Just discovered SDN! Been in a Cave

[KY1975]

Wow! I've spent 3 hours here. Never seen SDN before. If your interested here is my story. I'd love ANY feedback. I am 34 with H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E 2.0 GPA from public school and graduated at 28. Attended 4 diff schools and graduated with BA Poli Sci...however I hated every minute. I viewed college as a total joke cosidered term papers, hw and professors as a total waste of time and energy (even hated the conformity of business school). I was no party animal but spent my time buying/ selling/ investing real estate and eventually made a pot of money as a financial advisor. Six years ago I got married to my wife who has a rare condition known as CCD/OI. Caught the Pre-Med bug as a result of research..long story short here is my rap sheet. 1998 BA Poli Sci 2.0 gpa from Public U...went back in 2000 to start and complete a B.A. Chem/ B.S. Bio and Math minor on '04 with 4.0 GPA...BCPM 4.0...took Aug MCAT 14v 12p 14b...actually enjoy the sciences as I never considered it being so drawn to making money. Because we went through the process of adopting a child I didn't apply this year...I have very limited exposure to volunteering and plan to spend the next few months getting involved with more community work....what are my odds given my age 34..will be 35 by the time I apply and my great number of Ws, Fs and &*#@& grades from before?

Never thought about my odds of not making it but now I'm feeling some doubt from reading many of these posts! Do I need Grad degree? What else could I possibly do to improve my odds?

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[blee]

Welcome. You actually sound like a great candidate, but of course every situation is slightly different and it's quite hard to make such judgements just from a quick description. There's lots of good info here at SDN, but take everything with a grain of salt, as some things are blown way out of perspective and other things are just flat-out wrong. But in my opinion, you shouldn't hesitate to apply with those stats.

 

[Sundarban1]

Wow! I've spent 3 hours here. Never seen SDN before. If your interested here is my story. I'd love ANY feedback. I am 34 with H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E 2.0 GPA from public school and graduated at 28. Attended 4 diff schools and graduated with BA Poli Sci...however I hated every minute. I viewed college as a total joke cosidered term papers, hw and professors as a total waste of time and energy (even hated the conformity of business school). I was no party animal but spent my time buying/ selling/ investing real estate and eventually made a pot of money as a financial advisor. Six years ago I got married to my wife who has a rare condition known as CCD/OI. Caught the Pre-Med bug as a result of research..long story short here is my rap sheet. 1998 BA Poli Sci 2.0 gpa from Public U...went back in 2000 to start and complete a B.A. Chem/ B.S. Bio and Math minor on '04 with 4.0 GPA...BCPM 4.0...took Aug MCAT 14v 12p 14b...actually enjoy the sciences as I never considered it being so drawn to making money. Because we went through the process of adopting a child I didn't apply this year...I have very limited exposure to volunteering and plan to spend the next few months getting involved with more community work....what are my odds given my age 34..will be 35 by the time I apply and my great number of Ws, Fs and &*#@& grades from before?

Never thought about my odds of not making it but now I'm feeling some doubt from reading many of these posts! Do I need Grad degree? What else could I possibly do to improve my odds?

Welcome!

First try and calculate your Sci and non sci GPA for Allopathic schools. With that MCAT and a competative GPA you should be good. Keep in mind if you dont already know BCMP grades are averaged. The only glaring omission is any medically related experience like volunteering or direct work experiece, shadowing, etc.

Otherwise, once you have confirmed your GPA, you can take a look at the MSAR or any medical school admissions stats book put out by other companies and see where you'd be competative numbers wise.

 

[KY1975]

Welcome. You actually sound like a great candidate, but of course every situation is slightly different and it's quite hard to make such judgements just from a quick description. There's lots of good info here at SDN, but take everything with a grain of salt, as some things are blown way out of perspective and other things are just flat-out wrong. But in my opinion, you shouldn't hesitate to apply with those stats.

Thank you for the comments. There is some very interesting commentary in SDN. I should add that a major contributor to my decision was the passing of my grandfather. When I attended the services I was amazed at the outpouring of respect from the community. He was instrumental in creating mental health improvements as a superintendant at several hospital in New England. He even wrote a book. I want to be remembered for that as well not must as some wealthly old jerk that made a ton of money in real estate. I must confess that I enjoy chem/ bio as a hobby.

 

[KY1975]

Welcome!

First try and calculate your Sci and non sci GPA for Allopathic schools. With that MCAT and a competative GPA you should be good. Keep in mind if you dont already know BCMP grades are averaged. The only glaring omission is any medically related experience like volunteering or direct work experiece, shadowing, etc.

