Low Stat, Non-Trad, Career Changer first cycle Acceptance

[medschoolmom25]

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Just want to put some encouragement out there. I was a low stat non-trad career changing applicant. I was admitted in my first cycle having only taken the MCAT one time to my top-choice (NYC DO Program).
Academic: I had a rough start first year of college which tanked my GPA I had steady improvement but by the time I was applying I had so many credits that my great post-bacc grades weren't really moving the needle much.
Volunteer: I didn't have a large variety of clinical experience. I found a mentor who is amazing and basically let me tag along whenever I wanted.
MCAT: I took a prep course which was helpful mostly for the structure and the strategies, content review was mid. I took 10 practice exams and reviewed every single question... THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT.
Application: My application was very polished. START EARLY! I started writing my experiences in January and then did my personal statement once I finished those. I made sure each experience told something about me and the takeaway without explicitly stating things like "this developed my communication skills". Show, don't tell.
Interview: There's overall interview prep which is about you and your experiences. Spend time practicing talking about yourself. Be prepared to talk about any red flags (although I personally wasn't asked about them). Then there's prep for each school, know the school why you want to go there, any special programs or services offered.
Secondaries: Secondaries are a BEAST. I recommend pre-writing these as well. They are more work than the primary app in my opinion.
cGPA: 2.99
sGPA: 3.09
Postbacc: 3.57
MCAT: 507

You can do it! Keep going!

 

[medmom45]

Can you please explain what you mean by "you started writing your experiences?"

 

[ajaxmonkey]

Congratulations! Well deserved my friend.

 

[medschoolmom25]

Can you please explain what you mean by "you started writing your experiences?"

In the application you have to write about your experiences, basically tell your story about your volunteer, work experience, shadowing etc. But there's a pretty tight character limit so you have to be very concise in your description and story telling with each one which takes a good amount of time since you can submit up to 15.

 

[deleted1191256]

Just want to put some encouragement out there. I was a low stat non-trad career changing applicant. I was admitted in my first cycle having only taken the MCAT one time to my top-choice (NYC DO Program).
Academic: I had a rough start first year of college which tanked my GPA I had steady improvement but by the time I was applying I had so many credits that my great post-bacc grades weren't really moving the needle much.
Volunteer: I didn't have a large variety of clinical experience. I found a mentor who is amazing and basically let me tag along whenever I wanted.
MCAT: I took a prep course which was helpful mostly for the structure and the strategies, content review was mid. I took 10 practice exams and reviewed every single question... THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT.
Application: My application was very polished. START EARLY! I started writing my experiences in January and then did my personal statement once I finished those. I made sure each experience told something about me and the takeaway without explicitly stating things like "this developed my communication skills". Show, don't tell.
Interview: There's overall interview prep which is about you and your experiences. Spend time practicing talking about yourself. Be prepared to talk about any red flags (although I personally wasn't asked about them). Then there's prep for each school, know the school why you want to go there, any special programs or services offered.
Secondaries: Secondaries are a BEAST. I recommend pre-writing these as well. They are more work than the primary app in my opinion.
cGPA: 2.99
sGPA: 3.09
Postbacc: 3.57
MCAT: 507

You can do it! Keep going!

LETS GOOOOO!! This made my day I wish you the absolute best of luck moving forward

 

[Wamuu]

Just want to put some encouragement out there. I was a low stat non-trad career changing applicant. I was admitted in my first cycle having only taken the MCAT one time to my top-choice (NYC DO Program).
Academic: I had a rough start first year of college which tanked my GPA I had steady improvement but by the time I was applying I had so many credits that my great post-bacc grades weren't really moving the needle much.
Volunteer: I didn't have a large variety of clinical experience. I found a mentor who is amazing and basically let me tag along whenever I wanted.
MCAT: I took a prep course which was helpful mostly for the structure and the strategies, content review was mid. I took 10 practice exams and reviewed every single question... THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT.
Application: My application was very polished. START EARLY! I started writing my experiences in January and then did my personal statement once I finished those. I made sure each experience told something about me and the takeaway without explicitly stating things like "this developed my communication skills". Show, don't tell.
Interview: There's overall interview prep which is about you and your experiences. Spend time practicing talking about yourself. Be prepared to talk about any red flags (although I personally wasn't asked about them). Then there's prep for each school, know the school why you want to go there, any special programs or services offered.
Secondaries: Secondaries are a BEAST. I recommend pre-writing these as well. They are more work than the primary app in my opinion.
cGPA: 2.99
sGPA: 3.09
Postbacc: 3.57
MCAT: 507

You can do it! Keep going!

