- Joined
- Sep 29, 2007
- Messages
- 59
- Reaction score
- 0
Hello everyone,
I've posted on the anesthesia forums here quite a bit but I'm now officially going after medical school so here I am. I'm currently 28 years old, graduated from the University of California at San Diego in 2003 with my BS in biochemistry/cell biology. My undergraduate academic record at UCSD was HORRENDOUS with an overall GPA of 2.61. My core science GPA was even lower at 2.38. Obviously, I would never get into any medical school with those types of numbers so I never even thought about it. My passion was always anesthesia however, but I was just way too young at the time and I was not mature enough to really see what I needed to do to suceed. I never went to classes much and if I did, never paid attention much. I'm a really late bloomer I guess you can say. I went to UCSD from 1998-2003 so I was 18-23 years old while in attendence there. It wasn't until after working for several years that made me realize how important it was to follow your passions in life, spending so much time at work. I worked in the pharmaceutical fields doing research for nearly 4 years before applying and being accepted into a nursing program at a community college. I just graduated this past summer and passed my boards. Nursing school was tough for me in that with my background, I was always wanting to ask questions in more detail as to why things happen and a lot of the times, my professors couldn't answer me. I was tired of making nursing diagnoses and really wanted to learn more medically why things happen. Nursing school could not provide this however. But I thought that maybe when I graduated and started to work as an RN, things would be different. They are not different. I passed my boards and got my RN license just 2 months ago but working on a coronary observation unit, I always find myself talking with the doctors and cardiologists more and wanting to ask them questions as to different aspects of medicine, how certain tests are performed, why they prescribed a certain drug over another, etc. etc. etc. The doctors are so nice and a few of them tell me that they never have a nurse ask medically inclined questions as I do. So after grinding my teeth through nursing school and giving actual work experience as an RN a shot, I just can't swallow it anymore. My passions lie in anesthesia, so I had plans to work as an RN in an critical care unit for a year and then applying to nurse anesthesia school. But I've decided to stop fighting my inner passions, my heart, and my gut as they keep telling me over and over and over again that what I really want is medicine. Whether it be anesthesiology or another found passion, I really feel that medicine is where I belong and not nursing. I enjoy nursing but I truly believe now that medicine will fulfill my lifelong dream.
I know my undergraduate grades are EXTREMELY UGLY and that's the main reason that I told myself that I don't deserve medical school and that no medical school in the U.S. would ever accept me, let alone even look past my previous undergraduate records. However, things have COMPLETELY changed since 2003 when I graduated with my BS. I know it's a community college, but I really feel that I can excel at any undergraduate and graduate institution based on me being a COMPLETELY different student now than I was from 1998 to 2003. The nursing program was no cake walk as I thought it would've been. I would say that I thought it was tougher than my undergraduate experience at UCSD. I was able to manage a perfect 4.0 throughout the nursing program's core classes as well as electives such as pathophysiology, statistics, etc. I calculated my overall GPA at both undergraduate institutions and it is currently a 3.12. I truly believe that I have strong letters of recommendations from past vice presidents/Ph.D's from companies that I had worked for doing pharmaceutical research as well as past (nursing) professors and even doctors that I work with on a daily basis currently. I have strong volunteer experience and have shadowed nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologists, as well as doctors before. My shadowing experience is limited to a handful of days, but I do work as a full time RN right now in which I gain clinical experience with all members of the multi-discplinary team (physical therapists, nurses, doctors, dieticians, case managers, etc.), albeit being a registered nurse.
So, what I have been thinking about in the past few months in pursuing medical school is applying to a post-baccaluereate program somewhere for a year and if I can manage a near 4.0 and do well on the MCAT, I could apply to medical school. I would highly prefer an MD program than a DO program.
So, sorry for this long thread but if you could please shed some light as to the best approach for my situation in pursuing admission to a medical school, I'd GREATLY APPRECIATE IT SOOO MUCH! This is so important to me and I feel like a kid getting a chance at having a big present if I were to ever gain admission to a medical school.
I've also heard from some that even if I can just take core classes without being in an officially structured post-bac program or SMP, that that would be ok too in showing adcoms that I am a different student now and able to handle the rigorous material of medical school. Of coures this is preferred so that I don't have to move far away from home to attend classes in improving my academic record and showing adcoms that I am a completely different student now after realizing what I did in 4 years of professional work in the pharmaceuticals industries. I currently live at home in Los Angeles and have only a couple of post-bac programs nearby but they are more geared towards disadvantaged students so I don't think I can gain admission into those. I do have a couple of local universities that I can attend and hopefully pick up some classes to repeat in and correct all those C's on my previous UCSD transcript. And I'm not sure if this helps but I never got a D or F at UCSD, just a lot of C's and B's. Mabye an A or two but not many...
Thank you sooooooo much for your time and if you could offer me any advice, I would be ever endowed! This forum has been so helpful at times, and it may just have saved my life making me realize that I may just have a shot at medicine!