Otherwise, once you have confirmed your GPA, you can take a look at the MSAR or any medical school admissions stats book put out by other companies and see where you'd be competative numbers wise.

Yes, I need to improve on the mecial experience. The only involvement I had was enlistment with Army Reserve at 18. I was a medic (91b for you Army folks) and was EMT-B as a result of military program.

 

[Sundarban1]

Yes, I need to improve on the mecial experience. The only involvement I had was enlistment with Army Reserve at 18. I was a medic (91b for you Army folks) and was EMT-B as a result of military program.

Yes, so once you have your GPA figured out more people will be able to chime in

 

[unfrozencaveman]

Yes, so once you have your GPA figured out more people will be able to chime in

Reeeeeeeeeeeeeally wouldnt worry too much about that GPA with such a huge upward trend and an f-ing 40 on your MCATs.

 

[KY1975]

Yes, so once you have your GPA figured out more people will be able to chime in

3.1 is my GPA considering my entire undergrad experience of 298 hours!...just looked at my early transcripts. Makes my stomach churn to see all those Ws and Fs from not showing up or dropping classes w/o a care in the world. I actually need to consider the fact that my univeristy did not take the GPA from other universities when I transferred year ago. I need to get official transcript from each univerity and then calculate to get real GPA.

I hope admissions can see that stark contrast in grades...perfect grades next to complete crap grades...at any rate 3.1 is the quickly calculated GPA

 

[Sundarban1]

Reeeeeeeeeeeeeally wouldnt worry too much about that GPA with such a huge upward trend and an f-ing 40 on your MCATs.

Well friends there you have it!

Take it from an all knowing admissions committee member!

Take it easy, your in clean!

 

[KY1975]

Reeeeeeeeeeeeeally wouldnt worry too much about that GPA with such a huge upward trend and an f-ing 40 on your MCATs.

A word on MCATs. I learned when I became a financial advisor in taking the NASD Series 7 that studying the test questions is as important as studying the material. Any agree or disagree? Despite crappy early grades I spent years analyzing the MCAT...I didn't enjoy KAPLAN and did better on my own time studying and analyzing each question. Anyone care to offer a different opinion?

 

[KY1975]

Well friends there you have it!

Take it from an all knowing admissions committee member!

Take it easy, your in clean!

I hope you are correct. My life as a capitalist pig has been unrewarding for the soul but great for the pocket. Interestingly enough I have a number of docs as clients who have been somewhat encouraging. My motivation is sincere and my intent is to be part of something that is more rewarding and legit rather than augmenting the wealth of the wealthy. My busness partner thinks I'm a nut for giving up a six figure income and an established client base. I've been frugal and saved in the event I get past the admissions process. Just want to be a family practice dude.

I've read about people applying to 30+ schools! I considered 10 as the best. I hope this 35 year old makes it...I was rooting for Agassi last Saturday for personal reasons!

 

[unfrozencaveman]

Well friends there you have it!

Take it from an all knowing admissions committee member!

Take it easy, your in clean!

Ummmmm...... alright........... That wasn't really directed at you, just because I left your post quoted in mine.

Except now that you know his GPA, can you offer better advice, as you mentioned? Perhaps he should improve his 4.0 post-bacc, or improve upon his 40??

I mean, the dude's current stats are outrageously good. In fact they can't get better. In fact, I may hunt him down, and assume his identity.

 

[Sundarban1]

I've read about people applying to 30+ schools! I considered 10 as the best. I hope this 35 year old makes it...I was rooting for Agassi last Saturday for personal reasons!

Consider the admissions process as Federer squared. Just look around and get lots of advice. If you havent already noticed there are plenty of people who will try to give you advice, but don't necessarily know what they are talking about.

Best of luck

 

[KY1975]

Consider the admissions process as Federer squared. Just look around and get lots of advice. If you havent already noticed there are plenty of people who will try to give you advice, but don't necessarily know what they are talking about.

Best of luck

P.S. Beantown rocks! I gots family in Lincoln. Gramps taught at the Red H Med School in the 60s...he worked with the "tune out" LSD doc with the initials T.L.

 

[Anastasis]

Like has been said before, with a MCAT like that and a HUGE upward trend all you need now is some clinical exp and volunteer work and you'll be golden!

Thought you could use some more encouragement

 

[unfrozencaveman]

Consider the admissions process as Federer squared. Just look around and get lots of advice. If you havent already noticed there are plenty of people who will try to give you advice, but don't necessarily know what they are talking about.

