Hi everyone, I just want opinions / advice / encouragement since all of this has been on my mind but I can't disclose this information to everyone I meet.
I have a 3.4 GPA from a top tier non-Ivy undergrad (finance/business) and went straight into healthcare consulting for 2 years post grad. Struggled with severe mental illness in college and still recovering. My undergrad transcript reflects this -- a couple semesters with 3.9s taking 18 credits and a few 3.1s while taking like 12 credits. I'm an inconsistent person when it comes to my mental health/academics and I think my records reflect that. From a family of emergency medicine physicians (both parents and my sister), got to focus on preventative/primary care including policy for providers while in consulting and thats both my professional interest and incorporated into my personal statement (or will be). In high school, I was accepted into an early assurance premed program at a mediocre school but purposely chose business at a top tier school for both the challenge and because, in all honesty, I did not appreciate healthcare at all or the way its run -- I was raised with a "if its not broken dont fix it" emergency medicine mindset - again, in my personal statement.
I did my 12-18mo post bacc (including MCAT) at University of Washington and will finish somewhere between a 3.8-3.9 for my science GPA (3.5-3.6 cumulative GPA) and during that time I did 4months of pro bono consulting work. I have made the personal/professional decision NOT to apply this summer for a few reasons:
1. I'm inconsistent. I realize that. My science GPA (all at UW) was between 3.5-3.6 my first few months as I readjusted to the college environment that had produced numerous panic/anxiety attacks for me in undergrad, and while handling the pro bono project I was doing. The rest of my quarters are 3.8-4.0s, but last quarter I had a mix of physical illness/panic attack the week of finals (I was in 17 credits=> physics, bio, biochem and organic chemistry) and will have "Incompletes" indicated on my transcript even after I make-up those finals (this March and this December). Im in counseling and plan to take overtime credits (15-18) this summer as my last quarter and I know Im capable of achieving a 4.0.
2. I would like to work professionally for 2 years until 2020 matriculation and currently have an offer to return to strategy consulting as well as an offer from a healthcare venture firm. I get to "shadow" executive physicians as well as practicing clinicians at my clients, which is awesome. These offers are in California, where I would establish residency for UC school applications.
3. I would like to take 5 credits a quarter the next several quarters while working full time to potentially raise my GPA and show that I'm consistently doing well. I did this for 1 quarter while in consulting to start my post bacc and actually feel like it made me work harder (I got an A in that course)
4. I've just started therapy, need some time to get my health in order and truly feel like I've recovered from what I struggled with during adolescence and young adulthood.
I don't want to list all of my extracurriculars etc etc but I dont have research experience beyond industry (from consulting) and am not really interested in clinical research / those types of med schools anyways. Im good with my extracurriculars from college and volunteer/shadow regularly just as a personal hobby so I dont have issues with any of that. I perform stand up and storytelling, where I talk a lot about my childhood/mental illness lightheartedly and am considering sending that video in to med schools as part of my application/extension of my personal statement.
Everyone who knows me tells me I'm a really interesting candidate but a lot of them don't know how much I've struggled since high school. They think I'm this finance/consulting guru who has crushed my post bacc and will get into any school I want (to be fair, they dont understand the app / rejection process either).
Im studying for the MCAT and am confident I can do well, but Im not feeling confident about my application in general and just want some guidance in terms of how else I can improve. I realize its a numbers game and that I had red flags all across my transcript and this has been nothing but discouraging even when I continue to get better academically/mentally.
Thank you.