One of us, one of us

 

[Nontradlooking4advice]

how many post bacc credits did you take?

 

[medschoolmom25]

how many post bacc credits did you take?

I dont remember the exact credit count but I took Bio, Chem, orgo and physics 1&2 w/ labs and 1 semester of biochem

 

[Mrs. Buzzy]

Congratulations. I'm currently one month into a nursing program and feeling the pull toward medical school. I want to learn the human body on a level I'm not getting in nursing. What would you say about someone dropping out of a nursing program to pivot to medicine? Risk?

 

[medschoolmom25]

Congratulations. I'm currently one month into a nursing program and feeling the pull toward medical school. I want to learn the human body on a level I'm not getting in nursing. What would you say about someone dropping out of a nursing program to pivot to medicine? Risk?

I think its all about how you tell the story and being ready to answer that question of "what if you're one month into medical school and realize its not for you?" You have to figure out why you went for nursing instead of medicine in the first place.

 

[Mrs. Buzzy]

I think its all about how you tell the story and being ready to answer that question of "what if you're one month into medical school and realize its not for you?" You have to figure out why you went for nursing instead of medicine in the first place.

That's a good point. I initially went for nursing because I wanted more hands on patient care. I have worked in healthcare but not in a physical, hands on way. During prerequisites, I fell in love with anatomy, physiology, microbiology, understanding how systems work and how things fail. I love getting to the cellular level and building up. Nursing so far has lacked any of that and is all about protocol and performance. It stays on the surface. I realize I want a much deeper study of the human body that only medicine could provide.

 

[sej96]

Just want to put some encouragement out there. I was a low stat non-trad career changing applicant. I was admitted in my first cycle having only taken the MCAT one time to my top-choice (NYC DO Program).
Academic: I had a rough start first year of college which tanked my GPA I had steady improvement but by the time I was applying I had so many credits that my great post-bacc grades weren't really moving the needle much.
Volunteer: I didn't have a large variety of clinical experience. I found a mentor who is amazing and basically let me tag along whenever I wanted.
MCAT: I took a prep course which was helpful mostly for the structure and the strategies, content review was mid. I took 10 practice exams and reviewed every single question... THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT.
Application: My application was very polished. START EARLY! I started writing my experiences in January and then did my personal statement once I finished those. I made sure each experience told something about me and the takeaway without explicitly stating things like "this developed my communication skills". Show, don't tell.
Interview: There's overall interview prep which is about you and your experiences. Spend time practicing talking about yourself. Be prepared to talk about any red flags (although I personally wasn't asked about them). Then there's prep for each school, know the school why you want to go there, any special programs or services offered.
Secondaries: Secondaries are a BEAST. I recommend pre-writing these as well. They are more work than the primary app in my opinion.
cGPA: 2.99
sGPA: 3.09
Postbacc: 3.57
MCAT: 507

You can do it! Keep going!

This is amazing! Congratulations!

 

[Wamuu]

Congratulations. I'm currently one month into a nursing program and feeling the pull toward medical school. I want to learn the human body on a level I'm not getting in nursing. What would you say about someone dropping out of a nursing program to pivot to medicine? Risk?

I think I'm not alone in this opinion, but finish nursing school first. It will benefit you in a couple of different ways with respect to the application process and outside of medicine.

1. You will not appear wishy washy to ADCOM because if you're going to drop out of nursing school so soon, what's to stop you form doing the same in medical school? They are investing a lot in each student, so they try not to waste slots.

2. You will have a well-paying job that will support you through the application cycle and also pay for it, as the cost does add up.

3. Building off #2, you will also have something that will serve as a long-term career and branch point to other nursing paths should the medical school stuff not work out in your favor.