Need advice

[NonTrad55]

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Hey everyone

I'm new here, but I've followed SDN for quite some time. I'm a 32 year old Hispanic student who is passionate about medical school. I'm very non-traditional. Was accepted to an undergraduate program in 2001. I've been in and out of college for a while (fairly rough upbringing), had no sense of direction, didn't have much guidance, and did poorly in my undergraduate (over the course of 8 years). Not making excuses here either. My upbringing was pure ****. That's just the reality of it. It reflected negatively on me and it is what it is. Despite that I take responsibility for all of my actions. I don't feel sorry for myself. I worked very hard at concluding that stage of my life. 3 years ago I decided to return to school and complete my bachelors. I returned and completed 3 semesters plus one summer session. During my summer session, I suffered a stroke and that had a huge impact on my grades during that session (affected my concentration, movement, etc). I was pretty down about it, but I fought through it and decided to continue on. Given everything else I've been through, I would no longer allow anything else to stop me. At any rate, aside from the one summer session (got a 2.9), I managed to achieve above a 3.5 each semester and graduate with a 3.87 in my final semester. Needless to say, calculating in my past grades, I subsequently graduated with a 2.84 GPA notwithstanding my excellent grades after returning to school. My Bachelors was in Biology. I decided to pursue an MPH (concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics) and graduated with a 4.0. I'm currently at Stony Brook University retaking all of the premed courses required for med school. So far everything has been going well and plan on achieving As in all pre-med courses.

Experience: Research at Stony Brook University in a psychology laboratory, 10 years of direct patient experience as a pharmacy technician; I also have medical scribe experience, I've worked in medical insurance and volunteered at a local hospital.

I haven't taken the MCAT yet. Of course everyone shoots for a perfect score on the MCAT, but realistically, what would you guys say would be a minimum acceptable score to gain acceptance into an MD program?

Additionally, if any of you have similar experiences, please share. Thank you for reading and I look forward to your honest replies.

 

[ciestar]

Pharmacy technician really doesn’t count, in the eyes of med schools. If your other experiences add up to sufficient hours, I wouldn’t worry too much about that. You absolutely need to shadow.

 

[NonTrad55]

I definitely plan on shadowing a physician. I did happen to contact some medical schools and they did indicate that my pharmacy experience would count toward direct patient contact. I don't expect it to be recognized by all schools, but in certain schools to which I plan on applying, it is recognized. Thanks for the response.

 

[Goro]

Hey everyone

I'm new here, but I've followed SDN for quite some time. I'm a 32 year old Hispanic student who is passionate about medical school. I'm very non-traditional. Was accepted to an undergraduate program in 2001. I've been in and out of college for a while (fairly rough upbringing), had no sense of direction, didn't have much guidance, and did poorly in my undergraduate (over the course of 8 years). Not making excuses here either. My upbringing was pure ****. That's just the reality of it. It reflected negatively on me and it is what it is. Despite that I take responsibility for all of my actions. I don't feel sorry for myself. I worked very hard at concluding that stage of my life. 3 years ago I decided to return to school and complete my bachelors. I returned and completed 3 semesters plus one summer session. During my summer session, I suffered a stroke and that had a huge impact on my grades during that session (affected my concentration, movement, etc). I was pretty down about it, but I fought through it and decided to continue on. Given everything else I've been through, I would no longer allow anything else to stop me. At any rate, aside from the one summer session (got a 2.9), I managed to achieve above a 3.5 each semester and graduate with a 3.87 in my final semester. Needless to say, calculating in my past grades, I subsequently graduated with a 2.84 GPA notwithstanding my excellent grades after returning to school. My Bachelors was in Biology. I decided to pursue an MPH (concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics) and graduated with a 4.0. I'm currently at Stony Brook University retaking all of the premed courses required for med school. So far everything has been going well and plan on achieving As in all pre-med courses.

Experience: Research at Stony Brook University in a psychology laboratory, 10 years of direct patient experience as a pharmacy technician; I also have medical scribe experience, I've worked in medical insurance and volunteered at a local hospital.

I haven't taken the MCAT yet. Of course everyone shoots for a perfect score on the MCAT, but realistically, what would you guys say would be a minimum acceptable score to gain acceptance into an MD program?

Additionally, if any of you have similar experiences, please share. Thank you for reading and I look forward to your honest replies.

The MPH isn't going do much for your competitiveness.
Read this:
Goro's Guide to Success in Medical School (2017 edition)

 

[LizzyM]

The MPH isn't going do much for your competitiveness.
Read this:
Goro's Guide to Success in Medical School (2017 edition)

On the other hand, if you use your skill set regarding study design and data analysis in research work going forward, that can be a plus. That said, you really need to prove that you have the academic chops to do well in a very demanding academic program and that you can do well in a high-stakes exam.

Do you speak Spanish? Have you engaged in any community service in the Hispanic community or otherwise?

Shoot for nothing less than 125 in each section of the MCAT. Higher is better, obviously. Don't take the exam until you are sure you are scoring at your target. Do not take it just to see what it is like. Use practice tests judiciously and under test conditions. This is like training for an athletic event and practice sessions that mirror the real thing are very important.

 

[doc05]

I'd recommend doing something else. Your chances at med school are exceedingly slim.

Also, your health history (stroke at a young age) does not prognosticate favorably. A career in medicine is too demanding to forgo your health; best to cut your losses and not invest any more time. It's not worth it.

 

[NonTrad55]

I'd recommend doing something else. Your chances at med school are exceedingly slim.

Also, your health history (stroke at a young age) does not prognosticate favorably. A career in medicine is too demanding to forgo your health; best to cut your losses and not invest any more time. It's not worth it.

Not really going to follow your advice, but I appreciate the honesty.

 

[NonTrad55]

The MPH isn't going do much for your competitiveness.
Read this:
Goro's Guide to Success in Medical School (2017 edition)

Thanks for the read. Very informative.

 

[NonTrad55]

On the other hand, if you use your skill set regarding study design and data analysis in research work going forward, that can be a plus. That said, you really need to prove that you have the academic chops to do well in a very demanding academic program and that you can do well in a high-stakes exam.

Do you speak Spanish? Have you engaged in any community service in the Hispanic community or otherwise?

Shoot for nothing less than 125 in each section of the MCAT. Higher is better, obviously. Don't take the exam until you are sure you are scoring at your target. Do not take it just to see what it is like. Use practice tests judiciously and under test conditions. This is like training for an athletic event and practice sessions that mirror the real thing are very important.

I definitely plan on taking practice tests multiple times while simulating the test taking environment. I'm devoting 6 months of study time for the exam. I think that should suffice. Thanks for the suggestions.