My Depression

[LittleRocker]

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[agirl]

I guess you can portray it in a positive light. how this experience has motivited you to be a doctor. I know a few psychiatrists suffered from mental illness themself. they might buy it. Plus, in my opinion, depression is a very common condition, it was said that 20% of the general population will have a clinical depression at some point of their life.

 

[The Nigal]

I'm assuming you are not applying until next year. Honestly, I was in a very similar situation, and I took a long look at exactly just how I should approach the subject in my Personal Statement. I went through about 15 revisions, and from what I can determine, I would briefly mention the depression but do NOT dwell on the disease or go into much detail. This essay is where you should be mentioning all the great accomplishments that have come since. Once you get to secondaries, and interview there will be more than ample space to state hardships that have come into your life. If the subject comes up talk about how the experience has shaped you into the person you are today. Stronger, more resilient, a better student, etc.

Ace your MCAT, get good LORs, and have everything ready to apply to med schools as soon as possible. Everything in your current role as a student needs to be as spotless as possible in order to draw attention away from your earlier grades.

Hopefully, as a music major you did not take many science classes. Your BCPM GPA should be pretty high. Keep your grades up in your new classes and start working on that application now. Good luck.

 

[LittleRocker]

Oops forgot to mention I'm applying next year, not this year haha. Yeah, that's what I figured I would do. I know I can get some great LORs because I have great relationships on a personal basis with most my teachers. I'm sure I can have a great application too, except for those first 3 years. I really did have a complete 180 turnaround.

 

[cadingcading]

I understand what you are going through. I would be somewhat hesitant to mention this in a personal statement though for a couple of reasons. For one, many people don't understand depression or anxiety, no matter what field they are in. This is reality, don't expect much sympathy. It is unfortunate, but there is a lot of stigma surrounding mental illness. I don't know how to say this in a nice way but it would be one thing to write about getting through an experience with cancer vs. depression.

Secondly, you are going up against a very competitive group of folks. You don't want to give the adcom a reason to pick them over you(I guess that goes for anything and everything).

Anyhow, you may want to ask the "med students" or a trusted advisor for their opinion. I wish you the best of luck. If you want to chat more about this subject PM me.

 

[Flopotomist]

I would agree with the previous poster suggesting that you not mention the D word on any applications. I would leave things intentionally vague, and say that you had to deal with some "personal issues" that affected your performance early on, but that those issues have been resolved, and you were able to excel once you no longer had to deal with them.

No adcom member is going to ask you to expand on "personal issues" if there is a strong track record of success after a bad year (or two).

Good luck!

 

[cadingcading]

The answer to any of the above posts is NO. I just got back from a pre-med event where admissions folks from different schools came to talk. They repeatedly warned to stay away from mental health issues altogether.

 

[AdamB]

You weren't getting over depression you were "maturing", a "late bloomer" if you will.

 

[Old Grunt]

I was hoping to get some insight on this predicament I'm in.

The Bad:

I spent 3 years at UCSD and was utterly miserable the majority of the time. At the time, I was a music major and the idea of medical school never even so much as crossed my mind. It wasn't until halfway through when I realized I was depressed and later I was diagnosed with depression. I went to 3 different psychiatrists, but nothing seemed to really help. I had no motivation and my grades suffered (left with a 2.8 gpa). I had a lot of A's but I also had a few Fs and Ds, mostly when it was so bad I could hardly even leave my room.

The Good:

After my third year, I moved to Arkansas because I had some family here and I am really enjoying it now. I transferred to UALR, changed majors to biology and decided to go premed. Now, I have a whole new found confidence and motivation. I've felt completely better for more than a year now. my new gpa is a 3.9 and I'm flying through all my science classes. (learning a lot too, mind you). I'm highly motivated for the MCAT as well. I'm scoring 30s in practice, before I've even begun studying. My goal is to get 35+ too offset my ucsd gpa, which I think is an attainable goal. On the side, I'm working as a pharm tech, volunteering at the children's hospital, and doing genetics research. University of Arkansas School for Medical sciences is my ultimate goal.

My question is how do I explain my UCSD experience and horrid grades to adcoms? I'd like to tell the truth, but I'm worried they will look down on my depression (which is completely gone now) and say I'm not fit to be a doctor. I just don't see any other way to explain my previous lack of motivation without telling the truth. Does anyone have any similar experiences?

The really good news is that you are in a state that caters to in state residents and guarentees that all Arkansas state residents get an interview (you have to call to schedule) and even waves the application fee for them. I know this, because I applied OOS (with close ties) to Arkansas. They won't even look at my application until December since I am OOS.

Rock the MCAT and then just be candid about what happened and your motiviations for going into medical school.

I'd call the admissions office and make sure I was in a position to be considered a state resident. That alone might be your biggest barrier.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I'd call the admissions office and make sure I was in a position to be considered a state resident. That alone might be your biggest barrier.

I agree. Establishing Arkansas residency is probably the most important thing to do right now. Having no state presents a pretty big uphill battle for lots of applicants and being from California isn't too great, either.

 

[cadingcading]

Just curious.

 

[njbmd]

I was hoping to get some insight on this predicament I'm in.

The Bad:

I spent 3 years at UCSD and was utterly miserable the majority of the time. At the time, I was a music major and the idea of medical school never even so much as crossed my mind. It wasn't until halfway through when I realized I was depressed and later I was diagnosed with depression. I went to 3 different psychiatrists, but nothing seemed to really help. I had no motivation and my grades suffered (left with a 2.8 gpa). I had a lot of A's but I also had a few Fs and Ds, mostly when it was so bad I could hardly even leave my room.

The Good:

After my third year, I moved to Arkansas because I had some family here and I am really enjoying it now. I transferred to UALR, changed majors to biology and decided to go premed. Now, I have a whole new found confidence and motivation. I've felt completely better for more than a year now. my new gpa is a 3.9 and I'm flying through all my science classes. (learning a lot too, mind you). I'm highly motivated for the MCAT as well. I'm scoring 30s in practice, before I've even begun studying. My goal is to get 35+ too offset my ucsd gpa, which I think is an attainable goal. On the side, I'm working as a pharm tech, volunteering at the children's hospital, and doing genetics research. University of Arkansas School for Medical sciences is my ultimate goal.

My question is how do I explain my UCSD experience and horrid grades to adcoms? I'd like to tell the truth, but I'm worried they will look down on my depression (which is completely gone now) and say I'm not fit to be a doctor. I just don't see any other way to explain my previous lack of motivation without telling the truth. Does anyone have any similar experiences?

If you had brittle diabetes that caused you to be unable to perform well in your coursework but later was able to control your disease and do well, how would you explain that? You would say that you became ill, were treated successfully and that now you are fine. Your grades suffered but now that your illness is totally controlled, you haven't had any problems since then. Use the same method to explain your illness and thats the end of discussion and explanations.

Don't use more than one paragraph in your PS to mention and explain this and don't give any specifics (your former health problems are private and personal). Other than that one paragraph, use the rest of your PS to talk about overcoming adversity, keeping your grades high (because you have done that) and why you would be a great addition to a medical school class because of your empathy and experiences.

Highlight and place emphasis on your later work by making sure that there is nothing negative in the last three paragraphs of your PS. Put your overcoming illness in your first or second paragraph and don't mention it after that. You want the last impression from your PS to be positive.