in tow.
I'm not sure whether or not I have a *legitimate* chance at it at this point. Of course, I could always try and see. But I realize I'm scraping for a lot with a pretty small shovel, and I'm wondering if the investment outweighs the benefits for an applicant like myself, seeing as how there would be more than simply just premed classes that I'd have to take to boost my gpa to even a moderately respectable level.
Any constructive advice appreciated.
-NH
