Age and GPA
34 years old, 2.8 undergrad GPA, 4.0 postbacc GPA, 32MCAT (10,12,10)
Financial and work situation
Worked for 10 years after graduating college on the business side of industrial construction. I received several early promotions and was fairly successful. I also hated it, though. I spent most of my day doing things that I felt bad about on the way home. Nothing illegal or blatantly unethical, just increasing the bottom line often at the expense of people or companies that couldn't afford it.
Family Sig other situation
married
What I did right
I worked my ass off during the 1-year postbacc. I went in with the attitude that I couldn't fail, and anything less than an A was a failure. Prior to leaving work a regular day was 12 hours so I decided to dedicate at least that much time to school. I woke up at 5:30 mon-fri and was in class or studying until 6pm, at which point I would close the books. I was very good about not studying after 6 which left plenty of time for exercise and general play. I applied to about 10 MD schools and interviewed at 6.
What I did wrong
I overestimated the value of being very nontraditional. I thought that my success in business and leadership experiences would more than make up for the more traditional "prerequisites" (e.g., research, shadowing...). I went straight from a liberal arts degree to working at least 60 hours/week. I didn't have time to volunteer and research was the farthest thing from my mind. I left work and immediately started an intensive 1-year postbacc which also didn't leave too much time to accumulate the shadowing, volunteer hours. I managed to get in some volunteering and shadowing but not a lot. I also went into the interviews overconfident and probably arrogant. I treated them like I would have treated interviewing in the business world. This is not the business world, and it took several interviews to figure that out.
Results
I got into and am studying medicine at one of my top two schools
Conclusion
Leaving work to pursue a career in medicine was one of the toughest easiest choices I have ever made. I knew I had to do it, but I was scared as hell to jump of the cliff. I did though, and short of marrying my wife, its been the best choice of my life. Overcoming a low GPA is possible, but it's easy. I was the only one in my postbacc class with a low GPA that got an acceptance. Most people weren't willing to put in the work. My advice is to be very honest with yourself; are you willing to do what it takes? Most people probably aren't. This probably isn't a path you want to start down unless you can finish it.
