Inspired by Nontrad Success Thread

[LadyEMT]

All of your stories are truly inspiring.

I am 29 years old, low GPA in the sciences and in general. Every year thoughts of medical school cross my mind and vanish once I recall the words of my pre-med advisor who told me 10 years ago that "No medical school will ever accept me" and bio professor who told me "The best decision I ever made was to give up on med school." Those words haunted me until I mustered up the courage to become an EMT. That helped boost my confidence again and reassure me that the field of medicine is for me. Reading these stories have motivated me even more to try with all of my might. JUST DO IT!

IF YOU DON'T ASK, THE ANSWER WILL ALWAYS BE NO.

I will take the MCATs this August 2012, and apply for post-bacc, special masters, AND medical school. I WILL return with a success story right here on this thread. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Thanks again ladies and gents for this awesome thread.

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[deleted382095]

All of your stories are truly inspiring.

I am 29 years old, low GPA in the sciences and in general. Every year thoughts of medical school cross my mind and vanish once I recall the words of my pre-med advisor who told me 10 years ago that "No medical school will ever accept me" and bio professor who told me "The best decision I ever made was to give up on med school." Those words haunted me until I mustered up the courage to become an EMT. That helped boost my confidence again and reassure me that the field of medicine is for me. Reading these stories have motivated me even more to try with all of my might. JUST DO IT!

IF YOU DON'T ASK, THE ANSWER WILL ALWAYS BE NO.

I will take the MCATs this August 2012, and apply for post-bacc, special masters, AND medical school. I WILL return with a success story right here on this thread. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Thanks again ladies and gents for this awesome thread.

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” - Winston Churchill

 

[iHawk]

All of your stories are truly inspiring.

I am 29 years old, low GPA in the sciences and in general. Every year thoughts of medical school cross my mind and vanish once I recall the words of my pre-med advisor who told me 10 years ago that "No medical school will ever accept me" and bio professor who told me "The best decision I ever made was to give up on med school." Those words haunted me until I mustered up the courage to become an EMT. That helped boost my confidence again and reassure me that the field of medicine is for me. Reading these stories have motivated me even more to try with all of my might. JUST DO IT!

IF YOU DON'T ASK, THE ANSWER WILL ALWAYS BE NO.

I will take the MCATs this August 2012, and apply for post-bacc, special masters, AND medical school. I WILL return with a success story right here on this thread. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Thanks again ladies and gents for this awesome thread.

Whether you think you can or think you can't...you're right.

Good luck!

 

[Deekle]

Best of luck to you. I will enjoy reading your success story soon. Come back often when you need some encouragement.

 

[MakesSense]

Awesome attitude. Now it is just a matter of time and hard work.

 

[popopopop]

If it weren't for this forum, I would have never made the jump also. I know exactly what I'm getting myself into, so best of luck to all of us!

 

[aspiringdoc09]

Don't allow others to place a limit on you. You are the only one who can keep you from reaching your goals. If you want it bad enough, then you will make it happen. Good luck! I hope to read your story in the future.

 

[Law2Doc]

...
I will take the MCATs this August 2012, and apply for post-bacc, special masters, AND medical school. I WILL return with a success story right here on this thread. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Thanks again ladies and gents for this awesome thread.

just one suggestion, if you think your application is going to be helped by a postbac or SMP, don't apply to med school yet. You want to do this once, with your best foot forward. There are disadvantages to being a reapplicant. So you never really want to be applying to both postbac/SMP and med school at the same time, if thats what you are suggesting. Second point, postbac and SMP each have very different uses based on different application issues. They are not mutually useful for every case. If you need to puff up your GPA, you need a postbac. If you need to prove to med schools that you can handle the professional level sciences, then the SMP comes into play. For some people both are needed. Diagnose the problem and take steps to fix it, don't try a shotgun, one size fits all approach. You need the MCAT for the SMP, but might want to wait on the MCAT if you are taking more science courses in a postbac BTW.

 

[excitedtoapply]

Awesome attitude. Now it is just a matter of time and hard work.

Literally a quote from one of my PS drafts...

 

[realmeaning]

All of your stories are truly inspiring.

