Medical Condition and My Application

[deleted760180]

Hi friends:

For starters, I graduated last year with a 3.6 cGPA/3.5 sGPA (MCAT pending), and still need to beef up my ECs considerably.

So I just discovered that I had an undiagnosed medical condition throughout the entirety of college and possibly throughout high school as well. I've had chronic fatigue for several years that's pretty much been under the radar until very recently--I didn't even KNOW it was an issue since the constant napping has been practically the way I've functioned.

Haven't even been able to study for the MCAT properly. Just found out it was due to a thyroid condition that I'm getting surgery for soon.

Throughout college I held a steady 3.3 - 3.4 GPA until I turned things around my last 3 semesters with all A's thanks to instant coffee.

My question is, how would I mention this in secondaries and in my application as a whole?

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[candbgirl]

Well since you aren’t applying anytime soon, I wouldn’t worry about it now. Maybe do a DIY post bacc(after you are well and your medical issues are resolved). And see what you can do to beef up your GPAs. (Wait what are your current GPAs? ) work on your ECs and study hard for the MCAT. ( Do Not take the MCAT until you are scoring at or above your target score on a series of FL practice tests. Don’t take the MCAT until you get closer to applying. Scores do expire.). You will also need 200+ hours of clinical experiences. These can be paid or volunteer as long as you have direct patient interaction. You’ll also need 50 hours of physician shadowing with a good amount shadowing a primary care doc. And you’ll need 200+ hours of nonclinical volunteering to the unserved/underserved in your community.
When you are ready to apply in a couple of years , if all goes well with your post bacc and MCAT, a simple statement that during high school and college you had an undiagnosed medical condition that has now been corrected might be all you need to include. If you mention it at all. Mentioning it could be seen as excuses for poor college performance. And you don’t want that.

 

[deleted760180]

What would be the purpose of mentioning it in your application process? Not trying to be snarky - just want to understand what point you want to get across to adcoms.

No worries. I’ll expect to have the bulk of my ECs done after college, as I’ll hopefully gain the energy I should have always had and get rid of the fatigue once and for all.

Basically saying that the condition was a contributing factor to earlier poor performance in college, as well as later start dates for ECs.

 

[deleted760180]

Well since you aren’t applying anytime soon, I wouldn’t worry about it now. Maybe do a DIY post bacc(after you are well and your medical issues are resolved). And see what you can do to beef up your GPAs. (Wait what are your current GPAs? ) work on your ECs and study hard for the MCAT. ( Do Not take the MCAT until you are scoring at or above your target score on a series of FL practice tests. Don’t take the MCAT until you get closer to applying. Scores do expire.). You will also need 200+ hours of clinical experiences. These can be paid or volunteer as long as you have direct patient interaction. You’ll also need 50 hours of physician shadowing with a good amount shadowing a primary care doc. And you’ll need 200+ hours of nonclinical volunteering to the unserved/underserved in your community.
When you are ready to apply in a couple of years , if all goes well with your post bacc and MCAT, a simple statement that during high school and college you had an undiagnosed medical condition that has now been corrected might be all you need to include. If you mention it at all. Mentioning it could be seen as excuses for poor college performance. And you don’t want that.

Thank you for your reply. The GPAs I graduated with are the ones listed in my original post (3.6 cGPA, 3.5 sGPA). Does that still warrant a post bacc?

I definitely don’t want to relay the message that the condition was an excuse, but rather, contributed to poor performance early on in college.

 

[deleted760180]

Got it.

So first off, I would say a 3.6 GPA is overall fine. Just below average. Plenty of people get in every year with a 3.6 and a rough start to college even without as good a reason as an undiagnosed health issue. If the rest of your application is strong, I don't think that will significantly hinder you. So the benefit of mentioning your thyroid condition as an explanation for lower grades I think would be minimal. You also have to consider the risks of mentioning your condition. Not saying I agree with this mindset - but there are some who will worry that this will continue to impact your performance and grades. For that reason, some folks with chronic illnesses, mental health issues, etc. choose not to disclose them in the application process to medical school. The counterargument is - do you really want to go to a school that won't be accepting/understanding if you run into issues with your condition during med school? You may also find that even with treatment of your condition, your grades wouldn't improve anyway (and in fact, your grades DID improve without treatment from what I understand? So can you really pin your lower grades entirely on the thyroid issue?).

I don't think anybody can make this decision for you, it's very personal, but those are some factors you may want to consider.

Great, thank you for the candor in your reply. I really appreciate it. I'll consider these things carefully come time for me to apply. However, by the time I apply, I expect that the issue will be gone God willing.

And not to beat a dead horse, but because later dates for ECs raise eyebrows, would it be appropriate to mention my condition as contributory to that? I wasn't able to concentrate on much in college besides my coursework, due to being tired all the time, and a sprinkle of activities that I can't say were particularly long-term or meaningful.

 

[candbgirl]

Thank you for your reply. The GPAs I graduated with are the ones listed in my original post (3.6 cGPA, 3.5 sGPA). Does that still warrant a post bacc?

I definitely don’t want to relay the message that the condition was an excuse, but rather, contributed to poor performance early on in college.

Probably not but you have to develop a very broad list of schools. But much will depend on your MCAT. And of course your ECs need to tell a story of your journey to medicine. I just read @cj_cregg ’s post. I too have several autoimmune diseases and I have had thyroid surgery. Luckily the thyroid issue didn’t develop until later but the other ones certainly did. And some days I still drag(don’t we all) but it’s not a crutch and it shouldn’t be for you. You can’t worry about what happened in high school and college grade wise. You can only move forward. You said you finished the last three semesters with As. That’s great. Work on your ECs and do very well on your MCAT. But always remember there are absolutely no guarantees in this process. Only around 41-42% of ALL applicants are accepted each cycle. That means around 58% of all applicants are rejected each cycle, including people with stellar applications. So always have a backup plan.

 

[Goro]

Hi friends:

For starters, I graduated last year with a 3.6 cGPA/3.5 sGPA (MCAT pending), and still need to beef up my ECs considerably.

So I just discovered that I had an undiagnosed medical condition throughout the entirety of college and possibly throughout high school as well. I've had chronic fatigue for several years that's pretty much been under the radar until very recently--I didn't even KNOW it was an issue since the constant napping has been practically the way I've functioned.

Haven't even been able to study for the MCAT properly. Just found out it was due to a thyroid condition that I'm getting surgery for soon.

Throughout college I held a steady 3.3 - 3.4 GPA until I turned things around my last 3 semesters with all A's thanks to instant coffee.

My question is, how would I mention this in secondaries and in my application as a whole?

You can use it for the challenges prompts

 

[hmockingbird]

I feel like lots of people are going to have delayed ECs anyway because of Covid. Anyway I don’t think you need to mention it, but if you do I would just limit the details eg “an undiagnosed medical condition for which I have been successfully treated”.

 

[LizzyM]

I generally recommend using "chronic health issue" when one wants to keep the medical condition private, particularly if it is a stigmitizing condition.

In this case, you might just want to be up-front and say that you had an undiagnosed thyroid condition that has been corrected and that has been life changing.