I've posted on the anesthesia forums here quite a bit but I'm now officially going after medical school so here I am. I'm currently 28 years old, graduated from the University of California at San Diego in 2003 with my BS in biochemistry/cell biology. My undergraduate academic record at UCSD was HORRENDOUS with an overall GPA of 2.61. My core science GPA was even lower at 2.38. Obviously, I would never get into any medical school with those types of numbers so I never even thought about it. My passion was always anesthesia however, but I was just way too young at the time and I was not mature enough to really see what I needed to do to suceed. I never went to classes much and if I did, never paid attention much. I'm a really late bloomer I guess you can say. I went to UCSD from 1998-2003 so I was 18-23 years old while in attendence there. It wasn't until after working for several years that made me realize how important it was to follow your passions in life, spending so much time at work. I worked in the pharmaceutical fields doing research for nearly 4 years before applying and being accepted into a nursing program at a community college. I just graduated this past summer and passed my boards. Nursing school was tough for me in that with my background, I was always wanting to ask questions in more detail as to why things happen and a lot of the times, my professors couldn't answer me. I was tired of making nursing diagnoses and really wanted to learn more medically why things happen. Nursing school could not provide this however. But I thought that maybe when I graduated and started to work as an RN, things would be different. They are not different. I passed my boards and got my RN license just 2 months ago but working on a coronary observation unit, I always find myself talking with the doctors and cardiologists more and wanting to ask them questions as to different aspects of medicine, how certain tests are performed, why they prescribed a certain drug over another, etc. etc. etc. The doctors are so nice and a few of them tell me that they never have a nurse ask medically inclined questions as I do. So after grinding my teeth through nursing school and giving actual work experience as an RN a shot, I just can't swallow it anymore. My passions lie in anesthesia, so I had plans to work as an RN in an critical care unit for a year and then applying to nurse anesthesia school. But I've decided to stop fighting my inner passions, my heart, and my gut as they keep telling me over and over and over again that what I really want is medicine. Whether it be anesthesiology or another found passion, I really feel that medicine is where I belong and not nursing. I enjoy nursing but I truly believe now that medicine will fulfill my lifelong dream.
I know my undergraduate grades are EXTREMELY UGLY and that's the main reason that I told myself that I don't deserve medical school and that no medical school in the U.S. would ever accept me, let alone even look past my previous undergraduate records. However, things have COMPLETELY changed since 2003 when I graduated with my BS. I know it's a community college, but I really feel that I can excel at any undergraduate and graduate institution based on me being a COMPLETELY different student now than I was from 1998 to 2003. The nursing program was no cake walk as I thought it would've been. I would say that I thought it was tougher than my undergraduate experience at UCSD. I was able to manage a perfect 4.0 throughout the nursing program's core classes as well as electives such as pathophysiology, statistics, etc. I calculated my overall GPA at both undergraduate institutions and it is currently a 3.12. I truly believe that I have strong letters of recommendations from past vice presidents/Ph.D's from companies that I had worked for doing pharmaceutical research as well as past (nursing) professors and even doctors that I work with on a daily basis currently. I have strong volunteer experience and have shadowed nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologists, as well as doctors before. My shadowing experience is limited to a handful of days, but I do work as a full time RN right now in which I gain clinical experience with all members of the multi-discplinary team (physical therapists, nurses, doctors, dieticians, case managers, etc.), albeit being a registered nurse.
So, what I have been thinking about in the past few months in pursuing medical school is applying to a post-baccaluereate program somewhere for a year and if I can manage a near 4.0 and do well on the MCAT, I could apply to medical school. I would highly prefer an MD program than a DO program.
So, sorry for this long thread but if you could please shed some light as to the best approach for my situation in pursuing admission to a medical school, I'd GREATLY APPRECIATE IT SOOO MUCH! This is so important to me and I feel like a kid getting a chance at having a big present if I were to ever gain admission to a medical school.
I've also heard from some that even if I can just take core classes without being in an officially structured post-bac program or SMP, that that would be ok too in showing adcoms that I am a different student now and able to handle the rigorous material of medical school. Of coures this is preferred so that I don't have to move far away from home to attend classes in improving my academic record and showing adcoms that I am a completely different student now after realizing what I did in 4 years of professional work in the pharmaceuticals industries. I currently live at home in Los Angeles and have only a couple of post-bac programs nearby but they are more geared towards disadvantaged students so I don't think I can gain admission into those. I do have a couple of local universities that I can attend and hopefully pick up some classes to repeat in and correct all those C's on my previous UCSD transcript. And I'm not sure if this helps but I never got a D or F at UCSD, just a lot of C's and B's. Mabye an A or two but not many...
Thank you sooooooo much for your time and if you could offer me any advice, I would be ever endowed! This forum has been so helpful at times, and it may just have saved my life making me realize that I may just have a shot at medicine!
