- Joined
- Feb 4, 2012
- Messages
- 375
- Reaction score
- 132
Howdy!
I decided to write a little bit about my journey so far in my pursuit of my dream to become a physician.
All through my undergrad years I worked pretty hard to do my best in my classes, always aiming for an A, as I assume most of pre-med students do. I also got extensively involved with extracurricular activities involving leadership positions, philanthropy events, community service, volunteer work, and a little bit of research. All with the idea in mind of becoming a well-rounded applicant. The time came for me to look into the MCAT. I remember thinking to myself, "how hard can this test be, I'm sure that I can do it".. Little did I know the type of beast that it was! I took it twice during 2011 and both times did terrible in it. (Scored 14, and then 17).. At that point I was extremely disappointed in myself. It was a big reality check, that pretty much shot my dream down. My "I can do all of this" attitude was completely gone! I finished my undergrad degree in 2012 with cgpa of 3.69 and sgpa of 3.79 and began working as a scribe, with hopes of strengthening my application even more. Meanwhile, I began to study again for the MCAT, this time I was taking a much different approach and I was beginning to see results. Little by little beginning to build my confidence again to retake it for a third time. I took the exam again on April 2013, and sadly made a 22 (8,6,8)! At that point I pretty much was done with this whole idea of going to medical school.
I then learned about a med school that was out of the country and looked into it. It did seemed as a risky situation, but felt like it was my only shot at becoming a doctor one day. Without listening to advice I applied, got in, and left last summer. As I was there I realized A LOT of things that were not what the school had advertised. During the week of orientation, I felt like I had made the biggest mistake of my life. I could not live with the uncertainty of not knowing what would happen to the future of IMG's, regarding residency placement. I then decided to return back to the United States and apply to med school here. I thought I was still in a position that I could come back before going deep into classes.
I returned to the United States, got moving in the application system and gathered all the necessary materials. I submitted my application on 08/30 and just waited. In Novemeber, I received an email from AACOMAS regarding the need for a transcript from this foreign med school. I contacted the med school and they denied me a transcript because I never took an exam there nor completed an assignment, so therefore they could not provide one because such did not exist. After back and forth with both the med school and AACOMAS, finally, I got an exemption from AACOMAS and my application was released 11/20. At this point it was very late in the cycle and my chances seemed so small, but decided to keep pushing.
I was blessed enough to get interview offers from LMU-DCOM, VCOM-CC, MUCOM, PCOM-GA, and WVSOM.
I only attended to LMU-DCOM, VCOM-CC, and MUCOM and respectfully cancelled the other two. I was admitted to LMU-DCOM and will be starting there this coming fall. I am very excited for this opportunity! I would tell any other underdogs, like myself, that there is hope to accomplish your goal of becoming a physician. Do not give up and definitely do your best to exhaust every option to make yourself a better candidate in order to stay in the US for your medical education. Do not make the same mistake that I made. (The purpose of this post is to give others some hope, no disrespect is meant towards those who decided to go to med school out of the US). I also want to thank those of you here in SDN who gave me some advice whenever I reached out to you!
Cheers,
Hvilledoc
I decided to write a little bit about my journey so far in my pursuit of my dream to become a physician.
All through my undergrad years I worked pretty hard to do my best in my classes, always aiming for an A, as I assume most of pre-med students do. I also got extensively involved with extracurricular activities involving leadership positions, philanthropy events, community service, volunteer work, and a little bit of research. All with the idea in mind of becoming a well-rounded applicant. The time came for me to look into the MCAT. I remember thinking to myself, "how hard can this test be, I'm sure that I can do it".. Little did I know the type of beast that it was! I took it twice during 2011 and both times did terrible in it. (Scored 14, and then 17).. At that point I was extremely disappointed in myself. It was a big reality check, that pretty much shot my dream down. My "I can do all of this" attitude was completely gone! I finished my undergrad degree in 2012 with cgpa of 3.69 and sgpa of 3.79 and began working as a scribe, with hopes of strengthening my application even more. Meanwhile, I began to study again for the MCAT, this time I was taking a much different approach and I was beginning to see results. Little by little beginning to build my confidence again to retake it for a third time. I took the exam again on April 2013, and sadly made a 22 (8,6,8)! At that point I pretty much was done with this whole idea of going to medical school.
I then learned about a med school that was out of the country and looked into it. It did seemed as a risky situation, but felt like it was my only shot at becoming a doctor one day. Without listening to advice I applied, got in, and left last summer. As I was there I realized A LOT of things that were not what the school had advertised. During the week of orientation, I felt like I had made the biggest mistake of my life. I could not live with the uncertainty of not knowing what would happen to the future of IMG's, regarding residency placement. I then decided to return back to the United States and apply to med school here. I thought I was still in a position that I could come back before going deep into classes.
I returned to the United States, got moving in the application system and gathered all the necessary materials. I submitted my application on 08/30 and just waited. In Novemeber, I received an email from AACOMAS regarding the need for a transcript from this foreign med school. I contacted the med school and they denied me a transcript because I never took an exam there nor completed an assignment, so therefore they could not provide one because such did not exist. After back and forth with both the med school and AACOMAS, finally, I got an exemption from AACOMAS and my application was released 11/20. At this point it was very late in the cycle and my chances seemed so small, but decided to keep pushing.
I was blessed enough to get interview offers from LMU-DCOM, VCOM-CC, MUCOM, PCOM-GA, and WVSOM.
I only attended to LMU-DCOM, VCOM-CC, and MUCOM and respectfully cancelled the other two. I was admitted to LMU-DCOM and will be starting there this coming fall. I am very excited for this opportunity! I would tell any other underdogs, like myself, that there is hope to accomplish your goal of becoming a physician. Do not give up and definitely do your best to exhaust every option to make yourself a better candidate in order to stay in the US for your medical education. Do not make the same mistake that I made. (The purpose of this post is to give others some hope, no disrespect is meant towards those who decided to go to med school out of the US). I also want to thank those of you here in SDN who gave me some advice whenever I reached out to you!
Cheers,
Hvilledoc
