I'll post mine, which has been mostly available via MDApps. For those who wish to be bored:
I graduated a private, LAC-prep high school at the age of sixteen. My mother was diagnosed with cancer 3 days before I graduated. I didn't know at the time, but she was told she had 6 months to two years to live. When my dad was away at work, I was primary caregiver for her first round of chemo that summer. It was brutal, and I RAN to college.
I had already decided to become and engineer, like my father. I had an idea of becoming a doc at that time, but it was on the order of a kid wanting to be an astronaut - unformed at best.
So, as she went through rounds of chemo and surgery, I became less and less interested in school. I got to partying too hard and I got caught with alcohol by the police (I was 19 at the time,) and sent to court. I participated in a counseling program so that the misdemeanor would be expunged. During counseling sessions it became apparent that the partying was a symptom of depression. I started seeing a counselor weekly.
During this time my grades slipped more and more. Finally, the semester after my mom died, I earned a stunning 0.7 GPA. I was given a mandatory leave of absence. I was 20.
I didn't know what to do with myself. I knew I needed a change. I happened to get a research assisstant job at the local med school, working under a doc. I got to shadowing him and I watched him round. I decided that I loved the medical research, but I wanted to see if being a doc was for me. I had to know, as definitively as possible, if medicine was for me, BEFORE I commited to it. I decided to volunteer at the local level-one ER. That sort of place polarizes you - you either love it or hate it. I would know if med research (and a PhD) was in my future, or medicine.
I loved it.
The traumas, the people, the action, the procedures - I loved it all. Every day I volunteered served to boost me up - I was on the right path, and gave me the energy to press on.
The next semester I re-entered engineering school, earning a 3.5 GPA and takig my prereqs at night. Weekends were taken up with volunteering at the ER (Saturdays, 7pm-3am). My school doesn't offer pre-md advising, so I applied the first time without any academic support (and I paid for all my apps out-of-pocket). I took the MCAT and did well. I was rejected from all 20 places.
I knew my grades (now a 2.4, up from 1.7 when I left school,) were the problem, so I went to grad school. I took classes full time and did a medically-related thesis project, and I taught O-chem and gen chem (classes I earned "D's" in). During this time I took the MCAT over, did better, and re-applied, but was rejected again. I did get one interview, so I knew I was on the right track.
Later I funded my education with an engineering job at the local children's hospital. I did a bunch of research there and got published. This last year, I applied to 27 schools, got two interviews, and one acceptance. I am now 25.
Yes, putting yourself out there again and again hurts like hell. It is hard to do so, but you can come back from a low GPA. Dream big, but be sure of your convictions, so that you can weather the nay-sayers and have the will to overcome the hard work before you.