Best of luck

I just said he had an awesome MCAT and GPA! It was meant to be congratulatory.

 

[medhacker]

Hi Dude

Don't forget your recommendation letters (LORs), remember to forge those student/faculty relationships so thos LORs can be as helpful as possible to your application. Best wishes.

 

[nontrad314]

KY1975

Glad you made your way to SDN. I agree, it's a really great resource!

I have a background in finance too and am of a similar age range. So my background is similar to yours in a couple ways.

For example, I think I know what you mean about colleagues from business thinking it's nuts to pursue medicine. I've heard exactly the same thing more than once. At some level I actually agree with that thinking. It seems to me (IMHO) that it's not necessarily wrong or impossible to go into medicine at our age (or from any particular industry); in the sense that we aren't the first people to do it nor will we be the last. But it is sort of nuts. There are not a lot of people prepared to do it. It's rare.

Anyway, since you mentioned odds Sundarban1's point about the MSAR is well worth reiterating.

I don't know if you have that document but if not then I recommend getting a copy --- particularly for a guy with a math background such as your own: There are several sections showing distributions for GPA, MCATS, Age, Ugrad major etc. It's not hard to get a sense of some odds using the data in the MSAR

Also, there's a useful discussion of some of the non numerical selection factors.

The MSAR is not expensive at all and well worth its price.

HIH

 

[KY1975]

Thanks for the responses here folks!

 

[KY1975]

What in the hell is a troll?

 

[nontrad314]

What in the hell is a troll?

an internet troll. google and wikipedia both have some discussion.

 

[eccles1214]

There is a sister website to sdn called oldpremeds.org. They are just what their name implies: old premeds. Welcome to the club.

 

[Sundarban1]

Look at the MD applicants profile for the SDN user pepper1o1..3.1 GPA, 37 MCAT no love so far...I'll keep searching to back up my words.

 

[CoffeeFreak]

So let me get this straight.....

KY1975 had a crappy academic performance and graduated with a 2.0(assuming some Fs and Ds in there) or something...he then returned to school after a couple of years and managed to bust a 4.0 in all chem/bio/math (ornagic chem/ physics too) courses to graduate with a B.S. Bio/ chem and minor in math that means an A in every class...then went on to score a mind numbing 40 on the MCAT....he is forgoing a financial career that provides him a $100,000+ income and his wife has some rare medical condition that helped him in his consideration for med school. Assuming he will seek some outstanding shadowing, ECs, etc.

I ask you this.......if he is shot down, if he fails to get any interviews, what else does this human need to do? What else can he possibly accomplish. His only sin are poor ugpa that he has overcome. I mean this is insane...

 

[CoffeeFreak]

Look at the MD applicants profile for the SDN user pepper1o1..3.1 GPA, 37 MCAT no love so far...I'll keep searching to back up my words.

So you are saying the dude is an acceptable candidate or no?

 

[blee]

There's more to this game than just the numbers, although the numbers do make a big difference in the beginning (as I've said before). That said, the OP's stats are impressive by any measure and I don't think there will be much of a problem in getting in somewhere.

 

[QofQuimica]

There's more to this game than just the numbers, although the numbers do make a big difference in the beginning (as I've said before). That said, the OP's stats are impressive by any measure and I don't think there will be much of a problem in getting in somewhere.

Just read through this thread, and I agree with blee.

One caveat though, KY1975: you may need to apply to more than ten schools, especially if you plan to apply to a lot of the private research-intensive schools. You didn't make clear what your future goals were (i.e., were you so inspired by chem, bio, and your wife's condition that you want to go into academic medicine?), but even if you do want to go into research, you should still apply broadly. You don't have to go to Harvard to get good research training and opportunities, although Harvard would certainly provide you with these things. Definitely apply to your state schools and any private schools in your state that prefer state residents.

Also, you really do need to get some experience with not only volunteering but shadowing as well. You have proven that you can handle the academics, but you still need to show that you have motivation for medicine and a desire to serve the community. If you want to go into research, and you've never done any research before, you should work in a lab as a volunteer or tech. If you want to go clinical, you should volunteer in a hospital or clinic and/or shadow a physician in a specialty you think you might like to pursue. You don't need to go get a graduate degree, but you do need to show that you understand what research is about and that you are committed to doing it, if that's true in your case. (One volunteering option that you can do from the comfort of your own home is to help answer science questions for current MCAT studiers in the SDN MCAT subforum; PM me if you're interested in doing this.)

Best of luck to you.