I am 29 years old, low GPA in the sciences and in general. Every year thoughts of medical school cross my mind and vanish once I recall the words of my pre-med advisor who told me 10 years ago that "No medical school will ever accept me" and bio professor who told me "The best decision I ever made was to give up on med school." Those words haunted me until I mustered up the courage to become an EMT. That helped boost my confidence again and reassure me that the field of medicine is for me. Reading these stories have motivated me even more to try with all of my might. JUST DO IT!

IF YOU DON'T ASK, THE ANSWER WILL ALWAYS BE NO.

I will take the MCATs this August 2012, and apply for post-bacc, special masters, AND medical school. I WILL return with a success story right here on this thread. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Thanks again ladies and gents for this awesome thread.

Thanks for posting. Good luck to you!

 

[sirdudeness]

Don't ever let the naysayers get you down, there is ALWAYS a way to do what YOU want to do. Friends, family, coworkers, etc will try to bring you down but just keep pushing forward. I'll be 29 when I finally go to Med School, whether is be DO or MD. All that matters is being a doctor right?

 

[LadyEMT]

just one suggestion, if you think your application is going to be helped by a postbac or SMP, don't apply to med school yet. You want to do this once, with your best foot forward. There are disadvantages to being a reapplicant. So you never really want to be applying to both postbac/SMP and med school at the same time, if thats what you are suggesting. Second point, postbac and SMP each have very different uses based on different application issues. They are not mutually useful for every case. If you need to puff up your GPA, you need a postbac. If you need to prove to med schools that you can handle the professional level sciences, then the SMP comes into play. For some people both are needed. Diagnose the problem and take steps to fix it, don't try a shotgun, one size fits all approach. You need the MCAT for the SMP, but might want to wait on the MCAT if you are taking more science courses in a postbac BTW.

Thanks for the tip, Law2Doc.

I read your response over and over when you first posted it. I took it into consideration, realized it made a lot of sense, and will no longer take the MCATs this summer. After all, I was taking them in order to apply for med school entering class of 2013 which will no longer be the case. I plan to take them in April/May 2013 instead, go with my best foot forward for the entering class of 2014. I applied to SMPs that also offer MCAT tutoring (in other words, GREs were accepted in place of MCATs) AND I applied to post-bacc programs that did not care whether or not I already took all pre-med courses. In total I applied to 5 schools. I now await the results. PLAN B if I get accepted to none, retake all pre-med courses at community colleges.

Again, thanks for your insight.

Also BIG THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE REPLIED TO OFFER WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT. YOU ALL ROCK!

 

[take the shot]

All of your stories are truly inspiring.

I am 29 years old, low GPA in the sciences and in general. Every year thoughts of medical school cross my mind and vanish once I recall the words of my pre-med advisor who told me 10 years ago that "No medical school will ever accept me" and bio professor who told me "The best decision I ever made was to give up on med school." Those words haunted me until I mustered up the courage to become an EMT. That helped boost my confidence again and reassure me that the field of medicine is for me. Reading these stories have motivated me even more to try with all of my might. JUST DO IT!

IF YOU DON'T ASK, THE ANSWER WILL ALWAYS BE NO.

I will take the MCATs this August 2012, and apply for post-bacc, special masters, AND medical school. I WILL return with a success story right here on this thread. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Thanks again ladies and gents for this awesome thread.

So glad to hear you're going after your dream. I have lost count of the number of classmates and/or physicians who have told me that they had some "pre-med advisor" who told them they would never get in to med school, that they didn't have what it takes. Makes me so pissed: where the hell do these people have shattering the dreams of people? They are not on the admissions committee so they really don't know what these MDs and PhDs are looking for.

I am an older, nontraditional 4th year medical student. I had awful grades in my early undergrad years when I cared more about partying than school. But eventually I grew up and developed the persistence and discipline to succeed in classwork. I agree with Lawtodoc in that if your undergrad grades aren't good you should strengthen your GPA with other courses to show you are now willing to settle down and do what it takes for a stellar performance.

For everyone out there: if you are like the OP and constantly thinking about being a doctor, don't let anyone (and I mean anyone) get in the way of going after what you want in life. They may have their own agenda that causes them to discourage you from applying. For best advice I would try to speak directly with the director of admissions at the college of your choice. Best of luck to you in the future!